This is just the kind of morning inspiration I need to get me off to a good start today, so I had to share. Teddy Newton’s new film, Boys Night Out, produced for the 2009 Playboy Animation Contest of all things, is refreshingly mature, smart, and inspiring. I knew from the get go I was watching Goldberg animation. UPA inspired design meets Eric Goldberg animation, what a treat. Beautiful. Go check out it out. Newton should consider a lot more voice work. He’s really got a knack for it. What a talented guy.

This is a conversation between John Canemaker, Bill Peet, Joe Ranft, Jerry Rees, and Peter Shneider published in Canemaker’s, “Storytelling in Animation,” a great little book that I don’t think a lot of people are aware of. The interview was conducted at the 1988 Walter Lantz Conference. I just scanned it for a friend, so I figured I might as well post it here. Try and get your hands on a copy of the book if you can, it’s well worth the $10 you’ll end up paying for it.

I also made a PDF, which you can download here.

I’m onto Tom & Jerry now. Same basic shapes, but still very difficult. These ones of Jerry are so much harder than they look. Almost as hard as the Freddie Moore Mickey’s.

Boy it’s been a while since I’ve done one of these. I’ve been reading Richard D. Pepperman’s, “Film School: How to Watch DVDs and Learn Everything About Filmmaking.” It’s a great book that plants seeds in your brain so you have the tools to start seeing things you never saw before. As a result,  when I watch Cast Away the other night, I noticed a few things about a scene involving objects. There’s a chapter in Pepperman’s book on how objects can be used to drive a scene or even enhance acting by adding a layer of richness or realism to it. The examples in the book were very good, and I’m glad I’m able to see this stuff now. I’ve called this, “Part 1,” to open up the possibility of doing further studies (like I’ve done with the Villain posts), but who knows if I will. I’m still not finished with that series, as I’m doing them as I learn. Remember this blog is essentially one big learning curve journal for.

Anyways, in this scene from Cast Away (spoiler alert: look away now if you haven’t seen the film) Chuck has finally come home after four years. He stands at the door step of his ex-girlfriend/fiance’s home who he hasn’t seen in as many years. He’s filled with a lot of conflicting emotions. She is all he thought about the whole time he was stranded on the island. She gave him the strength to escape, and he promised himself he would see her face again. But she, thinking he had died, has remarried and has kids. This moment is not how he dreamed it would be, but very empty and sad. He can see her, but he can’t be with her. The same is true of her, both characters display and incredible amount of emotional restraint which, if you watch the whole film, you can really feel. This is why this is one of my favorite films. Okay, so now watch the scene:

Here’s the list of objects that drive this scene/sequence:

1. Towel
2. Coffee Grinds
3. Photos on Freezer Door
4. Milk
5. Heirloom Watch
6. Maps and Newspapers
7. Car
8. Child Car Seat
9. Car

There’s a number of other objects in the scene/sequence that play their part (coffee cup, baby carriage, car keys, etc), but these are the main objects that really drive the action and dialogue. Here’s a play by play describing how they drive the scene:

Remember, there’s so much emotion being held back by both characters. There is so much they want to say (and do) to each other, but they can’t. So they need these objects to fill in the dry or awkward spots in the conversation. The scene/sequence starts with a hug. Jenny realizes Chuck is soaked from the rain, so she gets him a towel. This is another way of moving things along and avoiding the mutually desired kiss. She offers him coffee. There’s a great over the shoulder shot of Chuck walking into the kitchen towards Jenny. She goes to get the coffee grinds, opening the freezer door covered with photos of her daughter, which stops Chuck walking, but progresses the scene forward with conversation about Jenny’s daughter. Jenny asks Chuck about milk, pulling from memory, something familiar to keep the conversation going. Notice that Chuck is leaning on a book shelf with his back to two pictures on either side of him. On his right, is a wedding photo of Jenny with her new husband. On his left, a picture of Jenny with her daughter. Later, Chuck gives Jenny back the heirloom watch she gave him. She wants him to keep it, but he refuses and backs away, turning, and awkwardly searching for what to do next. He notices a bunch of maps and newspapers on the dining room table behind him. After some conversation they start getting closer. To avoid another near kiss, Jenny takes him to the garage to show him she’s kept his old car. She gives it back to him, but removes a child car seat from the back. Chuck asks her about having more kids. Chuck gets in the car and Jenny stands by the driver’s side. This jogs Jenny’s memory. The same car, the same situation: one of them in the driver’s seat, the other standing beside it, he’s leaving. They finally kiss. Later the emotional flood gates open (not in the clip).

Cool eh? I’m sure there’s some stuff I missed, but I look forward to spotting these things in the future. Now I have to watch all my favorite films again!

Here’s some more from the sketch book. I’ve started finishing these now with a darker pencil. I was previously just abandoning drawings as soon as I saw something wrong with them and retrying. It’s nice to be able to get this close in fewer tries. I still draw heads way too large, and my flow only extends to smaller drawings. I’ve still got a huge stack to study which I’ll be doing all day. Imust get my proportions under control! More tomorrow…

An incredible resource has just popped up on my animation radar: AbeLevitow.com. I wish every animator had a page like this, it would make the process of geeking out a lot easier (and cheaper). This site is loaded with artwork and information. A must see, go now!

I recently bought a scanner to do pencil tests on, and it’s working out nicely. So I thought I’d recommend it to anyone looking at animating on paper. You’ll likely be in the market for something similar someday.  I followed this guide, and set out looking for an Auto Document Feed scanner that could handle 12 Field paper (10.5” x 12.5”). This meant I had three criteria in my search: It had to be cheap because I’m a student, it had to have ADF so I could spend more time animating (learning), and it had to be Wide Format so I could fit the animation paper in it. To make a long story short, after searching the internet, and checking out every store in town, I settled on this:

This in the Brother MFC-6490. It matched all my criteria, most important of which was cost, only setting me back $250. That’s a steal considering the prices for these kinds of scanners used to be in the thousands of dollars range. Now I spend all day animating and studying this:

And when I need to test my work, I just stack everything in the tray on top, and my pencil test is ready in a few minutes. I remember doing a tests with a camera back in film school, and how long that took. So much time was wasted that could have been used animating or learning something new. I hate wasting time, so I’m super happy with this purchase. I couldn’t find anything like this from HP, Epson, or Canon, so I think this is the only one on the market in that price range.

I’m super excited about posting some animation tests, but that will have to wait a bit. I feel I should get past the really basic boring stuff before I post anything. Plus I suck, which doesn’t motivate me to share my shiny terds.

Update (May 14, 2010) – The Composing Pictures PDF is back up for a limited time. I’ve had a lot of requests to put it back up as the new print doesn’t seem to be coming out. I will keep it here until the new print comes out, and then I must remove it. Please see last update below. You can download a copy here. You’ll need WinRar to unzip it.

Update (Jan 12, 2009) – The Composing Pictures PDF has been removed. It will be re-printed soon, so I have removed it to avoid any copyright infringement. You can purchase the new print here.

Update (June 1, 2010) - Please refer to this post. For more information on the new print, go here.

Alright, enough with the insanity. One chapter every week or so, stretched out over who knows how long. When will it end?!

How about now? So here it is, the entire book, Don Graham’s, Composing Pictures, in one humongous PDF. I hope you all enjoy it, and get as much use out of it as I have. It took a long time, and a lot of effort to put this together and share with everyone, and I’m tired now. I’ve included the last five chapters in here, why drag it out any longer? It’s become a bit of a distraction now, and I’d rather animate. Take the opportunity to download it while you can, as I don’t know if posting this is allowed, and it will be removed as soon as anyone asks me to. I just figured since it’s out of print, and hard to come by, I would share.

[Link Removed]

If you want to download by the chapter, go here.