Aspirations

Hey guys. I just watched one of the most beautiful clips of 3d animation that I've ever seen.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ktZ5JVdDL7Y

I originally didn't want to see Rapunzel Unbraided because I don't care too much for princesses, but that clip has completely changed my mind. The movie can be as girly as it wants to be as long as it has the same high quality animation that the clip does! Whoever animated that shot truly is a master animator. Rapunzel feels more alive in that shot than any other cg character I've seen thus far. I've watched that clip at least ten times trying to absorb as much information as I can from it. One thing I noticed early on is the fact that she actually breathes. From what I hear, a lot of animators forget/don't think to actually make their characters breathe even though it can take their work to a whole new level of life. I know I'm going to try to incorporate that into my short and as much of my future shots as possible.

This clip only emphasizes what one of the Pixar recruiters said when asked why it was so hard to find good animators. She said there are lots of animators who are good at mechanics but few who are really good at acting. Performance is key in feature animation and the performance in the Rapunzel shot is spot on. Everything she does is clear and very sincere. Right now I can only dream of creating animation of that caliber, but watching that clip has pushed me to work harder at creating better performances in my shots.

At times, it upsets me that my work isn't anywhere near as good as that clip or any other feature animation for that matter. I laugh at myself for thinking I can get an internship at Disney, Dreamworks or Pixar when I see shots like this. There's no way I'll be that good any time soon. Then again, I've only been animating seriously for about a year and four months so who knows where I'll be when I graduate from SCAD...