The Art of Reinvention

Change can be hard but it is a reality of life. It can be scary but it can also be challenging and exciting.

When I was young I got a Book for my 10th Birthday called "The Disney Films" by Leonard Maltin. It had a profound effect on me and I am sure it was the catalyst that made me focus on becoming a "Disney Animator". Now what do you do when a job you have strived all your life ceases to exist? In towns and Villages around the UK whole industries have closed leaving unemployment and disillusionment with destructive effects on the communities.

In 1995 a film called "Toy Story" was released. It was a game changer. I had worked on a series of massively successful animated films, Pocahontas, Hercules, Tarzan but had then worked on a great film but at the time not a hit called "The Iron Giant" at Warner Bros. We thought at the time that 2D Classical Animation would run equally alongside the new media, of CGI. We were wrong. It brought about the complete demise of Classical hand drawn animation in Hollywood. The massive salaries that had come about with the creation of DreamWorks and Warner Bros Feature Animation were to go away also. No more phone calls from Jeffrey Katzenberg asking me to come over to DreamWorks!

For me however it was never about the money. It was about doing what I liked to do. I have found however that if you do what you like to do the money will usually follow. However when a job you do pretty much disappears completely you have to make a living somehow.

Many animators moved to new areas. Some became CGI Animators, others storyboard artists. There are many 2D Classical animators that bravely soldiered on and in most cases now use a tablet and software to animate as opposed to a pegbar and paper.

I did do CG animation for a while but it never really ticked that box for me. I also storyboarded for a while but mostly on TV Animated TV series and although there are some decent ones, most aren't very good. I Directed some animated commercials but there is no feeling of longevity, I Directed some Animated TV Series but the demands of TV and budget meant too many compromises. I had always loved Live Action I but had no experience in it. I had to create my own experience. Many of the skills that I already had however are very translatable to Live Action. I was also an "ideas man" having studied and having worked in advertising in my early years. So I came up with a bunch of ideas for film. But that would have been too big a leap. I needed to take Baby steps.? I needed to make something on a little money and one way was to film locally. I happen to live near Bath, one of the most beautiful Cities in England. One of the main tourist sites is The Roman Baths. So I came up with an idea where a Roman Soldier is resurrected and burst out of the water. The strapline I created at the end was "Bath. The Romans came, Why don't you?". I did a storyboard and pitched it to Visit Bath. As I had worked in advertising I knew it was going to be difficult as they would have their own marketing team, their own agency and with that a whole load of politics. I had brought a Producer in and a team and proposed a small budget. To my amazement they went for it! So there I was learning during the shoot and Directing it! The best way I to learn is by actually doing it! Reading and studying is good but there is nothing like hands-on experience.? In animation we didn't have such things as call sheets but I have always learned that you can pick up the mechanics of anything, it's the idea that matters. One of the challenges of shooting was that days before the shoot we were told that we were not allowed to film anyone in the water as there is a bug that causes a serious illness. Where there is a will there's a way, so I suggested a Green Screen so we filmed the Actor at the Themae Spa which is much smaller just down the street. We dropped in a green screen in the water and the excellent compositors at Loco Soho were able to composite our leading Actor MIngus Johnston into the main Roman Baths. Nobody has ever noticed or can tell he actually isn’t in that location. It was an amazing learning experience and I was delighted at the result.?

I remember reading an article where Martin Scorsese said he was still learning on every film! That is what makes him so great and amazing advice for filmmakers. I actually think that is what makes the art so exciting as there are always new things to learn. So I continued my journey into Live Action. The great thing about coming from animation has been all the translatable skills. I had Directed, storyboarded and was used to working with actors, mainly in voice recordings but also in Directing in actors for “live action reference” in Disney’s Hercules. I was able to learn much from other Directors, all very different and hopefully forge my own style. Here I talk about my approach to performance in film.

All the creative choices I had to make over the years all helped me forge my first two films “Censure” and “Confines”. Again I learnt many new things. Over 60 awards later and screenings in Cannes, London, New York and Beverly Hills culminating with a Live interview on BBC Points West with more to come.

So adapting to change can take many forms or directions. My choice was to take the skills I had and pivot into Live Action. It felt natural. Other Classical 2D animators for whom I have the utmost respect as I know what dedication it takes to do well. Two top Disney Animators, Glen Keane and Andreas Deja chose to leave Disney and make their own films. Glen went on to win an Oscar for his short “Basketball”. Some moved into teaching (again a profession I respect as my Father was a Teacher). A few set up schools and a handful continue to do 2D animation on the odd commercial. A natural transition for a few was to move into CGI but less than I would have expected. Interestingly CGI Animators now face the same dilemma as the 2D Animators with the advancement of AI as that will ultimately replace many and to be discussed in another article. AI isn’t something I want to use creatively in the way say “The Crow” Director Alex Proyas is who has embraced it. It is a personal choice as long as artists whose work is derived from are protected. There are however less controversial uses and may look into its use in more practical matters of production. Creatives have adapted to all sorts of challenges over the years such as introduction of sound, the transition of black and white to colour film and advances in VFX. I remember on Brad Bird’s “The Iron Giant” a special effects artist showing us a new tool called After Effects where they took one image of a bush where the Giant steps on it. Instead of numerous drawings but several artists to create the effect he created a lattice and squished it within seconds! This was 25 years ago! AI is going to bring a huge shake up to the business, right or wrong, just be prepared.

So adaptability is key. It doesn’t mean you have to be less creative. The key is to determine which way you want to go and what is best for you. The process is much like a river finding it’s way around rocks and obstacles to find the path, to find your “Bliss”, And of course it is never too late to do that!

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