a loosli made blog

Black and White Pics from last trip to Europe

2012-01-11T17:18:00.000-08:00

Last April I went to Croatia and had an amazing time. On my flight over I had a 9 hour layover in Barcelona so I raced through the city. The pics are from both places and just a small sample of things I shot-I thought these looked good in Black and White.

Butchered Meats

2011-05-21T00:15:00.000-07:00

Thanks to the comments of many great folks from the studios (specifically to Jana and her comments in dailies) and their visits during Winter Semester the students finally agreed and are putting the 2D animation sequences back into the film. In an attempt to make this happen we are having an animation marathon... which is ongoing even as I post this. I think we have about 30 students, most of which are not even in the major yet. Brandon, Megan, Peter, Aaron and Scott seem to have organized well and our new talent is cranking it out. Thanks goes out to everyone involved.

Snail

2011-05-21T00:12:00.000-07:00

Looks like this summer may be the time I will finally get to finish the Snail film. Tyler Carter has gone back over my layouts and made them more authentic to the way Maurice Noble would have handled them. Hopefully we will get this entire opening panning shot painted before Tyler heads to Blue Sky.

Students should wise up

2011-03-08T00:05:00.000-08:00

I am constantly shocked at how entitled and self centered some students seem to be. I know you are freaked out about getting into the major and then being able to make a living at it once you have graduated... but worrying and acting odd gets you no where but on the bad list.

Things to consider:

Don't come to see me every week to show me your sketchbook or your figure drawings. If you can't tell if you are making progress then you aren't quite getting it. Once is okay but after that... figure things out.

Don't assume everyone believes the exact same way you do, whether or not we are in the same religion makes no difference. That being said, I think we are all surprised to find out how we generally believe a lot of the same things.

Don't tell me it is my job to support your film. Making your own film is just an option in our program and in no way is a requirement of our faculty to support. We can support a film on many different levels and by our own choosing. Most of the levels of support need faculty buy off.

Don't ask recruiters how much you can expect to make in industry, especially in a group discussion. I know you are sincere but this is almost as dumb a question as asking me in Intro to Animation "How many frames will it take to animate the bouncing ball?" Different jobs make different amounts in a range. Those ranges vary from studio to studio and are based on your skills and the ability of the studio to get you to agree to the lowest amount possible without causing you too much heartache. Lots of other factors play into this as well. We have some general numbers on our website. Give it a read.

Don't ask recruiters questions in the group presentations that are super specific to you. This not only wastes their time but the time of the other students as well. If you need - ask after the presentation.

Don't try to play the faculty against each other as you might do with your parents. We talk quite often and have a laugh at your expense.

Don't assume that we as faculty are out to get you. We don't have time to target students. Certainly we get along better with some students than others... but all we are looking for are students who work hard, deliver good results and show a lot of promise. Working hard goes a long, long way.

Less talking- more working.

FYI - Many of the recruiters from the studios are our personal friends from when we were in the industry or through the success of the program. It is not our obligation to get you a job or set you up for interviews. We do this because we want to see you succeed as well as our wanting to help our friends and contacts- the recruiters. We are extremely frank with them about what we think about students. This openness protects the program, the faculty, and all the hard working students who came before you who helped to make the program what it is today.

Be careful about needing to be commanded or instructed in all things. Take ownership of your education. Make it your responsibility to learn or find learning. If we aren't touching on something you want to learn about talk to us or do your own search.

Students are generally pretty great and for that I feel really lucky. There are a lot of amazing opportunities out there if you focus and get to work.

Have faith. Work hard and work smart. Faith without works is dead... so get to work.

Funchal Film Festival- Madeira

2010-04-18T14:51:00.000-07:00

Burning time until I am actually able to get home. The Iceland volcano has made a mess of flights in Europe... so for the time being I get to update my blog. The island is incredibly different from when I was here in 1990. It is still as beautiful as ever but a lot more advanced and a lot easier to get around. They have built these amazing freeways, a lot of which go through these incredibly long tunnels. Anyway I had a great time here, the festival was very well done and the people were great. The only challenging thing was being away from my wife and kids.ll as beautiful as ever but a lot more advanced and a lot easier to get around. They have built these amazing freeways, a lot of which go through these incredibly long tunnels. Anyway I had a great time here, the festival was very well done and the people were great. The only challenging thing was being away from my wife and kids.

How to train your dragon

2010-03-20T21:34:00.000-07:00

For those who know me know I am extremely critical of films made at places where I formerly worked... but with that said I have to say that I absolutely loved How to Train Your Dragon! Just like with Panda the film is a great blend of style and story and in this case the 3D screening was incredibly fun... and I usually don't like 3D. If this is any indication of things Nico Marlet should design all characters for DreamWorks films and then somehow all the other elements will fall into place. This is also a great vindication for Chris Sanders. Congrats all around.

Snail Backgrounds

2009-07-25T22:51:00.000-07:00

These Backgrounds still need a little work, including the intentional displacement of color so that they look more like Warner Bros BGs but I thought it had been a while so I would put something up. The images are all part of the opening Shot to The Snail and the Road Runner written by Shane Lewis with Story by Shane, Adrian Ropp, and myself.

Vis Dev Artwork Needed

2009-06-02T01:18:00.000-07:00

Looking to Develop the story of the Arabian Horse. If you need a subject matter to sketch on or create artwork for here is an idea to run with. Need a noble Arabian man, the Arabian Horses, and designs for the terrain. If you are interested email me and I can get you the story. Love the idea of doing something in the middle east.

Long Overdue Update

2009-06-02T01:10:00.000-07:00

So much time has passed that I will shotgun this:

We hired Cynthia Overman away from CalArts and Seth Holladay back from Pixar.

Students won 2 Student Emmys. Kite's took 1st, Pajama Gladiator took 2nd.

Grandma Scottie passed away. Great funeral. Amazing lady with one of the most interesting lives a person could live. Love you Grandma.

Students informed that Kites and Pajama have won Student Academy Awards. We go to LA next week to see what places they took.

Revising Curriculum for the Animation program. Man I hate this sort of thing.

Sold my house. Have to be out by the end of this week. Don't have a new house yet. Moving into an apartment for the time being. The kids don't really care though because we will have a pool over the summer. Looking to move to Draper.

Killing myself to get Lion and the Mouse- done - done. Thanks to Claire this is finally happening.

Sheriff is getting really close and looking extremely good. Thanks to former and current students along with Rob Allen, Brent Adams and John Reinhard.

I think I am finally done with The Movers script. Got great notes from my friends and fellow faculty members at BYU. Happily the writing was not to shocking. Tom Russell said one scene made him burst into laughter so that he spewed out his nose or mouth... can't remember... but it made me proud.

My kids are great and my wife is the best.

Grandpa Barben

2008-10-17T07:40:00.000-07:00

Yesterday my grandfather Howard Barben passed away at the age of 96. Ultimately it was a good thing but it is still a little hard to deal with. He is absolutely one of the greatest heroes in my life. Some of my earliest memories involve him. Although he was extremely religious and an extremely focused individual he had a great sense of humor and was always looking to have fun. (because of this he really loved my dad) He had 7 daughters, 50 some odd grandchildren and I don’t have any idea how many great grand children.

I am now crying as I write this.

Born in Park City Utah and raised most of his life in Ketchum, Idaho he learned to work through his time on the farm. When he was younger he worked with his father to break mustangs to sell to other farmers. (he became a great source of information for me when I was working on the film Spirit at DreamWorks.) Some of the ranch hands worked with him and he became a trick horse rider doing a lot of the dangerous sorts of things you might see at a riding demonstration at a rodeo.

He served his LDS mission in the Eastern States mission where he ended up being the preacher for several months to a Baptist congregation that couldn’t afford a preacher. Little did they know he was not only preaching to them from the Bible but from the Book of Mormon as well. When I was pretty young he was called to be the mission president in Alaska. I don’t remember much of this but I do remember helping him unpack a crate that he had shipped back when he returned. The crate had a preserved King Crab which he mounted on a large black velvet covered board that he then hung in his home.

He won local political office and after seeing how much money the government wasted became an advocate for making sure that as much money as possible go to the church - as he felt that it did a lot more good. I’ve been told and I am not sure as to the accuracy – but he never made more than 10 K in salary a year but ended up giving more than 10 million to the church and church education. (lesson- by land) He even allowed me to use a small portion to start the animation program the first year I taught at BYU- when the departments were hesitant to invest in a program that was not approved.

There are a lot of crazy stories about my grandfather’s inventions and things he did in his spare time but I’ll save those for another day. Since my family was the blue collar family in this extended family we did a lot of work for and with grandpa and whether we were mowing his lawn, shoveling the snow off his driveway or pouring cement on a home improvement project it was always a joy to be with him.

At 90 or 91 his doctor told him that it was probably time to stop his tennis playing which he did a couple of times a week. He had been going down hill for a while but still had moments of brilliance. I went to visit him at my parent’s house on Tuesday. I thought he was sleeping and when walked into the room he called me by name and said hello. I will always remember that our last exchange was that I told him I loved him and he told me he loved me too.

It’s weird to think that he is gone. When many are raised in the church to think, “What would Jesus do?” I always grew up thinking, “What would Grandpa Barben do?” When many students were going to BYU on scholarship funds paid for by my grandfather my mother and I, as well as many of my relatives worked to pay our way through school. Although I haven’t always felt this way, I do now appreciate how he helped to give me a strong work ethic while also understanding that we are owed nothing and yet owe everything to God. He was quite often at my sporting events when I was younger, gave me my patriarchal blessing and preformed my wedding as well. He specifically told me how proud of me he was for the work I have done at BYU and the impact we are making. What a man!

Love you Grandpa.

Hair

2007-06-25T16:23:00.000-07:00

This post is of considerable interest for two reasons: first it shows that I did actually have hair at one time and second is that these women that I met in Portugal while on my mission, did actually have facial hair. The worst part of that story is that the Portuguese give the greeting kisses on the cheek and although missionaries are not supposed to participate in this old women would kind of force the greeting on you. I don't want to say much more than, it tickled, and while tickling disturbed me for life.

Annecy

2007-06-13T16:14:00.000-07:00

I will get back to my own artwork, I swear. For now I am stuck writing and assembling my dossier for my tenure review at the university. In the meantime here is the poster from the latest BYU Student Film - Las Pinatas - which is currently playing at the Annecy Animation Festival.

Leo

2007-05-31T11:31:00.001-07:00

In the same loving tone that made Shane Lewis have a dog on a stick on his latest post, I now share with you my love of the canine as well.

Leo was my favorite dog I've every had. Admittedly I have really ever only had 3 dogs but he was great. He annoyed my wife some with all the slobber, his large size, the whining, the snoring, his almost dying after having eaten rat poison in the garage and all the money spent to save him but he was great just the same. We named him after a waiter at this place we ate at a couple of times near Venice, Italy.

We only had Leo for two years because he was born with deformed hocks and eventually because of the weight he gained, due to his being a neo mastiff, had to be put to sleep. Leo loved to chew on my hand, Kristen's grad school books, and 2 litter bottles.

Sure he cost a lot, initial costs, food, vet fees, books, diet cokes, two of my fingers and three of my toes... but what you going to do, man's best friend ya know.

Leo, I salute you!

Ugly Carrot

2007-05-27T00:28:00.001-07:00

My design of an angry Carrot from my Redhead Mocumentary. This is really old and apparently I was trying to get the ugliest most contrasty carrot I could get.

Other Projects

2007-05-27T00:26:00.001-07:00

Artwork by Seth Hippen, Shane Lewis, and Eric Boden.

Pete

2007-05-27T00:05:00.000-07:00

I'm the one on the right with the beard and the guy on the left is my little brother Pete. I've been dragging him into my artistic endeavors for as long as I can remember. Although he always seemed to quit a little early his was always good about getting involved.

Other Projects with film and animation students

2007-05-12T22:43:00.000-07:00

I thought I would add some photos or images from two of the short films I have been working on with film and animation students. One is currently called The Sheriff is a Chicken and was again written by Shane Lewis. The whole thing was shot on 35 mm and we are adding a CG Chicken, replacing the real guns with extra large CG guns, replacing the sky and adding set extensions. This project was initiated as a piece to combine live action and CG so that Rob Au could experiment and add to his reel. Rob is the VFX Sup on the film and is now currently working at Rhythm and Hues in LA. The film features the amazing acting talents of Stan Ellsworth and Bob Nelson.

The other film is a short that I am making to demonstrate what I would like to do on a feature I have written. The design of the mounted moose head was done by my former student Seth Hippen (Sony Animator) and the amazing crew are all BYU film students, the main character in the film is played by a personal friend named Andrew and the set is this amazing old school garage called Hyde's that the owner graciously allowed us to use.

All the photos from the film shoots were taken by my brother Peter Loosli (looslitaken.com).

More Elves Stuff

2007-05-12T22:15:00.000-07:00

This is all the great work of Shane Lewis.

Our Elves Project

2007-05-12T22:11:00.000-07:00

I have been killing myself shopping the Elves project Shane Lewis and I have created. Really hoping to pull together a low budget feature. We have had a lot of interest but no-one has ponied up the cash yet so we'll see where this goes.

Boards

2007-05-05T00:45:00.000-07:00

Just a couple of pages of the boards for the film.

2007-03-20T22:03:00.000-07:00

I hope Jason doesn't mind me posting this. I actually did a lot of boarding today for the film but have not scanned nor photoshoped any of them yet. So instead, I present yet another student's impression of me. If you are unaware of the BYU Animation program I am the heavy, the angry teacher, the one who really tells you what I think. Thus the serious look on my face. Actually as time goes by I am getting beaten down and am much nicer and a lot more likable... but I'll fix that.

2007-03-06T13:48:00.000-08:00

A couple of new pieces. Nothing much to report. A bit bogged down at the moment.

Images from our Student Film

2007-02-15T12:00:00.000-08:00

As we get closer to finishing our life stopping student film I thought I ought to add a couple of shots from the film. The film is looking really good especially considering it is student work and an odd blend of 2D and 3D to get the look of a classical animated 2D film.

Background Drawings

2007-02-15T10:08:00.000-08:00

It's been a while since I posted last and I figured I needed to get something up soon so that Shane would have questions and material to respond to. (If you don't get that don't worry.)

These are all explorations I did a while back for the film.

Text for the Film

2007-01-24T10:21:00.000-08:00

The following is the text for the film. Like I said on an earlier post the story was drummed up by Adrian Ropp, Shane Lewis and myself but Shane wrote the text.

The Snail and the Roadrunner

I woke up one morning ‘bout 12 years ago

And decided to go on a quest

To see all the trees and the fields of soft grass

That grow in the hills way out west.

For 12 years I’ve traveled out here in the desert,

I’ve crawled through the day and the night,

I’ve passed a bush and a couple of rocks,

Soon my home will be out of my sight.

(“Good luck, son!”)

Three years ago I met him ‘bout 10 inches back,

A speed-obsessed bird of a fellow,

With fire-red feathers, his hair all a mess,

His beak like a fire so yellow.

I’d seen him before as he sprinted by,

From one horizon’s line to the other.

He ran by so quickly that the force of his wind

Blew me half the way back to my mother.

(“Good luck, son!”)

That one time he stopped, I asked him one thing

I’d wondered all the times that he passed:

“Where are you going, Mr. Roadrunner, sir?

Yes, where are you off to so fast?”

“I’m a roadrunner, so I go everywhere fast.”

But that gave my question no answer.

“It’s clear you go quickly, but where are you going?

Please answer me that if you can, sir.”

His pause indicated this was the first time

He’d ever considered this thought.

When it came to knowing just where he was going,

It was clear that this roadrunner did not.

“Well I ran over here, and now I’ll go there.”

And that’s what he did in an instant.

“But what’s here or there, and why do you care?”

With my question I remained quite insistent.

“As fast as I am, I can go anywhere.

I’m as fast as my feathers are red.

Who cares where I’m going – I’m getting there fast!”

Then, having responded, he fled.

Every few minutes since that first day we spoke

I see him sprint by here again.

Not really caring where he is going

Or knowing quite where he has been.

He calls out to me, “Hey, look - can’t you see,

I’m still going fast while you’re slow!”

And “going” he does, which is odd just because

He obviously has nowhere to go.

He runs before thinking just where he is going,

His race has no finishing line.

You can’t win a race when the race has no end,

As for me, moving slowly suits fine.

Unlike the roadrunner, I’ll reach where I’m going.

Though the journey will take me a while.

For I have a goal, and I’m going somewhere

At about ninety-eight years per each mile.

(“Good luck, son!”)

Now I’m an old snail, but as you can see,

I’ve made it to green hills at last.

And I’ll tell you it’s better to get somewhere slowly

Than to simply go nowhere real fast.

Closer to Final Look

2007-01-18T11:41:00.000-08:00

Although my life lately has been consumed trying to help my students finish our latest traditionally animated film I did have time to eek out this background. I think it is getting a lot better and feeling a lot more like an old Warner Bros. cartoon. Thoughts?

Film in Production

2006-12-20T14:01:00.000-08:00

As part of my 6th year review at the University I am making a small film of my own. Sadly since starting the animation program at BYU I have not had a lot of time to drawn and write but I am finally in a place where I can get back to it. This could take a while as I try to get back into the swing of things but it should be fun. I will try to use this blog to track the progress on the film.

a loosli made blog

2006-12-20T13:59:00.000-08:00

a loosli made blog

Getting started

2006-08-19T00:07:00.000-07:00

So I had not yet registered and needed to do so to be able to add comments to one of my writing partner's entries on his blog. So needless to say... I have nothing more to say but to check out

http://stlewis.blogspot.com/