Archive for the 'work' Category

Lately, I’ve been getting asked about how to go about getting live-action work. I’ve only done a few things, so I won’t be of much help other than to say to be sociable and find production companies and send them your samples. Then cross your fingers!

I do.

Also, there’s advice on it from people who’d know out there – other board artists. Google it. Don’t mean to sound harsh, it’s just what I did.

I’ve never gone to film school and I’m always trying to backfill my film studies – books, DVD extras, DVD sets of how-to’s, talking to PAs who often have live-action set experience.

Editors – live action or animation ones – are an ENORMOUS wealth of insight to any storyboard artist. Make friends with them! Ask them about how your stuff is cutting and how to improve it. If you’re a freelancer, do what it takes to find out who your editor is, offer to buy them lunch and ask some questions. That’s my advice! It works for me.

If nothing else, try sketching out some sequences from movies that pertain to your assignment to deconstruct them. I find sketching movies from different eras reveal a different understanding of style and visual language. Figure out which approach gets what your director’s looking for and which won’t break your wrist.

A ‘Guy Ritchie’ approach (which is actually a ‘James Herbert’ approach – that’s his head editor) is brutal if you have to DRAW every panel, but knuckle down and do it to see how it’s set up. I am! It’s amazingly straight-forward when you realize how things are shot. A lot of it’s three-camera stuff. I never imagined that because the pacing is deceptive.

The main thing is to try to figure out is – WHY that shot now and not later,  or earlier.

It all comes back to what the story is doing right then, what’s important in that moment, and how it contributes to the overall story.

So, I don’t know if that’s good advice or not for breaking into live action, but that seems to be helping me. I think the main thing is to be getting your stuff out there and making sure that you’re easy to find.

Good luck out there!

I like to pull out a photo taken from the last gig every once in a while, just to reminisce. Man, this crew we had was fun.

We’re missing master board artists Charlie Bonifacio, Gary Dunn & Dean Roberts, the director, Kelly Asbury, and the producer Baker Bloodworth and the editors Melissa Horwitz and Catherine Apple and even Pam Coats, the studio rep – all of whom helped shape things on the fly in the Starz boardrooms and on the corkboards.

But, after gearing up reels in London for a while, this was the primary storyboard crew on ‘Gnomeo & Juliet’, circa 2009 in Toronto – almost a full year ago! Time flies. And so did everyone else, off to London or LA or another studio in Toronto. *sniff* I hear things are steaming along for a release in 2011, so that’s something I can look forward to in the meantime. Aw, shucks. I got the best job in the world, meeting humans like these. I think there were about a half a dozen of us covering the rent for the pub down the street. We were there a LOT…GTs. Good Times.

Hey check out an IMDB review from someone who went to see a preview in LA! YAY! Normal people (well, people who bother to post reviews on IMDB, anyway) seem to really enjoy it! (Click on it to read it.)

We all know that people whom work in animation will hate it, cause that’s how we roll, yo. We’re a perfectionist crowd. As if it weren’t obvious – EVERY SINGLE FRAME is fussed over. Normal people just don’t work in that kind of a business, and that’s a fact – me included!

I once met a girl (a civilian, worked at a coffee shop) whom had a gnome tattoo on her hip, so you know she’s gonna see the movie. Yes, my wife’s used to me getting into conversations where girls show me their tattoos. I’m not a smooth talker, just kinda nosey. Drop it.

People likes gnomeses, so deal with it, animation fans! Singin: *Go Gnomeo, Go Gnomeo, Go Go -*