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The Best Animator on Earth

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The Best Animator on Earth

November 19th, 2010

Chris Hatala was senior animator on the Lord of the Rings films and is currently head of animation at Massive Black. Top that off with King Kong and IRobot and if you’re into games, characters, special effects animation or any combination thereof he’s going to be one of your heroes. Massive Black is a perfect example of networked or decentralized development – the founders met online through a shared passion for character-based artwork. They opened a studio in San Francisco in 2005 and now work on the most prestigious (and awesome) projects around.

One of the main challenges of character animation is the illusion of naturalism and integration into real world footage, the ultimate aim of which is to create a believable, engaging fantasy world with it’s own internal visual logic. The trick is to blend 3D computer rendered graphics with photography so convincingly that the audience can concentrate on the unfolding story. Narrative drives everything.

As a top level animator, it’s less about technical skills and more about body language, emotion and expression. To develop a profound understanding of the universal tools of non verbal communication and their depiction onscreen is what Chris Hatala has dedicated his professional life to.

The dominance of the so called ‘effects movie’ has many critical voices – perhaps what critics overlook is that the increased power of technology is more than ever at the service of storytelling and communication.

Chris Hatala will be at TEDx Brussels on December 6th

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