Digital Art & Animation Students Connect with Filmmakers
Wed, 4 April, 2018 at 3:45 pmDigital Art & Animation Students Connect with Filmmakers
The students in the Digital Art &
Animation program have had a busy month. On February 9, a group of students
attended the Entertainment Design Speaker Series at San Jose State University
to hear master animator James Baxter speak. Baxter is a former Disney and
DreamWorks lead animator, supervising the animation of characters such as Belle
in “Beauty and the Beast,” Rafiki in “The Lion King,” and Quasimodo in “The
Hunchback of Notre Dame,” among many others. Baxter discussed his time in the
industry, how to develop and refine a workflow, and then animated a scene live
for the audience. He took questions as he worked, and two of our DA&A
students asked terrific questions.
Then, on February 20, students had the
opportunity to see the five Oscar-nominated animated shorts at a screening at
San Francisco State, with several of the filmmakers in attendance. Finally, on
March 9, students returned to San Jose State for a lecture by Disney story
artist and director Steve Anderson. Anderson worked on story for “Tarzan” and
“The Emperor’s New Groove,” and directed “Winnie the Pooh” and “Meet the
Robinsons.” He talked about story development, character design, and the
challenges in directing an animated feature. All the students in attendance at
these events called them inspiring and informational, and learned a lot from
these animation professionals.
The Digital Art & Animation department
is grateful to Raquel Cohelo at San Jose State, ASIFA-San Francisco, and Ron
Diamond’s Acme Filmworks for including us in these events.
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