Gently weeping
As I was driving into work today, a fabulous day for driving in, since the traffic is free and clear, or as close as L.A. can get during the morning rush, I heard the Beatles song which may be titled "While my Guitar Gently Weeps". I couldn't help thinking to myself that indeed, his guitar DID gently weep. I was mesmerized for a moment, and then I realized that he was getting emotion from his guitar, an inanimate object, a thing, built by humans out of wood and wire and glue that has no purpose or desire or feeling of it's own, but is infused by it when someone talented and knowledgeable picks it up, caresses it's form with care and love and begins to tell a story in sound. How amazing is that? So amazing, that we believe that the guitar has life and really feels and breaths and cares. When the talented guitar player is done, the guitar is put down and once again is returned to it's lifeless state. Even if someone like myself were to go up and pick it up and try to play, to breath life back into it, I would find it stubborn and difficult to even begin.
So I think that's a reason the Beatles and others are so great. It's that ability to infuse their music and their stories with so much of themselves and translate that to their artistic choices, using all of the potential their medium provides and even inventing new ones when what they have doesn't seem to work. That inventiveness, precision and craft coupled with talent, awareness and desire really push them to produce what becomes unique and powerful songs that touch billions and can change lives. Incredible.
What's even more incredible is that I realized this because those tools and required skills and dedication are very similar those needed to become a great animator. Obviously the medium is different, but as an animator, I'm trying to not only move something from point A to point B, but to provide much more as a story telling device. The expressions, the posture, the motion, timing, and so much more tell a story in some of the most exaggerated and subtle of ways. Understanding that, and understanding how to achieve the right emotional and physical state given the story and the character's motivations within that story are really essential to good animation. Clear, concise, easily translated action, no matter how wild or zany or funny or whatever must communicate well to elicit the audience response we're after our artistic and skilled choices make that happen. I have so much to learn.
So I think that's a reason the Beatles and others are so great. It's that ability to infuse their music and their stories with so much of themselves and translate that to their artistic choices, using all of the potential their medium provides and even inventing new ones when what they have doesn't seem to work. That inventiveness, precision and craft coupled with talent, awareness and desire really push them to produce what becomes unique and powerful songs that touch billions and can change lives. Incredible.
What's even more incredible is that I realized this because those tools and required skills and dedication are very similar those needed to become a great animator. Obviously the medium is different, but as an animator, I'm trying to not only move something from point A to point B, but to provide much more as a story telling device. The expressions, the posture, the motion, timing, and so much more tell a story in some of the most exaggerated and subtle of ways. Understanding that, and understanding how to achieve the right emotional and physical state given the story and the character's motivations within that story are really essential to good animation. Clear, concise, easily translated action, no matter how wild or zany or funny or whatever must communicate well to elicit the audience response we're after our artistic and skilled choices make that happen. I have so much to learn.
posted by Sean Graham at
9:27 AM
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