Clay Kaytis has been interviewing James Baxter for his fantastic podcasts, and Kevin has posted some clips to illustrate part of the interview.
Kevin writes:
Clay Kaytis just put up part two of his James Baxter interview podcast, in which James talks about acting in animation, and cites Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau as excellent reference. [At the link above] is a clip of Jack Lemmon and Fred MacMurray from The Apartment that James used in a talk on secondary action that James gave at DreamWorks a few years ago:
The Apartment is an absolutely fantastic movie that deserves study on multiple levels, but take a look at the secondary action in this clip. As you all know, secondary action is behavior by a character that is not part of the primary action of a scene, and which adds nuance and personality to the character (note that secondary action is NOT “action that results from another action,” as you will find some people redefining the term — that should be referred to as secondary motion, or secondary animation). While the primary action often serves the plot, the secondary action often serves the theme ...
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5 comments:
Every animator who comes to lecture here at school mentions the apartment and how amazing the subtle acting and action is. While I agree, it does become old when every single artist who comes practically worships this film. Maybe I'm searching for more unique animation secrets to download into my brain.
But I'm still grateful for their observations of this movie. I've watched it several times and I find something new every time.
So everyone mentions the movie as being a great reference, and you yourself find something new in it every time, but that's not good enough? I honestly don't understand what you're complaining about.
You'd do well to stop wishing for "unique animation secrets" and pay closer attention to the ones being given to you.
Wow, actors standing around talking.
How....
animated.
Man, if that's all you see in that clip, you should probably consider a career in automotive maintenance...
To Tom Moore,
Keep being hungry for something special. Keep searching. Maybe even complain a little. It took me 15 years to find what I was looking for in animation. Along the way I met plenty of "experts" who memorized all the rules.
They were also some of the least creative people I've met. They had no ideas at all. Just echoes of what others had said before.
So, go find movies you like, and figure out why you like them. New things nobody noticed before. Be yourself.
And judge for yourself which anonymous you care to listen to.
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