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 I returned to California and some wandering
around for awhile as an unemployed, "What the hell do I do now with my
LIFE?" freelancer. Then, a call from Will Vinton Studios and they wanted me
to design & fabricate some stop motion armatures for their Fox NFL
commercial ads. These were stop motion animated spots of
football commentators as caricatured puppets, going through all kinds
of wild & crazy stuff promoting Fox's Football season. Since I
constructed the armatures here in the S.F. Bay Area, I am not sure if
Vinton's crew (in Portland) used my original armatures for all the Stop Mo ads or if they made addtional
armatures modeled after my prototypes. Years later, thanks to Kevin
MacClean he has been generous to share 'some' of those cool & zany
Stop Mo NFL Fox Ads. Click 1 - 2 - 3 - 4
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For Monk eyBone, (directed by
Henry Selick) I got a call from the production company, to do a quick job for
them. For the main character, Monkeybone, the animators where already using
highly engineered & complex animation armatures (I did not fabricate
those) that had precision facial feature replacement system. I think, there
were about 10 stop motion animators with about the same number of those
"Rolls Royce" armatures. They needed two more animation armatures but there
was no possible that way I could reproduce the same complicated design in
such a short schedule; so, they gave me all the original molds and I took
detailed measurements, and designed the Monkeybone armatures in a more
"simpler jointing style" that would approximate the joint movements of the
complex armatures. Again, the schedule was rushed. In my visits to the
MonkeyBone studio, I got a few tours of the stages and viewed the animation
set-up & methods......very fascinating....combining traditional stop
motion with motion control, and post digital compositing & effects. |
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For me, working in Stop Motion has not been a
full time occupation. Of course, this is the nature of the
arts-entertainment field; it is a chosen lifestyle. Some in Stop-Motion
have been lucky to transition into computer animation & effects. There
seem to be more opportunities in that market, but it is also very
competitive now. Here in the Francisco Bay Area, it is supposed to be, the
mecca of Computer Effects & Animation. Some studios ( like Tippett )
take into consideration, your traditional artistic / crafts & animation
skills (sculpting, drawing, modelmaking, cel & stop mo animation ), and
sometimes will train you to cross-over into computer work, but
unfortunately, many studios seem to be primarily interested in what
"computer degrees" you have, and your experience with different software
programs ( just read the "job requirements" ). Hopefully, CG animation
& effects studios will be using more intuitive software programs ( an
easier interface to learn more quickly & naturally ), so that more
traditional artists can enter the CG market. There is a vast resource of
talent from the Traditional Artist's Real World; the tactile, sensory,
& organic environment, that could contribute much to the CG animation
& effects field. So, all you Stop-Motion aficianados, do not be too
disappointed. Even though at this time, Stop-Motion in the commercial -
professional market may not possibly be sufficient to sustain regular
employment, but if you are a true admirer of the Art, you can always
practice and enjoy Stop Motion Animation as your personal avocation /
hobby.
UPDATE / 2OO2: Like I just said above, Stop Motion is not full time work. I do have another regular job and although stop motion work might not be plentiful at this time, I would even pursue this animation art & craft even if I was not paid to do it. I can take a guess what I will be doing when I am 85 years old ..... just tinkering away in my attic with Stop Motion ! It looks like the CGI market is just SATURATED and studio's in general do not seem to care if you have traditional animation, modeling, or crafting skills. So much for my fantasy of studio's utilizing the talents of traditional artists. When there was a shortage of CGI computer people, I suppose the studio's might have been willing to train you, but now it's a buyer's market (studio's advantage) ..... they just put out a "cattle call" for CGI people which can now be replaced like "plug and play parts". Just seems like the crafting and artistry is gone and unique talents not appreciated. It's all "mouse clicking" and mass production of a homogenized film product for the almighty cash (but that's show biz). << Back --- |
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In the late 1990's I did a
number of jobs for Will Vinton
on
armatures for another stop motion television pilot / test series, called
Gary & Mike. The stop motion animation was shot digitally (no
film camera). Did you know that about 11 years ago (1989), Vinton Studios
pioneered the use of computer technology for "frame grabbing" in Stop
Motion work? This is a method so animators can capture images "live" for
checking the Stop Motion animation.