Palmer, thanks for taking the time to answer
some questions.What was your inspiration to work in animation?
Animation / Crafts / Puppets / Action
Figures.
How long have you been doing this?
I have been involved in animation,
art or design most of my life. In 1992 I went to college
for fine art and sculpture.
I had a friend tell me that I should try my hand at 3D.
One day I went over to his house to see what he was talking
about. The very first time I clicked the mouse, I was in
love with 3D. I still kept studying fine art, but I with
a better understanding of how I wanted to apply left collage
early because a got great hob offer doing 3D graphic design.
I stayed in graphics and publishing for a long time.
What was the first project that you worked on? What did
you learn from that experience?
The very first animation project I worked on was a flipbook
animation I did in high school. I wanted to make a 1-minute
flipbook animation. During the school day, all I could think
about was how I was going to draw the next shot for that
night. I would come home everyday and work on it. I managed
to find an old 8mm-film camera that I mounted very crudely
on pile of books. I would draw out the sequences with no
planning as to what I was going to do. I would run the camera
while I flipped the book. I would hold it as best I could
in the same position as the prior shot. When it was all done,
it came out really bad. I learned that being fervent about
a project will get you nowhere without planning. I was also
young and afraid of criticism, so I never showed it to anyone.
I realized later that if I had showed it to someone, I could
have gotten feedback on how to improve it. I wish I still
had those flipbooks.
'Xero ...the story of X' was voted #1 in the OurStage.com
animation, short film and cutting edge competition for March.
Can you tell us a bit on how that project came to fruition?
Originally I was trying more focused
on developing a production pipeline. The short was really
just supposed to be a by-product
of that. Even though I had to core of the workflow planned
out, I still needed to come up a story. I spent a month struggling
for an idea for a short and I was getting frustrated because
nothing was coming to me. After locking myself in side for
month, I decided to get out for a while. I went to one of
those large bookstores that have the coffee shop in it. I
am sitting by the magazine section drinking my “double-double
froofy style, wing dang, chai spiced something or other”.
I’m thinking to myself that the situation is hopeless,
and I’ll just use some existing fairytale. I see this
guy dressed in some pretty ragged clothes, but he the most
sincere smile I had ever seen. Wasn’t even smiling
at anyone. He seemed to just like to smile. I started sketching
out this little character that.
I understand that xero is your first time in the director's
chair. How is directing different from other roles in film
production?
I have done many different roles
in production. When you’re
doing a specific role, all you have to think about is your
part of the project. You are handed to guidelines, you know
that what you are doing today is what you are going to be
doing tomorrow. There is certain amount of security in that.
Someone may throw a “curve ball” at you, but
it’s usually fairly predictable. When you’re
directing, you have to be able to jump from one role to the
next. Having even a basic understanding of each production
role is helpful. On top of that, you have to make sure that.
The look of xero is very interesting to me.
It kind of reminds me of a Tool video.
When you have a certain idea for a look, how do you go about
bringing that idea out? Is there a way you can 'light' the
animation, like you would a live-action scene?
The first thing I do is I find an actual location that has
lighting similar to what I want to reproduce. I make note
of where the real life light sources are coming from. I then
look at how much of the light is being absorbed or refracted
by the surfaces the light hits. I take notes on what CG lights
will best help me achieve what I want. When it comes to figuring
out lighting, I don’t like taking photos of places
of I want to mimic. The subtleties always get lost in a photo.
I see that you're working on another short starring Xero.
Can you tell us a little about that?
Not really. I can say there will be
more characters, a deeper story and a more complex character
rig for xero. He’s
going to do some pretty cool stuff.
I have to be honest, I don't know the first thing about
animation or CGI. I know it would take quite a long time
to explain the process, so in a brief summary, what steps
do you have to go through to create such a piece?
First and foremost know your story
inside and out. Make sure it’s solid. Know look and the style you’re
going for. Storyboard everything... you need to be able to
see
the shots in your head. You have to be able to visualize
it so you know what your needs will be. Being able to visualize
a shot is crucial in 3D animation. You have to see the all
the potential problems, so you have to make sure that your
production pipeline is solid. Everything has to be timed
in pre-production. That is why animatics and rough edits
are important. Other steps include constructing the models,
texturing materials and shaders, rigging, animating, set
construction, lighting, and sound design. The most important
part is teamwork. Everyone has to be able to work together
and see the big picture. (No pun intended).
After all that work, I understand you had to cut a scene
out of the film. Tell us a bit about that.
There was this opener to the animation
that was supposed to show that our story takes place in a
shady part of town.
It would have made some great eye candy, but it wasn’t
really important to the character for this particular animation.
It was hard to cut it out. It’s interesting because
in the past when I have done a specific role, I would sometimes
get attached to a shot. That’s how I felt cutting the
opening sequence. I surprised to feel that way.
The score on xero is something in itself. What was the scoring
process like? What kind of elements did you want in the music?
I was very fortunate to work with local
film composer Stephen Gilbane. Stephen came highly recommended
from another filmmaker.
When I approached Stephen about this animation, he told me
he hadn’t done animation before. That didn’t
matter to me. I heard samples of his work for Improve Boston,
48 Film Project, and Bit Parts the Movie so I knew he had
the right mix blend of styles. Originally I had a different
vision for the score. I wanted the music to fade in and out
of the animation. I explained to Stephen the kind of character
that xero is and I sent him the a draft render of the animation
that had final timing. He put together a rough track and
I listened to it against the draft animation. I like what
I heard, so I told him he could have creative freedom to
do what he wanted. He created a continuous piece of music
that had elements I never even considered. It was a perfect
fit.
Tell us about TimeFissure Studios.
We are a small, independent studio that creates animation,
CGI, and digital effects for a wide range of media.
What are some of the other projects you are working on or
have worked on?
Mostly in the past we have been doing
projects for corporate and medical projects for things like
promotional and sales
animation. There are many projects that we are not allowed
to talk about. Currently we are working on some pre-viz projects
and architectural stuff. I would like to tell you what they
are, but I can’t. We want to be able to have our work
seen and enjoyed. In the past, our work has only been seen
by a closed group of targeted viewers. That’s part
of the reason why we are focusing on commercial and entertainment
work.
Have you ever worked outside of animation? Would you like
to?
I personally started in graphic design
and publishing. The studio is completely open and qualified
to do those types
of things if it is needed on a project. In fact graphic design
and publishing goes right along with any project we do. There
are times when a client needs to re-purpose an element of
a project for a print ad or promotional materials. So...
yes, we would like to do because it’s part of making
sure a project covers all the bases.
If you weren’t working in film what do you think you
would be doing?
I would be living in a small village in Japan carving custom
Bo Staffs for martial arts masters.
What is your future plans?
Well for starters, we want to be a larger independent studio.
Actually, let me re-phrase that... we want to be a larger
independent studio in Boston. This is a great city for
production and we have a solid plan to be larger and stay
independent. It went through several drafts to work out
the kinks. Then we tucked it away safely where only we
can see it. We do not have any outside investors funding
the studio and we have no plans to do so.
Once again, thanks, Palmer, for giving us a
little insight on what it's like in the world of animation.
