Saturday, March 12, 2011

About the TAG Interviews

Since I've gotten various reactions and queries, here are a few answers to a few questions ...

How did you come to do these things?

I got the idea for interviewing animation veterans for TAG blog last Fall, when I was running for re-election as Business Representative. Since I wasn't posting at the time, I put the execution of the idea off until after ballots were counted.

The original thought was to interview people who were somewhat younger than the "old-timers," but had been in the business twenty-five or thirty years. That policy has now been broadened, because we realize it's important to hear from artists who might not be around to interview a few years hence. (I kick myself I didn't start this up three or four years ago.)

Who are you interviewing?

We strive to interview a broad cross-section of people in the cartoon industry, folks working on the theatrical and/or television side who have made big contributions to the art form. Folks in different classifications. (Animators and directors have one story to tell, background and storyboard artists another. Kind of important, we think, to get a variety of experiences.)

How often are the interviews going to be put up on the blog?

As often as we do them, but no more than once a week. At the start, it was going to be "whenever," but we've gotten into a rhythm of putting them up on Monday or Tuesday, in thirty to forty-minute chunks. We'll work to continue that.

So where do you record these?

In studio offices. In the Animation Guild conference room. At private homes. Wherever it's most convenient for the interviewee. The sound quality varies because of the acoustics of different spaces. I use a small digital recorder placed close to the interviewed person.

How much time does it take to do an interview?

The length you hear is the length it takes. We perform minimal editing. (This is kind of obvious, yes?) I do research beforehand, and mouthe a short introduction afterhand, which Steve Kaplan (our in-house technical wiz) puts onto the front. That's pretty much it. No written questions, no windy formalities, just the ebb and flow of conversation.

How long will these interviews go on?

Two or three years. Beyond that, who knows? The over-arching idea is to put a lot of these oral histories onto the blog and the Animation Guild website and build a mosaic of recorded information about the animation industry that will be accessible to people. In the past, the guild has recorded interviews onto magnetic tape and the tape sat on a shelf somewhere, gathering dust. (Not super useful.)

Anyway, that's some of the thinking behind why we're doing these. We hope you find value in the project.

10 comments:

Betsy Bauer said...

These interviews have been a huge inspiration to me. Please keep them coming!

Michael Cawood said...

Great stuff. Now they just need to be published to iTunes to really make them accessible and convenient to everyone. Let me know if you need help with that.

Steve Hulett said...

Thanks Betsy and Mike.

We're still feeling our way along with these, so we'll see what develops.

I've started noting the dates of the interviews at the start of the interviews. It's only just dawned on me I should have been doing that from the get go.

I'm a slow learner.

Matt DeWater said...

I agree with Betsy - as a student, these are incredibly inspiring. They've picked up where Clay Kaytis' Animation Podcasts left off. Can't wait to hear more!

Mark Mayerson said...

Steve, I'm enjoying these interviews immensely and I thank you for them. Some of them, though, degenerate into "and then I worked on..."

Can you ask more questions about people's influences and can you especially ask them about their artistic priorities? Meaning, when they start a job (whatever their function happens to be), what's their thought process? What's the most important thing they try to get into their work?

Thanks again for the great interviews.

Anonymous said...

Please try to interview more colorful, salty, SWEARING, guys like Walt Peregoy. I loved hearing his frank take on things. That interview was awesome!

Steve Hulett said...

Can you ask more questions about people's influences and can you especially ask them about their artistic priorities? Meaning, when they start a job (whatever their function happens to be), what's their thought process? What's the most important thing they try to get into their work?

I'll work on this.

Boris M. said...

Thanks for doing these, Steve! As someone who's just getting started in the field it's inspiring to hear how other artists have made it. Keep it up!

Steven Kaplan said...

Michael-

I'll look in to setting up an iTunes feed for the interviews today. Any help you could provide would be appreciated.

skaplan@animationguild.org
818-845-7500

Steven Kaplan said...

Update:

The interviews feed has been created and submitted to iTunes for their stamp of approval. Here's the link if you're not keen on waiting:

http://feeds.feedburner.com/blogger/PruO

I'll give it a week or two to see if iTunes approves. If not, I'll write a new post on it as well as add the link to the website.


Cheers!

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