Making 'Dogstar' with Tim Merks

16 January 2008

Organisation

The third and final part of our series of interviews about the making of the animated series ‘Dogstar’ is with Scene Planner and Animator Tim Merks.

Tim studied at animation at TAFE and the FIlm and Television Institute before progressing through several of the development and funding programs on offer at FTI. He won a WA Screen Award for his short film ‘Mr Gough’ and is become one of the most prolific animators in Western Australia.

What kind of things did you do before coming to work on Dogstar?

I made lots of animated short films that I screened through SPLIF, Sunset Cinemas ‘Grassroots’ and other Perth film festivals.

I made a short film ‘Runner’ through the FTI/ScreenWest FLY TV initiative that was screened as part of ‘Animated Behaviour’ on the ABC.

I had just finished another film ‘Existence’ funded by the FTI ‘Raw Nerve’ grant and just started working a co-production with Roseline Lau “Porcelain” which is funded by a ScreenWest/FTI LINK grant.

What was your role in the production?
Initially my role began with scene planning. This involved setting up all the scenes, making sure all the characters, props, effects, backgrounds, audio and animatics are ready for the animator. Then after about two months in I was moved into the animation section.

Were you nervous on the first day of production?
Not so much when I was doing scene planning. I was working with Ian Tregonning as my supervisor who I knew , as he was my mentor at the FTI Animation Centre, so he made it pretty easy for me. Ian also told me all these great stories about all of the films he’s worked on and places he’s been in his career. I also knew my way around flash pretty well.

When I started doing animation however that made me nervous. It was the first time I had to animate for someone other than myself. This took some getting used to as it’s hard not to get emotionally attached to a shot that you do. So when the Director says he hates it you’ve got to be able to brush that off and have another go at it.

I remember the first shot I did which three characters were appearing behind a bush and all they had to do was pop up but I had this complicated move requiring lots of redraw going on. The Director, who was in the Perth studio that week, told me off for doing such a stupid thing for a simple shot.

I’m glad this was told to me early as it’s probably the biggest trap for the beginner animator, to try and make every shot a masterpiece. You have to be able to know which shots are the ‘A’ shot and what are the ‘churn and burn’ shots otherwise you won’t get your footage for the week. It’s all about the footage.

Do you have a favourite character In the show?
Story wise, I liked the character Glen. I loved his crazy confidence. Animation wise I liked characters like Gemma and Simone just because they had extra bits to animate. I really love doing all that secondary animation to supplement the follow through of a movement, for example if Gemma comes to a stop her hair will flow through and then come back to a settle. It’s a simple little thing to do but it adds so much to a movement.

What’s a typical day in an animation studio like?
The workplace in the Mount Lawley studio was a great training ground for me. All I had to do was pay attention to how my co-workers were approaching each scene.

Steve Grant brings in his Disney training, some of the best character animation you will ever see, Todd Millias was a technical animator and he broke flash apart and got the most out of the program, Marcus McKebery knew all the animation cheats and knew how to get a great result in the quickest way possible, and Ian Beatie an excellent character animator with a wealth of animation knowledge who looked after Roseline and I as our animation supervisor.

I never felt overwhelmed by the work as Ian Beatie and the other guys were a great support group. Between all their skills and experience there was never a shot that was too hard to do.

What skills do you thinbk are essential to be employed as an animator?
To be employed as an Animator a Director has to see some talent in your show reel. I think a good understanding of movement, nice clean arcs and constant volume, would be the best focus in putting together a show reel. Other things that would help are to show some squash and stretch, good timing, and some clever technical animation.

To keep yourself employed as an Animator you have to know you’re going to have to work your way up. So be prepared to start from the bottom as you are going to have to earn the trust of your Supervisor and your Director. It is also important to learn what the director likes and dislikes by checking the notes that come back with the fix-ups. Steal as much as you can, break apart other people’s shots and see how they are pulling off a movement or effect and see how you can use it yourself.

The most important thing however is make sure you get footage each week.

How much did the training at FTI match the real workplace?
The FTI animation course taught us how to make a film from beginning to end, working in a studio environment you realises you’re only going to take a small part in the overall production. It’s hard to teach someone to be a cog in a wheel. It did however teach me that a film cannot get done unless people can work together.

What have you been doing since the Dogstar production wrapped?
I’ve made a couple of comics, I’ve recently finished an animation contract with the Tasmania animation company Blue Rocket on their “Pixel Pinkie” series. I try to update my blog as much as possible and have been working on finishing my short film.
‘Porcelin’ should be up to a rough cut by the end of February. After that I’ve got a few new comic series I want to publish.

To find out more about the vocational animation training at FTI click here

To find out about other animation programs FTI has on offer click here.

To read about Stephen Grant’s reflections on working on ‘Dogstar’ click here. or to hear about Roseline Lau’s experience click here

To read other interviews with filmmakers, click here

To visit the Dogstar’ website head this way