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Ed's
Newsletter - July 2004
"THE ACTOR'S
FIELD GUIDE: ACTING NOTES ON THE RUN"
(Backstage Books, 2004, $18,95) is fresh off the press. More
information here.
I wrote this book mainly for stage actors but animators will
find a lot of good meat in it. The heart of the book is comprised
of acting notes taken directly from my stage acting classes.
They are quotes of me speaking to actors, directing, correcting
acting errors and giving career guidance.
ED HOOKS IN
HONG KONG
It's not totally firm yet, but it looks like I will be teaching
in Hong Kong for a couple of weeks this fall. If your company
is on that side of the world and would be interested in an
Acting for Animators workshop, now would be a good time to
let me know about it.
MY FIRST TRIP
TO ANNECY WAS A TOOT!
I ate way too much fondue, got a nice tan, drank not enough
beers and still managed to see a bunch of terrific animation.
The best part of Annecy though was the number of new and old
friends I ran into. Bill Plympton was shaking hands, talking
French and screening his hot new feature "Hair High".
Go, Bill! The picnic sponsored by DreamWorks and nVidia was
a particular personal favorite afternoon stop. Thanks Shelley
and Dimitri for organizing that, I can't wait for the next
Annecy. I'm taking more sun screen. <g>
THANKS TO FOCAL
AND ROBI ENGLER
The workshops in Lucerne Switzerland were a lot of fun for
me, and it was a joy to meet so many talented people. Special
thanks to translator Anne Wolfli who was my special voice
in French. (If anybody in Europe is looking for a top notch
translator, Anne is your man. Contact her at awoelfli@bluewin.ch)
It was a cool event, folks!
FMX '04 WAS A
MAJOR SUCCESS
Many thanks to Professor Thomas Haegele and his associates
for organizing and hosting FMX '04 in Stuttgart. Attendance
this year was upward of 2,000, and the speaker list was stellar.
I had a wonderful time and even had the side opportunity to
tour the Porche factory in Stuttgart! Now I understand why
those cars cost as much as a house. Did you know that Porche
only builds 150 cars a day and every one of them is custom
made? Wow!
COOL NEW BOOK
BY STEVE ROBERTS
"Character Animation in 3D" (Focal Press, 2004)
is an excellent primer as well as a refresher, clearly and
effectively presented by a respected teacher. Steve Roberts'
love for animation is abundantly clear on every page. The
book is chock full of both 2d and 3d exercises and comes with
a full CD-ROM and even further info in this website: http://www.characteranimationin3d.com/.
"Character Animation in 3D" is picking up some hefty
endorsements by animators that are good judges of such things.
Check it out!
HOOKS INTERVIEWED
BY THE COMPULSIVE CREATIVE
Have you ever visited Paula Berinstein's website yet? Very
well designed and extremely helpful. It's called The Compulsive
Creative - Tools and Books for Creative People. http://www.compulsivecreative.com?
Paula interviewed me recently about acting and animation,
and there is a link to the results on The Compulsive Creative
home page. Thanks, Paula!
CONGRATS TO ANDREW
GOODE FOR "LOVE TRICYCLE" DVD
"Love Tricycle" is a 14-minute animation that features
only bicycles. I like it because he and his production team
managed to create distinctive bicycle characters that have
a full spectrum of emotions. It is extremely clever work.
For students of animation, the DVD also has a marvelous Side-by-Side
Bonus Extra in which you can study Storyboard, Layout, Animation
and Final all at the same time. Good stuff. Check out the
DVD at http://www.lovetricycle.com.
ED HOOKS'S UPCOMING SCHEDULE
August 2-3 Sony Computer
Entertainment America/San Diego http://www.gamesarefun.com/gamesdb/company.php?companyid=363
Sept. 24-26 Cineme 2005, Chicago
Oct 9-10 Ringling School of Art
and Design/ Sarasota Florida
http://www.rsad.edu/indexfs.html
Nov 22-27 SAND '04, Swansea Animation
Days in Swansea South Wales
Nov 29 National Film & Television
School, Beaconsfield, UK
http://www.nftsfilm-tv.ac.uk/
January 2005 Animex,
Teesside, England
April 20-23 2005 Louisiana
State University Animation Festival
CRAFT NOTES
VOICE PERFORMERS
In connection with a new book
I'm writing for Heinemann, "Acting in Animation: A Look
at 12 Films", I have been screening a lot of DVD's lately.
When available, I have paid close attention to the Bonus Extras,
which usually include perspectives from producers and directors.
One thing that has struck me repeatedly is how enamored some
of these artists can be with voice performers that improvise
and ad lib in recording sessions. I have often heard one of
them say, "Now this moment was not in the original script,
but we thought Billy (or Rosie or Kevin or whoeverŠ)
was so funny that we added it in." As often as not, the
resulting gag has nothing to do with anything. It actually
slows down story development.
Speaking for a moment as a thirty-year
actor myself, I want to advise that directors proceed with
caution when performers start improvising. Actors are natural
hams, love the spotlight and adore improvising. There is an
old joke, in fact, about the actor that goes into the kitchen
in the middle of the night to get a glass of milk. He opens
the refrigerator, the refrigerator light comes on and he does
five minutes.<g> If you encourage an actor to improvise,
you may be creating a studio monster. Even worse, if you are
not careful, you can fall in love with an improvised bit that
actually compromises the character development.
Stand up comics can be the worst.
They tend to be one-man bands. Acting is reacting. Many comics
do not even know how to listen! They are into working the
crowd (or the control booth), timing, that kind of thing.
Yes, you can get a lot of good stuff out of that in terms
of reference; I'm only advising that you not get too swept
up in it.
The world of feature animation
seems particularly ripe for the insertion of gags, maybe because
they have the screen time to do it, and there is nothing wrong
with that just as long as the gags are in character and advance
the story. The best bet is to follow the lead of Charlie Chaplin,
a master gagster if there ever was one. He never ever created
a gag just for a gag's sake. His gags were 100 percent in
character and in the spirit of the situation.
One more thing about
actors in a recording session: What they are physically doing
in front of the microphone may not be what they would do if
they were shooting a live action movie. If you are taping
them for video reference, you may be referencing behavior
that is not really correct. For one thing, the actor must
stay in front of the microphone. On stage or in a live-action
movie, they don't have to worry about that kind of thing.
Second, voice actors for animation often work alone in the
studio. This is a very different dynamic than they would have
if the whole cast was gathered around the mike. So, yes, by
all means, go ahead and reference the gestures and general
facial expressions, but keep in mind that the performers are
adjusting for the realities of the recording studio.
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CRAFT NOTES, PART TWO
Reuters reported on June 3rd that Michael Eisner, at a securities
representatives meeting, said this: "The 2D business
is coming to an end, just like black and white came to an
end."
The issue is story,
story, story, Mister Eisner - not 2D, 2D, 2D. You are wrong.
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