"Open Season" Animation Reel

A compilation of shots I animated on "Open Season" at Sony Imageworks in Culver City, Los Angeles, back in 2005. This was a really fun film to work on; Boog and Elliot were great characters, with lots of opportunities for broad, cartoony animation.  Thanks to Sony Pictures for the opportunity to work on this excellent film. 

The Fifteen Minute Rule

What is the The Fifteen Minute Rule? It's a rule I learned while working at Sony Pictures Animation, on Open Season. It's a simple rule, and way of keeping production moving ahead.

The rule is this: if you get stuck on a problem, spend 15 minutes trying to figure out the solution. Google it, Read The Manual, check out online forums - whatever works.

But, if you still can't figure it out after 15 minutes, ask for help. Someone next to you might be able to solve the problem quickly and simply, so you don't want to spend a lot of time trying to fix a problem that has already been solved.

Thumbnailing Boog from "Open Season"

Learning to thumbnail animation is one of the hardest skills for junior animators to master, especially if they are not comfortable with drawing. But being able to do rough thumbnail sketches is an important part of the animator's toolkit, and in the video above I demonstrate how I approached thumbnailing a shot I animated on "Open Season". The trick is to create a plan for your animation so that, long before you start creating poses in Maya, you already have the shot figured out in your head.