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Since its release in April last year, Here’s the Plan has received acclaim for its realistic portrayal of the hardships of relationships, as well as its bright and pleasing art style. This 18-minute “short” was animated by a hard-working team of 5 animators, many of whom are or were students here at AnimSchool. I had the great pleasure of interviewing them on their work on Here’s the Plan, and I’m excited to share what they had to say. Our next interview is with Maikoe Alaniz, an AnimSchool alum who is currently working at Peak Pictures on their upcoming web series, Isolated.

Please tell us a little bit about yourself.

Hey! My name’s Maikoe. I’m a 25 year old animator from Santiago, Chile. Currently living in Santiago as well. My background in animation isn’t really that vast. My first 3D experience was when I started with AnimSchool and prior to that I had gone to university for “animation generalist” classes which mostly involved 2D work, but nothing too far into character animation.

My hobbies are pretty related to animation I guess, I’m big on video-games and I enjoy cooking a lot. I would give my life to defend my cats, but who wouldn’t, really?

How did you find out about “Here’s the Plan”, and what drove you to work on it?

I have a little history with Fernanda Frick, the film’s director. She used to be one year up in the first university I attended and she dropped out to join another online animation school. Back when she did this, I was terrified to go down that same path so I think around 3 years after knowing about her I contacted her for advice on doing the same sort of move, so we’ve been in contact throughout the years. When I graduated AnimSchool, I imagine she found out about it through Facebook or acquaintances and contacted me about her upcoming project. Around 5 months after graduating (And going on a well deserved vacation!) I joined the animation team.

What is your favorite aspect of the film?

I really like a couple of shots that I have on my reel, which are shots we had a lot of time to think about and plan so that they would be really meaty. In general, we didn’t have much time to really get too thorough but I think we managed to nail a lot of very important moments that I enjoy watching to this day. I personally like mechanics shots a lot more, so the fact that one of the shots is a mechanics shot that manages to tell a lot through body movement is really cool to me. Looking back, I’m really surprised I managed some of those shots, actually. I was extremely inexperienced professionally, but I think I managed to translate my AnimSchool experience into the office well with time.

The film took 2 years to complete; how long did you personally work on it for?

Animation for the film lasted around 8 months if I’m not mistaken, and I worked there for the entire duration. I’m positive Fernanda animated shots herself after we were done with our part of the animation, but I’m not certain as to when or for how long that went on.

What were some of the hardships of working on a short film?

Without trying to get too personal, I was going through some very hard times nearing the end of production that were very similar to the film’s main plot. It was a very stressful time for me emotionally so that was an unexpected hardship and something I didn’t thought I’d have to deal with.

For me in general everything was also very new. Stuff like dealing with an office schedule or commuting to work were all things that I hadn’t experienced before. I’d say it was all very enjoyable but of course it was hard adjusting at the beginning.

What is a shot you worked on that you’re particularly proud of? What was effective about it?

The shot I was talking about before, when Kat removes her shoes and sort of charges past Doug was really effective in setting up a change of emotion. Up until that part of the film, we haven’t seen her explore that part of her emotional spectrum and I feel like we were very successful in also telling a story through her body posture and movements without having to put any dialogue or expressions in (“show, don’t tell”!). I’m very happy with that shot and years later it’s still a very central part of my reel. This past CTN, I got a lot of compliments on it for being a very simple shot (We really didn’t have a lot of time to do any shot too in-depth) that was very effective in telling what had to be told. It’s a very sort of in-character shot and I like that how that turned out.

(I’m talking about the shots at 14:31)

Were there things you learned during your classes at AnimSchool that you applied to your animation?

Because I was new to animation, AnimSchool quite literally provided me with everything I needed to know to tackle this job. Outside of animation principles, I focused a lot during AnimSchool to maintain the best possible work ethic and I got noticed by that a lot by the instructors. I think that particular skill carried over really nicely to a work environment, and the fact that it got highlighted during AnimSchool really pushed me to take it as something I do on purpose and not something that I take for granted. I always try to be on top of my game and be really active during production work, even if I’m doing something I’m not particularly comfortable with or something I haven’t done before. I’ll always try to push really hard and keep asking questions and maintain a generally high participation.

Tell us about your workflow for animating a new shot.

I owe my workflow to my course 1 and 2 instructor Matt Doble, really. If I’m doing something for myself/my reel (So no time constraints) I’ll usually:

– Research first: Youtube, movies, shows, acting, pictures, etc.

– After I’ve found what I want I’ll generally try to shoot reference or grab reference from my research if it was deep/good enough. I generally skip drawings/thumbnails because I don’t trust myself with a pencil, honestly.

– I usually do 3-4 passes of blocking: Storytelling poses where I’ll just try to stop as soon as the whole intention of the shot is in the poses. I’ll work over these poses to make them as strong as possible and transition over to a second pass of blocking where I’ll try to have all the poses needed to make every action and beat work. My third pass of blocking I’ll bring the face/fingers/details in so that the entire shot can be read as a blocking, usually in 3s and 2s. The fourth pass of blocking I’ll try my best to avoid myself any pains in splining. I’ll go over my curves and I’ll try to look for opportunities where I can move certain actions to 1s, just so that I have to work the splines as little as possible. Doing quick spline-checks where you move the shot to splines, watch it then go back to blocking to solve issues also works wonders for me.

– for Splining/Polishing I’ll usually try to stay as little as possible in here solving issues and try to spend as much time as possible pushing things that I didn’t notice before. For me personally a successful shot already is when I enter splining and there’s little to no fixing to do, so that I can focus in polishing and making the shot work better in any way I can.

“Get rejected a lot. I personally apply and get rejected by Blizzard and Riot Games every 6-7 months because, if I eventually get in, I’ll have all this path behind me to look back on and I won’t take my achievements for granted.”

What advice do you have for students/grads looking to work on short films or freelance projects?

Honestly, there’s so much work to be done that you should be applying for anything you feel like you’d enjoy. I personally didn’t really believe in myself, but got told a lot by people that have seniority over me by a lot that I was good. Listen to other people and follow their advice. Get rejected a lot. Getting rejected sort of sucks if you build hype around getting hired somewhere you want, but if you keep getting rejected you sort of get used to it and start opening different routes where you consider things you might not have before that you might end up enjoying a lot. I personally apply and get rejected by Blizzard and Riot Games every 6-7 months because, if I eventually get in, I’ll have all this path behind me to look back on and I won’t take my achievements for granted.

Also, don’t destroy yourself with workload/practice. It’s fine to want to be the best and get hired by a huge studio, but also take your health into consideration. You’re not gonna be any good to a studio if you overwork yourself to hell and back. After all, it’s a job in the entertainment industry! You gotta stay entertained yourself and enjoy it to make it work.

Thank you so much, Maikoe!

You can check out more of Maikoe’s work here.

Looking for the best 3D Animation schools? For more information about AnimSchool and our online animation programs, visit us at www.animschool.com

Since its release in April last year, Here’s the Plan has received acclaim for its realistic portrayal of the hardships of relationships, as well as its bright and pleasing art style. This 18-minute “short” was animated by a hard-working team of 5 animators, many of whom are or were students here at AnimSchool. I had the great pleasure of interviewing them on their work on “Here’s the Plan”, and I’m excited to share what they had to say. We’ll be starting with Diego Oliva, who is a student at AnimSchool currently taking Body Acting, our fourth course in 3D animation.

My name is Diego, I’m from Chile. I started learning animation when I studied at University (I graduated in 2017) but I didn’t learn as much character animation as I wanted to, so I entered AnimSchool and I’m a current student now. Not much professional background except for a few freelance jobs here and there.

How did you find out about “Here’s the Plan”, and what drove you to work on it?

When I was working on my thesis, I was worried because after all the years studying at University, I didn’t learn exactly what I wanted to, which was character animation. So, I tried to find other ways to learn at that time and luckily I heard there was a short film project being made and they were looking for animators. I sent a reel with the few things I had and got an answer saying that I had the job as junior animator. Fernanda (the director) helped me a lot by teaching me about the details of animation.

My favourite aspect of the film might be the story. I like that it feels personal, and I like how is being told – it could have had the usual kind of couple fight, where they end up divorced or with a lot of drama, but that’s not the story that the director wanted to tell, and I admire that.  

What were some of the hardships of working on a short film?

There are unexpected technical errors that might happen, because it’s a small production and there is a lot to do, but you’re not always sure about how to do it. For example, animating certain props that could need some vfx but you have to come up with a faster and cheaper way (belts, clothes, for example). We worked those problems as a team with the final decision made by the director. I remember that there was a sequence where “Kat” had to take her jacket off, and at the beginning she was going to make that action all in one shot – the problem was that the rig didn’t have any controls for that, and the jacket wasn’t exactly model for that kind of motion, so there was two options: try to figure out a vfx solution with dynamics and all or make a separate rig and animate it frame by frame trying to make it look like is clothing and that the character is moving it. In the end, Fernanda separated the shot into two, one when “Kat” starts taking it off and the next one when she is throwing it away. We never see how she takes it off but the story is told the same way, or maybe better.

Hmmm, I think it could be nearly at the end of the film, when after Kat breaks down the wall, she and Doug apologize to each other. It was one of the few acting shots I had, (mostly I was asked to animate the close ups of the hands or props etc), and I really liked how it turned out, mostly because I first thought that I couldn’t do it, hahaha. When I watch it, I do feel the connection between those two. I think what really helped was the director’s feedback – she knew exactly what she wanted to tell and how. Because we didn’t have much time to finish the animation, there was no time to take any reference, so it ended up being mostly intuition. (I’m talking about the shots from 16:04 to 16:19)

Were there things you learned during your classes at AnimSchool that you think may have been helpful in hindsight?

I wish I knew more about body mechanics at that time; I think I would have worked way faster and better with the knowledge I get from AnimSchool and the instructors. I do feel that my animations don’t look the same as they did before, even though it hasn’t been so long since I started AnimSchool. I feel that I’ve been learning a lot. I find really cool how not only the instructors but also the students are so willing to help each other – it’s a great community.

Well, I first start with the reference if needed, don’t do much drawing unless a movement is too cartoony for real life reference. I sketch out some key poses I like in my sketchbook and start the blocking pass. I always tried to put as much in the blocking as I can and not get impatient and jump into spline (I don’t always succeed… and then end up saying, oh man, I should have planned that in blocking). I do use tools and plugins – my favourite so far is “Atools”, it has saved my butt too many times already. When getting feedback, I like to write them down on paper, kinda helps me to remember easier, and I draw some thumbnails of what I need to change.

What advice do you have for students/grads looking to work on short films or freelance projects?

Maybe because normally short films are more independent projects, they tend to be more artistic or have a really different direction that a studio is not always allowed so it’s a fun experience (but also a messy one). Prepare for many mistakes, but you will learn a lot from them, and be open to sharing ideas, not only in animation but maybe in other areas that might help the production. Because it’s such a small team working on a really specific project, you end up caring about it more than just another job – you are all in the same boat and want it to work!!

Thank you so much, Diego!

You can check out more of Diego’s work here.

Looking for the best 3D Animation schools? For more information about AnimSchool and our online animation programs, visit us at www.animschool.com

Are you thinking about learning 3D animation or characters modeling?
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Come and get a sneak peek of the new student pages, all the resources and what it’s like to be a student here at the school.

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Animation gives us the possibility to explore movements that don’t necessarily obey the exact rules of real-life physics. With animation we have the chance to take the foundation of real-life physics to a higher level with exaggeration, resulting in something much more interesting and fun to watch.

Real-life movement and poses and acting is already interesting, but how much more entertaining it can be to put your audience into an alternate reality, where the rules of physics and nature are bent and stylized a bit – to make something truly unique.

How would you enjoy watching a classic Bugs Bunny short but with realistic, motion-captured movements?  It wouldn’t be as enjoyable would it?

It is easy to feel limited by the rig you are working with, but you shouldn’t be scared of pushing it beyond its limits. Although rigs can be broken, it is likely that when played back at full speed, what looked weird for one frame of your shot may be unnoticeable. Testing the rig you have and finding how you can work around its limitations is always useful. Remember to break the rig to your advantage!

One way to exaggerate your animations is through your poses. Animated poses aren’t just a reflection of real life, they are staged for the camera or audience’s view to more fully embody the moment and action, carefully crafted to tell the story and convey the emotion the best way possible. A carefully crafted exaggerated pose creates more appeal — it’s more interesting to look at. There may be times when you match the pose exactly as you see it in video reference and that may work well, but you will want to find places and parts of the body you can push to make the pose work better. A great way to do this is first creating the pose you see on your reference and once you are satisfied, go back to it and figure out how you can make it more interesting. Can you simplify the line of action running through the body? Can you create a stronger contrast with other storytelling poses? Is this the best, most entertaining way to make this pose?

The other major opportunity is exaggerating timing. Animated movements often have simplified transitions, sped up to
emphasize the poses before and after. That makes an animation look
“snappy”.

The timing in your video reference should only be used as a guide and most often you want to push it for maximum effect. Imitating reality can lead to very floaty and dull animations.

Depending on the context, exaggeration can be in small or large amounts. If the production and designs are more realistic, exaggeration should be minimal. More stylized designs lend themselves to more stylized movement and posing.  It is important to keep in mind that a subtle exaggeration in timing or spacing may be just what your animation needs. Don’t forget that you often want to feel the exaggeration more than you want to see it!

Felix the Cat is introduced and it is considered to be the first animated movie star. Aside from the animated shorts, Felix starred in a comic strip drawn by Pat Sullivan and Otto Messmer, and was later redesigned by Joe Oriolo as the cartoon began airing on American TV in 1953.

1928

Warner Brothers Cartoons is founded, the in-house division of Warner Bros Pictures during the Golden Age of American animation. It was responsible for the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies, which featured characters such as Speedy Gonzalez, Sylvester and Tweety and Daffy Duck among many others.

1937 

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs is released by Walt Disney Studios, making it the first animated feature to use hand-drawn animation. It was both a critical and commercial success, earning $8 million in its initial international release, assuming the record of highest-grossing sound film at the time.

1960

The Flintstones become the first animated series on prime-time television. Its popularity was based on the juxtaposition of modern everyday concerns with the Stone Age setting. The series was the most financially successful network animated franchise for three decades.

1984

The Graphics Group releases “The Adventures of Andre & Wally B”, the first fully CGI-animated short film. The animation done by John Lasseter, was groundbreaking by the standards of the time and helped spark the film industry’s interest in computer animation.

1987 

Matt Groening creates “The Simpsons”, the longest-running American animated sitcom. Groening created a dysfunctional family, naming the characters after his own family, substituting Bart for his own name. After a three-season run, it became a half-hour prime time show.

1995

Toy Story is released, becoming the first fully computer-animated feature film. Pixar, which produced short animated films to promote their computers, was approached by Disney to produce a computer-animated feature after the success of their short film Tin Toy (1988). The studio, then consisting of a relatively small number of employees, produced the film under minor financial constraints but became the highest-grossing film upon its release earning over $373 million worldwide.

2001

2014

2016

Finding Dory premieres, grossing over $1 billion worldwide and becoming the first Pixar film to cross this mark since 2010’s Toy Story 3. The film set numerous records, including the highest-grossing animated film opening of all time in North America.