Animation and Legal Issues

In this article we will be examining a few past legal problems that had popped up for two of the biggest animation studios in the United States today, Pixar and Dreamworks. Below I have provided links to articles involving legal issues that these two companies ran into over the past few years. So without further ado, our first article.

Lighting firm Luxo sues over sale of Luxo Jr. lamp with 'Up" Blu-ray disc

Now as a 3D animator I know all to well how important it is to reference animation and cg models from real life. The problem is that most items not created by imagination, such as a car or a computer or say a lamp are patented and copyrighted. Pixar's mascot Luxo Jr. was modeled after Norwegian company Luxo's real life lamp. Until Pixar attempted to sell their mascot, Luxo Jr., along with their latest movie 'Up', seemingly everything was alright between the lamp company Luxo and Pixar. It is unclear if Pixar had settled with Luxo or not, but the moral of this story is clear. Make sure that if you are attempting to sell something that you referenced from another real life object or person, that they are copyright free or that you have written permissions.

Next article.

Man who says dreamworks stole 'Kung Fu Panda' wins round in court

In this report we see a current legal problem that Dreamworks is having. A Mr. Terence Dunn claims that he had pitched the idea to Dreamworks and that they turned him down. A few months later, they announce 'Kung Fu Panda', what he says was his pitch months earlier. Now, thanks to Judge O'Donnell's ruling they are currently looking into whether it can be proven that Dreamworks was able to access Terence's work before 'Kung Fu Panda' was created. Since there has been no ruling or evidence yet, it is pretty much impossible for us to know if Dunn's claim is true. An interesting story; one that I think teaches us to not only be careful of who we pitch our ideas to, but also how we pitch them.

Last article.

Court rejects publicity rights claim over Pixar's lead car in Cars

As our last article will show, people may try to sue you over the smallest detail. In this story we see an apparently "famous" race car driver claiming that the design of the main character in Pixar's movie 'Cars', was based on a car that he owns. The court even went on record saying, "a fictional, talking, driver-less red race car with the number 95 on it cannot be construed as a likeness of a driver of a similarly colored/numbered race car."

That is the end of todays article and I hope that you had gotten something out of these lessons.

Reference: 

Verrier, R. 2009. Lighting firm Luxo sues over sale of Luxo Jr. lamp with 'Up' Blu-ray disc. Retrieved February 28th, 2011 from: http://articles.latimes.com/2009/sep/07/business/fi-pixar7

Belloni, M. 2010. Man Who Says DreamWorks Stole 'Kung Fu Panda' Wins Round in Court. Retrieved February 28th, 2011 from: http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/blogs/thr-esq/man-dreamworks-stole-kung-fu-56811

Masnick, M. 2010. Court Rejects Publicity Rights Claim Over Pixar's Lead Car In Cars. Retrieved February 28th, 2011 from: http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20101217/04203712317/court-rejects-publicity-rights-claim-over-pixars-lead-car-cars.shtml

Getting Comfortable

Comfort is something that a lot of people seek. They wish to enjoy comfort at home, most likely wish they had some level of it at work and it can be seen as many other things in non-verbal communication.

So today we will attempt to understand what a person might look like when they are comfortable around other people. In business this can be very useful because if someone is not comfortable around you then it is likely they won’t trust you. Watching comfort and discomfort between two individuals can be a very interesting yet subtle show. So to help you understand this show I will now give example of what people may look like when they are comfortable around each other.

The single thing that I find most interesting when it comes to the topic of comfort between two individuals is mirroring. You may have seen this and had not recognized what it meant at the time. As the picture below shows there are two people sitting opposite from each other. You will notice that the way that they are sitting almost directly mirrors the other persons “pose”. What this tells us is that they could be very comfortable around each other. Mirroring happens in facial emotions as well. If one person smiles the other person may smile. If one person is crying, the other may begin to start tearing up.

Another way of telling a person’s comfort level with another is by how close they are to that person. Lets look again at the photo above. Look at how close these two individuals are sitting to each other; they are almost touching each other legs. People who are uncomfortable with the other person would most likely have their legs almost pressed against the legs of the chair, trying to keep as much distance from the other person as possible.

There are a few subtle signs that you should also attempt to notice such as when a person moves an object out of their way to get a better view of the other person. Another would be just how openly they are showing their torso and inner arms. This shows signs of openness as well as comfort because people are a lot less likely to show their vital spots to those they find discomforting.

Notice these signs and you may be able to connect with others more easily when first meeting them.

For the Animators: Animators can use this information in many different ways. Depending on if two characters are supposed to be comfortable with each other you may have them close or farther apart. You may also have them mirror each other; however if you do this, it is best to make it as subtle and almost unnoticeable as possible or something may seem “off” to the audience.

References: Picture -http://www.learnbodylanguage.org/male_flirting_3.html

Interview with Travis Blaise

Recently I had the chance to interview a man by the name of Travis Blaise. In addition to having an awesome last name he also has awesome work experiences. So to begin the interview I started with the standard question. Could you tell us about some of your prior work experiences?


Little did I know what was to come. Travis told me that one of the first movies he had worked on was Beauty and the Beast, then moving on to Aladdin, Lion King and Pocahontas. In between which he worked on a Roger Rabbit cartoon as well as the Aladdin and Lion King video games for the Sega Genesis console. After that he moved on to animate Frollo in the Hunchback of Notre Dame, villains in Mulan, Kerchek and others in Tarzan, characters in Lilo and Stitch, Koda from Brother Bear and Goofy in a cartoon.

After the Disney animation studio had closed down Travis went on to animate George in the movie Curious George as well as nearly 24 music videos for the cartoon series Class of 3000. These days Travis is a free lancer doing commercials, pilots for some television shows and working with friends he had made in the industry.

I went on to ask him if he ever considered body language when drawing and animating. Travis said, "I think body language is extremely important, especially in animation. It's the art of story telling without saying a word. In a lot of my practice over the years I have been observing. I have a gift to see things, see it in my head and then put it down on paper. To me it comes down to observing life. In traditional animation and 3D animation it's about the posing."

Interested in his thoughts about networking I continued the interview by asking for his thoughts on the importance of making contacts and networking. To this he responded, "I think it's vital, in any industry you're in. Really trying to meet people on a friend level. Most of the people in my network are friends. It's like friends first, then let's see what we can do later."

As usual I decided to finish off the interview with a question that I like to ask because I find that it informs us of things that we would normally have to learn by experience. I asked Travis if there was one thing that you would tell an aspiring animator, what would it be? He replied, "Just enjoy your life. Really just observe and try to have fun with what you're doing. Even if I don't have any money, I don't care because I love what I do. Find your passion and keep it."

After the interview was over I thanked Travis repeatedly and then bid him to have a good day. I hope you enjoyed this article and have gotten something from it. So, in the words of Mr. Blaise, "Find your passion and keep it."

References:
Koda: http://www.animatedheroes.com/koda.html
Kerchak: http://wdfanimation2.tripod.com/kerchak.html
Frollo: http://www.movievillains.com/archives/2004/06/judge_claude_fr.html
Goofy: http://disneyexclusiveonline.com/content/Mickey_-_Friends.htm

Interview with an Animator

Alright, so on this post body language is going to take a brief back seat to the business and animation side of this blog. The reason for this is because I have had the chance to interview a friend and industry professional for this blogs newest post. So without further ado, here is my interview with David Pumpa.

(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.

Happy Holidays.

As the title says. I hope you all are having happy holidays.

Pacifiers Part .1

As you probably noticed by the picture presented above, we are not going to be talking about the object parents place in their children’s mouths to stop them from screaming. What we will be talking about is the process of comforting ones self through physical gestures.

There are multiple forms of pacifying and one of these forms is shown in the photograph. Sometimes known as the “pain in the neck” gesture, this action of rubbing the back of ones neck is often an unconscious attempt to quell emotional discomfort as well as other unpleasant emotions.

“ The brain requires the body to do something that will stimulate nerve endings, releasing calming endorphins in the brain, so that the brain can be soothed.”

~ Joe Navarro

A few other emotions that the neck rub could be attempting to pacify are doubt, fear, insecurity or just concern.

Lets create a scenario where we might see this behavior. A group of friends is standing outside of their classroom door, enjoying their break waiting to get back to work. One of the friends brings up the possibility of going to a club later that night. Another friend doesn’t want to go, so he declines.

Teasing ensues, as does the discomfort of the one that doesn’t want to go to the club. It is at this point that we would probably see that the one that declined is rubbing the back of his neck because he is most likely feeling emotional discomfort and social pressure and his body is trying to comfort that stress by pacifying.

Noticing this behavior in the business world could potentially help you stop future problems by finding out what is stressing the person and if possible helping that person to alleviate their stress.

For the animators: If a character is in a very stressful situation you could easily add this to your characters movements. However try to make this movement subtle, especially when the character is speaking. Remember though, if the rest of the characters movements fight the pacifying motion then you may not give the intended feeling of discomfort.

References & Sources:

Navarro, P. (April 15th, 2008). What everybody is saying. New York, NY: HarperCollins Publishers

The Crossing Guard

As the title should has hinted this post will focus on a common but sometimes misread gesture, crossing arms. The most common way this gesture is misread by those that do not know anything about body language is that this person is simply cold. Since she is cold she is crossing her arms to warm herself.

While this is a distinct possibility there is an alternative one as well. She is either defensive or generally something is bothering her. To figure this out lets delve deeper into the gesture of crossing arms.

First of all it is not always indicative that one is being defensive or is upset. It is entirely possible that we cross arms in comfort, especially when waiting or listening to someone speak. However, if you think carefully how often do you find yourself crossing your arms when you are alone at home and nothing is really bothering you?

What I mean by that statement is this. Body language is a very contextual science / art. To explain this, I will create a scenario. Let’s say that we are to make a presentation to a class at a college. You notice that most have their arms uncrossed. Half way through your presentation you make a comment that would normally make people uncomfortable. It is at this time that you may notice some of the people crossing their arms in a sort of tight fashion.

What this could tell us is that the comment made half way through the presentation has indeed made them feel some level of discomfort. Contextually however, the air conditioning right above those students could have started and they just felt chilly.

However notice that them feeling cold doesn’t disprove that they are uncomfortable. In fact one would think that feeling cold is quite uncomfortable. This tells us that crossing arms holds the same meaning; yet it is the outside forces that you must learn to examine on the fly, to properly determine a person’s gesture.

As for this lady in the picture; lets take a crack at reading her. Obviously crossed arms, she is holding two bags and the look on her face isn’t that of happiness. She is wearing two layers of clothing, which means it could be chilly outside.

If I were to “hazard” a guess however, I believe that she is waiting for someone.

For the Animators: The fact of context alone should help you in any animation. Think about what situation a character is in, what they are feeling at the moment. If they are waiting, listening to a speaker, or feeling uncomfortable then crossing their arms may be the right way to go. 

Reference(s): Yourdon, E. (2008). Lost in thought [photograph]. Retrieved December 2nd, 2010 from:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/yourdon/2715602306/