An Acting Masterclass with Sir Michael Caine

A Day in the Life of John Lasseter

My Demo Reel April 2011

***DEMO REEL BREAKDOWN***
All hand keyed animation

Scenes 1 - 3: Young Man rig, props and set provided by Killerjellybean Animation
Scene 4: Bishop character provided by Animation Mentor
Scene 5: Roboter rig created by Niklas Wennersten
Scene 6: Bishop and Brussels characters provided by Animation Mentor
Scene 7: Bishop character provided by Animation Mentor
Scene 8: Bishop and Pawn characters provided by Animation Mentor
Scene 9: Young Man rig and set provided by Killerjellybean Animation
Scene 10: Murdock rig provided by Animation Mentor
Scenes 11 - 14: Bishop characters provided by Animation Mentor

Resume

Objective       

To bring characters to life through animation while continually challenging my artistic abilities.

Animation Experience

                        Character Animator, September 2008 – present

                        Killerjellybean Animation, Boston, Ma.

                        Remote animator on multiple shots for an independent animated short film project. In the Fall of 2008, I volunteered to join director Dana Boadway on her project. Through video chats and e-mails, I regularly receive detailed critiques on my scenes and make the necessary adjustments.

Work Experience

                        Merchandising Manager, July 1996 – present

                        Barnes & Noble Booksellers, Corpus Christi, Texas

                        Opening and closing the store, in charge of merchandising the non-specialty departments on the sales floor, responsible for counting down registers, daily bank deposits and change drawer, responsible for overseeing the duties of 7-9 employees on a daily basis, assists in interviewing and hiring new employees.

Software

                        Autodesk Maya 2008, Quicktime Pro, Adobe Photoshop Elements 3.0, Adobe Audition, Adobe Premiere Elements 7.0

Education

                        AnimationMentor.com

Diploma in Advance Character Animation Studies, July 2009

Chris Chua                   C1: Basic Foundation                           Winter 2008

Mike Walling                C2: Body Mechanics                            Spring 2008

Dana Boadway             C3: Intro to Acting                                Summer 2008

                                    C4: Advanced Acting                           Fall 2008

Kenny Roy                   C5: Short Film Pre-Prod.                      Winter 2009

                                    C6: Short Film Production                    Spring 2009

Del Mar College

Associates in Art – Studio Art, July 1999

References

                        Available upon request

The Creative Gap by Nick Campbell

I just finished watching this speech and it was very interesting and motivation. It made me want to jump on the computer and start animating.

Nick Campbell - The Creative Gap: Becoming Better Than Most from Nick Campbell on Vimeo.

A Happy Medium (the flip side)

Maybe I'm just making excuses. It's not that I do not want to workout, I just want more time to work on my animation.

Since I didn't hear from Reel FX, I know I still have a lot of work to do on my reel. I am switching my focus from dialog shots and going to work on body mechanics. That is the one course that gave me trouble in school, so I know I have my work cut out for me. I've been in touch with the career services lady from AM and she gave me a listing of game studios here in Texas. A lot of them were in Austin. I then started doing research and seeing what they look for in demo reels. I saw a great video from an AM alum who works at a gaming studio. He gave a lot of tips and pointers as to what the recruiters look for. Here's a quick rundown of what he had to say:

•  Strong body mechanics
        ex. monkey bars, swimming, jumping over stuff
•  Bipedal action
•  Quadraped action is a plus
•  Nice run and walk cycles
•  Knock downs and get ups
•  Make it interesting. Give it a bit of a story
        ex. guy jumps over a car, leans against the car, starts to run away and trips and falls, then gets back up
             and runs away.
•  Avoid cliche scenes.
        ex. walk up to a boulder, push it, walk away
              walk up to a rock, pick it up, throw it and walk off screen
•  Do the animation geared towards the studio you're applying to. Know what type of games the studio
              makes, realistic or cartoony.

All great advice and things I can do. I have so many ideas running through my head right now it's difficult to find a starting point. Which one do I do first? Do I need to build any extra props? Which character rig am I going to use? Do I start sketching out ideas or just go for it and start blocking it out in Maya? My next day off is going to be dedicated to answering these questions.

Like I said, I want to add a new shot to my reel at least every two months. If I can do enough of these little bits, come next year I'll have a whole new reel to start shopping around.

Another tip I received from someone on the forum was to try some combat stuff. Anything from punches, kicks, swords and stuff like that. Gun recoils are a plus. Apparently a lot of the games out there now are combat oriented scenes like this can e more relevant that simple cycles. Also include at least a one hit combo and a two or three hit combo. He also suggested to stay away from using the AM rigs since they are not really great game style rigs. I can agree with him there because Bishop has a pretty big head and long fingers.

These tips have been some of the best. Now I have a whole NEW direction in which to focus my animation. Now I have to do "research" and start playing video games. WOOHOO!

AT-AT Day Afternoon + The Making Of..

AT-AT day afternoon from Patrick Boivin on Vimeo.

Making of AT-AT day afternoon from Patrick Boivin on Vimeo.

I first saw this video and was cracking up! The AT-AT was one of my favorite toys. I, too, made a short film with it and my Star Wars and G.I. Joe figures. I'll admit I did cringe a bit when I saw how they made the film. He actually....(tear)....cut up the AT-AT!! HE TOOK IT ALL APART!!!! OH THE HORROR!!!

(gasp)....I'm ok.

The Gruffalo + Making Of Documentary

I've never heard of this children's story, but this short film has been making the rounds on several animation blogs. I did see the documentary before first ever seeing the film. Apparently they made actual model sets then later added in the CG animation. It gives the film a similar texture the illustrator captured in the book. I recognize some of the celebrity voices, like Robbie Coltrane, Helena Bonham Carter, John Hurt and Tom Wilkinson.

"The Nation s Favourite bedtime story is being brought to life in an all star beautiful adaptation of the best-selling book by Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler. The Guffalo debuts on BBC One this Christmas and comes to DVD in time for Easter 2010. The film's all-star voice cast features Robbie Coltrane as the Gruffalo; Helena Bonham Carter as the narrator; Rob Brydon as the Snake; James Corden as the Mouse; John Hurt as the Owl and Tom Wilkinson as the Fox. The Gruffalo tells the magical tale of a mouse who takes a walk through the woods in search of a nut. Encountering three predators who all wish to eat him a fox, an owl and a snake the plucky mouse has to use his wits to survive, creating an imaginary monster who then turns out to be only too real."

And the Golden Globe goes to...

Congratulations to Lee Unkrich and the cast and crew of Toy Story 3!!

So for the first time in quite a while I did not watch the Golden Globes. Probably because I cannot stand the host Ricky Gervais at all! He insults everyone with a smile and never shuts up. I just don't like him.

But when I saw this clip of Lee's acceptance speech, I got very annoyed and here's why. They never left the camera on Lee for more than two seconds at a time!!! WTF?!?! They were showing the "reaction" from the audience who didn't seemed that moved at all!!!! The entire clip is 1:12 and Lee was only on screen for approximately 24 seconds!!! The only acceptance speech I wanted to see and it was ruined.

And apparently the director Chris Donovan did the same for everyone else. He didn't care about the winner's acceptance speech, he cared about the reaction of the audience. Well, a lot of them didn't even seem to care. Each one seemed to have a blank stare across their face like they wanted to be somewhere else, or thinking of the after party.

My Demo Reel January 2011

My Demo Reel January 2011 from Rene Barrera on Vimeo.

Rene Barrera
Character Animator
Bishop, Brussels and Pawn rigs provided by Animation Mentor.com
Young Man, fishing pole and set provided by Killer Jellybean Productions

Objective
To bring characters to life through animation while continually challenging my artistic abilities.

Experience
Character Animator, September 2008 – present
Killerjellybean Animation, Boston, Ma.
Remote animator on multiple shots for an independent animated short film project. In the Fall of 2008, I volunteered to join director Dana Boadway on her project. Through video chats and e-mails, I regularly receive detailed critiques on my scenes and make the necessary adjustments.

Merchandising Manager, July 1996 – present
Barnes & Noble Booksellers, Corpus Christi, Texas
Opening and closing the store, in charge of merchandising the non-specialty departments
on the sales floor, responsible for counting down registers, daily bank deposits and
change drawer, responsible for overseeing the duties of 7-9 employees on a daily basis,
assists in interviewing and hiring new employees.

Software
Autodesk Maya 2008, Quicktime Pro, Adobe Photoshop Elements 3.0, Adobe Audition,
Adobe Premiere Elements 7.0

Education
AnimationMentor.com
Diploma in Advance Character Animation Studies, July 2009
Chris Chua C1: Basic Foundation Winter 2008
Mike Walling C2: Body Mechanics Spring 2008
Dana Boadway C3: Intro to Acting Summer 2008
Dana Boadway C4: Advanced Acting Fall 2008
Kenny Roy C5: Short Film Pre-Prod. Winter 2009
Kenny Roy C6: Short Film Production Spring 2009

Del Mar College
Associates in Art – Studio Art, July 1999

References
Available upon request

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