If you do not have any idea about this great book following are some of its details: The very essential problem animation students face is how to work exactly. I mean, where to start, then what next, then what next ?? Pool of question raises into our minds. All we miss is working with a good animator & their workflow in animation.

Animation Insiders Book we are now talking about is all about workflow. When they first released the book they have launched two free chapters which were Workflow of Pablo Navarro & Mike Nguyen.

They have compiled workflow of 15 different great Animators in this book, so that we can study with them how they approaches any shot. And this workflow is great help for us to make our own workflow in Animation.

As Stated on the site following is the description about this book. “Animation Insiders is a book dedicated to animation. AI book #1 is a compilation of know-how, experience and anecdotes from 13 talented animators. Animation Insiders is aimed at people who are passionate about animation, those who are looking to surpass their limits and acquire new techniques. Every book of this amazing series will explores a new theme. ”

This Book is featuring following 15 Awesome Animators :

• Victor Navone
• Jason Ryan
• Jason Martinsen
• Jason Schleifer
• Pablo Navarro
• Anthea Kerou
• Mike Nguyen
• Pedro Blumenbaum
• Ana Maria Alvarrado
• Matt Strangio
• Emilio Ghorayeb
• Gabriele Pennacchioli
• Reno Armanet
• Andrew Gordon

So Do not wait at all guys & grab this awesome opportunity to Download Animation Insiders Book For Free

Click Here To Visit The Official Animation Insiders Blog & Download The Book

And very few of them get recruited at the dream animation studios like Dreamworks & Pixar. It is very hard to find ‘How things work in animation ? – Workflow, Approach, Posing, tools and much more…’

We have a very special guest today for you – Mr. Alexis Wanneroy, who is a lead animator at Dreamworks Animation & he has answered us very awesome question through this exclusive interview, about which all animation students are curious about.

Alexis is from France & Graduate of Gobelins School in 2003. He has worked on Dreamworks Blockbuster movies like How to Train Your Dragon, Kung Fu Panda, Flushed Away & Bee Movie.

He is appearing online for the first time & Its pleasure of our team & website Bramhaa that he has answered every question we have asked for & helped all the students who wish to know more about Professional Animation Workflow.

More about Alexis in his own words & his Career in Animation…

Q. `How did the Journey begin for your Career in Animation? What inspired you to choose the Career?

I was in school studying industrial Design but I kept drawing characters and I wanted to do comics book.
And I went to the Gobelins open school day, where I was blown away by the work of animation and quality of the school …

I decided then that it was what I wanted to do .

Q. What is the one thing that really made huge difference in your Career path? I mean the thing you
think helped a lot for making it to your dream job (habit, skill, belief )

It’s clearly the support of my family at that time.
Before going to Gobelins school I was working at BUF compagnie ( matrix, fight club…)and I was not sure if I should go to Gobelins or not since I was lucky enough to work for a such well renown VFX company.
I wanted to push my animation skills further and I knew the Gobelins school was the right place for that.

Every year there is a jury at Gobelins with some professional from very important studios. One of them is Shelley Page, she is the one that recruited me after school to work at Dreamworks animation.
Gobelins school helped me develop my skills to a point where one of the biggest animation studio would be interested in hiring me.

Q. What are the most important things about Character Animation you learned at Gobelins

At Gobelins we have very good teachers. each of them with a different  professional background and approach.
I guess it’s the diversity of the teachers at Gobelins that makes us learn about all the animation principle like spacing arcs, etc. But also it helps the students to actually find their own way of approaching animation and develop their own style.

Q. How did you approach for your first Job and What would you like to say about it? Was it exactly
like you expected or some surprises? What you important things you learned on that Job?

My first job after school was a character animator on Valiant , an animated movie about pigeons during world war II. The atmosphere was really cool because the studio was new, the artists were coming from all around the world, there was this great energy around ideas and creativity which was really motivating.
I thought i was going to be a junior animator and would have just regular shots, but it turned out that my work seams to be appreciated and I was given some good shot to animate.

I learned how big studios worked, with all the departments being dependent of one another, and how teamwork can make an animation feature film possible.

I also learned how freezing London can be during winter time

Q. Can you tell us typical day at DreamWorks

“I usually arrive at 8 and take my breakfast over there, That’s a good way to start a day having your coffee with your coworkers and being able to discuss the different projects in a really relaxed atmosphere, The campus is gorgeous and I think it’s one of the best place in the world to work for.
Usually at 9 we have dailies, it’s where animators show their work to the director to be approved, it’s a really good opportunity to see and be inspired by the work of others but also to ear the comments peoples have to say about your shots is very constructive and help you to adjust your regard on your own work..
After I work until lunch, it’s either I animate or have meetings with other departments concerning the sequences I’m working on, sometimes we’re shooting our own references to help us visualize actions on the shots we’re working.

At 12 it’s lunch time, We are a bunch of Gobelins people at Dreamworks and we usually like to have lunch together. And after that I animate the all afternoon, sometimes I take a break for a coffee or a foosball game etc…

before I go back home I show to some of my coworkers my work to have their opinion, it’s a great way to have a fresh eye on the morning with their comments in mind.
finally at 7, I leave to go back to my family.”

Q. Who do you think as of your Mentor in Animation? Why?

I would say it’s Kyle Balda, he was one of my teachers at Gobelins,  he really changed my way of animating, and even since then my way of working have changed a lot and matured, I still think he made me go though one of the biggest step I took.

Q .What are the projects you are currently working on and worked on?

Now I am working on Guardians, the movie is released in November 2012 so now it’s character development work, it’s my first time being so early on a project so it’s very exciting.
Before that I worked on Flushed Away, Bee Movie, Kung Fu Panda and How To Train Your Dragon

Q. Where can we see your Demo or character animation Reel?

You can see it on my Vimeo page at: http://vimeo.com/16314825

Q. At Gobelins , they have Started CG course for Animation recently, so were you doing Classical
Animation or CG ?

I was in the First class at Gobelins to do CG course. I never had the chance to study Classical animation and It’s still something I regret…

Q. Can you describe shortly how you got into Dreamworks ?

Every year in Gobelins there is a jury at the end of the year. They give you notes on your exercises that you did during the year and also notes on your graduation movie.
I finished first of my class and the recruiter for Dreamworks was there. I told her after the graduation that I would love to work for Dreamworks and 2 years later she called me back saying that they had openings!!!

3 month after this phone call I was working there

Q. How was the experience while working with Chris and Dean for How to Train Your Dragon?

They are for me the Best directors I have worked with. They have a sense of animation like no other and they really know how to direct animators. “They always think of the story before everything else.”

Q. What is a scope for animator for animating a sequence? In what way it is preplanned & where is
freedom where you can make changes.

This all depends on the directors some will let you have a lot more freedom and bring your own idea.
For that it’s always during the launch of a sequence that you can speak about your ideas for your specific shots or for the sequence.
That was really the case on dragons!!! to me, part of being a good director is also to know when to trust your artists.

Q. While Animating Dragons, Each and every dragon has its different own mannerism, how did you
plan or reference for their motions? Did you have rules like Toothless has mannerism of Cat and Dog
something like that?

For each Dragons we took reference from ‘Real Animals’ :

Toothless reference were mainly the cat and bat for the motion of his wing
The Nadder was a mix of a parrot and a t-rex.
The Nightmares took also from bat and snake.
and the Gronkle was more from hummingbird and bumblebee.
All this was done before the movie started and some animators were character lead on those dragons making sure they moved according to their anatomy and reference

Q. From student to the professional animator, in this journey, what one thing that pushed your work really further, the thing you never considered in the Student Stage, but clicked while working on
actual projects?

‘Video reference’
Use video reference as much as you  can !!!!
It really has to be used a certain way I think, for example never animate the movement you do while you film yourself make it as real as possible
and then when you use the reference push everything while animating.

Following is something we think, as the most important part every student should read about is – Experience of Alexis’s in Animation & Overall Workflow animation.(  It is hardly known to students how professional animator approaches a Shot )

Q. How will you describe difference between Good Animator and Great Animator?

A good animator always does what he’s been asked when a great animator always try to push stuff further, comes with new ideas and good acting choices
I would say that a good animator is a  skilled craftsman while a great animator is a real artist.

Q. How do you think of Weight, where it’s coming from and where its going to? I mean do you think
of it on every Golden Pose, Extreme or Breakdowns. Your show reel has shots where character
is dealing with weight , resistance with something for ex Dad dragging Hiccup or Fishleg holding
bucket ,or the last shot where hanging opening the door knob etc and characters are also talking ,
so how do you execute the Weight properly?

Weight is a tricky thing to achieve in animation, I tried to study it a lot by using video reference, For all those shots I actually used references

Q. How do you usually plan for Shots? Thumbnails, Reference, Acting out, Do you use any planning
software like Flipbook or Pencil for initial blocking?

I usually think about my shot for a day or two before starting any video references or thumbnails.
Thinking about the beat of the acting and what’s the character thinking at that moment is the most important thing
Every gesture, Every attitude needs to have a purpose. After I do video references and record lots of takes before finding the right one. Also, I like to use the lipstick cam. lipstick cam is when they record the voices of the artists they film it so we can use them as a references

Q. How do you break out of the cliché’s in Animation, especially Hand Gestures?

To me that was the hardest part… I think it comes with the habit of analyzing & acting. The problem is in school we are taught of basics principles of animation, but after I think it’s good to distance yourself from it. Because principles will just makes things move without a purpose where reference study will actually determine why the body moves like that and the purpose behind it.

Q . While posing character specially for Golden Poses what things you consider Line of action, Force,Weight, Center of attraction, silhouette?

I start by using my reference and then actually think of my poses as drawings. I try to push them to make them really appealing. Sometimes I draw over my cg poses to push up the dynamic or attitudes of it and then match the cg to the drawing

Q .What you usually do when you struggle for any Shot?

I usually go back and reshoot reference because when there is something wrong with a shot I find it easier to redo a shot than to struggle fixing something that is not working

Q. What’s your animation checklist? (Contrast, Overlap, etc)

I really try to avoid that !!!
I’ve been taught in school to do that , but I really think it came to different step of animation. I start with reference , I study the reference start animating, I then use my poses, then push my timings a bit, then I polish my curves and then I make nice arc and spacing.

I don’t do overlap, I don’t do breakdowns etc. I try to study what does the body do and why and if there is overlap it’s because there is a reason behind it.

Q. The exact steps while approaching any shot, so that one can model the steps, more of re-
engineering the syntax and the tiny things that make huge difference in workflow

1- Think about your shot and the purpose of the character in that shot, never rush into animating .
2- Shoot video reference the more natural you can. Do a lot of takes so you can choose the best afterward. You can also do thumbnail as a base for your video reference.
3- Study what’s moving and why. Try to stay true to the video reference.
4- Push your poses and make them appealing.
5-Push your timings
6-Start cleaning your curves and start from your body and go up the hierarchy( body, spine, neck, head etc…)
7- look at your arcs, and spacings, polish all your little details like fingers etc…

Q. As an Animator what skills one must develop in early stages?

‘The study of movements’

I look at people in the street and I can recognize someone that i know just by the way he walk or behave.

It’s very important to study the movements everywhere.

Q. Today, there are now awesome online schools like Animation Mentor and iAnimate , but for the
guys who cant afford good mentors and guidance , How should they learn and approach for their
dream job? What should be their initial milestones?

There is some very good and free tutorials online, some good rigs too, then observe, analyze, shot references and study them. I know you can learn a lot from yourself already

Q. You must have gone through many Show Reels: What kind of shots one Must include in the Show
Reel according to you?

Always start with your best work, big companies received tons of reels and the 10 first seconds are the ones which will make them decide to look further or not.
as an animator the most important thing to show is acting, but also physical shots.

Q. What was the most crucial advice you ever got in your Animation Career?

On dragon, my supervisor, Jakob Jensen is the one who showed me how to use correctly video references, and it changed completely my way of looking at it

Q. Do you see any common mistake in student show reels or Poor animation?

For me a lot of time it seemed like it’s overanimated to hide the lack of acting choices or proper weight etc…

Q. We always got asked this Question on our blog, but we think the answer from you will be crucial
How much the Degree (graduation) has importance while getting job in Animation Industry?

Sure it can help, especially when you’ve got no experience and no concrete showreel at the beginning, it can help to open some doors, but in the end it’s doesn’t really, your talent only is going to give you openings to the “good” jobs, but even if this industry it’s your talent which count, degrees are a very important thing to have when it comes to visa applications to work abroad.

Q. What you do consistently for staying Fresh, Creative, Passionate ?

I do some personal work like filming or editing.

Q. What’s the coolest thing in being an Animator?

Giving life

Q. What’s your favorite Character and Shot you worked on?

Fishleg for character and the shot of stoick screaming at his son.

Q. What’s your favorite scene from animated movie?

The whole sequence in Tangled when she meet the horse for the first time
I saw that sequence three weeks ago and I was blown away by the animation.

Q. How do you maintain balance between Job and Health/Fitness?

LOL … I don’t

Q. Are you mentoring students now? Do you have any future plans for AM or iAnimate? or any DVD
Training Program or Book ?

I would love to actually mentor students from Animation Mentor or iAanimate but I am not allowed to because of my visa .

Q. What was the most challenging shot you ever worked on?

It’s the last shot of HTTYD where all the kids and all the dragons are in the shot.
To animate all of them was very long and very hard to choreograph.

Q. You enjoy at home when you are not animating?

My family is my life

We hope you find this Interview very very valuable because its not something like you can find every day. Its years of Experience of  Passion, Knowledge, Hardwork & Struggle in Animation.We are very thankful of him for taking time for this interview&  for helping students.

Here is the link to Alexis Character Animation Reel Video where you can see more of his work : http://vimeo.com/16314825

We would like to here comments from you or any question you have regarding animation or career in animation you can reach us by commenting below.

Last month , I was blown away when I got my first EVER Spiderman comic  Marvel Adventures Spiderman.

The chapter was The sinister Six … Its when Doctor Octopus breaks out with other 5 deadly villains , to hunt Spidy and when Spidy have lost his powers .. Awesome ..

Half of the time Peter spends talking with him and his cool jokes ..  like while Saving kid from huge Robots , “ Hey kid , didn’t your mom told you to not to play with giant robots!!”

Anyway I come to the point ..

Its actually 8 months ago , Spiderman comic series has been launched in India. And 8 issues are already in market ..

And I’m really grateful to KIDS INDIA ANIMATION , for bringing Spidy in our life ..

WHY TO BUY

It has Spiderman in it !!!

I don’t know about you , but it was first time in my entire life , I have Got Spiderman comics !!!

The quality of paper used is the best.  The cover of each comic is attractive.

And its price is just 30 Rs. (Sometimes 35 when we get 2 comics in one issue )

You can fill out the form and get yearly subscription for just  420 Rs.

And also you can order any previous desired issues too

WHERE TO BUY :

Just walk outside , go to your closest newspapers stand Spidy is waiting for you!  Say Hi from me ..

This months comic issue includes 2 comic stories for just 35 Rs. (Cost of  your one burger)

If you don’t get at closest newspaper stand , go to the biggest  newspaper and magazine shop.

Lets hope , Kids India Animation will bring Transformers , X men , Batman , Tintin , Ironman , Fantastic four and all our favorite comics .. J

For more info check out their web

Click here

www.spacetoonindia.com

I would have love to show you some snapshots of  comics , so that you cant wait  to buy the comics , they are awesome , I just don’t have my camera with me , but I will definitely upload in few days…

“We are committed to CANI! ” click here

To get latest news , professional interviews, articles , works of professionals , free online webinars ,podcasts ,job openings, upcoming movies , games , inspirational videos,inspirational articles and so much.

Join Bramhaa Animation Blog facebook page

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For all Animation Story Writing Articles and their brief details Click Here

Mahesh

CG Swot is holding a series of CG Masters Free Webinars , where industry professionals will be interviewed and in these live , in-depth interviews , we all will get chance to ask questions directly to these professionals in interactive Q+A session ..

This series includes live interviews with following professionals

1. 7th May 2010 – DJ Nicke

DJ Nicke is a former Disney Animator, and is now the leading Instructor for Animation Salvation, able to not only teach, but inspire.

2.  13th May 2010 – Topher Welsh

Topher Welsh is one of the most renowned Commentators and Bloggers of the CG arena. His articles and blogs are read by millions of VFX and CG operators from countries all over the globe…

3. 14th May 2010 – Creator of Animation Salvation

Live webinar interview with creator of the Animation Salvation’s online community AnimationSalvation.com has set out to bring traditional animation studio training to every animator everywhere!

4. 20th May 2010 – Allan McKay

Allan McKay is an award winning Visual Effects Supervisor and Director, originating from the Gold Coast of Australia, now living and working in California in the United States.

5. 21st May 2010 – Dave Scotland

Dave Scotland has over 12 years of CG production knowledge and experience, working for some of the biggest clients in the entertainment industry including, Disney, Warner Bros. and Plastic Wax, just to name a few.

6.  27th May 2010 – Floriano Gerardi

Floriano Gerardi is a veteran Concept, Character and Storyboard artist

Don’t miss out this Free, Live, In-depth interview series with industry professionals and Remember that  there are limited seats available and only live attendees will have the opportunity to ask questions in a live, interactive Q+A session…

So hurry .. clock is ticking ..

Click here for all the details and registration for each webinar  …

AND DON’T FORGET TO SAY THANKS TO GUYS of  CG Swot for holding such outstanding series of free webinars …

To get latest news , professional interviews, articles , works of professionals , free online webinars ,podcasts ,job openings, upcoming movies , games , inspirational videos,inspirational articles and so much

Join Bramhaa Animation Blog facebook page

Click Here to Join

“We are committed to CANI! ” click here

Until now we have explored almost all four elements of Set-up before I discuss Character relationships in How to train your Dragon, I want to share small concept of Dynamic Relationships ..

Two types of relationships exist between characters

1. Static Relationships
2. Dynamic Relationships

Static relationships are which do not change throughout the story like Friend , father, mother, boss, neighbor, enemy, brother and there is no development of relationship ,

i.e. from the start of the  story  until the end the perception of each other for each other remains same

And most important and awesome are Dynamic Relationships in story.. and it exist at that moment of story for example ..

When Woody is talking  to Buzz at first he meets him ,

Dynamic relationship

Woody –> Buzz :  Woody thinks Buzz is Andy’s new toy and must be welcomed

Buzz-> Woody : He is on different planet and Woody is some kind of local police authority

So when they are talking they have this mutual different perception of each other

And at the next moment , when all toys are impressed by Buzz

Dynamic Relationship (in next 40 seconds after meet )

Woody -> Buzz :  Now for him Buzz is threat and plus he thinks Buzz as stupid toy

Buzz ->Woody : Its still the same

As movie progresses the dynamic relationship changes continuously ..

It depends on the story how the relationship exist Static and Dynamic , story has both relationships!

But most important moments of story are when Dynamic Relationship changes between characters .. the most emotional scenes in story have awesome and major Dynamic relationship change ..

For example in “Bolt”, where Rhino convinces Bolt that why he should save Mittens , or in Cars where McQueen realizes that Doc was a famous race car. . .or in Up where for the first time Carl sees the complete adventure book his loving of wife and that moment his dynamic relationship changes with Dug, Russell(before it was “I’m stuck with you”), Kavin

The Dynamic relationships helps us to like , relate , hate , understand , love the characters in story , if there aren’t Dynamic relationships , it will be like putting together one dimensional robotic characters, who belong to different story and brought together , and forced to interact with each other..

Watch bad boring movies you will notice the difference ..

Now lets see

the Dynamic Relationships in “How to train your dragon” ,

1. Hicup<-> His father
2. Hicup<-> Toothless
3. Hicup <-> Astrid (for Astrid from Looser to the first Right Viking in 300 years)
4. Toothless<->Astrid
5. Toothless <-> Father (from hate to thank you for saving my son)
6. Hicup <-> Gobler
7. Hicup <-> friends

1. Hicup<-> His father

Every father has expectations from his son , and every son wants to fulfil them , sometimes both succeed majorly, sometimes not , its like everybody’s story .. right there we relate to this son – father relationship..

At start of Set Up we see , that father think of him as weak son and needs to be protected , we can see the desperate need of Hicup to fulfil the expectations , he thinks of his father as strongest person out there and we literally can feel the emotional distance between both , they are emotionally far away from each other ..

When in middle , where Hicup is doing good in school and Father comes back from trip and talks to him .. how he appreciate his progress in school ..

That was amazing scene , both are struggling to talk with each other

And this relationship undergoes through changes until the end , from protective father ,screaming ,”stay away ” to happy and satisfied father , laughing and encouraging , “you gave your best shot “

Another awesome Dynamic Relationship is

2. Hicup and Toothless

From strangers to best friends , when Hicup first touches Toothless  , that scene was amazing , really touchy , it starts special relationship that ever existed in their world ..

This is the best pair of friends I have ever seen , so many emotional scenes are there ..

When they learn to fly , when they play , when Toothless comes to help Hicup , when Hicup jumps in water for Toothless and last 2 minutes of movie are so emotional and portraying the uniqueness and outstanding friendship, love  we have never ever seen in any Animated movie ..

I mean I can go on and on about their Relationship its so innocent and beautiful.

And the rest of the Dynamic relationships are assignments for you.. I will discuss that when we will be studying Dynamic Relationships in  Character Series , we will plot the graph and see dynamic relationship changing along with progression of sequences in story

Though its story of ordinary guy , who fights and wins in the end , but on broader level it contains really awesome message , it shows the difference in the perception of countries or cultures may be totally wrong for what they are fighting from many years , without knowing exact wants and needs of each other and when we really understand each other together we can really make world better and most beautiful, peaceful and happy place like heaven !!”

This is one of the emotional reasons we all can relate to the story.

The conflict is really big enough and the obstacles for Hicup are planted really well. The intensity of conflict increases gradually and at one point it seems impossible for Hicup to overcome.

We haven’t learned about Resolution, still , the story has the best Resolution. (we will see about that in upcoming articles of story writing )

Lets see the Intensity of conflict using the Pyramid of transformation for Hicup, like every awesome movie “How to train your dragon”  have awesome Pyramid of Transformation for main character/s

5.Environment

It changes he is in school , he has new friend Toothless ,

4. Does/Do

What he usually do doesn’t work , he still trying to figure out some way, until  Astrid meets Toothless and freaks out

3. Capability

Somehow he convinces Astrid the truth but he realise he doesn’t have capability to convince others

2.Belief / Values

But he believes that if in the final exam he proved in front all that the truth about dragons by actual performing practically , everything will be perfect , and he drops

His weapon  , father freaks out , dragon gets more angry

1. SPIRITUAL
   

When toothless is gone , he realises whatever he believed didn’t work , father is upset , everything is falling apart ..

He sees toothless going and father on final impossible battle , knowing both might not come back again .. he is helpless ..  he thinks he made huge mistake at first not killing the dragon … which he could have..

And then he answers the Question .. Why didn’t he kill the Toothless ..

At that moment he taps into his spirituality .. and says , “ I looked at him , I saw myself “

Suddenly he transforms ..

2. Belief-Values :

His belief changes , suddenly he realises there is something more

3. Capabilty : He realizes the his true capability of his team and dragons

4.Do: What he does is outstanding , train all to ride dragons

5.Environment : Environment radically changes , in fact all his world Changes which we see in last one minute ..

Similarly you can find Pyramid of Transformation for  Hicup’s Father,

I give you a hint he reaches his Spiritual Level , when he saw  his son jumps in water to save Toothless ..

So in this way we have explored many Aspects of “How to train your dragon “using the Animation Story writing tools we have learned until now . I have left some assignments please do that they will help you a lot..

And the last thing, I think there could have been even more crucial role of Astrid .. so just think this way if you have to make Astrid as more memorable character and more important character , what things you have done in story without changing the essence of the story and emotions that portrays story.

Here I’m saying bye .. see you soon with more exciting Animation Story Writing Articles

Mahesh

For all Animation Story Writing Articles and their brief details Click Here

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For some scenes we were on the edges of our seats, for some scenes we were so lost in the emotions , we looked at each other and said , “wow!! That’s amazing ..” and for some scenes we just looked at each other and our eyes were saying, “ this is the one of the best emotional scene i have ever seen”

Lets explore its story structure with tools we have learned in our Story Writing classes ..

Here is link where you can read about the terms i’m going to use ,so that you will get even more understanding of structure

Click here

The Most appealing things in story

1. “Toothless” : the best ever character created  in Dreamworks (i liked him even more than Poo)
2. Ordinary but yet extraordinary character Hicup (He is not appealing in appearance at first and  that’s what made him special as perfect character for story)
3. All The Dragon characters(The mighty beast is incredible)
4. The dynamic relationships between characters(specially Hicup and Toothless , Hicup and Father)
5. The progression of story
6. Some really emotional scenes  ( best ever created in Dreamworks,  reminded me of Spirit)
7. Obviously  awesome Set-Up
8. Dragon Rides
9. Cinematography is awesome

Let’s Start with the Set-Up

So we have learned that Set-Up has 5 essential things which grows and progress through the movie and planted in the

Set-Up in How to Train Your Dragon

They are

1. World
2. Rules
3. Characters
4. Character Relationships
5. Motivation And Goals

1 .2. World & Rules

The world in “How to train your dragons” is NEW ..

John Lasseter , once said that , one of the most incredible thing about Animation is that we can create any new world and not just that but we can make audience believe that this world actually exists .. (Thats why there are Pixar’s  Toy’s World, Bug’s World, Monster’s World , Fish’s World, Car’s World, Superheroe’s World …..i mean from the day I have watched Cars, in real life I still see Cars talking to each other all the time, Don’t you?)

One of the most important ingredient in Animation Story is that Exploring New worlds , instead of using already explored worlds ,  Dreamworks have created whole new,amazing and unseen world ..Which has Dragons and Humans, who are having daily battles of life and death ..

So as we know, when we create new world , we must need to educate audience about that new world and showing them that , its the similar world as they have , but somewhat different, still have same emotional needs and emotional challenges , what kind of world it is what challenges they have , how they live , what are the beliefs in the world ?

And what are the RULES of the world

The SET- UP is so perfect that it plants so many things skilfully

As the story starts ,We see dangerous battlefield on fire , mighty dragons and mighty warriors , Hicup tells about his World , its Rules and about characters in few minutes, what are their wants , what are his wants ..

As always for any story its always awesome when Character learns all the Rules , backstories and beliefs about the world in Set-Up..

And in this Hicup joins the school where he learns more about dragons , that’s perfect for us as we learn about the World even more.

Do you remember my article on Rules, where i discussed that sometimes story has some Rules already Set for the World and at the end the Protagonist Removes(changes) that rule/s and story World also changes at the end (Like A Bug’s Life) , click here for Rules article.

“How to train your dragon” also falls in that category

1. There are already set Rules for Dragons (His training)
2. Hicup studies the Rules(training,book) , and during the Set-up he realises  the exact truth in all the Rules Set in their world(His friendship with Toothless, his ride to the nest)
3. Finally fights and changes the perception of everyone (The world Changes Completely at the End)

The best supporting thing for Set-up in “How to train your dragon” is

We learn so much about dragons and their world when Hicup is being trained in School ..As I discussed in articles Its always best when Lead Character starts learning about the world , Lion king, Bambi , Dumbo, Spirit, ..(like in Avatar , the protagonist learns about the new World “Pandora”)

This way the story also progresses and we learn so much along the way ..

Sometimes there is risk in learning process of Character, it may feel boring and story is going nowhere , But In “How to train your Dragon” , the momentum of story is keep increasing , it has really nice progression ,not even for second we feel like story is going nowhere ..

You must see how they have maintained the balance between Learning process in school and with his(Hicup) friend Toothless , progression of his dynamic relationship with Toothless and with his father and Story’s momentum and progression ..

5 . Motivation And Goals

As the story starts  , we realize the Motivation and Goal of Hicup’s father , we also realize the Motivation and Goal of Hicup and along the way we realize about Astrid and all guys ..

The motivation and Goals are clearly shown , that’s what is really important for any story ,

What are character’s wants?

Why they want, what they want?

And What they actually Need?

See stories are all about filling the Gap between Wants and Needs , I read somewhere before , “You  might not get what you Want , but you may get what you Need !!”

In all his world Hicup is alone , emotionally far away from his father, though he says he have to kill the dragon , may be he will get girl friend and he will get recognized .. (Want)

Unconsciously he wants to get close to his father, he doesn’t have mother to understand and comfort him, saying ,”Hicup , you are different and you know what you are special , there must be GOD’s some purpose that you are not able to hunt dragons..”

When he meet Toothless, he get chance to be close to someone and at the end he really gets close emotionally  to his father , and even more close to Toothless (the why behind that we realize in last 3 minutes of story )

3. Characters

One of the best thing for any story is having perfect character, its like you will never able to separate him from his story (physically and emotionally).

We need appealing main characters its not always true,  We need characters which story needs .. We need the perfect character which will tell the story best possible way so that Audience will feel all the emotions, the story wants to experience them.

Hicup

One of the part is appearance of Character ..

The Story of  “How to train your dragon?”, is of really ordinary guy but unique in some way.

That’s why Hicup is perfect character for story , he looks really ordinary and not some special appealing hero ..

But he thinks differently , he has good sense of humor, He understands the emotions of people, he is LEFT handed kid, who have ingenious mind , he is constructive in his approach, he is curious to know why behind the things,

He is ordinary guy yet unique, and totally different from every Viking that ever existed in his world

Toothless

The most appealing character created in Dreamworks until now, his big eyes, sometimes he behave like a dog and sometimes like a cat , and his awesome wings , and the way he moves and flies is incredible , his quickness in movement  and his innocence… He doesn’t talk but we want to say ,“will you please at least say a word..please.. “

The moment you see him, you definitely relate to him (I showed the poster of toothless to my 1 and half year niece and she loved it )

How to Train Your Dragon : Gobber and Hicup's Father

Hicup’s father

His concern for his world , his caring for son , he is also awesome character , his motivation and Goal is really clear , he has clear vision for his world , he knows his strength .. he is also character that any father can relate to , it‘s really awesome to see strongest father and his caring for his son , his protectiveness towards him.

Gobber

He is amazing character , you definitely remember him. He is best friend of Hicup’s father , and he also cares for Hicup. He is funny and unique character out there, you also relate to him and recognize him..(I mean everyone has(wishes to have) uncle like that who tells  stories of dragons at night .. ha ha..)

While we are exploring about the Set-Up and its elements , I just realized that article have become bigger so I think I should chunk it down , in this chunk we have seen the elements how they are used in , “how to train your dragon?”

So just refresh your eyes , may be you want to stand up and stretch arms , come on move little bit and if you are not moving , at least change the breathing pattern, take a deep breath and start now ..

Now let’s see how the audience is got emotionally involved in the story .. click here ..

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First of all a thousand apologies to all the readers because this article has taken so much time to publish, seriously guys.. If I could bake cookies for you , I would;  as an apology, and also I thank the team for their infinite faith, patience and strength. I mean it.

Let’s start from where we left and I hope you have not given up practice yet!

In the previous tutorial we covered the basics for one point perspective, and scribbling… once you start with these things, you are not supposed to stop and move on to another, you do this plus the next thing together and so on…

On special requests, here is the part II of the tutorial that may help you to delve deeper into one point perspective…

There are two basic things that I want to cover in this tutorial, assuming that you have followed the first tutorial, I continue into-

1. Advanced details in one point perspective
2. A character in one point perspective

so we begin with where we left in the part I

a Block.

Perspective : The way an object appears to change it’s shape in accordance to our position to it
for example, this block

the same block as we [the viewer] change the position

One point perspective is used for objects that are directly facing the viewer, objects that consist of lines either parallel with the viewer’s line of sight or directly perpendicular can be represented by one point perspective.

when we are supposed to draw a character, adding perspective can add a hell

lot of realism to your character..  like adding it in the props or eyes or in the face, something like this:

Imagine a 3d block around the character that you are about to draw…a line passing through the vanishing point and the ”breadth” or the width of the object will act as a guide line for your character’s features [eyes, nose, ears, mouth etc] , and props.

Not only you can add perspective to scenery and images but it can also be added to a character’s eyes, nose, facial features as well as the props in this case, mostly the glasses…

Comment from Shailesh : ” I still feel coraline should have won.”

I thought there must be so many reasons that , Up is the second Animated Film to be get nominated. Here are some things i have thought that made UP so special ..

Here is my reply ..

Hey Shailesh,

If You see this way , you might feel different ,
We love animation so we think everybody loves animation but its not true ..

have you seen any Adult like 50 years old buying ticket for him and his wife , or 70 year grandpa buying ticket for him and his friend who is also 70 or 72 year old ,and all those are not buying tickets for their kids or grand children but for themselves .. ?

For Up those(the audience of age more than 30 ) not also bought the tickets , but loved it so much, Up is gentle beautiful story , which touches emotions so deeply , they enjoyed it same as kids ..

There is really awesome thing about Pixar , You must have seen Finding Nemo , the parents enjoyed it so much , i mean yeah kids loved it too .. But in theaters Parents hug their children and had tears in their eyes ..

Its my dad’s most favorite movie .. though he dont watch animated movies much ..

This time for Up the audience is of all ages,
Can you imagine , all ages !!!!! (its every film makers dream)

While making movies the Audience domain is always decided , for some special shows , they see the response on particular age domain . They organize show only for particular age before actual release

And you know we need Animated movies to show those all who have perception that the Animated films are for just kids ,and change that perception!

I guess the percentage of people who think animation is for Kids is way more than those who love..

Look at India .. i had 90% class(in engineering) who think animated movies are only for kids

People are not ready India, there is hardly an attempt to make movies beyond our culture and Gods.

Up have produced Ground Breaking Result anyone can imagine .. it has shown that its not just for kids, its for all !!
This was Walt Disney’s Vision.

Pete got letter from old widow , saying she missed her partner so much , thank you so much for such amazing experience..
I mean how often does that happen for Animated films.

I have read Disney Animation Illusion of life (i have to read again and again if possible 1000 times ), because of that or what i dont know but i felt incredible while watching movie , its like Walt Disney and all those old guys of Disney are clapping and saying… Yeah this is it , this is why we were working to make this happen , to make all kind of audience to feel the deep emotions and joy , through An animated film!!

That’s why Up was nominated for the Best Feature in Oscar .

On the other hand , Coraline is truly unconventional , really awesome and also it can have limited age group as audience.
(i was scared for some scenes..)

And i loved it so much , and i think its a must watch movie for Any Indian film maker who want to make Animated movies so that they can see beyond
Our culture, GODS, regions,religions, typical love and war , conventional thinking..

And you know most amazing thing ,
all in Pixar dont decide any age group or what ,
they say we make movies for ourselves , we make what we will love to see on screen . We never remember that we had such discussion where somebody is saying , “oh no no , lets just keep this aside its too adult or its only for kids”

Coraline , Avatar , and Up are saying the same thing to all film makers ,
“WE DONT KNOW ABOUT YOU, BUT WE HAVE RAISED THE BAR OF EXPECTATION OF AUDIENCE SO MUCH HIGHER THAN EVER BEFORE..”

Oops i just realized that , my comment has become bigger than my article ..

Mahesh

(In “Up” , Carl goes through Pyramid of trasformation for that read this  CLICK HERE)

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Guys ,

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Before reading this you must read the previous article if you haven’t Click here

Well come back guys , few minutes ago we learned ,

1. Intensity of Conflict depends on Character and it works on two levels Physical and Emotional
2. We learned the Basic Loop of Change, at every iteration intensity increases
3. Intensity of Conflict is directly proportional to the Urgency to solve the Conflict
4. Comfort Zone of Character
5. Three Golden Rules for Decision making (Focus-Meaning-Action)

Now we are going to learn the core important tool, when you will learn this, you will notice it in every best movie and you will also able to apply in your story too.

Imagine a pyramid , its Pyramid of Transformation

5. Environment/Atmosphere (Top of Pyramid)

4. Do

3. Capability

2. Belief-Values

1. Spiritual (Bottom of Pyramid)

During following process , at each level he is asking The Three Golden Questions consistently.

5. Environment

So when change Occurs character tries to create The familiar Environment, which he has in his Comfort Zone,

He says to himself, “okay, its change , but if I create my usual Environment , it will be alright”

He will try to behave as if its normal , but guess what it doesn’t work ..

4. Do

So he will say to himself, “ okay , I can’t create the Environment but I know what I can do”

So he will do what he usually do in such situation ,

Guess what , this  also wont work.

3. Capability

He will say to himself, “What I usually do its not working , but I know what I’m capable of , I can do this , I can turn this around!!”

He tries hard , to make it work.

But it doesn’t work ,life is not that easy ,

Now his morale is getting down , he still don’t want to give up 

2. Belief-Values

He says to himself, “ now what I do, is not working, my capability is not working , but I believe that someone else have turn around this or I believe if I do this other way and don’t give up it will definitely work out”

He have some references in past , or from he seen somewhere , and he has belief system so he thinks he kept moving forward in this new way it will work out , but again it doesn’t.

1. Spiritual

Now its crisis,

He says to himself, “oh lord , everything is falling apart , my capability , beliefs aren’t working , what should I do!”

He is calm , he is now empty vessel.

At this Spiritual level , it doesn’t mean just God , it can be Nature , or even the character himself .

The spiritual is the part that has immense potential , those are beliefs too but they have no references , no supporting legs.

Like if I ask you , is there God and you have your own concept of GOD , its true for you , even you don’t have real references to back that idea up, but deep down we believe there is one energy behind every living thing.

Same applies to the beliefs about the character himself, which is his identity

And when the character is  in this Spiritual level , thinking about problem in totally different perspective, he taps into Great deep unimaginable potential inside. He discovers new energy within.

And now he step through all levels again , but he has transformed

His beliefs change , his values change

He realize his true capability

Now  what he does  is special

Now he have created new Environment for himself

And finally he Solves the Conflict ,

His Comfort zone gets expanded.  He becomes bigger than his problems.

See when I was going down the pyramid from Environment  to Spiritual,

The intensity of Conflict was increasing .

Finally at last level he transforms , steps up in each level and finally conquers that Conflict

That’s how my friends Intensity of Conflict increases and the Character Finally discovers his true potential and wins over the conflict.

So for the whole movie , sequence is like this

SET UP + CONFLICT = level 5-4-3-2-1

Conflict reaches at its peak

RESOLUTION= level 1-2-3-4-5 .

THE END

Now take movie examples and it will be even more clear .

In Kung fu panda

When Poo gets selected as Dragon Warrior

Environment

1. His environment changes , in training he tries to create  the familiar environment with others but everybody ignores him

Do

2.He tries to fight like he used to in his dreams , in funny way it doesn’t work

Capability

3. He thought he was capable of until he realizes he have to stop Tai Lung and he tries to run.

Beliefs-Values

4. Deep down he believes he can make it work , he works hard until he founds that there is nothing in that Dragon Warriors Scroll for him

Spiritual

5. He gives up , he realizes he is just normal , not special and not Dragon Warrior, and he is blank , and then he realizes that there is no Magic Ingredient , and You have to believe that there is and make it special.

Beliefs-Values

6. His beliefs change about himself,  he realizes he is Dragon Warrior

Capability

7. His capability changes, he knows that he can Stop Tai Lung

Do

8.His Actions change

Environment

9. His environment changes

The End

Now lets look at

Master Shifu

1.When Master Oogway chooses Poo as Dragon Warrior , Shifu gets a naive  student , who is cranky , fat, crazy , funny with no quality of Warrior,  he tries to be with him like he behave with others but it doesn’t work

2. He teaches Panda like he usually teaches other students , that even doesn’t work

3. First he thought that if Master Oogway thinks that I can teach him , then I may be capable of teaching Poo too , so accepts Poo as student

4. When Oogway dies and until now he was believing that somehow he and Oogway will make Panda as Dragon warrier , but when Poo tries to run , he even finally gives upon his beliefs too

5. Then he realize he cant do anything , without Oogway and he is blank , helpless and he remembers the Words of Oogway, “There are no accidents” .

Now he believes in the words ,which has no references for him , until he sees Poo eating the Monkeys Food ,

Master Shifu  Transforms

6. He realizes he can make it happen, he now believes “there are no accidents”

7. He realizes his capability , he realizes he can teach Fat Panda

8. Now what he does is Unconventional , new way to teach Panda

9. He creates the environment that will able let him coach Panda very effectively , finally he achieves it and makes Panda a Dragon Worrier

THE END

In Toy Story

1. Buzz thinks he’s on different planet , he tries to behave like he is in space
2. He acts with Gadgets like as if they are real
3. They don’t work , but he thinks he has the capability to destroy Zerg
4. Then he realizes after seeing advertisement (Not a flying Toy), he is toy and no special, no real space ranger, still he believes he can jump out the window , it doesn’t work , and his identity , beliefs get lost
5. He is blank vessel, acts like a looser , and tells Woody that , for the first time he is thinking , and Woody was right all the way .

And he is just meaningless toy.

But then Woody convinces him , that Being a toy is way more special than being a space ranger, because there is kid in that house who loves you more than anything in the world.

At this point its virtual reference for Buzz ,and when he sees the name of ANDY on his shoe , he is in spiritual level , he feels amazing connection between Him(Buzz) and Andy , a spiritual connection.

And he Transforms!

1. His beliefs change about him being a Toy
2. He realizes his true capability , and removes Woody from box.
3. He acts differently
4. He creates now different environment , not the previous of Space but the real Environment

THE END

If you watch any great movie  Up, Meet The Robinsons , Cars, Ratatouille, Incredibles,Coraline any awesome movie that touched you emotionally it goes through this Pyramid

5-4-3-2-1-2-3-4-5

From 5 to 1 the intensity of Conflict increases and 1-5 character transforms and wins over the Challenge.

In Up , when Russell leaves and Mr. Frederickson is alone seeing the Elley’s Diary , he have reached up to level 1 i.e. Spiritual and when he sees all the Diary ..

He realizes the amazing connection between him and Kavin – Russell-Dug.

You can see him transforming, at that moment , his back spine becomes straight , its like he have got new energy.

Guys If you see any movie, and that didn’t touch you emotionally it’s only because they didn’t go through pyramid overall for their characters.

We have discussed so much , I hope that will help you lot , and don’t read this stuff , apply to any movie you will watch , apply to your favorite movie , don’t just buy it because I’m saying . try it.

And this Pyramid Concept, I have learned from our Coach Tony Robbins.

Guys please give your feedback.. What you liked in article?  Or where should I improve? Or anything that you want to see in next articles…

So here guys  I’m signing off, see you next time , until then

Keep Animating .. Keep contributing .. Keep Growing

don’t forget that “We are committed to CANI! ” click here

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Mahesh

Hey guys, actually its after long time , I’m writing the article, I’m working on something about story  if it works out , it will be awesome for us!

I’m also going to discuss about “Character” in this but don’t worry it won’t be too much , I will have whole another series for Character like this one.

Last time we learned about the “Progression of Conflict”, in this article I’m going to cover the Intensity of Conflict.  In this article, we are learning so much stuff , so just be comfortable , read slower , this ride going to be pretty big than usual.

That’s why I’m dividing this whole thing into two chunks , so after finishing this article read the next one immediately.

We learned in last article that, A story is all about “Change”, and “Cause –effect” relationship. Its all cause set in Motion.

Something changes, and that causes something else and chain continues further. Generally in Story as it progresses forward the Conflict starts to reach at its peak, its grows and grows , the speed of Story also increases. You can say that “Intensity of Conflict” also increases.

But what determines the Intensity of Conflict?

See it’s all about the “characters”, they face the conflict, it becomes hard for them to bear the pain of it!

And it works out on two levels

1. Physical
2. Emotional

When “Conflict” is bothering so much on both levels for “Character”, the intensity increases. It forces him to take action .

Basically,

Its Basic Loop of Change

1. Something Changes
2. That forces Character to take Action
3. He takes action and that causes something else..

it loops back to step 1,and every time Intensity of Conflict increase until the Conflict is not resolved.(or character gives up)

You also can see that for the Character,

“Intensity of Conflict” is directly proportional to “Urgency to solve the conflict”

i.e more the intensity – more the urgency to solve it

or less the intensity – less the urgency to solve it

Before going to learn about “Intensity of Conflict” in detail, we need to learn two small Concepts

1. Comfort Zone

2. Three Golden Questions

1. Comfort Zone

Once again, “All story is about Change”

Now imagine a Small Circle , suppose the Center of Circle is Your Character and the area of Circle is your character’s Comfort Zone.

That means , anything happens and which is in his Comfort Zone , he can handle that easily.

Now when Conflict occurs , Character gets Challenge , and all problems are outside the Circle and they are banging on the edges of Circle.

Now if he doesn’t do anything , the Conflict doesn’t go away , it increases and  now imagine the Circle is getting smaller and smaller.

The intensity increases , Character feel immense pressure to solve the problem , and Finally he takes massive action , pushes himself , now his Comfort Zone  expands he becomes more than he was before the Conflict.

So you got the basic Concept .

Now let’s dig little deeper. So that we will learn about Intensity of Conflict

2. Three Golden Questions

When change occurs Character takes Action.

He makes a Decision and then takes Action, right?

How does he make decision ?

Consciously or Unconsciously he asks 3 Questions ,when change occurs

1. What I’m going to focus on?
2. What does this mean?
3. What I’m going to do?

If two guys fail in exam after studying so much ,

One might “focus” on  How bad it is ?   How unfair it is ?

He will say this “means” End , this means I’m failure , this means studying is useless

He will decide that what he is going to “Do”, that’s why this time I’m not going to study at all!

Other guy will “focus” on , okay it isn’t that bad , he will focus on that he have got another opportunity .

He will assign meaning that the result says that the way I studied and written papers wasn’t proper , I need to implement something new strategy .

He will “Do” something different and efficient than his previous attempt.

Now watch any movie,when character makes decision and take action , before that he evaluates with these “3 GOLDEN Questions” (focus-meaning-action)

This is another incredible thing I learned from our Coach Tony Robbins.

When we will go into Character series, we learn even more about how character makes Decisions. For now these “3 Golden Questions” will be fine, okay?

In few seconds , I will meet you for learning how exactly the Intensity of Conflict works with really good examples from Animated Films like Kung fu panda, Toy story , Up.. click here for next article !

don’t forget that “We are committed to CANI! ” click here

Mahesh