August 25, 2005
Unplugged
I'm one of the many animators guilty of listening to music while they animate. I've read Richard William's book, and his opening chapter about unplugging. The excuse I always used for not unplugging was that it gave me extra energy to work with. Well these past few weeks I got board with my music collection and I put my zen away for a while. And I'll be damned if I didn't noticed that my photage count took a big jump. And my work looked better to boot. I wouldn't call myself a disciple to RW's unplugged theory but I don't think I'll be listening to music much any more.
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8 comments:
I've found that I have to listen to the audio for the shot when I start.. and through blocking.. and first pass.. but when I'm in the finalling section of my shot & just doing fingers 'n toes, I get much faster if i've got good trance going on the tabletPC (my big ipod) :)
Music helps quiet the noise in my head. I can actually concentrate better. Yeah, I'll stop every now an then to work something out, but then once I've got my plan, I'm back to jamm'n.
Stephen King says he writes with headphones. Says he listens to Guns'n'Rose along with a slew of other 80's bands. .....Amazing.
"Stephen King: On writing"
http://tinyurl.com/bpjxj
I can only listen to audio (podcasts, of course) if I'm in the last stages of finishing my shots. If I'm really needing noise, I do better with music I'm not familiar with or something new-agey just loud enough to overpower the pc fan. Even when something is playing, I don't register most of what I hear. It's just background noise to keep me company.
When I did cleanup in traditional animation I was always going through my cd collection, but as I moved toward becoming an animator I just couldn't do it anymore. I tell people all the time that animation is probably the hardest thing I have ever tried to do. I can't spare the brain power for anything else.
Speaking of which, does anyone know what Richard Williams is up to nowadays?
I've heard he's working on a new feature film. And this one he's keeping a tighter lid on it. That's all I've heard.
I try and do the no-music thing, but it's a hard habit to break. I do find myself with my headphones on, but no music playing when I animate certain scenes. It's funny. But I'll listen to something when I'm doing some mindless inbetweens, the ones where there's no thought needed. (I still draw my inbetweens.)
I guess one of the biggest problems I have regarding headphones and sound is that there's too much commotion going on here at work, I can't stand to hear any of it. That's when I plug in.
Seamus Culhane was a big proponent of no music, especially when thumbnailing. I agree with him, especially in that case. Now, there are times I find music helpful. Cleanup and doing inbetweens for example, or doing backgrounds. But when animating a sequence I find music throws off my rhythm and gives a stiff, unnatural look. Gets in the way of acting.
When I worked for Dick I once caught him listening to Jazz on a personal stereo. I seem to remember he sheepishly said something about it being after six o'clock.
My take on it is that if you really have to concentrate and music bothers you turn it off. If your work is not that demanding. Listen it keeps you at your desk.
For really boring stuff listen to radio plays!
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