For senior year students’ final project is Zenith, and as the name suggests, this is supposed to be a culmination of all that we have learned at Freestyle. I may have only been a part of the Freestyle community for barely a year, but I’m happy to say that I’ve learned more than I could’ve imagined learning in such a small amount of time.
For my Zenith project, I chose to research Pixar’s animation process and tried to animate something myself. I’ve always loved watching Pixar movies and have been curious about what goes on behind the scenes for a couple years, now seemed like a great chance to dig deeper.
I started by learning about the process Pixar goes through when creating a film in addition to the programs they use. I also began to learn the bare bottom basics of the Maya animation software so I could piece together animations I picked from Mixamo. Mixamo provided me pre-animated characters so all I had to do was download the action I wanted.
I was fitting in a fair amount of work with about a month to get it completed. Looking back I’ll probably say it was fine when in reality I found it really daunting.
For me, the key to getting through Zenith and coming out with a product I was happy with was setting realistic expectations yet remembering to push myself. I think finding that sweet spot is important so that you are able to get everything done and meet deadlines, but still feel like what you’re doing is fulfilling.
Below is the research video I made as well as my animation.
Zenith Reflection
I actually came up with the idea to research professional animation in early February. I’m not entirely sure what brought on the interest, although it has been in the back of my mind for some time. I’ve always known animating takes a lot of work and patience but wanted to learn what people were doing and how. In addition, as I’m choosing to pursue film further I figured it would be a good idea to see the other side of filmmaking apart from live action. There are these videos made by the publication Insider that had a couple very interesting and helpful videos on YouTube that provided a good foundation of Pixar’s animation process. I started my research there then branched out when looking for specific information.
For the animation section I watched some Maya tutorials, but overall had guidance from the animation teacher, Mr. Cho. I did not have any artistic influences, for the most part I simply followed what I was interested in. I did my project on my own so I didn’t collaborate with any peers. As I mentioned, I received a lot of help from Mr. Cho since we met once a week during Zenith. I would say this was successful because we were able to have conversations and I could ask questions. He was also able to help me target a specific kind of animation that would doable in the time span I had, this was something I was unsure about when starting.
If I could do the project over, I would find a more creative way to present the research I compiled. I’m happy with what I made, but I feel like there could have been a more interactive way I could have shown it instead of just of having a video and me talking in the corner. I think I improved on risk taking. As the year has gone on I think I’ve gradually pushed myself out of my comfort zone more and more. With this project, I began with little knowledge on how Pixar animates and no knowledge on Maya. This meant more time dedication and a greater chance to fall behind. I was aware of my limits, such as skill and time, so I made sure what I was striving for was realistic. Although I also realized the greater the risk the greater the pay off, this motivated me to work on Zenith whenever I had time.
I could have done better with creativity. For example, I would have liked to add more background and sound effects to my animation. Or as I mentioned earlier, I would’ve liked to present my research in a more nuanced fashion. Although to improve this I could’ve had better time management.
I will definitely carry what I have learned about animation with me into the future. I think learning about how feature length films are made in a professional setting could come in handy as I continue to pursue film. Also having a foundation of Maya is useful to have since I never know when I might need to use it again. If I do, I won’t be starting from scratch. I think I certainly elevated my skills and experiences. I shifted my focus away from areas I’m familiar with, such as live action shooting, to animation. I think I’ve also elevated my experiences by learning what programs professional animators use at Pixar. Now when watching Pixar movies, I have a general idea of how scenes were created. In addition, if I hear the names of programs thrown around in the future, hopefully I’ll catch the references and be able to join the conversation.
I had a really great experience building off of and expanding the skills learned from film into animation. It kept me on my toes and reinvigorated me during a time I felt like I was in a slump of productivity. Learning so many new things about Pixar and Maya showed me why it can be good to step out of your span of knowledge from time to time. Done within reason, it can lead to new skills and realizations you might not have had without them.