(1) - Alright so first off, to give our audience a bit of info about you, could you tell us a little bit about your professional background? Like Past work experience, schooling, etc...
My Name is David Pumpa, I am a Character Animator. I graduated from Full Sail University where I studied Computer Animation which was a Bachelors of Science. After school I did a short 3 month internship with two of my teachers at Full Sail to expand upon my knowledge ofmotion capture and animation. After about two months of job searching I was picked up by a small company called Pendulum located in San Diego, California. There I worked on video game cinematics primarily cleaning up and arranging MoCap and animation in story sequences. After my contract there I spent another month looking for a job and wound up at Sony Computer Entertainment America in San Diego, where I am currently working on game cinematics.
(2) - If you can tell us, what are you currently working on now?
The title we're working on now is called Infamous 2. SCEA San Diego only works on cinematics for games so it should be a pretty quick turn around.
(3) - Have you ever had or wanted to negotiate with a reference actor or a "higher up" about changing the scene because you felt it would make the scene look better?
Of course, I've debated with Lead Animators and CG directors about camera shots, MoCap direction, animation performance, and the like. Of course the thing you have to remember is they are your boss, and they have more experience with this than you. That doesn't mean they won't listen to you, though. I've gotten entire shots redone because I didn't think the MoCap actor did it right.
(4) - Have you ever just stared at people around your workplace for reference?
Hahaha, I have actually. A lot of times just to pick up "idle animation." More than likely I'll just stop someone who is passing me to stand in place for a bit, or make a fist because it is hard to look at myself standing at my desk.
(5) - Did they notice you staring at them?
They have, and they have the same reaction every time,
"Wha-"
"Reference."
"Oh, ok." And they turn back around.
(6) - How much of animation would you say is about the animated characters negotiations? (i.e. decisions) Like which secret door to open on a game show or whether he wanted to ride a donkey or a horse.
Not much actually. Game cinematics are different from feature films because they are mostly action based. Even decisions and emotional turmoil have to be settled very quickly because someone is shooting at you, or just around the corner, or looming over you with 20 giant serrated claws. I remember I only had to do one negotiation scene the entire time I worked at Pendulum. It was fun, but lasted only about 3 seconds and was primarily MoCap. It was a pretty unique situation too, I wish I could say more about it.
(7) - What is one thing that you believe aspiring animators should know these days?
Well there's a lot of thing I could tell you, so it's hard to pick one. But for an animator who is just getting out of school I will say this. Networking is key. I know you must have heard that a million times during school but they are absolutely 100% right. I landed both of my jobs through people I had talked to before, OR through someone else I knew. Of the 100+ jobs I've applied to, only the ones where I talked to someone at some point showed any fruit. Cold applying will get you no where. Now, I'm not saying don't do it. If you can't find a recruiter or a lead or someone who can pass off your resume you should still apply. The majority of my applications were cold applications simply because there was no easy way to get a contact.
I would like this opportunity to tell Mr. Pumpa thank you, for doing this interview with me.
