Amy Lawson Smeed ... is a head of animation (along with her colleague Hyrum Osmond) for the action-filled story of "Moana". ...
She got her break on 2005's "Chicken Little," where she moved to the animator training program and was assigned a mentor. She has gone on to work in animation on movies like "Meet the Robinsons," "Bolt," "Tangled," "Wreck-It Ralph" and "Frozen," where she worked with Jennifer Lee, the first female director of a Disney animated movie.
While technical chops and understanding the mechanics of movement are key to good animation, she cites her time on the Rapunzel adaptation "Tangled," with directors Nathan Greno and Byron Howard and animation supervisor Glen Keane, as helping her learn the importance of the acting side of animation.
"It's very easy in computer animation to just always be moving the characters and doing things. With good acting, it's not about just moving the character because you can. It's figuring out what that performance is and really getting the thought behind the character, and that was something they taught us on that film." ...
Amy Smeed estimates there are about a dozen woman animators at Disney, out of a crew of 100.
This is half the percentage of women that now hold jobs in Guild studios (23%). But the fact that a woman has now been put in one more top position is a stride in the right direction.
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1 comments:
I remember Amy when she first started at Disney during the nineties. Since I have not seen her in a very long time, it was great to read about her success at the house of mouse. Congratulations Amy!
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