Speaking of Animation

You’re getting double portions in this meaty podcast, that’s right, we’re talking BOTH Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs films!!  Stephen, and some of the Cloudy 2 animation team, sat down with Animation Leads Alan Hawkins and Joshua Beveridge, and Senior Supervising Animator Pete Nash to get all the juicy tidbits on what went into the making of these two films.  This interview is packed full of great insight, like how the films animation style was developed and getting the best out of every shot.  Just in case you are hungry for more, this interview is loaded with Easter eggs!  So go see the film, listen to the podcast, then go back to find all the fun hidden characters throughout Cloudy 2.  Speaking of Animation was short staffed on this interview so we want to give a very special thank you to animators Kevin Jackson, Shaofu Zhang, Claudio De Oliveira, and David Lisbe for stepping in as interviewers and turning the second half of this interview into a really fun round table.  Bon Appetit!!

Legends unite when we sat down with Peter Ramsey to talk about his first feature film Rise of the Guardians!  Peter talked to us about what it was like to bring Santa Claus(North), the Tooth Fairy, the Easter Bunny, Sand Man(Sandy) and Jack Frost together to fight the Boogie Man(Pitch).  We go back to Peter’s beginnings as a storyboard artist on live action features such as Bram Stoker’s Dracula, The Hulk, Fight Club, and Minority Report.  We then get deep into the story and character development on Rise of the Guardians and talk about working with actors and animators to bring these characters to life.  Talking with Peter was so great, he’s a super friendly guy that very honestly shared what it was like to be a director.  This interview is jam packed, we even talked about scoring the film and what never made it into the movie and why.  We had an amazing time talking with Peter!!  Enjoy!!

Happy Halloween! Wow, do we have a treat for you.  Jacob and Stephen were invited to a press junket for ParaNorman at the very fancy Hyatt Century Plaza Hotel were they were able to grab two fifteen minute interviews with ParaNorman co-directors Chris Butler and Sam Fell, and Lead Animator/Producer Travis Knight.  The podcast starts with our interview with Travis were he tells us what it’s like to be an animator at Laika and what it was like working on ParaNorman.  We then switch over to our interview with Chris and Sam to get down into the story and characters of the film. This one’s pretty sweet, so enjoy!!!  

We’re back! Last year we teased with a photo taken of the front door of R&H.  We are incredibly excited to finally share that interview with you!! We sat down with a group of R&H’s super talented animation leadership to talk about their craft.  We learn about the struggles and rewards of working in the realm of Visual Effects, and how it compares to working on Feature animated films.  Full of humor, knowledge, and behind-the-scenes insights, this podcast will not disappoint.

Making a sequel isn’t easy, especially when you are tasked to end a very popular and beloved franchise.   That was exactly the challenge Director Mike Mitchell and Head of Story, Walt Dohrn had to face with Shrek Forever After.  You will also recognize Walt as the voice of the villain in the film, Rumpelstiltskin.  We recorded this interview right before the movie premiered, just as Mike and Walt were going all over the world to help promote the film.   We were very fortunate that they found some time in their busy schedule to sit down and talk to us. Besides being incredibly smart and talented, Mike and Walt are extremely funny guys.  This interview was way too much fun and you will see that it was hard to go five minutes without busting up laughing.  Ben, Jacob, and Stephen all worked on the film and are very proud of it.  We all agree it was one of the funnest productions we’ve ever worked on.  We also agree that this interview very accurately portrays what it felt like to work on the film.  Lots of really great creative discussion mixed with lots and lots of laughs.   So sit back and enjoy this very fun interview with Director Mike Mitchell and Head of Story, Walt Dohrn!! We should mention that Mike brings up something called “RLO”  that we never explain in the interview.  RLO stands for Rough Layout, and it is the process we use before animation to previs the action and camera.  Also when Mike uses terms like “Yong Dukery”  he is referring to the beautiful camera work of our Head of Layout, Yong Duk Jhun.

I hope you’re excited, because we are super excited to bring you our Jason Schleifer interview!!  Jason was very kind to sit down with us and talk about his amazing, and sometimes unbelievable, journey into animation.  From his very beginnings at Wavefront, all the way through The Lord of the Rings, and straight on to being the Head of Animation on DreamWorks Animation’s Megamind; we covered it all.  Jason was really great to talk to and we had so much fun.  Way more fun then should be had in an interview.  So thanks again Jason!  Enjoy!

In this interview we sat down with an amazing animator and supervisor, John Hill.    John was really fun to talk with and had so much to share.  We discuss how he got his start, working at Don Bluth,  animating Bartok in Anastasia, and most recently Rumpelstiltskin in Shrek Forever After.  We also dive in deep about his thoughts and experiences as an animation supervisor and his process as an animator.  This interview is packed full of great advice.  While prepping for the interview we noticed that John’s IMDB page wasn’t entirely accurate so to start we decided to clear up his history.  Have fun and enjoy the interview!

We are excited to bring you our podcast with Jason Ryan! Jason has become a well-known animation supervisor and teacher.  In the past few years he has made a name for himself in animation education with his Jason Ryan Animation tutorials and Webinars, and is in the midst of starting his next educational project – iAnimate.net. He sat down with us to speak about finding his path into the animation industry and the events that led him to his career at Disney and subsequently DreamWorks.  We talked about how he learned animation, his transition from 2D to 3D, and his philosophies on animation education.

We sat down with Chris Sanders and Dean DeBlois to talk about How to Train Your Dragon. Chris and Dean have long been a creative team; their brief history includes writing together on Mulan, writing/directing Lilo and Stitch, and writing/directing How to Train Your Dragon. The two were gracious enough to spend time speaking with us about creative decision making and articulate their thought processes while making a film. It was very inspirational to hear such talented people discuss how they bring their visions to life. We talked with them about story structure, design, cinematography, character animation, directing, and much, much more.  A lot of very talented people came together to create the film, and these wonderful directors are never shy about handing out credit! Among many others, they discussed the amazing contributions of Simon Otto (Head of Character Animation) and the famed cinematographer, Roger Deakins. You can find a larger crew list here to search for any other names they bring up. Enjoy!

After a long delay, we are very proud to bring you the Ted Ty Talk Back!  Ted sat down with us to answer YOUR questions about animation and follow-ups to his first podcast.  Thanks again Ted for being so generous with your time, and Thank you to all the listeners who sent in questions.  We only had a short time with Ted so we picked our favorite out of the bunch.  For those who didn’t get their questions answered by Ted we will  be answering your questions in another post.  So sit back and enjoy the Ted Ty Talk Back!

The Disney Renaissance from 1984-1994 produced some of the most captivating and inspirational animated films of all time. The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, and The Lion King, to name a few. Don Hahn (producer of countless Disney Films) and Peter Schneider (former President/Chairman of Walt Disney Feature Animation) sat down with us to talk about the famous Disney era and their documentary, Waking Sleeping Beauty, which chronicles the studio’s rise back to the top. We talked with them about artists, executives, studio culture, power struggles, and of course, filmmaking! You can learn more about their documentary here:  WakingSleepingBeautyMovie.com And listen to the podcast here:

We are excited to bring you our “Avatar” podcast with Richard Baneham! Richard sat down with us to discuss his role as the animation director on the film and to answer all of our questions about the animation process on Avatar.  He also gave us a brief back story on his amazing work on The Iron Giant.  You can check out the rest of Richards credits, which include animating Gollum on The Lord of the Rings, by clicking here.  Richard only had a short time to sit down with us and we’d really like to thank him again for being so generous with his time.  We would also like to thank our friend and incredible animator, Marek Kochout for talking Richie in to doing this! *Contains some explicit content

In our second podcast we invited Steven P Gordon, David Weatherly, Ben Rush, and Ken Fountain to discuss the rather elusive subject of comedy.  Most of the time we all might jump in and try to make a shot funny based on things we’ve laughed at in life or in movies without really asking why it works.  Steven, Ben, Ken, and David do some of the funniest animation we’ve ever seen!!  That’s why we were so excited to sit down with them and find out whats going on in their heads.  So come along with us as we discuss Comedy in Animation…..Support the Funny!!

We are very excited to bring you our first Podcast with Ted Ty! Ted has a great amount of experience animating in both 2d and 3d. He’s worked on films such as Pocahontas, Mulan, Lilo & Stitch, Madagascar, Kung Fu Panda and is currently working on Shrek Forever After.  Ted is also the Year Four Traditional Animation Instructor at Cal Arts.  Ted sat down with us to talk about how he got started, making the transition from 2d to 3d, and gave us some great advice on animation. Click here to see a complete list of Ted’s credits