Over the past 30 years, the art and techniques of animation have changed drastically. The advent of computer animation ushered in ‘better and faster’ ways to work. But at what cost? How did it affect the art of animation?
In this month’s motion+connect, Legendary Disney Animator, Dan Haskett shares his views and insights on the current [...]
Join us for motion+connect!
Concept Vehicle Design in 2D and 3D Using Sketchbook, Maya and Mudbox
Marcel de Jong is a visionary when it comes to his concept vehicle designs. His inspired designs simply state, ‘what if?’ and ‘why not?’ From his ‘Maasai’ motorcycle that Batman would drool over, to his ‘futuristic’ bomber that looks like…well, [...]
We are continually amazed by the talent we see in the up-and-coming members of the motion community . . . students! This year we provided two unique opportunities for students to have their work seen at motion09.
Congratulations to Alyx Loos, a senior at Ex’pression College for Digital Arts in Emeryville, CA
Congratulations to Lisa Hetherington, a senior at Ex’pression College for Digital Arts in Emeryville, CA
motion09 is an event that inspires.
Once a year, animators, motion graphics artists, title designers, visual effects (VFX) artists and broadcast designers come together to share their skills, work, and professional insights at this unique summit.
Industry professionals and students spend four days together in a collaborative environment designed for experiencing and participating in the creative process.
And [...]
motion09 is honored to announce yU+co.’s Synderela Peng
Specializing in broadcast design
Dan Haskett is a master animator with four decades in the business
Flash animation expert and founder of High Bar Films in Los Angeles
Brad Swardson, had a passion for computer animation and special effects since before he knew what it was.
Former Disney animator, Phil Nibbelink, now makes his own films.
Illustrator, Cedric Hohnstadt’s specialty is character design.
Fast Company recently released
motion09’s most recent rock-star
motion09’s most recent rock-star
Ex’Pression College for Digital Arts – part of the motion community
A graduated from Ex’pression College for Digital Arts, Tina was an attendee last year at motion08.
Last year at motion08, Jamie Caliri surprised and amazed the audience.
A look at Brandon Sugiyama’s reel. Brandon is a recent graduate of Ex’pression College for Digital Arts.
Mark Coleran’s screen designs appear in The Bourne Ultimatum, Mission Impossible 3
Jamie Caliri is a storytelling genius who connects with his audience
An interview Chris and Trish Meyer – the After Effects experts.
An interview with Zoa Martinez from Zona Design. Design Made to Move.
Jamie Caliri - Director
motion09 speaker Jamie Caliri won yet another award: the 2009 Emmy Award for Outstanding Main Title Design. The project? Showtime’s The United States of Tara. Jamie played multiple roles in this production, including Director, Director of Photography, Editor, and Main Digital Compositor.
The United States of Tara follows the life of Tara Gregson, a wife and mother with dissociative identity disorder (DID). After deciding to take a break from her medication to discover the real cause of her disorder, her alternate personalties re-emerge. Tara is supported by her calm and level-headed husband Max, her somewhat troubled teenage daughter Kate and quirky, good-hearted gay son Marshall. Her sister, Charmaine, is not so supportive, often expressing her doubt about the validity of Tara’s disorder. The show is set in Overland Park, Kansas.
Caliri’s opening titles for The United States of Tara is based on the concept of a pop-up book – a subtle way of illustrating the relationship to Tara’s ‘personalities’ – personalities that could ‘pop-up’ at any given time. The illustrative style and the darker color palette used by Caliri evokes a feeling indicative of a ‘mysterious’ disorder – fitting for this project. Caliri worked with the show’s writers, creative producer David Finkel and also received a few helpful suggestions from executive producer Steven Spielberg on how to represent the character. “This project was a melting pot of ideas,” says Caliri. “I wasn’t given the show and then sat down and storyboarded it. Things are more collaborative in television apparently, which is fine!”
Jamie Caliri - Director
Created in the cut paper stop-motion animation style that Jamie has become known for, this innovative piece is an amazing work of art. Unlike most modern-day pieces, Jamie’s projects are normally created the old-fashioned way – by hand.
When asked why he doesn’t go digital, Caliri replies: “If you’re just going to fold up some paper why do it on the computer? Some things are easier done with less technology. The nice thing was I wasn’t sweating, ‘Does this look like paper? I don’t know, we’d better get some paper plug-ins!’”
But for the stop motion aspect, he does rely on the software technology co-developed by Caliri and his brother Dyami: Dragon Stop Motion.
Jamie was hands-on with this project from the start – from constructing some of the actual pop-ups to shooting the sequence – and his unfaltering attention to detail shows through. Each pop-up illustrates one of Tara’s three personas. Tara’s ‘June Cleaver-like housewife personality’, Alice appears first in the title sequence, as she ties her apron in the kitchen. This humorous sequence shows snippets of a ‘day in the life’ as she arranges flowers, gingerly places a tissue over a cockroach before stepping on it with her ever-so-feminine pumps, and then brings out the vacuum to clean up the aftermath – all while she is baking a fabulous cake. And just what, ‘pops-out’ of this cake? Tara’s male, loud, beer-drinking Vietnam vet personality – Buck. The scene transitions to Buck in the garage, beer in hand working on his Harley. As he zips out of the garage on his bike, the trail of dust he leaves, transitions to the bedroom of Tara’s wild and flirty teenager personality ‘T’.
The scene with Alice was creating using a fully working pop-up – without any extras. The stop motion process consisted of Caliri’s team carefully opening the pop-up books until they got a good take. In the scene depicting Tara’s wild child teen persona T opening her closet, the team – art department lead Morgan Hay, illustrator Alex Juhasz and animator Anthony Scott – created a few add-ons to augment the pop-up book.
“When you see T’s room open, there are a few things in the background that slide into the closet. Those had metal in the bottom and underneath the set were little rare-earth magnets,” explains Caliri. “We could slide things along the line of the magnets while the page held itself up. The great thing was that we didn’t have to have those extra pieces in there when the whole set was crushed.”
So just how long does it take to create one of these amazing pop-ups? On the average, anywhere from one day to two weeks, depending on complexity. To create a complex pop-up page, it takes about a month. Yep – you heard right – a month for one page. Having said that, Caliri’s talented team was able to take the project from conception to completion, with the team shooting the action on two stages – in just two months.
motion congratulates Caliri and his team on winning the Emmy award for Outstanding Main Title Design!
speaking at motion09
Jamie Caliri will be one of the ‘rock stars’ at motion09
10.11 – 10.14 2009 | abq | nm
motion | experience inspiration
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author: Elaine Montoya
motion.tv
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copyright: © 2008 – 09
motion.tv
(1 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)
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Animators, motion graphic artists, visual effects artists, screen designers, title designers – here’s your chance to show the world your work.
A shout-out to the rockstars of motion09, attendees, volunteers and sponsors of motion. You are what motion is all about!
Top students in the motion graphics and vfx industry win reels@motion competition.
register now…pay in October. Great for company’s whose fiscal year starts in October!
ABQ Doubletree discounted rate ends 09.18.09
motion09 pre-conference pricing ends 09.30.09
Barbara Geary has led her innovative Physical Expression For Animators all over the world.
A couple of months ago we ran a Twitter contest, with the winner receiving a free {m}ticket for motion09. The winner? Ken Latman.
To provide motion09 attendees a unique experience that only an intimate conference can offer, we limit the number of attendees to 360
motion{u} welcomes Alex Lindsay, founder of the Pixel Corps. Hands-on greenscreen & digital sets training.
July 28th, 2009 at 4:55 pm
Great story!
We just published this video interview with Caliri:
http://watchthetitles.com/articles/00142-Jamie_Caliri_interview
September 22nd, 2009 at 8:18 pm
Outrageous work! Beautiful illustration and lighting, excellent stop motion and camera angles. Your Emmy is well disserved.
Bravo