The Cracked-Prism Life of ItsJerryTime
Written by Max Stout   
Sunday, 07 January 2007

OZ: I'm a big fan of Terry Gilliam, but JerryTime's look is more a byproduct of the limitations I work under rather than a conscious stylistic choice. I needed to create a world for Jerry to live in and the easiest and cheapest way to do it is photographically. If I can't either find a photo or take one, I'll use 3d or draw it, whatever I have the time for. I don't really nitpick much of anything about it- a lot of the mattes are pretty bad actually - but I just rationalize it by saying it adds to the charm.

As far as the actual animation technique goes, it's really like making paper dolls, hinging them together and putting them in 3d environments. Once built, the character is then non-meticulously keyframed - as I can get away with at least. (This is one area that Terry Gilliam directly influenced me - he was really good at saving time. For example, he'd avoid having to animate legs walking by having the character walking through tall grass, or in a long skirt or something). I then use a camera to move around around the set, much like a director would. Lastly I add lights and render it out - it usually takes a weekend to render them at that size.

We actually produce them in HD so we have an archive version in case we're nominated for an Academy Award TM or Pulitzer and need something to project on a big screen.



GLUBDUB: What I notice the most about 'Jerry' is how expressive he is by just animating his mouth and eyes. His arms are almost no existent almost like T-rex arms. And his whole being seems to imperceptivity float. Are these facial expressions exagerated or is that how Jerry really is. I think its the faces that put me over the edge.

OZ: They're exaggerations based on reality. When I started off animating the character, I really wanted to be specific about his mannerisms and give the viewer the feeling that it was a real person and not just a made up character behind the whole thing. As far as the T-Rex arms and the float, that's a byproduct of me not having the energy to do otherwise.

GLUBDUB: The look of the show is amazing. You say the look of the show is a byproduct of the limitations that you work under, and I often think that some of the best creative innovations are the ones that are born from over coming limitations. Give me the guitarist without great chops, but an imagination instead and an understanding of his own limitations. If you had the all the tools at your disposal would you make the show look or feel any different?

OZ: I think given no limitations, I'd work more reality-based mixed media into it...claymation, stop motion, puppets, -whatever. I'm a big fan of using whatever technique works best to communicated the idea. Given an even bigger budget, I'd hire John Lasseter and Pixar to do the whole thing.

GLUBDUB: Have you been able to do this full time as a career yet? What else do you guys do?

JZ: Orrin runs Ozone, an animation studio for cable networks. (http://ozonetvdesign.com) I’m involved with that as well as a HD stock footage agency we run called Royalty Free HD (http://www.royaltyfreehd.com). We do a combination of things relating to broadcast graphics, TV packaging and stock footage production and distribution.
JerryTime is really just a labor of love right now, we haven't found a way to make it full time.


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