MICKEY MOUSE has grown up A COW :: Tom Gameson's blog ~

New York City

Bin to NYC today. Really liked it, good city. The people aren't rude (as they say in the movies..) infact it's quite a friendly city. It's got alot of character, infact all of America (that i've seen) has. America feels very 'tongue in cheek' to a Johnny foreigner (like myself) alot of the time, you feel it when you look at the signage on the streets, the yellow fire hydrants, the individuality & 'surburbaness' of the buildings.. I think it's because we're so used to seeing the country in films that it's almost as if you're walking on a movie set.

Funnily enough, have been watchin alotta films recently, and just so happens a bunch of them have been set in NYC - On the Waterfront, The Warriors, Mad Men (tv show).. America is one big movie set.

Anywho here's a little poster in honour of NYC and ma boy:

PS - Sorry, but I seem to be the only one clogging up the uni thing with blog posts. Sorreh about that..

Ideas for student film

Have been thinking loads about me student film over the summer. Keep getting little bits of inspiration.

Here's one bit. Someone has been writing a long analysis of each episode of the Office series 1 & 2 (LINK). It breaks down what's clever about it analytically, talks about the story arch etc and what makes it special. It's interesting to read and presents some good narrative strategies etc

Am thinking i'd like to do something 'real' in the same way the Office is. About real people & characters, and what's loveable is that they are real. Perfect through their imperfections so to speak.

BRENT IS A GENIUS

"That bit that opens the first episode may be the moment with the most unfettered joy in the whole of the first two series. It’s almost as if the show is stepping outside of itself for a moment to say, “Hey, isn’t it great that we’re back?” "

EDIT - Bit of inspiration..

Diggin' this Badly Drawn Boy vid, like it's use of mixed media and the happerdash feel:

Am off to New York tomorrow, time to get me Bickle on...

Drawings

Have been drawing alot over the summer. Still mainly portraits & the human figure. Have been reading the book Force and have got to say, I absolutely love it. His teaching of a different way of drawing people really opens you up and makes you realise what a good sketch is in a different sense. I'm still new to it, but am getting there. I'll post more when i'm back from the US, but here's some recent drawings:

This is me gramps

Caroly Cassady, from a photo from the autobiographical book 'Off the Road'

I'm going to New York tomorrow. My plan is to wonder around aimlessly and bump into things I know.. 'Oh look, Central Perk!', 'Oh look, that building King Kong went up!' and so on. While i'm there am gunna get a new sketchbook and draw the people of New York. I like drawing people in different places, cities are good for that. Did the same in Birmingham recently, and also some in the airport. I think it's probably my fave type of drawing because you have to be quick and incognito.. maybe it evokes childhood wishes of James Bond covertness.

Work on the animation is going well but labourous. I guess that's the deal we made as animators. You can work a 15 hour day, then not reap any rewards as you're still not yet over the hill. It's pretty deterring, but you just gotta stick at it I guess, score the goals, win the match. Will post a bigger update on it soon.

Why do we do it..? Because we're control freaks.

My day to day life..

..Summarised surprisingly well.

Batman

Watched this animated Batman film last night, it was called 'Under the Red Hood'. Gotta say, the whole time I was watching it, I was thinking to myself - "We could do that...". I don't think the animation quality is superior atall to what we could do on the course, however the level of work way surpasses what we have time for/have enough people for.

You can see the trailer on Youtube - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A2c9MsP3OVs

It's also quite a shame that when the credits roll, you realise this has been one of them 'Directed in Holywood, made in Asia' type of features. Is that the way it is now? I'm assuming it's down to cheap labour (as opposed to artistic oneupmanship), but is that what you're competing with if you're a 2D animator? Do the old studios still exist like they where or is it all now 3D? Wheres Milt Kahl!!

The Riots.

Brilliant:

Uploaded by The Streets on Youtube. Well done Mike Skinner, spot on.

Three lads : Character designs

So today I've been working on the character's and I think i've got them to a level im happy with. They are similar enough to look good together, but different enough to have their own qualities.

Here's two pages of sketches, trying to hone what I wanted. I want the characters to be quite innocent, so a sort of UPA/50's cartoon style with the teardrop bodies fitted the bill. But then I need them to be built up enough to show emotion, because I want the audience to feel emotion when watching. I also want them to look quite broad age-wise - I want them to look like 'kids'. Kids is a large definition really - that ages from 6-17, and that's the range I want to capture.

The second page, I half-based his posture on Jake Lamotta. I wanted that bull-like presence that gave him his nickname - the low hunched wide shoulders & V shape body down to the feet. You can see that in the bottom right drawing. However I didn't want him 'Ard like old Lamotta, so tubbed him up a bit too. His face is inspired by Dennis the Menace, I love the Beano.

Here's the final picks(.. for now)

I am happy with them, however I do still feel they are quite typically me, so may give them one more going over. Here's a bit of inspiration I put together that may help ship-em-up a bit, im looking mainly at the shapes of characters:

Tis going well thus far, have the storyboards all done, and last night put them into an animatic to give myself a estimate at the length.. Currently, am thinking about 2:00 minutes in length. Two minutes in 21 days? Is it possible? Lets find out.

Tom's American facts #3 - If you want to work here, you have to be good at Street Fighter. They are obsessed, if you couldn't already tell by the staff page..

UPDATE :-
Pretty happy with myself, stayed up a little later and managed to get all three turn around's done. Am chuffed, I was originally gunna get up and do them early tomorrow - but it woulda probably dragged all day.. (that seems to happen when things need doing doesn't it?).

If anyone's reading this, can you tell me, what do you think of the characters?

Im working at quite a fast pace on this project... pre-production has now been COMPLETED in 4 days. That's awesome. All by myself. To save time i've decided to do the layout's on the fly... working from the storyboard, i'll be able to focus on each shot when & where I work on it as opposed as planning it to a tee prior. I quite like this approach.. feel it gives me more freedom when it comes to doing the shot.

That means I can begin animating tomorrow... eek!

Work experience// New animation in the works

Yo yo. So, I decided to have a punt at doing me some work experience. I've been trying to keep active in the summer.. 4 months is a long time, and I find if I don't keep at it my brain starts turning to mush. So reading has been my antidote to that. I read 'Heart of Darkness' the other day, brilliant book. For anyone not in the know, it's the book they based Apocalypse Now off of. Only instead of it being set in a river in the congo, its in Vietnam during the war.

It's a brill read and really is one of them stories that sticks with you.

Anywho so after reading that, I read a text about Apocalypse Now from 'Recycled Culture'. What you realise is that Coppola took the basic story framework from Heart of Darkness, and he wove in it these real life stories from the Vietnam war.. I believe he referenced alot of true tales that had come back with GI's. By doing so he uses Heart of Darkness as a vehicle to deliver this documentary-like analysis of America's actions.. the moments off the boat are like windows into America's self-righteousness at the time.

Speaking of America... that's where I am right now! I came over here to work for the animation/games website Newgrounds dot com. I'm sure some of you will know of it, For those that don't, its the first Animation/Game flash portal on the web where users can submit there own content - think like Youtube, except it came way earlier (1996). Tom (the boss man) also makes video games with his other company The Behemoth - check out Alien Hominid & Castle Crashers. Its a very fun laid back environment here and am very pleased to have the opportunity.. cant thank Tom enough for letting me come along!

Im working on an animation here about the London riots that happened recently. What I plan to do is to exemplify the spirit of those who rioted - try to understand their actions to some degree - or atleast exemplify the naivety & ignorance - ignorance to the faceless corporations, who we feel no bond with - have no respect for - because they are faceless. That's the way I feel it was, it kinda exploded out of this subconcious depreceation of the top of the ladder that has formed over the last 50 years or so. The story isn't from the side of the rioters, and it isn't from the side of the police - Think like Gus Van Sant's 'Elephant'. Anywho I intend to show that in the characters. Here's some pics from the storyboard:

As a side point, i've found the riots to be a very interesting occurence. Firstly, the rioters themselves showed that we are not necessarily a 'Big Brother state', the people still have freedom to take over once in a while, to get in the face of the law when things aren't happy. But secoundly, I found the rash punishments that are being handed out very interesting. I think this is good from the side of the law - it shows that our politicians aren't necessarily part of this PC 'Nanny state' either, they're able to swing the sword when need's be.

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Here's some pictures from the office :-