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“An
animator does not have to animate just
according
to dialogue, he has to convey the story, the thoughts and
the mind of the character”
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There's
a saying, "Smell the roses a bit, animation is all about life!"
A universe which is as imaginative as can be, where clocks, rocks,
locks all come alive!
AnimationXpress.com's
Anand Gurnani
was fortunate to meet up and spend time with Kyle Balda,
an animator and artist who's full of life and has worked across
US & Europe with leading studios and stalwarts including Pixar,
PDI, ILM, Pierre Coffin…
Balda
also loves teaching and sharing knowledge and has stepped off production,
at regular intervals in his career to pursue his passion for mentoring….
In
a freewheeling interview, Balda gave interesting perspectives on
the finer points of animation and also on the joys of teaching….
Excerpts
What
drew you to Animation?
Well
I drew a lot!
Yes,
as a youngster I drew a lot, did a lot of flip books, If I would
see a Disney film, it seemed so magical I couldn't imagine that
people actually worked in a studio to make this, until I was 18
when I met Dan Juep. He was an animator at that time with Disney
on Little Mermaid, he asked me to send some drawings and
put me on the track. He told me to draw and learn drawing in animated
poses.
"Don't
spend more than two minutes on the gesture and be done with few
details as possible and work really rough" That's the rule
I was given.
Then
I did computer animation because I loved the Pixar short films and
not because of the computer. When I saw Luxor, I was graduating
in high school, and I was at the very small movie theatre at the
Spike and Mike animation festival. Luxor came on and the first thing
I thought was, "Is that a real lamp?".
The
fact that movement could be given to objects fascinated me no end.
John Lasetter did that without changing the materials. It was about
body language. I was feeling high after seeing that, when I started
to get in CalArts to study hand drawn animation, ILM had donated
some computers from Terminator 2, and I worked and practiced
on those, I didn't mind learning the computer because it gave me
the opportunity to tell all kinds of stories.
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You
have worked at leading Animation studios across continents, how
has it been?
I studied at Cal Arts in LA and began working with an Internship
at Lucas Games. At Lucas I worked on Day of the Tentacle
which was a cult hit with hard core games Circa 1992. I came back
to Cal Arts, did some 3D animation and went to work at PDI with
Tim Johnson and Rex Grignon who are my mentors for 3D.
This
was when ILM had just done Jurrasic Park and was exploding
with lots of opportunities. I worked on The Mask, Jumanji and
Mars Attacks. I also have worked at Weta in New Zealand where
I animated on Frighteners.
Then
I joined Pixar, worked on A Bug's Life with Glenn Mc Queen
who was the directing animator on ToyStory2.
What's
a directing animator?
You can call it animation director or directing animator, these
are just terms depending where you are. Directing animator is the
head of animation overall, who works with the director, so in this
case Glenn who was working directly with Lasseter. It is kind of
the frontlines where the directing animator works with the animators
and ensures the director's vision.
Coming
back to your illustrious career in animation.... what after Bug's
Life?
I took a little break and worked as animator on Monsters
Inc., that was about six years ago and I felt like I had learned
so much from Pixar. I had been curious about living abroad and teaching,
so I took about a year and a half, traveled all over Europe, guest
lecturing and mentoring. Gave a series of master classes in Madrid
at Arts' d Animacion, did nine months stint of teaching at Viborg,
Denmark, and then again I wanted to be back into production.
So
you got back…
Yep. I was in Europe and for me London was a bit too similar
to the US, so I went to Paris. There I started working with Pierre
Coffin, did some commercials with him. We also did a couple of pilots
for feature films that are starting production now.
There
was a lot of valuable knowledge and experience that could be taught
and shared with people. In the two years that I taught, my entire
course evolved into a two day Master-Class. The good thing about
teaching was, I discovered that I knew quite a lot. It helped refine
my concepts too.
What
kind of approach to the subject would you advise young animators
and students?
I would say, don't get so seduced by the technology, a lot of students
– their first introduction to animation is through how to use a
particular software. Try to find original ways to do things. Avoid
working with stereotypes and clichés, find a more original
and natural way to animate. A good way to do that is to record your-self
or watch actors. For me, my favorite is Peter Sellers, if you watch
him frame by frame I am convinced you will know everything about
acting, because he uses all the same principles that Chaplin uses.
Ah,
the finer nuances of animation….We'd love to know more about it.
The
main thing that new animators really need to focus on is that they
have to understand what the story is about. You need to know where
the character is coming from and going to? Why is the shot that
you are animating, there, in the film? How is it in the chain of
the story? The tightest story means you cannot take anything out,
the director has to know this, the animator has to be part of the
whole storytelling. What is the character not saying with words
but saying with his body language? These things are very important
to know.
Often
characters and people don't say what they think but people can understand
what they are thinking by the expression on their face. Somebody
is really nervous and he may say “I am alright” but if he is shivering,
that conveys the nervousness. The animator does not have to animate
just according to dialogue, he has to convey the story, the thoughts
and the mind of the character.
The
other thing which is more concrete is physicality. How does the
body move? What is the sequence of events happening to make the
walk work, the physicality in it is like grammar in language. Body
language and physicality express before the dialogue or expressions
come in. It sets the tone. Physicality is the grammar of the animation.
I think
that dialogue is interesting if it has subtext. If you were to see
two people on a first date they might be attracted to each other
but they will talk about the weather, and you can still tell they
are attracted.
The
ultimate thing that you have to do in animation is to make the audience
forget they are watching animated characters. They need to think
what's he going to do next.
Also
I don't like dialogue that explains what the character is thinking.
Good dialogue exists only when necessary.
You've
worked extensively in the US and Europe, what's the difference?
The main difference as I see it, has unfortunately been economically
driven. US studios have four or five times the budget of French
films. Hence in France, they have had to find an animation style
that will look good, snappy and pose to pose. But I don't see much
difference culturally.
There
is a difference in style, if you look at students’ films from Sup
Infocom, Gobelins you will observe angular sharp kind of designs
and at the same time go to Florida, Sheridan and you will see the
designs are generally much more rounded. American design tends to
be rounder and softer. Then there's the Japanese animation style
which is much more limited. There, the FX are more animated than
the faces at times, it works well with their design and style. Their
stories are incredible too. It is more difficult to do that style
in 3D though.
What
are your future plans?
I am developing a short film idea right now, I would just like to
continue to direct projects and not only in animation but layout,
cinematography, story telling, it doesn't have to be only huge feature
films, I just love the process.
Have
you worked with Indian artists?
Not
many. I worked with Sanjay Patel though. Actually there is quite
a large Indian community in Northern LA, also a lot of Indian students
at Berkley, but they are more into the technical side of things.
But yes I'd love to visit India and maybe do a master-class which
you folks at AnimationXpress.com could organize…
Bang
on!
Yep.
-
Anand Gurnani
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