The Animation Options Blog

It was my pleasure to participate in the inaugural SIGGRAPH Asia conference here in Singapore. On Thursday, I delivered the best (and last) version of my popular presentation, “CG Production Principles and Practices: Keeping Your Money On The Screen And Off The Floor”. Having evangelized on this subject over the past year for international audiences ranging from boardrooms of executives to conference halls of animation artists, I feel that those who are open to the message have gotten it. This SIGGRAPH Asia attendee certains seems to:

Hi Kevin,
I am totally blown away by your awesome talk about CG production, the good and the bad. Frankly, I have been involved as supervisor on many animation projects, and I am facing those same problems that you have mentioned. This time, I got lots of inspiration and solutions from your awesome sharing. Too bad there were time constraints and you had to make it so fast. - LWL

Glad it spoke to you, LWL… and glad you were able to make it, because with SIGGRAPH Asia 2008 in the can, this presentation is officially “retired”! Stay tuned for the book.

In the meantime, you can check out my YouTube excerpts from the fmx edition of the presentation in Stuttgart this past May. Animation Xpress did a nice write-up on the Singapore version, so thanks to the folk in India for that!

On a separate note, thanks to Laura Dohrmann of NVIDIA for inviting me to participate in this afternoon’s “Emerging Markets” panel discussion, relaying my experiences in China. It was a lot of fun, and a great opportunity to meet new colleagues. It’s always refreshing when you meet like minds from clear across the world.

What in the world does the situation above have to do with production? Everything.

In addition to consulting and producing in Beijing, I’m currently teaching a class entitled “Inside Hollywood Animation Production” (you’ll have to forgive the cheesy title, but like “Kung Fu Panda”, it plays well here). During our first session, I had the students (a group of animation teachers) play a game that I learned at bang improv studio in Los Angeles. A group of 10-12 people stand shoulder-to-shoulder in a circle, and then join hands across the middle with two other people. The goal is simple, but seemingly impossible: untangle yourselves without letting go.

The first reaction is usually disbelieving laughter - especially when everyone is cinched in a tight knot. But gradually, the group begins to work together and figure things out. The teachers managed to completely untangle themselves within 10 minutes, to their great delight. Afterwards, I asked if anyone could see the relevance to production. “Teamwork” and “patience” were offered immediately. We also noted differences in personality: some participants took charge while others waited to follow orders, some kept their sense of humor while others grew frustrated. But the most important lesson was this: we are often faced with situations (such as filmmaking) which appear “impossible” - but with teamwork, insightful observation and cooperative action the “impossible” can indeed be made possible.

Cut to later in the week, as I was teaching the same section to a class of graduate students. Due to the size of the class, two groups of 10 competed against each other. Unlike the teachers, the graduate students did not wait to hear my instructions before grabbing hands willy-nilly. One group was free in under 5 minutes, while the other group (pictured above) was unable to completely untangle themselves. They were truly stuck, and after 20 minutes of suffering, I cut them loose. Another improv principle is to work with what you’re given, so I quickly amended my lesson on the fly. In addition to the observations shared with the teachers, I added this: sometimes, a situation appears impossible because it IS. The difference between success or failure, in games as in production, is usually in how you begin. A student correctly observed that if more than one person grabbed hands with a colleague too near to them, as opposed to across the middle of the circle, a true predicament could result. Even so, the “failed” group still managed to untangle themselves about 90% of the way. So even if you can’t get as far as you might hope, with faith and perseverance you can still get a lot farther along than you may think.

Something to think about as America celebrates a remarkable new president.

Last but not least, here is excerpt #4 from my informal presentation on independent film business planning, delivered at the Griffith University Film School in Brisbane.

This clip includes partial coverage my take on the fundamentals of distribution pitches (teaser, comparative analysis, etc…) and the ins and outs of distributor feedback.

Once again, the document that I refer to in this presentation is the Animation Options “Independent Animated Feature Film Development & Production Plan”, which is freely available on the AO “Resources” page.

Cheers! ~KG

Here is excerpt #3 from my presentation on independent film business planning at Griffith University in Brisbane.

In this clip I touch upon test screenings and the greenlight process.

Excerpt #2 from my presentation on indie film business planning at Griffith University in Brisbane.

In this segment, I riff on development funding & business plans, development teams & advisory team and investor presentations.

BTW, the document that I refer to in this presentation is the Animation Options “Independent Animated Feature Film Development & Production Plan”, which is freely available on the AO “Resources” page.

The AO Channel on YouTube now features excerpt #1 from my informal presentation on independent film business planning, delivered at the Griffith University Film School in Brisbane this past May, at the behest of my friend and colleague Craig Caldwell.

As you can see, the kangaroo burger I had for lunch was not doing me any favors.

I’ve always used humor in my lectures and presentations. Despite the cautionary notes from many books on public speaking regarding the risks of humor, I have found the rewards (in audience goodwill and attentiveness) to be worth putting yourself out on that limb. Plus, I just can’t help myself. Humor is a part of who I am (a part of who we all are), and to purposefully keep it out of a presentation would be unnatural.

I do a lot of speaking overseas, and in many cases these presentations are translated while I deliver them in English. I was once asked by a colleague, “I suppose you have to remove all of your jokes, huh?” “No,” I replied, “I simply make adjustments in the type of joke I tell.” One type of humor that rarely fails to translate across cultures: jokes about human nature.

For example, I once told a Chinese audience a story about how proud I was to show my mother a giant hole that I had dug in the backyard when I was five. In describing my mother’s reaction, I told the audience that “she looked at me as though I were a cat that had just brought her a dead mouse.” There was that odd silent pause as the translator converted my joke, and then a burst of laughter from the audience.

The humor in this observation hinged upon a funny concept - one which you didn’t need to own a cat to appreciate. There was no word play, and there were no clever pop cultural references. There was just a simple observation of life. It didn’t even matter how my exact words were translated, as long as the universal concept was conveyed.

The result was that a connection was made. We all felt closer in the room at that moment. We shared an understanding. And isn’t that ultimately what it’s all about?