Just Awful-Sounding Question

[ScatteredLogical]

Reading up on my own and talking to people, for example, from here and who are out working in the industry, or even reading interviews, I have a confident yet realistic perspective (I hope) on the state of things.

I have a friend Diane, though, who goes to Edinboro University of Pennsylvania, and every month she's got horror stories up the wazoo about rumors from the industry that sound contrived, or evil things studios/corporations are doing (like the extent of the "intellectual property theft" done to new recruits at places)...or even nonsense scare tactics like people applying for jobs at studios and starting out at the cafeteria lol....The worst I saw was looking at the Internet Movie Database and seeing a post from a kid whose 3D teacher told him that every hand-drawn animated film of the past decade was in fact cel-shaded 3D (dead serious), and that his teacher used to work for Pixar and was in-the-know so he "knows what he's talking about"....

Why the separation between the reasonable, and then the students-from-teachers mill of garbage and sludge? That school especially seems really bad (I used to go there by the way, but it's freezing all year round and I've got a terminal illness), as people from every year like to talk to undergrads and lower-classmen and much like the teachers talk about the latest thing they heard intended to disgust or embarrass or frighten the kids out of any motivations they've ever had to make something animatiorial out of themselves. Bursting bubbles is one thing, but I cannot stand a stream of misinformation being spread to hopeful non-cynical people. Who's got it right? There's a lot of unnecessary ignorance going around it seems...

The funniest part is when I went just a mile outside that town to get art supplies, and to a guy at a video store, both of the clerks when they found out about my major talked about these guys who were really hard workers and exceptional draughtsmen, and within a year one guy went to Pittsburgh to animate on a big TV project and the other guy wound up at Dreamworks (according to him)....

It's like pockets of resistance and I can understand the filtration of anyone but the people who most wanna do this thing we call the animation experience, but....do it fairly....otherwise you're tainting the image of everyone and everything involved...

[Ken Davis]

In some ways, this is a inadvertant blessing.
Its part of the process of sowing the wheat from the chaff.
If someone is scared by the "talk", the biz is likely not for them anyway.

Callous sounding, but true too.

BTW, take anything a student tells you with a large grain of salt, anything a teacher tells you with a smaller grain, anything a pro tells you with a tiny grain.

[jprowland]

The worst I saw was looking at the Internet Movie Database and seeing a post from a kid whose 3D teacher told him that every hand-drawn animated film of the past decade was in fact cel-shaded 3D (dead serious), and that his teacher used to work for Pixar and was in-the-know so he "knows what he's talking about"....Well I can't say much about the other points you mentioned, but I suspect a misunderstanding on the student's part on this point. Nearly every major animated feature in the last decade has used cel-shaded 3D somewhere in the film, usually for props, vehicles, backgrounds, and such. The teacher may have made this point and the student misunderstood it.

College, to me, seems almost irrelevant to the process of getting a job in animation, it's almost all your portfolio and skills. However, a college education is useful for people like me because I need to build my insufficient skills and I know for a fact that I won't do it in my spare time now because my job sucks every last ounce of energy and motivation out of me. I suppose I could just quit and study on my own for a year or two, but I think at that point you're better off studying at a school instead and at least having a degree from an accredited institution when you're done. The other advantage is that listing a reputable school on your resume might automatically get you placed in a different pile when the HR guy/gal is sorting through all the applications, not to mention that the major houses will all be recruiting in person only at a select list of schools. They're more likely to take a chance on a new hire if they've had good experience from other graduates of the same school.

[ScatteredLogical]

I don't think it's callous, Mr. Davis. That's the part I'm OK with because your point is what I carry with me verbatim. If they can't take talk, there's a lot more harsh things waiting for them than that, that they can avoid now by running, because the passion's obviously not a part of it for them anyway.

JP - I'll try to find the post later. I thought it might be a misunderstand too (after all, even as far back as Aladdin I remember the "making of" showing the vast amounts of computer work, especially for the carpet ride through the Cave of Wonders escape...) but the more he went on his reasoning was that the characters themselves were 3D models so as to "avoid the inconsistencies possible when using conventional 2D animators" in keeping the character on model...I just know a lot of animators who were busting arse pencilling in those movies that might get PO'd about a comment like that... I'm just a novice and I'd want my artistic integrity protected...

So it's not like it's hurting anyone (not like the other stuff that gets talked around) but reputation, like I said is important.

It almost seems like this trickle-down (mis?)information system is a way to develop a caste...you can tell who's cooler/better/more in-the-know by how many of these stupid 'secrets' they pass around....

That's why it's refreshing to come here into a nice, usually happy environment based on excitement for what we do, on giving and sharing, and where everyone including the kiddies can have a nice ADULT mature conversation...

Even the grated ones =)

By the way, thanks for responding...Half of what I write is to myself so I do appreciate that there are others who have comments on the issues that I can analyze...

[ScatteredLogical]

You're right, I am fortunate. I am surrounded by 95% of my peers who for one reason or another (that I will never know) walk around mindlessly not knowing what they wanna do with their lives. And everything about animation, from reading about it to making it to thinking about its inner workings is exciting to me. And I'll be making this doable in any way I can...

I think for the most part, though, people love themselves, and so they look out for themselves....and finances are an important part of having a livable life and -staying- alive....So it's cost-benefit...

I have to wonder if your teacher is speaking from bitterness...I always thought their role was to -foster- motivation....