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'An Open Letter to Andy Serkis'

posted 13 years ago by An_Animator
9 replies | jump to latest

(I also posted this on the Andy Serkis board)

Here's an interesting letter I found to Andy Serkis by animator Tim Borrelli. It discusses how animators are almost completely overlooked when it comes to performance capture work. Most people think that a guy dances around in a rubber suit with ping pong balls attached and the computer just spits out apes or big blue aliens and that there is minimal post production work. Even Serkis himself seems to think something like that (see the article). That's very sad.

http://altdevblogaday.com/2011/08/15/an-open-letter-to-andy-serkis/

He also discusses the idea of using a live actor as a "base" for the performance is nothing new at all.`Disney has been doing the same exact thing since Snow White and it's still a common practice today to shoot, and often stay very close to, live action reference. Like this animator does:

http://vimeo.com/user8028778/rio-comparison-reel/

(Password is is "education")

http://youtu.be/Ah2WGBeWbAE

Thoughts? As an animator myself, I think he makes some excellent points. This enlightening comment about the animation work on King Kong is great as well:

Having worked on Kong, I had some personal problems with how Mr. Serkis speaks about his contribution to the film. I think he'd be surprised to find out we ended up using about 10% of what he did on stage. 10%. Most of it as a baseline for facial movement, the body was completely off and useless. And then I bring my family to the film, and I see that that Andy Serkis is credited as King Kong TWICE before any animators are mentioned.

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"An animator is an actor with a pencil (or a mouse!)."

[–] An_Animator 13 years ago

Simon Pegg puts it best:

We get a lot of credit for what you see on the screen but really its the animators. What we provide them with is a template. We give them the voice and the performance and they build on top of that what you see on the screen says Pegg. My job on Tintin was completed by the beginning of 2009 and the ensuing 3 years the animators made what you see on the screen, which is this incredibly lavish, beautiful thing.

There is no doubt in my mind that Andy Serkis is an Oscar worthy actor. He is an amazing actor and hes an amazing performance capture actor as well. But I think there is also work that goes along with his performance that somehow would seem backgrounded if he was solely commended for it. I would love Andy Serkis to get an Oscar, but I think people need to understand the process more and I say that as someone who has done it but dont entirely understand it.

http://www.mattsmoviereviews.net/spotlight-interview-adventures-of-tin tin.html

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"An animator is an actor with a pencil (or a mouse!)." Digital animator and PROUD of it.