Flow
This is a blog entry from a computer animator who worked on Lord of the Rings and Madagascar. His name is Jason Schleifer he talks about creativity, the ability to produce ideas, and the freedom to throw them away and try again. Just so you know, when he talks about "blocking" he's referring to rough draft animation. Anyway, his blog entry which he called "I give up!"
"I've been taking a quick improv class with a few friends and it's been incredibly informative..
One of the first things that Rebecca (the teacher) talked about was the need to be able to come up with ideas and then feel totally comfortable and free to throw them away. Is it not working? Is the idea dumb? Is it boring? Just toss it out and get a new one! throw your hands in the air! Scream "I messed up!" and toss it out. "This one sucks!" "My Bad!" "D'oh!"
It's okay! Its how you come up with new and better and more sucessful ideas.. you just TRY them.
I think that's the secret of blocking your animation. People (myself included) get so focused on trying to block their shots as quickly as possible and lock themselves into something, that they're missing out on the whole feeling of creativity and spontinaeity which can come through working quick and rough. Animation is so time consuming.. so difficult.. that we're really reluctant to get rid of something that we've spent time on.
That's why when blocking.. we should really focus on learning to block quickly.. and minimally.. get our ideas out as quick as possible in order to see if they work. If they don't work, toss 'em! Put in some new ideas!
I think we (as animators) and software (as our tool) need to focus on the ability to get ideas from our brains and to the "page" (the digital page.. haw haw.. I'm so clever) as soon as possible. Idea? BAM! New idea? BAM!
Right now, it takes so long to pose a character.. grab the hip.. grab the arm.. grab the toes.. push the face around.. GAH! 5 minutes to pose a character? Where's the flow? Where's the creativity? it's so friggin STILTED!!!
We don't need to take that much time.. we SHOULDN'T take that much time.. ideas should be pouring out of our bodies at the rate of 15,000 per minute.
..Replace the slow methodical working methods that we're currently tied to and let our creativity FLOW.."
posted by john_mcneal at Thursday, July 28, 2005
3 Comments:
We don't need to take that much time.. we SHOULDN'T take that much time.. ideas should be pouring out of our bodies at the rate of 15,000 per minute.
Very interesting counter-cultural idea.
Fri Jul 29, 08:44:00 AM
yeah. i really like the idea that by continuing to come up with new ideas we are, in a sense, practicing creativity. it's waaaaaay to easy to fall out of creative thinking just from lack of practice. fan into flame the gifts.
Fri Jul 29, 09:47:00 AM
In writing, most advice is similar--get as much down on the page as quickly as you can while you're in the flow and don't stop to edit or quible over words until you're done. But I found that never totally worked for me--I WANTED to quible over words and create just the exact feel I was aiming for WHILE I was "flowing." I think it boils down to figuring out what helps each of us personally to get into a flow of creativity--what blocks it, what gives it momentum--and be persistent in it. "Obedient to it," as Madeleine L'Engle would say...
Sat Jul 30, 10:08:00 PM
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