An Interview with: Cinepix Animation Director - InHo Son

During my time working at Cinepix Studios(Seoul, South Korea) on the TV series of Kungfu Panda:Legends of Awesomeness, I got to work with animation director InHo Son and on my last day he agreed to an interview and we talked about many things like his path down this road and what he views is the most important aspect of animation and occupational injuries, etc. This is the transcript or rather a written version to the best of my memory and some notes that I took during the interview. I would first like to take the time to personally thank InHo for agreeing to this interview and answering in such a genuinely honest manner. Enjoy~

An interview with: Cinepix Animation Director - InHo Son (@ Cinepix Studios)

1. Can you give us an introduction of yourself and how you came to where you are right now as animation director?

- I majored in mechanical design. I was interested in drawing, but I thought I lacked talent. The reason I majored in that was because I was attracted by the design drawings. The lines and how they drag out the lines for measurements. Those shapes really appealed to me. I wanted to be someone that did that kinda work, so that’s why I went into mechanical design. I went to school and first you start by drawing everything in pencils and I took a class called “CAD”, which was a software you used to draw out the designs and I had never known about this world of computers before, so in a way that was the beginning of my path down this road. And my friend, after showing me CAD introduced me to another 2D program called Dr. Hollow. You could use colors and replicate simple shapes, but the colors were very basic. Like blue, red, white. It was more primitive than your free paint program on Windows. And I looked at this and thought, “Wow, this is new.” But then now long after he showed me another software and it was 3D Studio.

- Max?

- No, before that. My friend studied this by himself and made logo animations on his own. But, back in those days even rendering a hundred frames would take a whole night. Even longer if it had heavy textures on them. So, I thought my friend was really good. At academic festivals, people would come over and get his contact info so I thought highly of him. Then I was called into the army. I went around the same time my friend went. We were discharged around the same time. And, my friend had set his mind on doing CG. I was still a bit unsure, because I was also interested in interior design at the time.

- Because you came out of a mechanical design background.

- Right, so my friend said he was going to goto an institute where they teach professionally. So I followed him to a CG institute located in Gangnam, cause he was my friend. The institutes had nice interiors, new computers and monitors. And with moving wireframes on the monitors that were divided into four seperate views. The software they were using at the time was called Explore. And it was the origin software of Maya, they called it Alias Explore back then. I looked at it and I thought it was super cool! 

- LOL~

- It was during that time I was at the institute that I saw Luxo Jr., Red's Dream and Knick Knack and it inspired me a lot and I wanted to make something like that. So, I worked hard and our group made a short film at the end of the term about two basketball hoops coming to life at night and playing basketball amongst themselves and it won first place at the institutes yearly competition and I was pretty happy about our small, but meaningful achievement. After we graduated, me and couple of our classmates opened our own studio in a small office space in a crumbling building somewhere and we tried to get some projects going. At first, all that came in were jobs for making perspective conceptual renders for architectural buildings printed out into 2D photos and I was a bit flustered by it, but then we got an advertisement gig for a network hub device with camera movements and logo designs as well, so I worked on the storyboards and found I was more interested in this line(story-based) of work. We worked without compensation for about a year and after that paid gigs started to come in. But, by then we started to have some conflicts occur within the studio and some of us, including myself, left to set up another studio. And we got to work on some commercials like Cheetos and Kellogg and we worked day and night during that period, but some complications arose and we had to close down the studio and I fell into a bit of a slump. I was burned out and contemplating whether or not I should keep doing animation, when a friend of mine called me and asked what I was up to. I told him what was going on and he told me to come join him on an animation film project called Elysium, so after being convinced to come on over and being referred to the project manager, I was immediately brought on board to work on the promo video for this feature film. It was here that I actually got my first real taste of character animation with characters and story. After working there for about two years, I briefly moved to another studio called Zero One Pictures before settling into Cinepix Studios and I have been there ever since. 

- And you were appointed animation supervisor right away?

 - Yes, what was going on was they were animating a tv series called Cubix at the time and they placed me as supervising animator for one of the supporting characters. And as time went by I moved up to supervising animator for the main character and then animation director when we started a new tv series called Aqua Kids(2004). 

2. Is there an animation film that you like in particular? Something perhaps that left a big impression on you? And, if so can you elaborate on that? You mentioned earlier that you first saw Luxo Jr. and was very inspired....

- Yes, Luxo Jr. and other Pixar shorts, especially Knick Knack. But, you can say that there are two types of inspiring animations for me. The ones that I just mentioned would be inspiring animations for someone who didn't really know much about animation and then there are animations that you admire from the perspective of someone that has learned and worked in the same field for some time. And that one would be Finding Nemo and more recently Tangled.  

- Could you elaborate more on why you find Finding Nemo and Tangled as well-made animations?

- Well, I am not an expert on story, but I find the story of Finding Nemo to be very good. Coincidentally, Finding Nemo came out right around the time I became a father and thinking about it as a parent I really empathized with the story. Also, I was amazed by how well they could express human-like features through fish characters. Even in terms of innovation, I think they did a great job with slowly inputting human characters to their films along with ocean scenery, textures and colors. Didn't they do well in box offices as well?

- Yes, I read they were number one and still to this day hold the number two title for animation films if I'm not mistaken.

- For Tangled, this could be an excuse, but there was a period when after having observed all the different animations from all the different studios and CG was no longer something scarce and new, it might have also been that I was losing interest in it as well, but there was a period when I stopped watching animation. Even Pixar films, I remember I used to watch the same films in the theaters in awe two or three times by sneaking back in after all the other people left. But, after working as a supervisor for some time, it started to become comparative to projects I was working on and it made me feel inferior and along with other thoughts and concerns I started to stray away from watching feature films. 

- So this had nothing to do with the films themselves, but it was more about what was going on with you internally?

- Yes, I also saw Shrek, but not Shrek 2. There was a period in my life like that. And not too long ago, I started watching feature animations again. Even the old ones, I started watching them all over again and then I came across Tangled with the vibrant colors and long hair animated and all. I watched this while we were making KungFu Panda and naturally I compared it with what we were doing and observed all the aspects of it in detail and.....above all, I thought the animation was done well.

3. What do you think is the most important aspect in an animation shot as an animator? It could be one of the twelve principles in animation or anything else you might think.

- I think that's a hard question and I don't necessarily think there is one particular best aspect in animation. Just like a car, all the parts in the car matter in order for it to run properly, so too does all the aspects in animation. But, if there is one thing that I feel is important in becoming a great animator, it's sensibility.

- Sensibility?

-Yes, there are some people that can memorize an action or movement just by seeing it once in there life. And when they animate something they remember back and bring out the feel of the action or movement better than others. That sense is very important in becoming a great animator in my opinion.

- That's very interesting. I never thought of it like that. But, for example someone like me would probably watch videos again and again frame by frame to understand and learn timing and feel for weight, etc. I guess I'm not that talented. lol~

-Well, yes that is another way of acquiring that skill set. And you don't have to remember exactly how something moves. I guess it's more intuitive than anything.

4. What are your thoughts on occupational safety and health, since animators are prone to many injuries such as back pain, carpal tunnel syndrome, arthritis, reduction of eyesight, etc, etc due to long-term intensive working hours in front of the desk or computer?

- Yes, because our job requires us to sit in front of a computer when you look at it in long term, there are many risks. I think the most important way to avoid that is self-management. I believe in working hard when you work and resting hard when you rest. That's why I don't advocate working late to anyone or coming out on weekends to work as well.

- Well, I think that's easier said than done. From personal experience working here and looking around I think many people would like to get off work on time, but just can't.

- Well you can look at it as a battle between your ideals and reality. I also believe that you need to be in an alert mindset while you're working. I think it's important to prevent yourself from working late as time goes by.

5. And finally, any word of advice you can give to anyone that’s looking to work in animation or is going through a slump period in their careers?

- ......................

   
- or would you not recommend people to work in this industry?

- No, it's nothing like that. I was just thinking. I enjoy working with people that have a positive mindset and I think that's one of the hardest things to keep after you've been working for a long period of time. But for people that are trying to get into this industry I would suggest you try and nurture a positive attitude that lasts. That's my advice.

- Well, that's all we have. Thank you very much for your time!

- Thank you~

(This interview took place Nov 6th 2012)