To take part in this project or for more information just send me a note I can talk to you (and your team if applicable) about it!
Today we have unitzer07 with his team project, Heavenly Escorts !
Hi there unitzer07! Let us start off with a little introduction about yourself. How did you get into animation and do you do it for a living?
As long as I can remember I've been into animation. Growing up I used to watch cartoons like Thundercats, Voltron, Silverhawks etc...But I didn't get serious about learning animation till I watched the opening movie to the video game, "Final Fantasy 8". It was then that I decided to teach myself CG animation. Since then I've had the opportunity to work on a few movies and even more Video Game Trailers. Currently my wife and I are both on a year hiatus from the animation industry to pursue our dream of making original independent animated content full time.
Process Demo Video
Absolutely, very classic cartoon and game upbringing, it has inspired a lot of our generation of animators and filmmakers. Game animations have become incredibly cinematic over time, they're a source of inspiration for me as well. It's also very brave for any independent designer right now to just go and pursue your interests like that.
Sounds like you and your wife are a good duo! If it's not too personal how did you two meet and start working together?
Sounds like you and your wife are a good duo! If it's not too personal how did you two meet and start working together?
Not at all. We were actually both working at Laika. She worked in a completely different building and we had actually never run into each other in the 2 years since I'd been hired. There was a party one of my work friends was throwing I reluctantly went to. I realized it was a good idea when my future wife walked in the front door.
I often joke that seeing her was like when Speed met Trixie in the live action "Speed Racer" movie. Specifically when he sees her and everything turns into sparkly hearts. The theme of the party was sequins and she was wearing this cute little sequin dress...so that's pretty much exactly how it happened. What sealed the deal was the fact that she recognized Yondaime Hokage from a pin I had been wearing. She didn't say Naruto, she said "Yondaime". I almost got down on one knee right there.
All joking aside, the more I learned about her the more I realized we had to start a studio together. It was her dream too after all. So much so that she actually moved to Japan to go to anime school and even ended up directing a few episodes of Doraemon while she was there. We decided to work together almost immediately and have been ever since.
I often joke that seeing her was like when Speed met Trixie in the live action "Speed Racer" movie. Specifically when he sees her and everything turns into sparkly hearts. The theme of the party was sequins and she was wearing this cute little sequin dress...so that's pretty much exactly how it happened. What sealed the deal was the fact that she recognized Yondaime Hokage from a pin I had been wearing. She didn't say Naruto, she said "Yondaime". I almost got down on one knee right there.
All joking aside, the more I learned about her the more I realized we had to start a studio together. It was her dream too after all. So much so that she actually moved to Japan to go to anime school and even ended up directing a few episodes of Doraemon while she was there. We decided to work together almost immediately and have been ever since.
That's an amazing story! Especially as a creative you meet some amazing people in the design world and forge amazing friendships. And even more amazing that your partner directed some episodes of Doraemon, jealous!
Is there any project in particular which you have both done together which is your favourite and how has that influenced what you are both doing now?
Is there any project in particular which you have both done together which is your favourite and how has that influenced what you are both doing now?
As for projects, we've mostly been focusing on the actual production process, ironing out any wrinkles as we go. As I mentioned earlier, originally my goal was to make anime inspired 3d CG animation. When my wife and I met, I was already working on a project along those lines with my long time roommate. My wife joined the project and her expertise definitely demonstrated how naive I was even then about things like story and script writing. So we've been collaborating since pretty much the beginning of our relationship. Even back then she didn't understand why I wanted to make CG. She would ask, "why don't you just draw it?", and I'd reply, "Because I want to make CG." But one day it just kind of dawned on me how much I love 2d anime and we basically came to the conclusion together to combine my CG expertise with her 2d expertise to try and achieve a higher level of 2d quality than we could with such a small team. This was the start of our hybrid process.
I should note however that not all of our work is drawn over CG. My wife is an experienced 2d animator and has contributed some great hand drawn shots to our "Heavenly Escorts" project, as well as fully animating a host of other things including gif comics and a short film of her own that's still in progress. That first project definitely helped us develop our working process, but I think we've been leveraging each other's strengths and evolving from the start.
I should note however that not all of our work is drawn over CG. My wife is an experienced 2d animator and has contributed some great hand drawn shots to our "Heavenly Escorts" project, as well as fully animating a host of other things including gif comics and a short film of her own that's still in progress. That first project definitely helped us develop our working process, but I think we've been leveraging each other's strengths and evolving from the start.
As they say, you never stop learning, especially in design! I am a 2d animator myself so I can relate to this.
Now onto the main topic! Your project Heavenly Escorts, the concept looks fantastic and I'm certain that I'm not the only one super excited about this. Would you like to tell us more about it? It goes without saying there's some very obvious animé influence in there!
Now onto the main topic! Your project Heavenly Escorts, the concept looks fantastic and I'm certain that I'm not the only one super excited about this. Would you like to tell us more about it? It goes without saying there's some very obvious animé influence in there!
Haha, I'm glad it's obvious! Heavenly Escorts started out as an idea for a web series. We had read this story online about a historic female pirate and became inspired to write a similar story in a sci-fi setting. The original plan was to produce a pilot and then run a kickstarter for more episodes. As production progressed, we started to realize that this project would work much better as a "stress test" for our pipeline. The short film was originally scripted to be around 10 minutes with full dialogue. Which would take a significant amount of time to complete...After we decided this video was going to serve as our production test, we shortened it down to a manageable size by taking out everything that wasn't necessary to tell the story and turned it into a music video. The total length is now somewhere around 2 and half minutes. At this point, gaining experience telling stories is more important than taking a long time to finish something big. As with all things you have to start small and build up, so I'm really satisfied with the way the project is evolving. It's really going to help inform and streamline our production process on future projects.
When I started teaching myself animation 15 years ago, it was my goal to try and emulate the "Ghost in the shell" movie style in CG. So when I started designing characters for this short, it seemed only fitting to return to that initial spark of inspiration. Ghost in the Shell was referenced heavily for both character and mechanical design elements. I also referenced a lot of Gundam UC for spaceship interiors and even some Cowboy Bebop and Outlaw Star. The Pirate Mech is my little homage to the Outlaw Star. I figured since these pirates were former asteroid miners, they'd have use for a ship with "grappler arms".
When I started teaching myself animation 15 years ago, it was my goal to try and emulate the "Ghost in the shell" movie style in CG. So when I started designing characters for this short, it seemed only fitting to return to that initial spark of inspiration. Ghost in the Shell was referenced heavily for both character and mechanical design elements. I also referenced a lot of Gundam UC for spaceship interiors and even some Cowboy Bebop and Outlaw Star. The Pirate Mech is my little homage to the Outlaw Star. I figured since these pirates were former asteroid miners, they'd have use for a ship with "grappler arms".
I'm very impressed, that's a smart move running it as a "stress test"!
*Currently taking notes!*
You're absolutely right though, narrative is the backbone to any film or animation work. Without good narrative everything else in the production line would be for naught if people just aren't entertained enough. I did think one of your shots has a very Outlaw Star kind of feel, I love both that and Cowboy Bebop, classics!
When do you think we'll be able to see the finished product? I know this is going to be a lot of work!
*Currently taking notes!*
You're absolutely right though, narrative is the backbone to any film or animation work. Without good narrative everything else in the production line would be for naught if people just aren't entertained enough. I did think one of your shots has a very Outlaw Star kind of feel, I love both that and Cowboy Bebop, classics!
When do you think we'll be able to see the finished product? I know this is going to be a lot of work!
Well, things have been a bit hectic lately with Anime Expo coming up. It's the first time we'll have a booth in Artist Alley and I think it will be an interesting experience being solely dedicated to original animated content. I have one friend who's been helping out animating shots on weekends, so it's good that production hasn't come to a complete standstill. That being said, once the convention is over and I've taken a little rest I'll be back in action crunching hard to finish the animation. Making a trailer requires that shots are prioritized and finished so that the trailer can be put together. With that out of the way, we can spend all of our time blowing through the animation. At our current speed I'm expecting a late September - Mid October release date. I'm actually really excited to just dedicate some time to animation and really eager to finish the project, so you can expect me to stick pretty closely to my deadlines!
Ah yes of course the Anime Expo, I wish you the very best of luck with that, I'm sure you're going to get some amazing feedback and a huge increase to your fanbase! I'm sure I speak for the community here when I say we're very excited to see this all come together. There's nothing better than the end of a long film/animation project! You'll definitely have to keep us posted!
And on a final note the question I love to ask all my interviewees, do you have any advice you'd like to give to all the students and young animators/filmmakers out there?
And on a final note the question I love to ask all my interviewees, do you have any advice you'd like to give to all the students and young animators/filmmakers out there?
Well, I feel like I come to the table with a fairly unique perspective having taught myself CG while going to school for a different degree. I realized early that I was at a disadvantage because I didn't have connections in the industry, or career placement advisers that could put a call in to some animation studio and say, "hey check out this kid's work." However, because of that I was very aware of the situation I faced and eager to exploit any opportunity that came my way no matter how small. I think that hunger is something I can't stress enough.
I recently gave a talk at an art school about how hungry you need to be to get a job in the industry. You're not just competing against your classmates, you're competing against all those really awesome students from all the great art schools, not to mention those experienced workers that are forced to jump from place to place for work. So when trying to break into the industry I think you need to be willing to go to further lengths than other people in order to get ahead. For example, I used to drive 3 hours one way to take animation courses from a guy who was starting his own studio. Every project he gave us for homework I used as an opportunity to show him my value as a potential employee. That landed me my first freelance gig and through that first gig I amassed enough professional work to build a demo reel that ended up getting me a job working in the feature film industry.
Another thing I've noticed, especially with art school students is this odd sense of entitlement. They go to these big art schools and graduate expecting to get a job at Pixar or Dreamworks. I just don't understand who they think they are that a big studio like that would just hire them because of their art school credentials and above average student work. For most of us, jobs don't just show up at our door. So you need to realize that there's a lot of hard work ahead and get cracking. Don't expect to be handed a job, be willing to work hard and you'll get what you want.
Even though it may sound cheesy, I'll finish with two quotes that have really helped me along the way:
"Don't ask for it, go out and take it on your own. Do that and you'll succeed."
"Kick reason to the curb and do the impossible."
Keep working hard and believe in yourselves and eventually you'll get where you wanna go!
I recently gave a talk at an art school about how hungry you need to be to get a job in the industry. You're not just competing against your classmates, you're competing against all those really awesome students from all the great art schools, not to mention those experienced workers that are forced to jump from place to place for work. So when trying to break into the industry I think you need to be willing to go to further lengths than other people in order to get ahead. For example, I used to drive 3 hours one way to take animation courses from a guy who was starting his own studio. Every project he gave us for homework I used as an opportunity to show him my value as a potential employee. That landed me my first freelance gig and through that first gig I amassed enough professional work to build a demo reel that ended up getting me a job working in the feature film industry.
Another thing I've noticed, especially with art school students is this odd sense of entitlement. They go to these big art schools and graduate expecting to get a job at Pixar or Dreamworks. I just don't understand who they think they are that a big studio like that would just hire them because of their art school credentials and above average student work. For most of us, jobs don't just show up at our door. So you need to realize that there's a lot of hard work ahead and get cracking. Don't expect to be handed a job, be willing to work hard and you'll get what you want.
Even though it may sound cheesy, I'll finish with two quotes that have really helped me along the way:
"Don't ask for it, go out and take it on your own. Do that and you'll succeed."
"Kick reason to the curb and do the impossible."
Keep working hard and believe in yourselves and eventually you'll get where you wanna go!
That's very good advice unitzer07, thanks very much for sharing your pearls of wisdom with everyone. I absolutely agree with your quotes, you need to seize the opportunity for sure because it's not likely to come to you.
Thank you very much for an amazing interview, again please let us know when you've finished this project. I know it's going to be amazing and I'm sure the community is behind you all the way!
Thank you very much for an amazing interview, again please let us know when you've finished this project. I know it's going to be amazing and I'm sure the community is behind you all the way!
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