Next TAW-Talk: November 26th at 20:00

The program for this wonderfull evening:

- André Bergs showing and talking about his newly released short film Pivot (http://pivotthemovie.com/)

- Sascha Unseld talking about starting out a company right out of shcool and sticking with it, even with a job at pixar.

This great exchange of experience and opinion will take place at the Big Classroom this thursday at 8.

we'll be seeing you there.
Bastian, Rune, Bo, Kenneth

7th october - 22nd september

two great Taw-Talks have now passed.

On the 22nd of October we heard from Paul Topolos. He is a Matte-painter who has been working for Lucas arts and Pixar. He talked a lot about how it is to work for these two companies and generally what it means to be a matte-painter. We got to see some behind-the-scenes at several Pixar films such as Wall-E and Ratatouille, and some exclusive stuff from the movie "UP".

On the 7th of October we heard from Erik Schmidt and Tom Moore.
Erik Schmidt(who has been working for Dreamworks and Pixar) raised a discussion about creativity and how it can be locked down by working under big companies such as Disney. It was a nice debate about wether or not animation is an artform or a craft.
the debate was based on this speech by sir Ken Robinson:
http://www.ted.com/talks/ken_robinson_says_schools_kill_creativity.html

Tom Moore(who is the director of "Brendan and the secret of Kells") Talked about how it is to be an independent animator at the studio "Cartoon Saloon",which he founded with a couple of friends after graduating. He showed us some of the projects that Cartoon Saloon has been doing and especially "Brendan and the secret of Kells". It was very inspiring to hear how it is to start your own business and what up's and down's you can encounter.

this is the link to their homepage:
http://www.cartoonsaloon.ie/

Stay tuned for the next TAW-TALK!

7th October TAW-TALK

Hello again!

thanks for a great time at the last TALK but guess what!?
another Talk is coming up!

First sorry for the short notice but some planning went wrong.
anyway as said - TAW TALK tomorrow the 7th of october at 20:00, in the big classrom

this time we will hear from two people:

Erik Schmidt will be up first with the topic:
"There's more to life than Disney"
He will bring up a discussion "Disney" vs "other styles of animation".
Erik Schmidt is currently teaching the Ca08, and have been working for Dreamworks and Disney.

next is Tom moore. The director of the movie "Brendan and the secret of kells", the movie that was screened at futurama a couple of weeks ago.
He will be talking about how it is to be an independent animator. He will be showing some short fims he's made and he might be talking about "Brendan and the secret of kells" as well.

we are looking forward to see you all again!

TAW-TALK is BACK: 22nd of September

First TAW-TALK after the summer and there has been some changes in the staff.
Frederik went off to Ireland for his interns, so he has passed on the "torch" of TAW TALK to us:

Bo juhl Nielsen CA09
Rune Rask Langkilde CGA09
Bastian Leonhardt Strube CGA09
Kenneth Ladekjær CA09

So If you have a subject in mind that you are excited about and want to share with lots of other people, just come to one of us. :)

Anyways, Back to this TAW-TALK 22nd of September 20:00-22:00:
During the weeks 38-39 Paul Topolos is visiting "The Animation Workshop" teaching the CGA08.
He has been working at "Pixar" on movies such as: "Finding Nemo", "The Incredibles", "WALL-E" etc. He has also been working at "Lucas Film" on STAR WARS episode 1 and 2.
He is mostly working with Matte-Painting and Storyboarding.

He will be talking about the process of making some of the movies he has been a part of working at Pixar. For example visual development, production, concept etc.
He will also be showing us some stuff from a childrens book he's developing and talk about how his work has influenced this project.
We might also be lucky to get an exclusive, behind the scenes, sneak peak at the new movie "UP".

So show up at 20:00 the 22nd of September in the big Classroom!!

Next TAW-Talk : June 2nd at 20:00

June 2nd TAW-Talk returns!

On the programme is :

-4th year graduate Nikolaj will show what they did at the 48hour animation jam in Stuttgard and give a deep and intimite look into his experience during the jam.

-2nd year have been rating student films from a lot of diferent schools. They will show a mix of these films.

-Introduction of the upcoming and promising organization team of TAW-Talk!

The big classroom has been booked and we'll make it last until 22:00 as usual.

Hope to see you there!

Tuesday 19th of May

Another great TAW-Talk passed and a big thank you goes out to Drifa and Anja for a great show.

Drifa was sharing with us how to stay positive and creative and Anja was positive while showing us the creative short films she worked on.

Drifa was talking about filosophies from the book 'The 4 Agreements' and you can find her power point on the 'O' drive in the folder named 'Drifa' within the folder 'TAW-Talk'.

The Next TAW-Talk will be on the 2nd of June at 20:00 in the big classroom. Stay tuned for the programme.

Next TAW-Talk : April 2nd at 20:00

The program isnt done yet, but this is what is certain so far:

-Anja Pearl about Pictoplasma Design Conference in Berlin

-Karim showing clips from diferent styles of animation for us to talk about.

-*To be announced*

This should make for another full evening with TAW-Talk. We'll end at 22:00 as usual.

Hope to see you there.
Frederik

Next TAW-Talk : March 17th at 20:00

On the programme:

-TAW-Talker Stine showing old Russian animation
-Karim San about Studio 4c
-Frederik and Karim showing diferent styles of animation for the room to discuss and analyze
-Critique my scene, please! : Anders The Blocker
-Next competition to be announced!

We will end at 22:00 as usual after this very interesting programme has been executed.

Hope to see you there!

New article up!

Karim just send me an article with the links and names from his awesome presentation at the last TAW-Talk.
He also recaps some of the points made and is asking for your opinion in some of the matters. Some cool stuff there, go check it out!

Link: http://taw-talk-articles.blogspot.com/

TAW-Talk Special Edition: Mike Nguyen

Tuesday 3rd of March you will have the unique chance of not only seeing the hopefully upcoming feature film 'My Little World', but also hearing Mike Nguyen, the creator of the film, talk about it and answer questions. Don't miss this one people!

It will take place at 20:00 in the big classroom. The film itself lasts for about 75mins and after seeing it, we'll talk a bit with Mike about it.

Hope to see you there.

TAW-Talk Articles

To really get the discussions going I have set up a new site for us, TAW-Talk Articles. Everytime a student writes an article or something similar, I will post it on the site. I will link to it in posts on this site so you all will know when there is some new interesting reading material out there.

To make this work for real we all need to throw some comments down on the blogs. Ask questions about the aritcles, come with suggestions for future TAW-Talks, just dont hold back because you think that noone cares what you think anyways!

I have our first TAW-Talk article ready, thank you Benjamin for taking the time and interest in this. Now, let's comment on what 'The Spacer' has to say!

http://taw-talk-articles.blogspot.com/

Critique my scene, please!

This wonderful event reoccured, this time starring the work of Andreas Husballe from TAW07. Andreas had done an acting scene and he was starting to go blind on it. Critique was thrown at him from all angles from the TAW-Talkers present. Hope it was worth it Andreas.
Thanks for sharing man.

Polson Howling once again!

Tod Polson was yet again on the spot at TAW-Talk. Tod shared with us some of the concept art and a rough animatic for the upcoming feature project 'Howl'. It is a live action piece with about 30mins of animation in it. It is based on the poems of Allan Ginsberg. Interesting project that hopefully comes through.
Thanks for sharing once again Tod.

Mikes Little World

Animator Mike Nguyen spoke at TAW-Talk about his feature film, 'My Little World' in its making. He will show the film Tuesday 3rd of March at a TAW-Talk Special Edition. This rare opportunity is one you can't afford to miss.
Thanks a lot for sharing Mike.

Japanese action with French finesse

A big thanks to Karim for the awesome presentation and show about Japanese animation. Blah blah blah, more text coming soon

WINNER IS : MR.POLSON!!

Logo Entries: Vote now!

These are the three great logo entries I have recieved for the TAW-Talk logo competiton.

Now what you have to do is leave a comment where you vote for number 1, 2 or 3. You only have one vote and please make it clear in your comment which one you're voting for. Thanks to Sir Tod and the forever returning Benjamin Spaceman Nielsen for their entries.

The winner will be revealed the 24th of February at the next TAW-Talk and cool prices will the awarded of course.

Hope to see your vote here soon!

Next TAW-Talk : February 24th at 20:00

Title says it all really. Show up in time and we'll get the very best of the evening.

If anyone wants to present, share, show or talk about something, please just mail me (fvillumsen@student.animwork.dk ) or come by my desk. If you dont know where my desk is at, please mail me at fvillumsen@student.animwork.dk .

Program : - Karim about the film 'Deadleaves' and the situation in Japanese animation.
- Frederik showing clips of diferent animation styles followed by analysis and debate.
- Tod about the upcoming feature film project from Thailand.
- 'Citique my scene' event featuring Andreas Husballes acting scene.
- Logo competition winner to be announced!

Hope to see you there!

LOGO COMPETITION!

Yes, you read it the right way! There is a LOGO COMPETITION going on right now! I need logos to decorate this amazing blogspot from time to time and even though the 0.3sec sketch Benjamin did, which is up now, is way cool, I'd like some new ones.

Everyone can join in. Mail your TAW-Talk logo to me at: fvillumsen@student.animwork.dk

Now you're thinking; hey! in a competition there are usually prices! And YES!! There is a price for the best entrance and also one for the runner up! The price is a surprise reward, which will defo be worth getting your hands on!
So don't hold back!

The only limit to this is that TAW-Talk is in your logo somehow.

The competition will end Thursday the 12th of February 2009. The winner will be revealed at the next TAW-Talk, which is the 24th of February.

Hope to recieve some cool looking logos soon!

Critique my scene, please!

Critique my scene, I said. And critiqued it got. The picture is me in emotional stress. I of course apreciate the critique, and I very much hope that this will be something we can do, if not every time, then once in a while. The feeling of shock will wear off, I promise.
We, the students, must be able to, as well as willing to, citique and better each others work. I am currently looking for a victim to put his/her scene on the line for next time! Mail me, send me an old fashioned letter, come by my desk, anything really, if you are interested in getting your scene critiqued. If noone volunteers I'll of course get all student council-like and force it upon someone!

Hurt and going home...

An aching Tod Polson trying to hold back cascades of tears. Tod didnt get his usual twenty-five minutes of spot light and I dont think that any of us were seeing his strong reaction to this coming. Sorry Tod, you'll get to guest star again next time. Next TAW-Talk will be on the 24th of February and Tod will sadly be leaving us on the 27th. Therefor I hope you'll all attend the event and give him a fond farewell.

2nd TAW-Talk tops the charts!

The second TAW-Talk revealed new depths of the word 'success'. Cozyness and geekyness was yet again the main characters and though some people hurt their feelings, most had a good time. (Tod, you'll get to talk more next time. I promise.)

The attendance went off the charts and we were doubble the amount than last time! Our scout told me he counted fourteen and people!

Thanks a lot to the people showing up, you made the evening what it was. Tell your classmates and hope to see you next time.

pic: Alex Williams showing a magic trick to three female students.

Barister Alex Williams at TAW-Talk

A guy wearing a wig is a rare sight around the globe. We had the great pleasure of seeing the cartoon comic work of Barister Alex Williams, presented by the very author himself! Alex was showing both his previous work and his very latest, which we were priviliged to be the first to see.
Alex also showed a clip from the tv-show 'Truth in Advertising', which is a series where everyone is talking in subtext. Great show and definately worth checking out. Here's a link : http://www.youtube.com/results?search_type=&search_query=truth+in+advertising&aq=0&oq=truth+in+adver
A guy with wig is not the only rare thing in this picture, mind you! If you look real careful you can see the KAU07 student in the left side of the picture actually paying attention in class!
Thanks a lot to Mr. Alex Williams for sharing, thank you.

WANTED!

This is Magnus The Møller. He only knows two websites. Please give him a hug and a link to http://www.taw-talk.blogspot.com/ if you see him, so he can check out our list for blogs and sites to know.
(Thanks for sharing man)

Henrik Burton

Our very own Henrik Sønniksen was spilling from the pool of his wisdom at TAW-Talk. Henrik has been chatting, babbling, talking, speaking, whispering, dreaming and secretly admiring Tim Burton for four years now. Henrik shared with us the short movie 'Vincent'. A film Tim Burton did on the side, when he was working at Disney.
The Tim Burton 'look' was discussed as well as the originality of his work. A big thank you to Henrik for gathering some material and talking to us about his hero. Also a big thanks goes out to the ones who asked Henrik questions he couldnt answer!

Next TAW-Talk : February 3rd at 20:00

As the title says, the next TAW-Talk will be february 3rd, which is a Tuesday, at 20:00. It is in the big classroom and it will end at 22:00.
We will have Henrik Soenniksen talk about Tim burton and we will watch some clips to continue the talk about lip-sync. There will be one more headline to the event, but I am still thinking about that one.

Hope to see you all there
TAW-Talker Frederik

Geekyness

Last night. 20th of January, Benjamin Nielsen, a formely well respected TAW 3 student, shared his views on the subject of spacing and how this very abstract concept appears in his mind. From the beginning people tried hard to follow the young eager animator, but several personal questions and some eratic body language had to be taken into use before we all got the idea...Benjamin imagines ALL the single frames in his scenes put together on top of each other in one big pile og line! This aparently gives this little 'spaceman'(ha ha) an overview of how his spacing should be. Yes indeed, we all have our own way of thinking. Thank you for sharing Benjamin!

Lip-sync study and discussion

As reference for Ham Luskes list to lip-sync, we watched a scene from Disneys 'The Junglebook'. As you all might have recognized it is the scene with Shere Khan and Kaa talking about Mowgli. Especially Shere Khan is awesome to observate as he has very distinct and clear examples of the points Luske mentions that they used. The discussion we had very much evovled about whether the actual syncing of the mouth is important or not. Many good points were forwarded and the talking went on for quite some time. Thanks to the people speaking up and sharing their opinion.

Cozyness

Some soft couches and good company was the setup for the first TAW-Talk ever! This is a picture taken in the middle of a cool and collected discussion about lip sync. Guest Star, Tod Polson, is sharing his infinite wisdom about how lip-sync is more than a flapping mouth. Thanks a lot for coming Tod!

Hamilton Luske

Hamilton Luske was supervising animator on Snow White and he worked on many other amazing films. He made a list of points that is very helpful if you are doing lip-sync in animation. He talks about how you through body gestures help the lip-sync along and create a clearer and more enjoyable experience for the audience. The list can be founf in 'The Illusion of Life' p462,463 and 464, It is very much worth checking out if you are working on a scene with dialogue.

The Honeymooners

Tod Polson did the very first outlet for a discussion at TAW-Talk. We watched a clip from the TV-series 'The honeymooners' and talked about the diference in timing and spacing for the characters in the show. Tod talked about how he would direct animators should they get the task of animating scenes with characters similar to these. We also watched clips where all the characters have almost the exact same spacing and timing, fx 'Space Jam' and 'Madagascar'.

Link to The Honeymooners :
http://www.youtube.com/results?search_type=&search_query=the+honeymooners&aq=0&oq=the+honeymoon