The short film ‘I’m Hip’ was recently shortlisted for the Oscars— a film on which University of Utah Department of Film & Media Arts alum Talïn Tanielian (BA 2014) worked in several key roles. "I’m Hip" was directed by John Musker, who is best known for his work with Ron Clements writing and directing such Disney classics as "The Little Mermaid," "Aladdin," "Hercules," "The Princess and the Frog," and "Moana." The film follows a cat as he musically proclaims his hipness to the world.
We recently spoke with Talïn and discussed her career since leaving the U, her experience working on "I’m Hip," and the future of animation.
Can you give us a brief overview of your journey from your undergrad at the U to where you are now?
After graduating from the U with a degree in Film and Media Arts, I took a summer course at Gobelins L'École de L'Image in Paris. A huge thank you to Cécile Blondel, who helped me get into the program and gave me a personal tour of campus well before the course began. This was an international course, so I met so many students, and lifelong friends now, from places all over the world including Brazil, the Netherlands, Chile, Bosnia, Mexico, Madagascar, and more. During the course, I learned the 12 principles of animation in a fresh new perspective from master animators, Florent de la Taille, In-Ah Roediger, and Yoshimichi Tamura, to name a few. They are all a huge influence on my journey as am animator. After completing the summer course, I attended California University of the Arts, Long Beach, where I obtained my MFA in Animation and Illustration. I worked with committee members, Mark Michelon, Aubry Mintz, and Yu Ji who mentored me in completion of my thesis film, Jinja. Jinja is a hybrid animated film that I wrote, directed, animated, and illustrated myself. Travels to Japan had inspired me to deep dive more into Japanese folklore surrounding spirits and religion. My film had themes about Shintoism, moving away from home, and embracing our differences. During production of my film, I was offered a remote job in the animation industry, and through said job, I've met so many wonderful artists and collaborators who have helped me along my career path. My film was showcased in film festivals all around the world and won several prizes, which was such an incredible experience. Now, I am working remotely on several different short films and other animated projects.
John Musker’s a big name in animation! How did you get connected with him?
During pre-production stages, John was looking for a lead compositor for his short film, "I'm Hip." I was recommended to John through a colleague of mine, David T. Nethery, who was working with me on another project at the time. John reached out to me through a Facebook message, and I am notorious for never checking my Facebook. His message sat in my inbox for almost 2 months before I knew it was there! David asked me in passing over a work call if I took the position, and I asked "What position?!" I reached out to John promptly after, and it turned out to be a perfect match!
This was a particularly interesting project to work on, as John was fresh out of retirement after working as a director at Walt Disney Animation Studios for 40 years! During his time there, John was a director, meaning he spent little time actually putting pencil to paper and animating himself. This short film allowed him to become fully immersed in the production side of the process - it was phenomenal to see his deep understanding of the animation industry translated in this way. We were so appreciative of his expertise, especially given how much work it takes even to create a short animated film, albeit, with a MUCH smaller crew than a Disney feature.
For our readers who aren’t as familiar with animation processes, can you describe what it means to be a compositor?
A compositor's role is to come up with the final image the audience sees on screen. We take all the pieces and layers provided by the background artists, special effects artists, animators, colorists, and anyone else providing assets, and we put them together and add all the last touches to create the final composition and camera moves.
What other roles did you have for "I’m Hip?"
I worked as a special effects animator, colorist, color key artist, shot planner, crew organizer, production manager, and editor. I wore many hats on the film, which I'm pretty used to doing! I helped John coordinate every single scene in the film, which added up to more than 60 individual scenes. I kept the crew organized and also held some teaching sessions on Skype to help the crew members learn how to use TVPaint.
What is your favorite part of I’m Hip? Or, the thing you’re most proud of on the film?
John is notorious for his caricature work. He drew dozens of his family members, friends, and colleagues who are all featured, even if for only a frame, in I'm Hip. It was surreal when we debuted the film in Beverly Hills for the first time, because John invited all of the people he had featured in his film, Because I was familiar with all of the cartoon versions of these faces, when I saw people walking into the theater, I immediately recognized them from the film! It was so fun to see people's reactions to themselves in "I'm Hip!" John even did a caricature of me in the film during the rooftop party scene. After he debuted the film, he sent out printed and signed copies of each of the caricatures to his friends and family, which was the sweetest gesture!
Still from "I'm Hip"
What do you think is the future for 2D/2D-style animation?
I think there is so much happening for 2D animation in the industry, and it's only getting better and better. We're seeing hand drawn VFX in a plethora of works such as Spiderverse, TMNT, Arcane, and even Blue Eye Samurai. It's very refreshing to see the elements of 2D animation being mixed into a 3D space. A lot of people think 2D is dying out, but I see so many incredible hand drawn films still being produced today on a global scale. We're seeing full length fully hand drawn films from SPA Studios, Studio Ghibli, Ankama, and more that are so groundbreaking in terms of visuals and story. I think in the battle against AI, 2D has been making a major comeback on a much bigger scale than some might realize!
Was there a class or professor during your career at the U that had a particular impact on you?
I have to give a huge shoutout to my animation and game professors from the U. I use many of the techniques they taught me to this day! Mark Jarman taught me how to use light to better portray volumes in Visual Development for gaming, David Kennedy taught me the fundamentals of video game creation, Lien Fan Shen taught me so much about computer animation software and interface, and Steven Peccia-Bekkum taught me all the different traditional animation techniques. I'm so grateful for each and every one of my professors I had at the U!
What advice would you have for current students?
Always do your research. Knowing your subject is the make or break to good storytelling, and you can really pick out the creators who are passionate and have done their time with studies. It's so important to go through the bad versions of your stories and filter them out to get to the good stuff.
What’s next for you? Where can people find/follow you?
I definitely see myself continuing to create short films and collaborating with the colleagues I've grown so fond of these last few years. I enjoy this space of filmmaking and sharing these stories around the world in different film festivals, understanding people's perspectives of the films from other countries and cultures, and taking in the audience reaction. It's so rewarding, and I am so happy to continue this journey of sharing stories through the art of animation! I go by @tabbytoons on social media, and you can follow my work there!