In Motion 2024
With the event starting just four days after the conclusion of Kilkenny Animated, I honestly didn’t consider that In Motion could trump every other convention and festival I have ever been to in such a spectacular way. With guest speakers such as Alex Hirsch, James Baxter and the directors of “Don’t Hug Me I’m Scared” lined up, it’s not hard to understand how impressive this animation festival was to juniors, mids, seniors, and animation fans alike.
What is In Motion?
In Motion is an event hosted by Playgrounds, a platform for hosting and sharing animation festivals and events that has been operating since 2006. In Motion is hosted at various locations across Europe, with the list of possible events becoming available at the beginning of each year; in 2023, In Motion made pit stops in London in England and Rotterdam and Breda in the Netherlands. The event picks different themes for each location, so if you’re interested in animation and motion design, In Motion London is the event for you.
“So far the event has been welcoming. I arrived at 8am with my friend, Nathan, to ensure our slot at James Baxter’s portfolio review, and in the time it took for the event to open we had made two friends. Three out of the four of James Baxter’s slots were taken up by us, and it was great to get the chance to see other young artists so happy and excited over the same people, talks, and general hobbies. While waiting for the Ultraman: Rising talk to begin I got talking to an audio designer about our reasons for being here; it’s nice that everybody has that understanding of art and the passion that drives it.”
Winston S L, while waiting for “Creating Ultraman: Rising” to begin
Nathan standing in the empty event space. We arrived even before the staff.
Creating Ultraman: Rising
Hosted by Hayden Jones, a visual effects supervisor at Industrial Light & Magic London, this talk was eye-opening to the collaborative efforts shared between concept artists and a 3D team.
To open this talk, Hayden graced us with a detailed introduction to the early production of Ultraman: Rising, presenting the studio’s first few attempts at mimicking the style and colours of concepts by the film’s art director, Sunmin Inn. Seeing how faithful the final film remains to the initial concepts, even going as far as including 2d elements directly from early art, emphasises ILM's drive to produce a beautiful product with powerful visuals in mind.
Too often, 3D projects retreat to a safe and marketable style, even when concept art develops solid visuals and themes to build off of. So, to see a singular artist essentially reshape the way an entire team of people worked to achieve the best possible visuals truly emphasised the importance of collaboration between all areas of the artistic pipeline. This message was clear throughout Hayden’s passionate talk.
Camera as a Character
“The camera is a character, make it work for the story.”
One of the most curious elements of Hayden’s talk was his segment about the use of the camera as a key aspect of storytelling. Hayden’s explanations of how the lens type, framing, and movement of the camera emphasised the emotions they were trying to achieve in a shot were beneficial to me as a storyboard artist; while a 2D artist cannot replicate some of these looks and techniques, it is still helpful to hear the thought process behind choices and to find ways to incorporate this knowledge into your own work.
Examples that stuck with me were Ken’s ego and Emi’s freedom.
Ken Sato, the main character of Ultraman: Rising, is often driven by desire and ego, which leaves him alone even when surrounded by others. When directing scenes that strongly emphasised Ken’s ego and how it affected his interactions with the people around him, Hayden had his artists “Isolate him in frame.” This visual isolation from other elements of a scene, such as foreground and background items or even colour and light, effectively communicated this idea of internal loneliness.
An interesting choice that ILM made when framing Emi, the Kaiju baby who the plot centres around, was intentionally having her break the frame's borders. When considering how to frame the much larger character when shooting her alongside a much smaller one, Hayden says that they had her breach the constraints of the frame and often moved out of the frame entirely to show the audience that she is energetic and could not be contained.
“Hayden Jones is a great speaker, one who is clearly passionate about his work. Learning about the process of stylisation and seeing the respect between a VFX department and the concept artists was hearwarming in an era of rushed VFX and copy-and-pasted superhero movies. Ultraman: Rising was clearly a project born, nurtured, and released out of love for the IP and craft. Truly beautiful to get a glimpse of the process.”
Winston S L, thoughts following Hayden’s talk
Interview with Hayden
I was lucky enough to catch Hayden for a 1-to-1 near the evening of the event. I had some burning questions regarding the film's colour choices and where 2d elements were incorporated into the stylised CGI effects.
Hayden told me that the colour script for Ultraman: Rising was done by the lead art director, Sunmin Inn, followed as closely as possible by the animation team when going through production. We had a lovely conversation about how colours translated from 2D to 3D. Hayden went on to praise Sunmin’s astounding use of vibrant colour; during this conversation, I got the opportunity to learn about “illegal colours”.
Within broadcast, a concept known as illegal colours or broadcast-safe describes the range of chroma (colour) and luma (brightness) that, if used, will get work rejected from broadcasting. This may be important information for you as an artist if you ever intend to enter your work into animation festivals, as they may require entries to be broadcast-safe.
Hayden advised work to be produced in high dynamic range (HDR) to achieve the colour range that makes Ultraman: Rising so iconic; you get brighter highlights, deeper blacks, and generally more saturated colours.
Finally, we finished this brief 1-to-1 discussing the importance of 2D visual effects. Many 3D projects use 2D visual effects to aid in absolute control over the stylisation of their end products: Bad Guys, Spider-Man: into the spider-verse, and Arcane, just to name a few. When I asked if it was worth learning how to 3D simulate these effects rather than practicing them in hand drawn animation, I was told no. Hayden and other ILM members from the studio’s table at the Industry Garden advised using YouTube, Vimeo, and other social media platforms to gather references for 2D visual effects. I was taken off guard by the sheer number of 3D animators telling me to develop this 2D skill, but if anything, that highlights its importance to the greater industry.
“[2D visual effects] is a dying artform. If you learn it you’ll be unstoppable.”
Inclusive Storytelling
The Inclusive Storytelling panel was hosted by Julie Ann Crommett from Collective Moxie in partnership with WIA (Women in Animation). As the name implies, this panel was a crash course in diversity and inclusion in film and animation and where to find sources, funding and collaborators for projects of different budgets and scales to achieve the most authentic representation possible.
“Don’t we not deserve to see not only our own experiences, but the experiences of everyone from around the World?”
“Diversity is being invited to the party, inclusion is being asked to dance, and belonging is having your music playing and being able to boogie.”
The panel was an excellent source of information for artists in all positions. Julie was an excellent speaker who engaged heavily with the watching crowd, who were eager to participate in the conversation and share their own experiences with being represented and searching for representation.
Resources for diversity research come from places such as WIA, a large organisation with members from all corners of the globe who are available and willing to share their knowledge in the name of better entertainment. WIA offer memberships, mentorships, and career aid for people in or entering the film, vfx, or animation industry.
Do you have any resources for smaller studios or indie creators for studying other religions, cultures, and identities?
Note: This blog post is unfinished, but I didn’t want to leave it in my drafts forever.
