Taken from David Gemmill’s Blog

Wow. So much has been going down since i posted last. Here’s a quick overview of all the things going on:

~Still working at PDI/Dreamworks
~I take off in two weeks for 3-6 months because….
~I’m about to have a baby in approximately one month. (eek!)
~I’ve been asked to be a mentor for Animation Mentor.

This last one won’t start up until sometime after January 1st. (Yikes! This means I might have to start updating this blog more often and put on a more professional front. Ok. Maybe not…) But it would be good to add content to this blog, instead of just rant occasionally every blue moon.

Still, i don’t expect to have much time for this blog until after the baby is born. Until then folks… cheerio!

I just got a call from one of my friends at Pixar. Joe Ranft was killed in a car accident over the weekend. I’m stunned and incredibly sad about it. So much so, that I’m having a hard time working. I never knew Joe personally, (I met him a couple of times) but no one in my industry can deny the impact of his talent and the mark he will leave. If you just look at his filmography, i think it will paint an accurate picture of how much he has contributed over the years.

Joe Ranft’s filmography

A great talent in the animation industry has just winked out. Joe, you will be missed…

YAY! Comments are now working so if anyone is still poking around on this blog they can leave one.
Sweet…

With my new interested in sketching i realized that i should post a link to some of my old work…. just for context. Here’s a bunch of sketches and drawings i did a long time ago. I’m hoping by reminding myself what I USED to do, I’ll inspire myself to get back into it even more. You can tune into my drawings at my website at this link.

http://www.hiddentower.com/Melanie/

I really need to add links to this blog that ties everything in to my homepage: http://www.hiddentower.com

So it’s been months since i’ve actually posted something and most of the people who used to check up on this blog have probably given up on me. Can’t say that I blame them. Mostly I’ve been wrapped up in the pregnancy and work, and really haven’t had much time for anything else. Honestly, i think i just fried in terms of online communication; so much of my day is wrapped up in it. And frankly, there’s something slightly cultish about the whole blog culture. Most of the blogs I tune into are friends who link to other friends who basically all give each other props for being out there in cyberspace. On the one hand, it’s really supportive and good, but on the other hand… it feels a little incestuous to be tuning into the same blogs over and over constantly recycling similiar information from one to the other. If some of my friends are tuning into this and feeling offended.. please don’t take it personally. It’s not you I’m railing against but the trend of blogging itself. I think i started balking when I felt the need to NOT make my blog boring, and this was definitely the wrong attitude to have. But how can you help but not worry about what you are writing? A blog puts one perpetually on stage, and i find that instead of seeking fame thru funny insights and the written word, i like to merrily plod along and do my Work; whatever Work that may be. So my new philosophy is: If you notice… GREAT. If not, that’s ok too.

On animation i should note that i purchaised a Tablet PC and slowly but surely i’ve been getting back in my drawing. It’s been a blast and something I have been chewing at the bit to do for quite some time. I kid-tested my monitor this weekend by allowing my 10 year old neice to design prom dresses in Corel Painter. It was a great success!!! As hard as she pressed, she didn’t scratch the screen. I was most impressessed.

On the pregnancy front I should mention: I have an alien in my belly and she definitely doesn’t like it when i lay on my back.

Ok, i’m trying really hard not to take all these bad reviews on Madagascar personally. But when Ebert makes a comment about Alex the lion being a cannibal for eating his friend Marty the zebra… you have to wonder what he was smoking when watching the film.

I have always maintained that there were problems with the story.. but these reviews are going really far to slam Dreamworks. This film is such an obvious step up from their usual faire… what is going on? In the first paragraph of the Wired article it goes out of its way to say how Katzenberg can’t compare against Pixar in quality so it’s going for quantity. Did they even see the film? I admit it’s not perfect… but damn. If you take one look at the animation you have to see an improvement from Shrek?

And that leads me into another pet peeve. If I see one more review comparing us to Pixar I’m going to blow my top. I love Pixar films. Its obvious that their stories are better, more appealing and original. But so what? Why compare? In live action there are plenty of studios who make awsome movies, and crappy movies. Do the critics constantly compare Sony films with Warner Brothers? Why can’t there be room for a few animation studios, as opposed to just one? It boggles my mind. And it gives me a bad taste in my mouth. Instead of comparing us to Incredibles… how bout comparing us to Shrek2? Or SharkTale? If you can sit back and tell me that Madagascar isn’t a drastic improvement from those two films.. i am convinced you have a brain tumor.

That all said.. i am still really proud of this film. I loved working on the characters and the style of animation was really fun. I fell in love with these characters early on. And I pity the fools who prefer to be “cool with pixar” and can’t see the film for what it is; an honest attempt at upping the quality of our animation and an honest attempt at making a decent, funny film.

Ok. So that was a pretty long hiatus. I had plans plans and more plans to update this blog but Life happened. That’s how it goes sometimes; sometimes you have to actually live Life instead of merely record it. So i had a lovely vacation and now I’m back at work and eagerly awaiting the opening of Madagascar. I had to miss the wrap party so i didn’t get to go to the screening. I am actually not sad about this…

Screenings are always exciting but there’s something kind of incestuous about them as well. There’s nothing like going to a packed theater with tons of audience members who had nothing to do with the film.. and then experiencing their reaction. I think this time around I really want the pure experience of that.

Started a new project at work and it’s loads of fun. After all the emotional shots I got on Mad, it’s a huge relief to get to work on some comedy. I’m not complaining about getting emotional, dramatic shots…mind you. But no body ever wants to feel like they are getting typecast in any way, and there was a period of a couple months where my shots were really starting to depress me. Not because they were bad shots… but because there were so… heavy. Now at least I’m getting shots I can giggle along with.

Less than one week to go! I’m gearing up for my talk and last night while going over some old notes, I came across some great quotes. I thought I’d post them here:

ON EYES:

“If you are short for time, spend your time on the eyes and mouths. Because that’s what people are mostly looking at.” ~ Frank Thomas

“I believe that the life of a person in animation is expressed what the eyes do.
The thing we found over the years that audience liked most, was to see a character Thinking. Characters going thru a thinking process.” ~ Ollie Johnston

ON PERFORMANCE:

“There are only 3 things in Animation:
1)Anticipation
2)Action
3)Reaction
And these imply the rest. Learn how to do these things Well, and you can animate well.”
~ Bill Tytla

“Be Simple. Be Direct. Be Clear. Be very Simple. Make a Statement and Finish it. Simply.”
~ Bill Tytla

1)Tell’em what you are going to do.
2)Do it.
3)Tell’em (or show’em) that you’ve done it.
~ Charlie Chaplin

ON ANIMTION:

It’s a very difficult medium. Animation necessarily requires a pretty good draftsman, because you’ve got to turn things, to be able to draw well enough to turn things at every angle. You have to understand movement, which in itself is quite a study. You have to be an actor. You have to put on a peformance, to be a showman, to be able to evaluate how good the entertainment is. You have to know what’s the best way of doing it, and have an appreciation of where it belongs in the picture. You have to be a pretty good story person. To be a really good animator, then, you have to be a jack of all trades. I don’t mean to say that I am all these things, but I try hard. Actually, i don’t really draw that well. It’s just that i don’t stop trying as quickly. I keep at it. I happen to have high standards and I try to meet them. I have to struggle like hell to make a drawing look good. ~Milt Kahl 1976