A 3D animation masterclass will be held with Kyle Balda at the Dublin Animation Film Festival on the 18th October. The day-long event invites participants who are working as animators in the sector and who have a good understanding of animation generally.
Kyle Balda has been working in feature character animation for over 20 years, most notably with Pixar Animation Studios and Illumination Entertainment. He began his career in the early 90s as a student at Calarts and soon afterwards joined the crew of Industrial Light and Magic where he animated films ‘The Mask’ (1994) and ‘Mars Attacks!’ (1996), and acted as supervising animator on ‘Jumanji’ (1995).
After animating the Grim Reaper for Peter Jackson’s ‘The Frightners’ (1996) at Weta Digital in New Zealand, Kyle returned to California to work at Pixar on ‘A Bug’s Life’ (1998), ‘Monsters, Inc.’ (2001) and as directing animator of ‘Toy Story 2’ (1999).
Following a number of years conducting 3D animation masterclasses at renowned European and Asian film schools and directing short form animation projects, Balda returned to feature production in Paris as the head of layout for Illumination’s ‘Despicable Me’ (2010) followed by co-directing ‘The Lorax’ (2012). Balda has since directed a number of short films for Illumination and is presently directing ‘Minions’ alongside Pierre Coffin which is due for release in 2015.
This 3D animation course will cover:
- FOUNDATIONS - fundamental concepts in animation and the animator’s role in the storytelling process
- PHYSICALITY - this module takes a non-technical approach to character set-up and how animators should handle the controls of the model, including how to deal with weight and action-based animation
- ACTING - how to clearly communicate what characters are thinking and feeling, as well as how to deal with multiple characters within a shot, and some basic cinematography that maintains good character staging and silhouette (see full course details here)
The event takes place at The Kingstown 1 Suite in the Royal Marine Hotel in Dun Laoghaire, Dublin. The cost is €75 for waged participants and €50 for unwaged.
Those interested in the Master Class can register and pay here.
Please note that there are only 25 places available on this masterclass.
