‘Simplifying the Acting’ Seminar by ex-Walt Disney
John Webber ex-Walt Disney
‘Simplifying the Acting’ Seminar by John Webber, ex-Walt Disney at Arena Chandigarh today! We’re delighted to hear him and learn from him.
John Webber studied at CALARTS, and then joined Disney. After working there for 10 years, he setup his own studio Firefly. After 4 years he joined Fullsail as Instructor.
John said,”When I first got to Disney, a lot of the animators would look at a scene and say, “That’s a one or a two pose scene.” I was very confused because I would look at the entire scene and see the entire character moving around…eyes blinking…..arms waving…..weight shifting…and then the confusing timing charts in the upper right corner. Looking at those, I knew there were many more “keys” or “poses” in a scene than just one or two.”
Spring Heeled Jack design by John Webber ex-Walt Disney
And then Eric Goldberg (Genie from Aladdin) explained things to me in a better way. He said that if you video-taped a soap opera for four hours and played it back at half speed, you would find that actors generally stayed or acted within a major pose for a beat and then move to something different. Within the pose, there were many “keys”, but it was the BIG pose that the Disney animators were talking about.
Character by John Webber ex-Walt Disney
Glen Keane used to tell me a story he read about in the book “Art and Fear” by David Bayles and Ted Orland. A teacher divided his class in half and instructed both sides to “make a perfect vase”. One side theorized about the perfect vase and they finished with only one…although still imperfect. The other side also failed to make the perfect vase, but created 99 prototypes. The lesson learned? One side was productive and the other wasn’t. My point is, you want to be productive and learning as you go, not hampered by the fear of perfection on one assignment for months on end.
Arena 17 Animation Faculty Navanka said,”The complete discussion made the students understand how to attempt the animation. Otherwise you tend to get confused by all the action going around. This was really great! This new initiative by our institute has made our students get a deeper insight into how world’s best studios work.”
Neelu Kapoor, Centre Director, mentions,”We’re committed to raise the bar every year by bringing in new ideas and we do not stop at anything to get the knowledge to our students. International Seminars is one little step for us, but a giant leap for Indian Animation Community.
John Webber at Firefly Studio
Arena Chandigarh at Sector 17 is one of India’s top institutions to learn animation and vfx. The institute prides itself at being an academy of animation art and design that attracts the attention of best animators and artists from across the world like USA, Canada, France, UK, Argentina, Germany, among others. The college partners with various artists and experts across the world in production and post-production domains of game design, animation, vfx, UI/ UX design, interaction and motion design, besides the pre-production areas of graphic design, illustration and storyboarding, character design. It has become a facilitator for students who prefer to direct their own learning through live interactions with inputs from experts around the world.
The institute boasts of a library rich with books on sketching, graphic design, composition, 2d and 3d animation, stop motion, story and screenplay (screenwriting), storyboarding, visual effects (CGI), matchmoving and motion tracking, rigging, game design and development, film making, cinematography, acting and direction. The centre also has an onboard motivation expert and student guide to mentor and engage the student to learn more beyond the boundaries of the courses they join. The Institute has an inhouse boutique studio that enables student industry interaction which brings real life live learning experiences to their portfolio making them market ready. No wonder this college is the first stop for all india studios for placements including Xentrix, Bangalore, DQ, Hyderabad, MEL studio, Mumbai, Philm Studio, Pune, and others.
attendees of seminar by John Webber ex-Walt Disney
attendees of seminar by John Webber ex-Walt Disney
