April 5th, 2011
Play by Play Behind the Scenes
Happy to share this little learning “Play by Play” shortfilm that I was part of, and fortunate enough to direct for the last couple of years seems to be enjoyed by some festivals. Over the weekend, we just found out that at the Fresno International Film Festival, it won two out of three awards:
- Audience Award for Best Short
- John Kelly Excellence in Cinematography Award for best Cinematography in a shortfilm.
Needless to say my talented Director of Photography Tiffany and I were more than excited. She was a tremendous help and a wonderful right arm throughout the entire process. Here is a little behind the scenes of some of the stuff we did and learned through the process.
Live-Action is a whole different beast that animation. In many ways. Still, at the end of the day we are all making movies and it’s wonderful to be around filmmakers. By the way, the main two kid actors in the short film, Charlie Bright and Jeremy Leary, were voice actors in ToyStory3 and Up respectively. Charlie played young Andy and one of the green pea characters, and Jeremy played young Carl. I had a total fantastic time working with all the kids.
Carlos.
March 30th, 2011
PlaybyPlay Trailer
Trailer for the Shortfilm “Play by Play” (USA 2010, 23 min).
Actors: Charlie Bright, Jeremy Leary, Pamela Gaye Walker and Mattias Christensen.
Director: Carlos Baena
Writer: Bob Roden
Director of Photography: Tiffany Taira
Co-Director: Sureena Mann
Producer: David Munier
Co-Producer: Christopher Stewart
Music: Andrew Jimenez
Sound Design: Andrew Vernom
Production Designer: Ryan Lynch
Costume Designer: Carrie Winchell
While the Short film has a LOT of room for improvement, I’m still very proud to have been part of this experience and this amazing crew. Hopefully what I learned (including the mistakes) I will be able to apply to a future short film. For those in the Bay Area, it will be playing at the San Francisco International Film Festival in late April/early May as part of the Shorts program.
This short film was produced by Afterwork Films, a wonderful learning program that allows Pixar employees to work on outside projects to learn tasks we don’t have the chance to learn in our day jobs. I worked on this short as I was working on Toy Story 3 during the day, and while it was a lot of work to do both, it truly was like going back to School.
Carlos.
March 7th, 2011
Eye Slow Mo Reference
Wonderful Slow Motion Eye Reference. Definitely check it out. Amazing how each of the parts in the eye work together with the eyeball rotations. Thanks for the tip Ben.
C.
February 16th, 2011
Hitchcock & Truffaut Tapes
A fantastic listen, very recommended to anyone interested in films.
C.
January 15th, 2011
Micromovements
Ok, this is something I’m actually not sure if I’ve ever talked about, but it’s everywhere.
Sometimes we hit a pose, and we hold in that pose…and we can be on that pose for a long time. The character is still alive thanks to either residual movements from hitting that pose, thanks to keep alive movements (breathing, eye darts, blinks, small mouth changes), etc. However, there are these things called micromovements (don’t know where I heard that word…don’t know if it’s the right word…but it makes sense to me). These are tiny actions within a hold pose that are still giving new acting ideas and choices.
The best example I saw recently is from the mockumentary “I’m Still Here” with Joaquin Phoenix. A piece with some interesting stuff in it. Some hilarious, some really random. Whatever. The section that cached my eye was the part with Sean Combs. In hearing the Director’s commentary, most people in this mockumentary are acting. And Sean Combs did a hell of a job in this section. This is the part where Joaquin Phoenix is showing Sean Combs his music for him to produce it and record an album. The situation is so awkward it’s hilarious. So as you watch this, check out Sean Combs hitting a pose (towards end of clip) and at that point his eyesdarts/eyelids/eyebrows as well as some really small head nods do the rest. Really tiny things. You may want to watch a few times. But these small movements in the head/eyes changes the direction of the character and the scene 180 degrees, and I find that really powerful.
WARNING: the music uses some strong words. Don’t watch if it offends.
This is the kind of stuff I can watch for hours as an animator. I hope you find it as helpful (and as entertaining) as I did.
Carlos.
January 11th, 2011
AM – Animals & Creatures
After two years of hard work, at AnimationMentor we are launching our Animals & Creatures classes. Tremendous job done by the crew, as well as some of the friends/mentors who helped us out a lot through the process, with the help support of VFX studios such as ILM, Tippett and Sony. Check out the links below for more information:
AnimationMentor – Animals & Creatures
Animation Magazine on Animals & Creatures.
For those interested in taking these classes, we put as much hard work as we do in AnimationMentor, and it’s highly recommended for those of you interested in getting into VFX animation.
Carlos.
January 7th, 2011
Animator vs. Actor vs. You
This is something I’ve been thinking about lately and something I still struggle myself after 15 years animating. Watching many reels lately, something that’s been noticeable is how many people are mastering the basics of animation…yet, I still have no clue where the actor is…and in some cases who the person is.
Some actors walk in a room and the room stops. Whether it’s comedy, drama or thriller. The presence is there. It may be by not doing much movement like Anthony Hopkins in Silence of the Lambs for example, or it may be the contrary by doing a lot of gesturing such as Benicio del Toro in Usual Suspects. Either way, they steal the room. Period. And they are not moving a finger. In animation calling too much attention in the animation may not always be a good thing. The movie comes first, and shots/animation need to support that. However it’s refreshing to watch a movie allow the animators do some more than just do exactly what’s on the script. It’s rare.
Ok, I went on a tangent in there. Crap. My point is that we are in the business of coming up with original choices, choices that entertain people. Not in the business of doing what’s been done even if it’s extremely well animated. Easier said than done. But while it’s really cool to see people mastering the arcs, the overlaps, the posing…I can’t help to have a hard time finding the actor behind the movement. Don’t care if it’s a model that has been used a million times. This is beyond that at this point. My biggest struggles as an animator are always about the ideas, other times it’s fighting something that’s been done already…something I’ve been inspired from to the point of wanting to use it somehow. So when I see a shot and I see the actor behind the movement instead of the movement stepping all over the actor, that’s refreshing as hell. This is a quote from Director George Cukor on Jack Lemmon’s performance in the 1954 comedy It Should Happen to You:
“Jack Lemmon was so intense, I had to keep telling him, ‘A little less, Jack,’ “Finally [Jack] said, ‘I’m doing it so much less that now I’m down to nothing at all.’ I said, ‘That’s the idea, Jack.’ “
I sure have felt like this many times as an animator. But what’s great about this, is that it starts to cut down the fat, and you start to see the meat in the performance. Jim Carrey performances tend to feel the same to me. Basically he’s being the same wild Jim Carrey from In Living Color. However the ones that have depth…even if he’s going big, really stand out. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind is a great example.
My other point is regarding the person behind the actor. It’s all part of the mix. Sometimes it may not be a good thing for shots to stand out, but it’s wonderful for me to see a little bit of who that person is behind that truly stunning performance. Sometimes those things we are into outside our animation world…the way we are with friends, family, etc…our values, our wild side and our calm side…are all things that feed our animation. So if we didn’t have that, we’d have no performance. It’s how you see that character based on who YOU are that makes that performance unique. I can’t think of any other actor other than Sascha Baron Cohen playing Borat or Tom Hanks playing Woody.
So, to end things. Sure, work on the fundamentals…master them. However, don’t expect your shot to stand out just because your animation is beautiful. That’s a small part on the equation. Don’t worry about what other people are animating. Worry about what YOU want to animate. Follow your gut, not someone else’s gut. Don’t forget what’s important here, the ideas. What do you want to tell people through your performance. How do you want to entertain them.
You want to tell them who the character is through your own personal point of view that makes YOU unique.
Hope this helps.
Carlos.
January 7th, 2011
On Writing & Structure
Happy New 2011.
Been difficult to update my site. But hopefully I’ll slowly get back. 2010 was a pretty full year. For those interested in writing, I found some links very useful. Writing and story truly is the hardest. After reading countless books, attending classes on it, going to talks…I can honestly say I’m barely starting to know what the hell. Sure feels like a life long journey this whole telling stories business. Anyways, these links/blogs are truly educational and
can’t recommend them enough.
Additionally I found this website in where Todd Alcott breaks down and forces questions on the film The Shinning and Stanley Kubrick/Diane Johnson’s screenplay. Not your standard structure in a screenplay, and a lot to learn from.
- The Shinning: Part 1
- The Shinning: Part 2 (The Interview)
- The Shinning: Part 3 (Closing Day)
- The Shinning: Part 4 (A Month Later, Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday)
- The Shinning: Part 5 (Monday, Wednesday)
- The Shinning: Part 6 (8am)
- The Shinning: Part 7 (4pm)
I’m reading these and rewatching the film. Spent most Christmas watching different films for reference. Both weak and strong films. I’d love to post some things I’ve found coming up that totally apply to animation.
Hope this 2011 is a wonderful one for everyone.
Carlos.
November 22nd, 2010
It Gets Better – Love, Pixar
I haven’t been able to post much on the website these days due to work load. However, today I wanted to take a minute and post this piece made by my co-workers who I respect them very much. While this is not film or animation related it pretty much relates to every single one of us.
I’ve been hearing about so many tragic news regarding this issue, it’s truly heartbreaking. Bullying is unacceptable. Unfortunately, it comes in our lives in many degrees, shapes or forms. Ultimately it’s up to us to stand up. But it’s so beautiful when people help other people like in this video. To anyone that’s struggling by what other people may say or do to them, I’d encourage them to take a minute to watch this beautiful, honest and very uplifting special message.
Carlos
October 7th, 2010
Brendan Body’s Blog
I recently happened to find this wonderful blog with some great tutorials/analysis on weight/anatomy and physicality. Be sure to check it out.
C.
