by Dov Kornits
In between working on other people’s projects in storyboarding/pre-viz, and directing outrageously funny festival fave short film SMOKO, director Steve Cooper let us in on the machinations of the animation industry in Australia.
IN THE BEGINNING
“I grew up in Tieri, a small mining town in Central Queensland, where, if you didn’t work in mining, there weren’t a great deal of opportunities post high-school, and being a creative artist, drawing, painting, creating characters and telling stories, I needed an outlet which small mining towns can’t readily provide.
“In 1988, I moved to Brisbane to study at the QCA (Queensland College of Art), which was the most logical path at the time. To be honest, I didn’t even know there was an animation course until the day of interviews, as I’d originally applied for a fine arts degree, only to be pointed toward animation by the faculty. So, I kinda fell into it by chance…
“From there, I got the chance to do work experience at Walt Disney TV Animation in Sydney for a week, where I was offered a role as an in-betweener assisting animators. I spent my formative years at Disney becoming a traditional 2D layout artist and then animator on shows such as Winnie the Pooh, Darkwing Duck, Bonkers and Aladdin among others.
“I left the Mouse for the lure of Ren and Stimpy at Mr Big Cartoons where I started learning more about storyboarding and directing on shows Tracey McBean, The Kangaroo Creek Gang, Toothbrush Family and Sea Princesses. From there, it was onto Flying Bark, boarding and directing, until I joined up with my partners, Sean Aspinall and Stuart Carlisle, to form our own company, DAVE Enterprises in September 2015.
“We began small on a few ads, film clips and indie pieces for local clients, which we still do from time to time. But our clutch moment was when DreamWorks reached out looking for storyboard artists to help out on two of their projects. We did some testing and had some back and forth before scoring work on two of their flagship series, Spirit Riding Free and DinoTrux Supercharged. Other series followed and DreamWorks became our primary client.
“While we look to develop our own IP and continue to work with local studios, our primary business has been on offshore contracts. The reason for this is because we strive to bring work in so we can train and promote new talent for the Australian industry.”
SMOKO
“I’m always idly drawing, even when deadline pressure is lurking just over one shoulder… so initially, I’d drawn [SMOKO human] Brandon as a fun idea for a character that might become some kind of crappy superhero. That, along with the fact that we have ibis EVERYWHERE in Chippendale, had me sketching them up on a bench together.
“It’s centred around the idea of ‘what would my tradie, Brandon, and the ibis, Brenda, have to say to one another if they could chat?’ It turns out pretty much as I’d thought.
“I had a little time between gigs, and managed to convince my partners that this could be money well spent, so I grabbed my mates, Adam (Gunny) Gunn and Andrew Collins, to start riffing ideas for a script and just how we put it together.
“Then other team members, Erin Black, Michael (Geordie) Pattison, Girard Dorney, Ian Harrowell, Ben Grimshaw and Kylebrench Rose Villarama pitched in to get SMOKO across the line.
“The main thing we wanted built in was how we futureproof it, so we can go again if we get the chance. So, we built, improved and documented the pipeline as we went with that mindset.
“The characters were designed and drawn to make use of as much re-use potential as we could work in. They aren’t rigged in any way but there is use of some tricksy techniques in Harmony.
“I’m (slowly) developing a long form idea for a much larger series for Brenda and Brandon. In the meantime, we are in the process of writing several new scenarios for their SMOKO, where they shoot the shit in ludicrous ways.”
BETTER GET BACK TO WORK
DAVE Enterprise continues to streamline the storyboard side of their business. “Because we started the enterprise as a story-focussed studio, we have always had the storyboard aspect at the forefront of who we are. The main evolution for us was in streamlining our story to edit pipeline and developing efficiencies while also producing high quality work. We also had to develop methodology agile enough to apply to animation techniques across the board. From pre-school 2D through to high end CGI action series, the pipeline had to work within identical timelines using identical software, hardware and edit workflows.”
As our smoko comes to an end, how has Steve Cooper observed the Australian animation industry change over the years? “Since joining the industry in 1990, there has been an enormous shift and maturing in the local animation industry.
“To begin with, everything in the ‘90s was hand drawn on paper. Technology centred around pencil and paper quality discussed around the watercooler. Most studios that handled anything from overseas were animating – meaning none of the front-end design or storyboard components.
“Disney, who took over from Hanna-Barbera, in Sydney, was the biggest employer running a few hundred employees, continuing to grow to several hundred before closing in 2006.
Local studios, such as Mr Big/Southern Star Animation and Yoram Gross/Flying Bark, were producing local work on a much smaller scale but offered work developing and directing their own local content. I had the privilege of working with all three of these studios where I was fortunate enough to experience every level of production.
“Other studios started to emerge, such as Animal Logic, which began as a small studio handling adverts to become the powerhouse we know today. Alongside this there was also a huge appetite for VFX studios which were starting up all over to service demand for that end of things.
“Today, I feel the industry is more diverse and professional than it’s ever been and responsible for some of the most highly regarded animation in the world.”
