Milking the Pro's, Part 3
A series of interviews by Jake Friedman: John Culhane, Jared Faber and Dave Levy.*Originally published in the May/June 2005 issues of the aNYmator newsletter.
If you're reading this article, you love toons as much as I do. We made it our interests, our hobbies and/or our professions. But what exactly is out there for people who love toons? I had the opportunity to ask nearly a dozen people all over the animation spectrum the four main questions that are the crux of any good brain-tapping. In this, the third section of a multi-part article, talented people in the fields of writing, composing and directing share their words of wisdom.
John Culhane is an acclaimed animation historian and author of books on Disney's Fantasia, Aladdin, and others. His latest contributions can be seen on the new special edition DVD of Disney's Bambi.
JF: What's the hardest part about being a writer and historian on the subject of animation? What's the biggest perk?JC: The hardest part of being a writer on the subject of animation is the same difficulty that Hemingway found trying to be a writer period: "The greatest difficulty, aside from knowing what you were supposed to feel, had been taught to feel, was to put down what really happened in action; what the actual things were which produced the emotion that you experienced... the real thing, the sequence of motion and fact which made the emotion and which would be as valid in a year or in ten years or, with luck and if you stated it purely enough, always." The best animators, from Shamus Culhane and Fred Moore to Milt Kahl and Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston to Glen Keane and Eric Goldberg and Andreas Deja, know the sequence of motion and fact which makes the emotion -- and the emotion is more often Joy than Sorrow. As I say on the DVD of Bambi: "Bambi says clearly that life is wondrous, and it's beautiful, and it's dangerous - and, in it, love is a song that never ends." This is the biggest perk to being a writer on animation: spending so much of your life contemplating such joy.
JF: Why did you choose this as your field?
JC: When I was seventeen, I told Walt Disney's daughter, Diane, that I considered her father what the great caricaturist David Low called "Leonardo da Disney," and told her I had to meet him to discover the secret of life. So she brought us together. I told Walt -- as he insisted I call him -- that I thought I could be happy with a career writing for and about the art of animation." Walt told me that "animation is a moving caricature of life," and "caricature is an exaggeration of the essence of something. To make any good caricature," Walt said, "you have to understand your subject. But life is a pretty tall order." What can I do about it? I asked. Walt said that I probably understood my home town, Rockford, Illinois, as well as I understood anything: he knew that he understood Arceline, Missouri, as well as he understood anything. So he advised: "Get a job on your hometown newspaper, write for your neighbors, and just keep widening the circle." I did what Walt advised, and that has made me a journalist for over 50 years now:
JF: How do I get to be where you are now?
JC: By celebrating the things worth celebrating. The Incredibles, with their heroic struggle against mediocrity, should win the Oscar for best original screenplay this year so that the importance of the film's ideals is validated before a billion people. On my birthday this year, I went with my family to see The Incredibles -- that's where I am now, enjoying joy!
Jared Faber scored 3 seasons of Nickelodeon's "As Told By Ginger" and composed its theme song, sung by Macy Gray. Visit him at www.blindlemonmusic.com.
Friedman: What's the hardest thing about being a TV animation composer?
Faber: Deadlines. I am expected to score an episode a week when in production on a
series. There's really no margin for error. Most animated shows are very music intensive.
It's a lot of music to come up with in a week and then do it again the following week.
Friedman: What's the biggest perk?
Faber: I find it really fun when I meet someone who actually knows one of the shows.
When I'm working, it always just seems like some little project that only me and the other
people working on it know about. In fact these shows are on TV around the world and are seen
by millions of people. I really get a kick out of meeting someone who is a complete stranger
and knows one of my shows.
Friedman: Why did you choose to do what you're doing?
Faber: Just trying to make a living making music. It wasn't that deliberate; just got
lucky and found an outlet that works for me.
Friedman: How do I get to be where you are now?
Faber: I've been lucky. I've met some good people along the way. I've tried to stay in
contact with people. I'm not a real hustler by any means but also I've not been afraid to ask
people for what I want. I always try to come through with quality work. I think my real
answer is to be looking for and always available to opportunities. Do the best work you can
do with any opportunity that comes your way so that you are a valued asset to the process. To
me all of those things are obvious, though. There's no place to send your resumé to
become a composer for film/TV as far as I know. Be creative not only with your art but with
your approach to working. Be flexible and understand that your role is to serve the overall
project and not your ego. At the same time be strong in your creative convictions. Try to
bring a point of view, an aesthetic.
Dave Levy was a director on "Blue's Clues" and is an Animation Director on Cartoon
Pizza's upcoming series for the Noggin channel, "Pinky Dinky Doo."
JF: What's the hardest thing about being an animation director?
DL: An animation director's challenge is to juggle many responsibilities and duties at
once. You're giving notes on upcoming episodes while you're delivering another to post and
you've got episodes brewing in every stage in between at all times. Ok, that's the work. The
harder challenge can be working with so many people. As an animation director, you usually
report to your producer and or/ Supervising Director. Then there are healthy relationships
that need to be maintained with department heads in storyboard, design, edit and so on. Oh
yeah, then there's the whole bit where you direct the animators.
DL: The biggest perk of being a director is that you get a chance to fail at a much larger scale with far greater consequences. I feel lucky that as a director I have an ongoing opportunity to further improve my skills in regards to craft, working with people, and in time/ deadline management. I've made my share of mistakes along the way and each one has been a learning experience. You never get it all right all of the time (How boring would that be?)
JF: Why did you choose to do what you're doing?
DL: I'm a big believer in choosing what you'd like to do by DOING IT. As you start your
animation career you pay your dues and work your way up from there. I never made a goal that I
would be a director by age 30 or anything like that. We're lucky in this business because
nobody can stop us from being anything we want to be. Sure, you may have an entry level studio
job by day, but by night you could be a storyboard artist, a designer, an animator, a
director, a producer and much more-simply by working on your own independent animated film.
If you are sincere and stick around long enough in this industry, opportunities will come up,
but you need to make sure you are ready for them.
JF: How do I get to be an animation director?
DL: There's no one single path to anything. Although, I would advise that sometimes we
should be wary of what we THINK we want. In Star Trek, The Motion Picture, Spock
described the evil satellite run-amok as, "...only knowing that it wants. It knows not what."
It's fine to want things or to set goals for yourself. Yet, you should be realistic about what
it may really mean to do those things. It's a long road to a long career. Good work gets
recognized one way or another. John Lasseter, of Pixar, started out wanting to emulate the
Nine Old Men of Disney. Instead, he ended up as a key player of the 3D animation age. Is that
something he could have known at age 21? Just hang in there. Make films. Earn experience on
the job in any role you've got. Be the person that others want to work with for 8 hours a day,
five days a week ... and then maybe, just maybe, you might be qualified to quote a passage from
a Star Trek movie in an interview one day.