Rall - Animation: from concept to production

ANIMATION FROM CONCEPT TO PRODUCTION

HANNES RALL

CRC Press

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Acknowledgments

Prof. Alan Chan, Dean, College of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences (HASS), Nanyang Technological University Singapore.

Prof. Vibeke Sorensen, Chair, School of Art, Design and Media (ADM), Nanyang Technological University Singapore,

For their continuous support and encouragement.

Hans Bacher and Ishu Patel, for many years of inspiration, collaboration and friendship.

Thomas Silbereis, for designing the wonderful original layout for this book.

All the BFA Digital Animation students at the School of Art, Design and Media at Nanyang Technological University Singapore, who keep amazing me since I started teaching there in 2005.

Hannes Rall

Animation is a fascinating art form. Unlike any other medium, it allows filmmakers to have complete artistic control over each image. This book is designed to help beginners in getting started, and to provide those with advanced skills and old hands with new and surprising insights.

In order to best achieve this, the focus of this volume has been clearly defined: It is about the animator in the role of filmmaker - that is, the methodology of using artistic concepts to implement content-specific objectives. With regard to its content, the book follows roughly the general production process of an animation film and later explores the individual major production techniques and animation styles.

Some may rightly argue that job descriptions for those who just completed training in the field of animation, particularly coming from major studios, are characterized by extreme specialization requirements to individual areas. However, I am convinced that knowledge of the larger context is helpful, if not indispensable, for seasoned filmmakers seeking specialization as well. A character animator, for example, must understand the principles of film editing in order to provide continuity between scenes.

In addition, most animation study programs worldwide include the production of an animated short film as a major part of the final exam. For the artistic quality, it is essential to understand how to utilize ones creative resources for the optimal communication of content, whether they be linear/narrative or abstract/experimental in nature.

A comprehensive book about animation on only 300 pages also requires that it be limited to the major points. Nevertheless, I hope that we have succeeded in bringing transparency to complex correlations, while still providing detailed and practical information.

This book is not a software manual, and for good reason. For one thing, it would go beyond the realm of possibility, and secondly, software in the field of animation is changing too quickly and cannot be reflected adequately in just one book. I believe that understanding the basic design concepts is much more important than the knowledge of purely technological details. Other media are much better suited for teaching this kind of information, and our work gives relevant pointers by naming and describing the currently most important programs for every technique.

The main focus, however, is clearly on artistic themes, which will continue to be relevant for years to come. I am pleased and proud to be able to feature excellent contributors for special topics: Guest author Kathrin Albers is a renowned and award-winning animation filmmaker and stop-motion expert as well as Assistant Professor at the School of Art, Design and Media at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. I also wish to thank Melanie Beisswenger for her chapter. She is a professor for 3D computer animation at the University of Applied Sciences, Mainz.

My book designer Thomas Silbereis and I have placed great emphasis on the optimal combination of text and image, an essential approach for this topic. Numerous illustrations, which I designed specifically for the book, are complemented with relevant examples from the work of other animators. Therefore, thanks also to the numerous animation film makers, studios and animation students, who have made pictures of their work available to us.

The high-profile interviewees, who include Annie Award Winner Hans Bacher, star animator Andreas Deja and Oscar Award Winner VFX Volker Engel virtually represent a triumvirate of the German animation film. Then there is the internationally renowned computer animation expert Isaac Kerlow, who provides some thoughts about the future of the medium.

I sincerely hope that this book will enthuse and inspire many aspiring and established animators to implement, expand, and even challenge the methods shown. Because animation, like almost no other medium, depends on the continuous progression and reinvention: We are just at the beginning of an exciting development. To use the words of a famous spacefaring colleague: To infinity and beyond. Or something like that.

Stuttgart, December 2014

Hannes Rall

Melanie Beisswenger

Prof. Melanie Beisswenger teaches computer animation at the University of Applied Sciences Mainz and works also as a freelance 3D character animator, supervisor and director. She has been involved in a variety of international animation and VFX films, including the Academy Award winner Happy Feet and its sequel Happy Feet 2, the TV clip for the BioShock game as well as Iron Man 3 (Oscar nomination for the category Best Visual Effects), Riddick, The 7th Dwarf and Sapphire Blue, where she was the lead animator for the digital character. Her animated short film Theres Bliss in the Kiss has won many international awards.