John K Talk

So, last weekend I had the pleasure of attending the Bristol Animated Encounters Festival. I was on a panel at the wonderful DepicT! competition and presented this year's Audience award. Good times! I also got a chance to see a talk by animation legend John K.

He talked a lot about his influences - particularly early animation, 1940s classics and 1940s live action acting. He also screened several shorts including Tex Avery's "Bad Luck Blackie" which I've included below. He here's a few o the notes I took away from that lecture...

On Cartoons

Animation works best when it does what live action cannot do

Cartoon vs Animation
Animation = to bring things to life
Cartoons = FUNNY drawings/animation

On His Influences

Tex Avery created contolled choas - there was always a well structed story underneath the cartoony mayhem - eg. Bad Luck Blackie (1949)



Bob Clampett had the cartoony craziness, but more importantly had characters with strong, identifiable personalities

Live action influences
- 1940s film noir acting had intensity eg Peter Lorre & Kirk Douglas
- 1950s - 1970s American sitcom acting for strong perosnalities eg All in the Family

1940s cartoon mayhem + 1940s intense acting + 1950s sitcom personalites = Ren & Stimpy!

The Tuesday... notes?

Last night I had the opportunity to see the new Pixar movie (Cars 2) and a Q&A with the wonderful John Lasseter, thanks to IFTA. So no doodle this week, instead here are a few notes I took on what Mr Pixar said.... Enjoy


John Lasseter Q & A Notes

On Storytelling

3 things for a great film
1) A compelling & unpredictable story
2) with memorable characters
3) in their own believable world

Trust the original idea & trust the process
- when boarding a sequence again and again – think of it like live action
“coverage” (shooting different angles)
- it's the only way to find out what works

Everything we do at Pixar serves the story

What is the 'emotion core' of the story

In sequels, never just tell the same story – always make it different

“Every Pixar film, at one point, looked like the worst movie ever made”


On the Business of Animation

Quality is the best business plan

A studio/company makes withdrawals and deposits with your audience – good movies
are deposits; bad movies are withdrawals – always have money in the bank


On Animation

What is the character thinking?
- 'Aiming' – character always anticipates by looking first then doing

In computer animation, you must respect the integrity of the material – you can
get away with more squash and stretch in 2D animation.

Photo copyright IFTA 2011