Magnus Vladimir Yu:
Hi Guido, thanks for taking time to answer our questions, I would like to ask what inspires you? What is your workflow? How do you plan a shot before animating?
Guido Muzzarelli:
I get a lot of inspiration from people-watching, particularly when I travel. There's something about interacting with people from different cultures, live, that as an animator one can study and learn from. For example, the gesticulations of Italians are awesome. I love how Italians use their hands to express 60-70% of their dialogue. Although one can study this on video, it's better with live interaction because YOU, as the animator, have to interact and that is key to understanding the mind-body-soul connection that underlies a performance, be it animated or "regular" acting.
My workflow at Tippett is to get direction from the lead about the specs of the shot: what the character(s) are, what the action is, frame range, etc. From there I block the shot, basically creating the timings and interactions of the character(s) with other characters in bold strokes. It's important to work out the base foundation of timings and get them solid (and approved by the client) before refining. From there I take it to the next level of refinement, in which from the key poses and motions overlapping and "extra special" ingredients are introduced and honed to a tighter stage for presentation for the client. The third and God please Oh God final stage of the shot for animation is to tighten everything, fingers toes breathing extra sway and settle and twitching and basically just "round the bases."
Someone once told me a while back that the hardest part of animation is the last 5 to 10% of finessing the shot. Sometimes this makes all the difference of it coming to life.
For animations on my own projects I go with a rather different style that is more dreamlike and thus adheres less to the laws of physics. With this I do stop motion, which I consider myself a neophyte at still, and with "straight-ahead" animation, i.e. no computer to let you go back and forth between key poses etc, it's important to plan tightly in advance.
Lots of animators have their own special approaches to animating, but a common rule is that, early on, the simpler the better. Don't get caught afloat in an ocean of keyframes.
Miles Southan:
Do you find yourself interested in pursuing all cg narrative films at some point or do you prefer creature work?
Guido Muzzarelli:
For creature animation, I would say that any type of character animation, whether it be human, animal or fantastical beast, that demonstrates an interesting thought process or interaction with others is the best aspect to develop. It can be daunting to, say, animate an animal such as an elephant or monkey just sitting on the ground in a static shot with no props or interactions with others. However, I've seen some behavior studies animated in which the animal behavior is subtle but there is personality coming through over a range of 100-200 frames. A Tippett animator a while back did a brilliant animation of a rhino that ended up on the Gladiator DVD.
I love all forms of animation, as long as it has purpose and advances an interesting story, and it moves me in some way. For example, I love Scrat from Ice Age. I think that he is the funniest animated beastie since Ren and Stimpy. But one of the best creatures ever done is the dragon from Dragonslayer (1981). Though he's fantastical, his design and the way he's animated made him convincingly live in our world, AND was very moving.
Carlos Fins:
So what's it like working at Tippett? Phil Tippett is definitely one of my biggest inspirations. What does the studio look for in a demo reel? Do they often hire?
Guido Muzzarelli:
Working at Tippettt is great. We get a good range of projects, anything from lumbering vicious monsters to cute furry critters.
For a demo reel, I'd recommend including only your absolute best of the best animation you've done. 30 seconds to 1 minute of absolute knocking-the-socks-off animation is massively better than 2-3 minutes of stuff 70% of which is weaker stuff you've done. I'd be good to have a good variety, i.e. creature work that demonstrates natural behavior and proper sense of weight and timing. Also, character work with dialogue that expresses unique personalities is good.
And yes Tippett Studio goes through periodic hiring cycles. Check the website often. Also, it can be good to send in your reel even if the studio is not hiring, because the animation department continually looks at the reels to check the talent that's out there.
One important thing to keep in mind for you students. You guys are the gold in the bedrock. Places like Tippett Studio and all the other animation studios are in business because of people like you, the folks who become the artists. These folks who make the beasts come to life and move the film's story forward inspire all the little kids out there to fork over ten bucks, and those kids become people like you and me. It is part of a tradition going back to Steamboat Willie. If you are a budding brilliant young animator, then keep sending your reel out and keep adding new stuff to it. And if you're good enough, the studio will recognize the talent.