Mon, 26 September 2022
Angie Jones’ passion for character animation has fuelled a career that’s taken in some of the world’s biggest movies and games. Beginning with the groundbreaking videogame Oddworld: Abe’s Oddyssey, she’s gone on to animate a variety of characters for Stuart Little 2, X2, Freddy vs. Jason, Stealth, Pan’s Labyrinth, Red Dead Revolver, Bloodshot, Fortnite, and many more. Angie is full of hilarious insight and deep knowledge in this rundown of her career so far. She talks about how she switches between sweet and deadly projects, showing old-school animators how to work with cutting-edge technology, and her most challenging shot, which involved a stack of Smurfs, Hank Azaria, and a vortex. Angie also discusses her prolific teaching career, and what it’s like to be a female animator in male-dominated cultures. |
Mon, 19 September 2022
An epic career deserves an epic podcast. During Garman Herigstad's 35-year journey in CG, the Houdini wizard has traveled to over 30 countries and worked on everything from real estate commercials in Bangkok to Disney videogames and Hollywood movies. At the same time, he’s taught at prestigious institutions, including Savannah College of Art and Design and Gnomon, and he even completed his most recent degree in his 60s. Garman recounts his humble beginnings in greetings cards, through to economic highs and lows in Asia. He talks about his VFX work, including researching global weather patterns for a time-lapse sequence in The Time Machine, immersing George Clooney in Houdini-generated water for O Brother, Where Art Thou?, and working on Black Adam. Garman also shares valuable lessons on managing time and the importance of keeping notes. The episode ends with a particularly touching story of what inspired 52½ Feet, his autobiographical screenplay. |
Mon, 12 September 2022
Mio Markovic’s creative, production, and tech skills have resulted in some of the best animated TV series of recent years, including Voltron: Legendary Defender, Jurassic World Camp Cretaceous, and Fast & Furious Spy Racers. But Mio didn’t just jump into animation: he had already risen to a high level in the advertising industry and, like Chris, had worked on large-scale architecture projects. Mio talks Chris through his career and reveals how his earlier experiences enabled him to change tracks and take criticism with confidence. He also breaks down the process of creating a DreamWorks TV series, from the initial idea to assembling a team, creating the characters and worlds, and working with vendors to complete the show. If you’re thinking of changing careers, Mio’s knowledge could be just what you need. |
Tue, 6 September 2022
Over the past five years, Love, Death & Robots has completely resculpted the landscape of animation, feeding Netflix viewers bite-size chunks of violence, sex, and gore. Supervising Creative Director Jerome Denjean is a key player behind-the-scenes, giving Love, Death & Robots’ talented directors the freedom to execute their visions (literally!) while ensuring that each episode fits in with the series' overall vision and tone. In his second podcast with Chris, Jerome breaks down some of the amazing episodes in series three: David Fincher’s “Bad Travelling,” Alberto Mielgo’s “Jibaro,” Patrick Osborne’s “Three Robots: Exit Strategies,” and Emily Dean and Polygon Pictures’ “The Very Pulse of the Machine.” Jerome also reveals how episodes are researched and produced, and how Japanese animation has influenced their direction. |