Comments on: Show 006 - Nik Ranieri, Part Three

By: AnimationPodcaster

AnimationPodcaster — Tue, 12 Sep 2006 18:49:27 +0000

Hi Aodhán - No, the smoke and fire were done by the effects department - beautiful stuff, huh?

By: Aodhán

Aodhán — Tue, 12 Sep 2006 17:56:59 +0000

Hi Clay,

I’m just wondering if you know whether Nik also animated the smoke/cloud effects for the Hades character in Hercules?

Thanks and you’re doing a great job!

Aodhán

By: AnimationPodcaster

AnimationPodcaster — Sun, 18 Dec 2005 18:24:01 +0000

J- I’ll have to check out that stuff on the Pocahontas DVD. I’m sorry to say I’ve never seen it.

Michael- Thanks for commenting. It seems that each show has something to offer for everyone, which is good enough for me! I’ll get back to the Nik interview in the new year, so look out for that. I don’t know if that Roger Rabbitt animation is still around, but I’ll ask Nik about it.

-Clay

By: Michael Howe

Michael Howe — Tue, 13 Dec 2005 14:44:57 +0000

Hi Clay,
Well, these podcasts have become basic listening to me for the past couple of weeks as I am brushing up on my drawing and work in Maya (though as I’m working in animation, my modelling is subpar, so I’m working with some of my older figures).
I remember first hearing about Nik back in the day when my enthusiasm for ‘Beauty and the Beast’ was high. The film is still one of my favorites, though this podcast that I’m commenting on is my favorite, because Nik offers persepctives on one of the films that really made me an animation ‘freak’- “Who Framed Roger Rabbit.”
All these years later, I still search for information on the making of the film, and persepctives, but it’s really nice to hear Nik’s comments about things on this one (and like Nik, my demo reel was the same way-chronologically, one of the times I should have gone against my instructors).
There are so many great gems in this one, from Richard Williams’ conversations, and Nik’s description, and like a good animator, Nik makes it all the more vivid.
Like the Ron & John Podcast, this is one that I hope to hear more next, as Nik will hopefully tell us the next step to getting to Disney.
Oh, and if Nik reads this, I’m actually one of several that are fans of ‘The Raccoons.’ And…are there ant pencil tests that still exist of Roger with his Quasimodo bit on the bar scene?

By: j

Sat, 01 Oct 2005 22:16:02 +0000

There’s a bunch of great stuff on the Pocahontas Dvd of Redfeather. His marker sketches were pretty amazing, and the test anim was awesome. That’s all I know of. Maybe you can convince Nik to post more, coughbloggercoughcough. Ahem… Yeah. It would be great.
j

By: AnimationPodcaster

AnimationPodcaster — Fri, 30 Sep 2005 18:34:03 +0000

James, Nicolas, Josh, Robin- to all of you, a big thanks for the nice words. We all need a pat on the back and that’s great fuel for the podcast engine. More than anything, I’m overjoyed to know these are inspiring people in whatever creative lives they lead.

James- I’ll have to ask Nik about that accent and get back to you. Just wondering, is there a lot of Redfeather reference out there?

Nicolas- have a great time learning. It will seem like so much to learn at the start, but eventually everything finds a place and it all makes sense. I’ll add Lorna Cook to my list, thanks for that.

Josh- You flatter me. Keep it coming
I was just having a discussion about ones and twos and how it doesn’t really apply to CG. Thinking about the texture it adds to a scene is something that has gone away. Now with everything on ones we have to figure out how to get the right timing just from curves, so for me it’s more of a ‘feel’ thing than anything else. I just keep trying until I get it right. But I do have to say, all the while I’m thinking of how I would have liked it to look in 2d and that influences all my choices.
Gaming is going to get there - it has to. The technology is getting to a point where the characters look so good that if the movement isn’t right, there will be a big disconnect. I think that in the past, game animation was at the level of the visuals and most people didn’t know any better.

Robin- It makes so much sense to me to follow the paths of the great ones before (and among) us. Like good ol’ Sir Isaac Newton said: “If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of Giants.”

-Clay

By: Robin Mitchell

Robin Mitchell — Tue, 20 Sep 2005 19:18:23 +0000

I just wanted to say thank you so much for such stellar work in bring me my heros to the air waves!! Please don’t stop!! You’re being heard even if most of us arent saying it via email to you. Most all of the guys at my studio hear have listen to your pod casts!! They are relavent in content to both present day and future animators to come!!

Sincerely,
Robin

By: josh

josh — Sun, 11 Sep 2005 00:00:31 +0000

Wow, Clay… this is a hella interview. I gotta say, you really know how to talk to these guys. I’d say you’re the Bob Costas of animation journalism because you are really informed but also extremely respectful. Your questions lead but don’t presume, a rarity in this Matt Lauer age.

Forgive the length of this, but I gotta buncha stuff to say alla sudden:

In episode 1, Nik talks about Dsiney’s penchant for what he calls “frustration gags.” I was laughing so hard, because its so true. It was a basic difference of philosophy, I think: Disney wanted you to feel sorta sorry for the characters (Donald outta control, Mickey trying to be good, Goofy clueless) whereas Warners wanted you to be on it, farce-style (Bugs and Daffy looking at the audience and wagglin’ their brows). Nik had me howlin’. Funny dude.

The ongoing debate, too, between ones and twos is a good (if esoteric) one. Some of the stuff I’ve seen done on ones in 3D programs and then output to 2D has been really dismal (the recent Spiderman is a case in point). It looks like a lot of the Flash stuff, so smoothly tweened and eased in and out that it’s more creepy than otherwise. Milt Kahl could certainly get away with twos, but he’d use ones at times too. Watch Edgar up the stairs in The Aristocats for a great example.

My bud Gene Blakefield is involved in the gaming industry, and he is decrying the lack of animation in such a rich genre. That’s a really salient thing I’ve not seen addressed by the animation community. remember that games make more money now than Hollywood. More by far, in fact.
Nuff said, and thanks for your patience!

By: Nicolas

Nicolas — Fri, 09 Sep 2005 23:11:28 +0000

Hi Clay. It’s me again. Just finished listening to the Nik Ranieri Trilogy, and I’ve enjoyed it. I’ve never heard of him, until now. Nik was a really interesting guy to interview. He was very funny and just full of stories, haw he worked on the commercials in Canada, and his experience in Roger Rabbit. Dick Williams is known to be a hothead LOL. I was aware of that, because I remembered that when Andreas said, “If he didn’t like what you did, he would put you down and wouldn’t be very subtle about it.” Roger Rabbit will always go down in animation history. If not for the success, it wouldn’t have triggered the next Animation Rennasaince of 1988-1997. All the people who worked on that gem of film will have my deepest thanks. Starting Octobe, I’ll be taking art/animation classes. In the mean time, I’ll be a “Animation Sponge” and take in all I cn about animation technique. About female animators, Lorna Cook(Spirit: Stallion of the Cimmaron) would be a good female to interview. Keep up the good work, Clay, and peace out.

By: j

Fri, 09 Sep 2005 15:16:47 +0000

Hey Clay and Nick,
STELLAR podcast. Really. Having read a bit about Roger Rabbit on Hans Bacher and Harald Siepermann’s blogs and now having heard about here, it seems like the big production where all the stars of today cut their teeth. As a kid, I loved it, and it is one of the main things that pushed me into animation now. Thanks for sharing. Great great.
Nik, it sounds to me like your accent is a burlington/stoney creek one. Am I way off? I’m a big fan of your work, looking forward to seeing more. Hades and Redfeather in specific are really really great.
Thanks again fellas, keep up the good work.
James