Disney's DVD taping: March 2, 2004


Calarts students were invited to be an audience for Aladdin's DVD special features taping at the Hyperion theatre in California adventures on Tuesday. This was one of the coolest events that I've participated in this year. I won't go into detail about the actual taping because I don't think Disney would like that so I'll stick with discussing my personal experience instead.

Three large coach buses picked us up at Calarts at about 3:30p.m. While we waited, one cameraman shot some film of us gathering in front of the school. I hope I got on the DVD. I was standing in front of the main building like a champ wearing my Calarts sweater. How perfect is that?
We got onto the buses and were all given a boxed Subway lunch complete with a 6 inch sandwich, water, chips and a cookie. I couldn't eat the cookie because I gave up sweets, candy and cookies for Lent. Bah! The trip down to Anahiem took almost 3 hours with all the traffic. That sucked but it was entertaining to see what all of the animators came up with to kill time. Many interesting games to say the least.
When we arrived at California Adventures, it was dark and raining. We quickly walked through a portion of the park and entered the Hyperion Theater where the stage for the show was set. I've never been to Disney Land or California Adventures (which is right across) so I took a bit of time to digest the awesome theme park environment.
We entered the theater while the crew was still rehearsing some minor things. I was fortunate enough to get a spot in the first row, dead center....right in front of the camera, baby. So if I'm not in the DVD, I'll be a little surprised! I'm the guy in the light Calarts sweater, in case any of you were wondering. The DVD should come out in October. Get it and see me on TV!
The taping went really well and it was pretty entertaining. Expect there to be a surprise guest. I won't spoil anything. After the taping, which took roughly 3 hours, some of the animators took some time out to talk to us. Andreas Deja and Eric Goldberg were two of the four animators from Aladdin who showed up. The directors, Ron and Jon were also there along with some other key artists.
I talked to Andreas Deja for a while (he animated Jafar!!!). He's one of the most famous animators in the industry. He's coming to Calarts next week for a guest lecture, by the way. It was amazing how passionate the guy was about animation. Truely inspiring. Eric Goldberg was cool too. He seems like a really funny guy. I didn't have time to hear too much of his discussions with students. I did get a picture of Goldberg and Deja though. I'll never forget this night. It was awesome!














First pass through film almost complete!


I'm having an amazing time animating my film! It's the most exciting friggin experience I've ever had. Everything that I've learned from first semester is suddenly beginning to make sense as I apply the concepts. Animation started out a bit rough at first but I feel so much more confident and it seems like animating is getting easier and easier as I go along. I feel like I've grown a lot over the course of this year. My drawing skills improved drastically as well as my understanding of filmmaking. I have one more scene to animate before I've completed my "rough pass" through the film. Once I'm done with that last scene, Mike Disa (my animation teacher) wants to sit down and look at the rough version and work out the kinks and pacing of the film. According to Disa, my pacing is messed up. Alot of my scenes lack a build in intensity. He just finished a lecture on pacing today and I thought DAMN!.....All of my scenes suck! It's all a part of learning though. Before I started this year at Calarts, I always wondered what people meant when they said that a movie had good pacing. It's funny how little things like that are beginning to make sense after a while. I'm learning!
I've decided that my animated short will be called "Broken Toys". Expect there to be a page opened soon that will include the final film, animatic, storyboards, concept designs, character designs, layouts and some thumbnails. I figure it'll open around late April since that's when films are due.




Three weeks till DA deadline: April 2, 2004

With three weeks left till the Character Animation Open Show, I have some mixed feelings about the end of the year. One part of me can't wait till my film is finished so I can sit back and relax as the school year comes to an end. Another part of me wants to go back in time and experience this year all over because it's been amazing!  I'm going to miss being a freshman at Calarts! It'll never be the same again......but at least I have three more years here so that's good.
As I look back on the year at this point I realize that I've had a lot of fun and have started many good friendships that I hope will last throughout my time here and Calarts and throughout my career as well. On top of that, I've learned way more about animation than I ever dreamed of. But now that I'm at this point in my development as an artist, my desire to become better has never been stronger. I feel like I really have a shot at working in animation now. It seemed so far fetched a year ago even though I knew that I was going to one of the best animation schools around. I can't say enough about how happy I am to be here. It's such a priviledge to have an opportunity to do something with your life that you're passionate about. I feel lucky.

A music student held a graduation recital tonight at the Roy O Disney Music Hall. He capped off four years here with a bang. One of the last songs really hit me because I'll be in his shoes in 3 years probably expressing something similar through my work. His song was about closing a chapter in life and and being brave enough to start a new one. I felt that way before coming to Calarts and I'll feel the same way once I end my four years here too. It sucks, but we all have to keep moving on. It's such a great theme for a story, eh? The recital ended and there was a big Brazilian barbecue celebration. The weather was so nice and it was cool to just sit there and enjoy it with buddies.

Most of the animators are pulling alnighters right now. My roommate, Joel, practically never sleeps. I have no idea how he does it! I'm doing alright with my film. I finished a rough pass before Spring break and decided to take that entire week off when visiting Chicago. Break was awesome but once I looked at my film again after a while I realized that it sucked! There are still lots of things that I need to kink out so the final three weeks will be devoted to refining. Specifically, my film's pacing isn't working. The timing of the animation and the cuts are too similar which might bore the heck out of an audience. What I need to do is tweak the timing a little bit and adjust the cuts so that it draws the audience in more. Basically, what it comes down to is making the less intense story beats slower paced and the more intense story beats quicker. All of the elements of visual structure need to be used to make this happen. This is the kind of stuff that a director and editor deals with. It's still really confusing though. On top of that, I have about 3 more scenes that I'd like to finish up. They're roughly animated right now but I'd like to add more detail, make the timing more interesting and eventually add the overlapping action too.



April 8, 2004: Two weeks left...

I'm sitting in the computer lab at Calarts with my laptop waiting for some of my scanned animation to batch process into .psd files. It's 3 a.m but I'm not as tired as I should be. Must be that delicious Don Francisco Halzelnut coffee I had about an hour ago. Yum.
Anyway, I don't remember much of this past week. Actually, I can't believe a whole week has gone by since I've last wrote in this journal! I've focused most of my time to my film. I usually get to bed at about 2 a.m and wake at 8. Monday was pretty intense. I worked about 16 hours straight but it was well worth it. I'm in the middle of tying down my scenes and rendering my backgrounds. I think I'm doing pretty well on time but I still don't think I'll get everything that I want to get done. Most of the scenes that I've animated before Spring Break aren't very pleasing anymore but I might have to settle with them. Mike Disa (my animation teacher) said that we should prioritize our scenes. The most important scenes are the thought process scenes because that's where the heart of the film is. The next important scenes to tie down are the close ups and then after that, full body scenes. I showed Disa some of my new stuff and he told me to focus on getting my background pans working since they're so critical to my story. He also gave me some awesome suggestions on my animation. After I'm done with scanning some of this stuff tonight, I'll work on putting it together piece by piece in Adobe After Effects. Hopefully I'll have it ready to show Disa on Thursday.

Oh, by the way. I'll explain what "tying down" animation means. When animating, you start off really rough without much detail at all. At this stage you're more concerned about timing and acting. Once you're done with that you begin tying down which means you start getting into more details like hands, facial expressions, overlap, etc.


A prospective student (who was accepted) visited Calarts the other day and since I work at the admissions office (really sweet workstudy job), Libby (Film/Video counselor) asked me to talk to him about the character animation program. It went well. He sat in on Disa's class and afterwards, I got the chance to talk to him again. He mentioned something about Leo Hobaica and I told him yea, he's the guy who reviewed my portfolio at the 2002 Portfolio Day in Washington D.C and told me that I most likely wouldn't get in with the work I had. So after that day in DC, I took a bunch of life drawing classes and booked a flight to Cali to visit the school. I tried everything possible to get in and it eventually worked! I recieved an acceptance letter in March, 2003. Anyway, this prospective student who I talked to a couple days ago was waiting in line right behind me that day when Leo tore my portfolio apart! He actually remembered me! Haha, that's some crazy stuff, eh? Just thought I'd share that. It's a small world.


April 19th: Two days till deadline:.

I'm finishing up my film and I should be done tomorrow which is a day before the deadline. I'm in the refining stage which means that I'm playing around with timing, fixing little things and putting together my music. I found the coolest classical song for my film last night. My buddy, Sam, lent me some of his classical CDs and I found a funny piece in the Brahms CD. Its nice because the song is public domain so I'll be able to submit it in festivals without being sued.
After spending this entire school year working on this film, it's an absolute joy to finally see it come together in it's final stage. It's like opening a higly anticipated Christmas present when you're five years old only ten times better. This has been one of the most fullfilling experiences in my life! I'm definitely happy with my film at this point but that won't last for very long so I'll take advantage of the moment. I usually start hating my work about a week after I finish. It's all part of learning.
The computer rooms are packed and some people have been working non stop finishing up their films. On the other hand, there are a lot of students who are already done with their films and have just submitted them today (Monday). I've seen a few really cool films already. I think this year's batch will be awesome. The Open Show is on Friday, 8pm at the Cafeteria area. Supposedly the show is around 7 hours long but I plan on sitting through all of it even though I'm notorious for falling asleep while watching movies. I'll have to load up on coffee. I can't wait to see everyone's films!!


First year film is DONE!! - April 21

I just turned in my film today and I feel amazing but exhausted at the same time. I had about three hours of sleep last night so I'm looking forward to passing out. The computer rooms were so packed this morning. I was actually worried that I wouldn't get the chance to output my friggin film onto Betacam. But I did and it only took about an hour or so. I was really worried that some technical problem would screw me over but fortunately everything went smooth and my film looks fine on tape. I added a soundtrack which I thought worked well with the film but I'm beginning to have second thoughts on it now that it's all done. I might be a little too much for my film but I can't really do anything about it now. Hopefully it won't distract too much. That's the only big concern that I have right now but it shouldn't be that big of a deal (hopefully). The Open Show is on Friday and I have absolutely nothing to do before then. I feel like I have so much time on my hands now that the work is done! I'll relax for a bit but then I'll spend a good amount of time updating this site. By next week I should have a page for my film set up complete with storyboards, animatic, some designs and the final film. Afterwards, I'd like to add some animation tutorials and then finish up the artist lecture notes that I have slacked on this semester. Whooooooooo!....I feel awesome! Film is finished!!!!!!!!!!



April 23: Open Show!

I should have gotten to this journal entry right after the Open Show but I was out and about with my little sister this past weekend who visited from Chicago so I didn't get a chance to post. Anyways, the Open Show turned out to be a pretty good show overall even though I ended up leaving a bit early. There were some incredible films. Jen Hagar's (sp?) "Lights Out" was probably my favorite film of the night. Eric Favela's and Mike Caraccappa's films were right up there, too. And I'm sure Matt Nolte's film was amazing but I didn't stay long enough to see it (damn). There were many other good ones. These were the ones that stick out the most.

I was kinda nervous right before my film came on because I didn't know how an audience would react. It's quite a unique experience to have your work shown on a projector like that in front of a bunch of people. Once my film started, I received a nice cheer from the crowd, which was really nice. Everyone stayed pretty silent throughout the rest of the film except for a few giggles here and there on some parts of the film. At the end, they gave me a nice round of applause which was awesome. The crowd was really cool to every film so it was a nice atmostphere especially for student filmmakers.

After the Open Show, thoughts about my plans for the summer kept running though my mind. I feel that I have a lot of work to do to get to the level of some of the better films shown that night. I'm pretty determined to work my butt off over the summer. My main focus will be on studying film (primarily Wilder, Ford, Hitchcock) reading fiction books and writing short stories. Writing specifically is my weak point so I'd like to tackle that right away. I included a few pictures of the show here.








April: 27: Brokin' Toys selected for Producer's Show!


The lineup for the 2004 Producer's Show was just pinned up today (Monday) and I'm pretty excited to say that my film, "Brokin' Toys" will be part of the show on May 8th! For those of you who don't know what the Producer's Show is, I'll explain. The show is an annual showcase event for the Calarts character animation students. Supposedly, most of the animation industry goes to the event to see what's new with the kids at Calarts. That's one of the cool things about this program. No other school (to my knowledge) offers this kind of exposure for their students.
There are about 160 student's in the department and there wre roughly about a hundred films in the Open Show. I think there were about 25 selected for the Producer's show (13 first year films) so it's significantly shorter. I didn't expect to be selected for the show my first year but I'm defintitely grateful for it. There were many really good films. I'm sure it was hard to come up with the final lineup. Oh, on the day after the Open Show, all of the character animation faculty gets together and watches the year's films and scores them. That's how they come up with the Producer's Show lineup. I'm also in the "Donut Show"!

I'm in the process of exporting a version of my film for the internet. I'm having some problems with compression but I'll defintely have it up this week.











































April 29: Life at CALARTS after the Open Show:


I've definitely caught up on sleep since I finished my film, which is really nice. Many of the classes are wrapping up at this point. My days consist of either working at the admissions office or just somehow wasting time doing random things like playing Halo (video games are the devil) hanging out with buddies, working on my site, sketching, reading or watching movies. Time still flies though. About 16 days till I go back to Chicago!

Even though most classes are finished, Mike Disa's animation class keeps chugging along and there seems to be more and more students filling the seats every class. Disa has been going over film/animation history the past couple of weeks and they've been some of the best classes all year. All I can say is that I feel really inspired and ready to work hard whenever his class is over. Most of my peers feel the same way. I can't wait to watch films this summer! I never thought I'd be so into film (especially old films).

Since we're done with the technical animation stuff, Disa is putting more of an emphasis on filmmaking and what it means to become an artist. The industry is dominated by people who are just trying to make money and that's why most of the films (especially animated films) suck. Nobody studies good classic filmmaking (Wilder, Ford, Kurosawa, Hitchcock) anymore and just doesn't have anything to say. I'm beginning to realize that becoming an artist isn't all about how well you can draw. Sure you have to master your medium but you should also express something in your work that you feel passionate about. You must bring your experiences into your art instead of trying desperately to copy something someone else has done. The same films are being done over and over again. There are so many untapped possibilties in animation and I'm hoping that some of us at Calarts will be brave enough to do something about it and get people interested again. I feel really inspired and motivated to do something cool with my career but I have a hell of a lot to learn.