A bit o' Animation

I've just finished doing a bit of freelance animation on a short film (in addition to my daytime job at the games company), and aside from being "cranky Daddy" who's always got "work to do" and in dire need of sleep, it's been a funny sensation sitting back at the old animation desk after an 18 month absence.

It was kinda like stepping into an old pair of shoes; turning the disc, flipping the pages, all at my old Disney animation desk. Ahh sentimentality, or have I just gone potty. I don't know, there's just something magic in bringing drawings to life. I can't talk too much about the film, NDA stopping me there, but once it's all cleared and released I'll put some worthy stuff up. I was taking over from someone else who had pulled out of the project with the final couple of acts to go; the film itself is not my cup of tea, but I figured it was a chance to get acquainted with some of the players in the local scene, and also the local funding bodies and also to get back into some hand drawn animation.

Soooooo, rather than just waffle on, I thought it might be time to revisit some of the old Disney Stuff. This one is from "Cinderella 3" the last production at Disney Australia, and it's of Prudence who is the head housekeeper of the palace. We'd done a bit of character study acting workshop prior to starting animation and I really got into this character. Unfortunately the scenes of her were slated for a little later in the pipeline and as it turned out, it was right around the time I went on leave for my wedding and honeymoon so I missed getting them all to myself. I got my hands on this one though and had lots of fun. Several people said later that my showreel need only consist of this scene and about two or three others. Her dialogue is "I can assure you that there has never ever been a single, solitary..." and someone off screen screams "Mouse!". This scene marked the start of the unravelling of her composure. It was also one of those scenes where the rough pass looked almost identical to the finished product.

This scene ended up being flipped later, there was some uncertainty "regarding crossing the line".

Click on the showreel link on the right hand side to see it as part of my showreel, although it is slightly trimmed there.
But here's a step-through of the keys and ruffs.