André Bergs is a Dutch animator creator of the popular-gone-viral short animation Pivot, designed and animated by Kevin Megens, Floris Vos, Arno de Grijs and Andre Bergs, it was nominated for best short film at the Dutch Film Festival, won the “Best Local” award at the Playgrounds Festival and was screened at the Anima animation film festival in Brussels. André trained at the Hogeschool voor de Kunsten Utrecht, he coaches a Maya workshop on a variety of subjects and runs his own animation Company called Plastiek.

How did you and your team come up the concept and the unique style?

In 2008 I was asked to make a short animation on a Dutch poem. The producers at ilLuster gave me complete freedom to experiment, and what followed was a gritty short where I experimented with a low-poly style and animating on doubles. (you can view that short here).

It was a very rough experiment, but it did show that a 3D low poly style can actualy have a more ‘real’ feeling than some more realistic 3D animations. When ilLuster sent me the scenario of Pivot, we immediately agreed that this kind of story could work realy well with the low-poly style. I then asked Arno de Grijs, Floris Vos and Kevin Megens if they’d like to work on it with me, and take the concept and style to a higher level.

Where do you get your inspiration from when working on a film like this?

We had a couple of evenings where we would all bring in visual inspiration from illustrations, photo’s, animation and films. This was really helpfull to think and talk about the direction where we were going with the film.

Big inspirations were old films, like ‘M’, the ‘third man’, and ‘das cabinet des Dr. Caligari’. Graphically the work of Saul Bass, Oskar Fischinger and the Hellboy comics were a big inspiration. All in all we collected around a thousand images and movieclips for inspiration, so the pool of inspiration was very deep.

How big was the team?

The core of the team consisted of four people. Arno de Grijs, Floris Vos, Kevin Megens and myself. We share a studio in Utrecht and managed the project as a team. The music and sounddesign was made by Alex Debicki. Furthermore we had technical assistance from our intern Bram Vleugel. And when time was getting tight, Patrick Chin helped us out with some character animation. So all in all seven people put their backs into it.

How long was it in production for?

Half a year from start to end. We had a strict deadline, since it was planned to be premiered at the Dutch Filmfestival. And of course we didn’t want to miss our own premiere.

How did you end up as the director of Pivot?

We had a big battle royale where the last man standing would be boss over the rest. And I was the one who faught the dirtiest.

No, really we picked up the project very much as a team. I was responsable for the film as a whole, but virtually all the choices made, were made by the team. And all the conflicts of ideas and discussions we had really brought out the best in the film.

What tools did you and your team use when making Pivot?

The sets and characters were made in 3D studio Max and Cinema 4D. We then imported them in Maya, where we did all the rigging, animation, effects ‚lighting and cameras. The final composit was done in After effects, and the edit in Premiere.

Do you have any suggestions for other aspiring animation filmmakers on how to produce a high quality film like this?

We spent a lot of time on the moodboard, storyboard design and R&D phase. Allthough it made the actual production time a bit tight. It really did pay off in the end. We had a very clear image of where we were going with the film, didn’t have to make big adjustments on the shots from the storyboard and knew which effects would work, and which would not. So we had a very clear path to follow, this way everybody was on the same page and we could really pick up the pace in the production.

As a film maker myself I know that it’s tempting to start making the film as soon as possible. But the time you spend in the beginning will defenitly pay itself back later on. So take your time at the start, and know where you’re going before you actually go.

I understand the film has been getting some positive feedback around the world at various animation festivals. Where can people look out for it?

We’ve had some great feedback on the film from a lot of people and festivals. On Vimeo the views even passed the 160.000, wich is pretty awesome, and it’s really nice to see all the extra effort we’ve put into it being picked up and appreciated so much. For now I know for sure that the film will be played at:

Vladivostock, New Wave Cinema, Russia — 27th March
Rome, Roma International Independent Film Festival, Italy — 8—16th April
Novosibirisk, Cinema Pobeda, Russia — 17th April
Amsterdam, Imagine 26th Amsterdam Fantasic Film Festival, NL — 14—24th April (nominated for a Silver Méliès)
Stuttgart International Animation Trick Film Festival, Germany — 4—9th May
Barcelona, FICOMIC, Spain — 4-9th May
Treplice, Anifest 2010, Czech Republic — 18-23th May
Eindhoven, TAC, The Netherlands — 28th May
Eindhoven, Plaza Futura, The Netherlands — 10th June
Helmond, Filmhuis Helmond, The Netherlands — 10th June
Eindhoven, Broeinest, The Netherlands — 11th June
Breda, Chassé Cinema, The Netherlands — 17th June
Tilburg, Filmfoyer, The Netherlands — 17th June
Oss, Filmtheater De Groene Engel, The Netherlands — 20th June
Den Bosch, Verkade Fabriek,The Netherlands — 26th June

Related links:

1. Pivot Official website.
2. Plastiek André’s Company.
3. Soulbase Floris Vos.
4. Artibite Kevin Megens.
5. Alex Debicki Music production.
6. il Luster Distribution.

Here is an interesting behind-the-scenes look at The Art of Mass Effect 2. This video focuses on the animation side of things and how that is implemented in the game. It’s part of a series of 5 videos that detail the art behind this game.

Andy Grisdale has been involved in various types of animation throughout his career and has worked on a number of exciting projects ranging from console games for Xbox and Playstation 2, to theme park attractions, commercials and stunning cinematic sequences for games such as Bioshock and Fable 2.

Andrew has spent the past 8 years hoarding a wealth of experience in very exciting projects. After working for several studios in England, he moved to the United Stated where he first joined Blur Studios in Los Angeles for just over a year before joining Pixar Animation Studios in Emeryville, California where he’s currently working as a layout artist on Toy Story 3.

You are currently working at Pixar. Can you tell us how you ended up there?

I started animating as a hobby back in the early 90s which led me to art school and eventually a degree in animation. My first three jobs were for games companies in England. I wasn’t especially interested in the games industry and so in the meantime I was making my own short films at home. I made two of them — ‘The Circle’ and ‘The Green Miaow’. They look crude now but these shorts led to my being hired at Blur Studio in Los Angeles which was artistically a huge move for me, collaborating on much more cinematic pieces. I was there for three years before some larger studios started to call. Although Blur was a great place to work I couldn’t say no when Pixar invited me to join them. i feel like creating my own work was the most crucial step in getting here.

What is it about animation that made you choose it as your career?

I had an interest in film making from a very young age. When I was starting college I thought I was going to go into live action film making but I quickly got discouraged by the lack of control I had over the components of a film — actors, lighting, weather and so on. I was already comfortable with animation with which I could more easily realize my ideas and have more fun with it. You’re only limited by talent and time. When I was at Blur I started to do layout professionally and in that area I really found my niche as it is the most filmic part of the animation process and I enjoyed it a lot.

What do you like the most about the type of work you do?

It’s just really fun to start a new sequence and to create a new Pixar scene from scratch. In layout we really work out the nuts and bolts of how the film is going to work in three dimensions. Aside from figuring out the logistics we’re free to experiment as much as we please with the staging, composition and camera work so we’re a big part of the film making process which is very satisfying.

Who or what inspires your personal and professional work?

I’m mostly inspired by live action filmmakers — Kubrick, Hitchcock, Lean, Scorsese — all the usual suspects. PT Anderson is my favourite working right now. Scouring the internet for art blogs provides an infinite source of inspiration too. I’m fortunate to live in an inspiring part of the world and to be surrounded by many talented people.

What lessons have you learnt from you various roles in games and films?

My years of work have taught me to have a plan and stick to it. Think about what you’re going to do do before you do it. I try to be as organised as possible. To build up my work in layers and to do one thing after another. To communicate as much as possible with everyone you’re working with. Keep track of how long tasks take so that you can best judge how long things will take to do in the future. But how well I stick to my own advice is another question…

Having transitioned from games to films, how do you think these two mediums are different?

From an animation standpoint there are obvious differences — acting in animated film versus shorter actions and loops for games — but, really, the tools and the process are pretty much the same and you always try to create the finest quality you can. I do remember working in games as being more repetitive but it was still enjoyable for the most part. I haven’t worked in games for quite a while so maybe things are changing with this generation of technology.

I know that you enjoy working on your own animation shorts. Are there any more of them in the pipeline?

Nope! I would love to do another but this job takes too much out of me.

What are your tools of choice when animating?

Pixar has it’s own software which I really like using. Commercially, I like to use Max for most things but for animation I would say Maya is my favourite.

With films like Avatar and Up gracing the screens last year which take the art form of animation to new levels, where do you see animation going in the next few years?

Up, and especially Avatar, had huge amounts of resources poured into them and it’s great for the industry that they’re doing so well. I’m more excited about how Coraline and Fantastic Mr Fox went down so well. The animation industry is much cooler with those kind of films in it.

If you were a survivor from the zombie apocalypse and you couldn’t do animation for a living, what would you be doing instead?
Hmm… hopefully, building boats to sail away on.

Related links:

1. Andrew’s official website A closer look at his work.
2. Pixar Animation Studios Andrew’s place of work.

Animations inspired by the pixel art that existed on older 8-bit gaming systems are becoming very popular. Here is a great little short with that kind of style but a more mature type of content than you would expect from those old 8-bit games. Be warned, it’s does contain some adult content, even though it’s about as cartoony as adult content can get.

After the controversy that followed the first Kane and Lynch game, the second game has just been announced followed by these darkly comedic viral trailers, enjoy:

After a (very) long and hype-filled wait, James Cameron has finally let his baby out into the public to be seen by the rest of the world. It seems to be getting a lot of people all over the internet very excited. Take a look if you haven’t seen it already, this is the future of filmaking.