Welcome back! - New Module: Art Portfolio

 Welcome back to my blog. It is now term two of my studies at DMUIC and I am going to be using this blog for my Art Portfolio module. I am surely looking forward developing new ideas and creating new projects. I am really interested in developing characters more and learning about different methods of of portraying emotions and feelings. 

During the Christmas break, I worked a lot with my English students, since I am an English language tutor for children in my home country, during the pandemic I hold my classes with them on Zoom. I held many classes on talking about feelings and emotions and to make the content relatable for my students, I have made many references to the Pixar animated film "Inside Out". Before actually holding a class based on the movie, I have decided to refresh my knowledge on it and rewatched it. Then I remembered what a great animation that is. For that reason, I decided to research one of the animators, who worked on the character animation in Pixar's "Inside Out".

Inside Out (2015) 

I decided to look at Andrew Coats. Andrew Coats was born in Peru with Columbian and Scottish roots. He went to NYU where he took classes on film and there he directed many short films both live-action and animated. That gave him a good base to become a director in the future (Coats, 2019). Andrew Coats worked on both his animation and film-making skills throughout his education in New York. "I kept working on my 3d animation skills, and in 2007, was lucky enough to land my first feature animated gig at Blue Sky Studios, on a very cartoony film,"Horton Hears a Who", and got my animation career started." (Coats, 2019). "Horton Hears a Who" used to be one of my favorite animated films when I was little and I did not know that Andrew Coats was one of its animators. I think this is very interesting, because it shows how animators really change their studios and do not just stick to one. 

In "Inside Out" we observe really complex characters showing many different emotions. In my opinion creating a character that just speaks "anger" or "fear" can really be a challenge, because the character itself is not at all neutral. 

For example, Pixar released this clip of Sadness waving hello. 

It is a very simple action but it is already filled with emotion. The way this character looks, the way this character walks, the way this character moves and the speed of it, all present sadness. I think studying a character that deeply to make sure everything is sending the message what are they feeling is important when developing a character. Especially when creating films for children, who have less of the skill how to recognize feelings or emotions. I think this has been done greatly in the "Inside Out" movie. 

While researching Andrew Coats I stumbled upon an information on how he approaches developing a character. In my opinion learning what profesional animators do to create, is a great lesson for me, because I can incorporate that in my process of creating. "Overall character dev for me is a mix of deep diving the psychological elements that make a character tick, with how you outwardly represent that (whether it be in mannerisms, speech, quirks, clothes and all the way to their choices and actions in the story)." (Coats, 2019). This is what Andrew Coats said in his interview with  Luma. He also mentioned doing a lot of research, looking at different examples from already existing materials such as films. He also likes to look at examples from real life and people he know. Observing nature, trying to identify the emotions and what they carry and empathizing with the character that is being developed, are the most important things to do when creating a character. 

"Borrowed time" is another project that Andrew Coats worked on, he created it with his university friend.

Borrowed time (2015)

This is an independent short film created in a Pixar studio. It is not common for creators to create an independent film in a big studio, however Pixar has an opportunity for their employees to self develop through Pixar University and this animation has been created through the Co-op program there. (Failes, 2016)

Creating "Borrowed time" took five years and a team of volunteers willing to help out those two animators. They mainly needed help with things they have never worked on. They both were used to doing the front end, so they had very little experience with lighting for example. 

When working on an independent film, there is not many people who watch it and make corrections. In this kind of project, both of the creators had to step back and look for mistakes or check whether the storyline works or not. This might be a very challenging task, I have already noticed that it is challenging to find simple mistakes in the work done by me, because I get used to all the images and my mind subconsciously ignores the mistakes. I found what Andrew Coats has to say about that, "So it was really helpful to step back. Just screening it in front of a fresh audience changes your perspective of what the movie feels like."(Coats, 2016).  

I find it very interesting that even those professionals  I look up to, struggle with the same problems I do. It makes me realize that those are generic struggles and that by researching other artists I will be able to find answers to my questions, for example, how to see my own mistakes. Here, Andrew Coats says to watch my work with a new audience, so I can get myself in a position of watching the work for the first time and then it is easier to see mistakes. That is a very interesting tip, which surely can be very useful to me in the future. 

Reference list

Coats, A. (2019) 'Meet our director - Andrew Coats' Luma available at: https://www.luma.inc/news/an-interview-with-andrew-coats  [Accessed: 11/01/2021]

Coats, A. (2016) 'The Borrowed Time animators on how evolving Pixar tech made them 'scramble to not fall apart'' Interviewed by Tasha Robinson The Verge 20/10 available at: https://www.theverge.com/2016/10/20/13339132/pixar-co-op-program-borrowed-time-interview-animators-writers [Accessed: 11/01/21]

Failes, I. (2016) 'How Andrew Coats and Lou Hamou-Lhadj Made The Independent Short ‘Borrowed Time’ Inside Pixar' Cartoon Brew 29/07 available at: https://www.cartoonbrew.com/interviews/andrew-coats-lou-hamou-lhadj-made-independent-short-inside-pixar-141937.html#disqus_thread [Accessed: 11/01/21]