Featured Mentor: Melanie Cordan
Animation Mentor:
If you could do one thing differently on your journey to becoming an animator, what would it be?
Melanie Cordan:
I went to CalArts where every year you are expected to make a short 1-2 minute film. During the first semester you take classes, all the while storyboarding and designing your final project, and then during the second semester you spend time animating it. My fourth and final year, I spent the first semester working on a film idea. I showed it to my teachers and mentors and for weeks and weeks we hashed out the story. Finally it was looking fairly solid but by then it was my second semester and I was feeling really stressed about it. One night I woke up and decided that the film "wasn't me" and I needed to completely redo it. I had it in my head that my teachers had given too much input and the film wasn't what I originally wanted. So I spent a weekend, completely reboarded my film and showed my reel to my mentor. She was so pissed at me... but I convinced her that this idea was better and I "just needed to do what I needed to do."
What a mistake! It took so much time for me to switch gears for this new idea that I didn't even get close to finishing by the end of the year. And looking back now, I wasted a lot of time and I realize that the first idea was a much better film idea. I also realize now, that the idea was still mine... it had just been streamlined by those who had more film experience. Had I stuck with the original idea, I would have had a much more solid film that would have been just as entertaining and something I would have been more proud of years later.
Animation Mentor:
What was your first animation job?
Melanie Cordan:
I took a year off at CalArts to work at a small interactive company called Wayforward Technologies. My first project was a children's interactive CD-ROM with the Muppets. It was a blast! We worked out of our boss's apartment where we scanned in 2-d animation and assembled them in Macromedia Director. On our breaks we'd battle each other with games of Unreal Tournament. Even though it was a small company, we got some really cool perks. Two of us actually got to fly to New York and work with one of the Henson art directors for a weekend learning how to draw the characters. Walking into the Henson Brownstone was such a thrill because I am a HUGE muppet fan and in the lobby there were actual puppets from The Dark Crystal. I was completely geeking out.
Animation Mentor:
Who would you consider your mentor to be in animation?
Melanie Cordan:
Well, if she ever ends up reading this she'll be REALLY embarrassed because she's also a friend of mine...
But I'd have to say Jill Culton, one of the current directors of Open Season.
She was in her fourth year when I started at CalArts back in 1991. I was having a really hard time and one day when I was working at my desk, she walked by, saw me and not only asked who I was... she took the time to look at my stuff and give advice. We struck up a friendship and she's been a personal hero ever since. At the time, women were hard to find in the industry. To find a mentor who was uber-talented, who seemed to have the same story and performance sensibilities I wanted to cultivate, AND be a woman was a dream come true. She's a phenomenal artist and I have always loved her as a storyteller. More importantly, she's a good human being and as a teacher I've yet to find anyone to match her. I was very lucky.
Animation Mentor:
Who is your favorite character that you've animated and why?
Melanie Cordan:
That's tough but I'd have to say Gollum. He was always a favorite character when I was growing up, and I always thought he would be an amazing character to animate. When I got the chance to go to New Zealand, I turned down a job that people would kill for to work on him. He is so 3-dimentional and there is so much inner torment; an actor's dream. And even though on other characters I've had more creative freedom and control as an animator... I have yet to be handed a character that was so complex. Because of his duel nature, he was actually two characters; the pitiful, fearful Smeagol and the twisted, malicious Gollum. How often does an animator get to work on a character that has split personality disorder? It was a huge challenge for the animators to differentiate between the two, and I am proud of the accomplishment. That said, I left after Two Towers. Partially because of family reasons, partially because in my mind the character I enjoyed working on the most was dead (Smeagol) and partially because I was burned out. I also missed working on the creativity of Feature Animated films. Live-Action characters are fun and incredibly challenging, but they are a whole different animal in terms of animation style and technique.
If you could do one thing differently on your journey to becoming an animator, what would it be?
Melanie Cordan:
I went to CalArts where every year you are expected to make a short 1-2 minute film. During the first semester you take classes, all the while storyboarding and designing your final project, and then during the second semester you spend time animating it. My fourth and final year, I spent the first semester working on a film idea. I showed it to my teachers and mentors and for weeks and weeks we hashed out the story. Finally it was looking fairly solid but by then it was my second semester and I was feeling really stressed about it. One night I woke up and decided that the film "wasn't me" and I needed to completely redo it. I had it in my head that my teachers had given too much input and the film wasn't what I originally wanted. So I spent a weekend, completely reboarded my film and showed my reel to my mentor. She was so pissed at me... but I convinced her that this idea was better and I "just needed to do what I needed to do."
What a mistake! It took so much time for me to switch gears for this new idea that I didn't even get close to finishing by the end of the year. And looking back now, I wasted a lot of time and I realize that the first idea was a much better film idea. I also realize now, that the idea was still mine... it had just been streamlined by those who had more film experience. Had I stuck with the original idea, I would have had a much more solid film that would have been just as entertaining and something I would have been more proud of years later.
Animation Mentor:
What was your first animation job?
Melanie Cordan:
I took a year off at CalArts to work at a small interactive company called Wayforward Technologies. My first project was a children's interactive CD-ROM with the Muppets. It was a blast! We worked out of our boss's apartment where we scanned in 2-d animation and assembled them in Macromedia Director. On our breaks we'd battle each other with games of Unreal Tournament. Even though it was a small company, we got some really cool perks. Two of us actually got to fly to New York and work with one of the Henson art directors for a weekend learning how to draw the characters. Walking into the Henson Brownstone was such a thrill because I am a HUGE muppet fan and in the lobby there were actual puppets from The Dark Crystal. I was completely geeking out.
Animation Mentor:
Who would you consider your mentor to be in animation?
Melanie Cordan:
Well, if she ever ends up reading this she'll be REALLY embarrassed because she's also a friend of mine...
But I'd have to say Jill Culton, one of the current directors of Open Season.
She was in her fourth year when I started at CalArts back in 1991. I was having a really hard time and one day when I was working at my desk, she walked by, saw me and not only asked who I was... she took the time to look at my stuff and give advice. We struck up a friendship and she's been a personal hero ever since. At the time, women were hard to find in the industry. To find a mentor who was uber-talented, who seemed to have the same story and performance sensibilities I wanted to cultivate, AND be a woman was a dream come true. She's a phenomenal artist and I have always loved her as a storyteller. More importantly, she's a good human being and as a teacher I've yet to find anyone to match her. I was very lucky.
Animation Mentor:
Who is your favorite character that you've animated and why?
Melanie Cordan:
That's tough but I'd have to say Gollum. He was always a favorite character when I was growing up, and I always thought he would be an amazing character to animate. When I got the chance to go to New Zealand, I turned down a job that people would kill for to work on him. He is so 3-dimentional and there is so much inner torment; an actor's dream. And even though on other characters I've had more creative freedom and control as an animator... I have yet to be handed a character that was so complex. Because of his duel nature, he was actually two characters; the pitiful, fearful Smeagol and the twisted, malicious Gollum. How often does an animator get to work on a character that has split personality disorder? It was a huge challenge for the animators to differentiate between the two, and I am proud of the accomplishment. That said, I left after Two Towers. Partially because of family reasons, partially because in my mind the character I enjoyed working on the most was dead (Smeagol) and partially because I was burned out. I also missed working on the creativity of Feature Animated films. Live-Action characters are fun and incredibly challenging, but they are a whole different animal in terms of animation style and technique.