Animated Thoughts: Miku Expo 2016

Miku Expo 2016 in Toronto

I don't like live music. Never have. It's way too loud. The crowds can get really annoying. The timing and sound quality is almost always better on CD. It's just not for me. It's very rare that I will enjoy a live music performance, though it does happen from time to time--a ticket to see Sarah McLachlan perform is always worth the money. And seeing the Cybertronic Spree live and in-person at TAAFI last month was one of the most enjoyable experiences I've ever had at an animation festival.

But, you gotta stay open to new experiences...

Case-in-point: A friend of mine is really into the Vocaloid scene. He's a big fan of Hatsune Miku and Megurine Luka... and magical girl anime, much to his fiancé's chagrin. Eh, fair enough. We can't ALL be fans of giant robot anime... and the Madoka Magica series was well worth the time spent watching it... but I digress. Well, as it turned out, this year Crypton Future Media was taking the Vocaloid characters on tour. And Justin wanted to go but he'd never been to Toronto before. Since I visit Toronto a couple times every year, and am an aficionado of most things geeky and animation related, I was chosen to be his guide.

Now, I had seen Hatsune Miku in concert before. Since I took a friend to see "her" performance at the Lady Gaga concert back in 2014 as a graduation present, I kind of knew what I was in for. So it wasn't much of a challenge to convince me to set up the trip. I enjoyed the smaller set Miku performance in Detroit and figured I'd appreciate a full hour-and-a-half concert in Toronto even more. That, and it doesn't take much to convince me to visit Toronto for something animation related! Therefore, the previous month, when I had some free time at the Toronto Animation Arts Festival International, I put together a list of Japanese pop-culture, anime, and Asian-themed sites in Toronto that he might enjoy. Eh, if you're going to make the drive out to Toronto to see a Vocaloid concert, may as well get as much of the J-Pop experience as you can!

Just in case you don't know what a "Vocaloid" is, here's a quick ten minute primer on Real Future that Fusion posted on their YouTube channel.

Thursday:

I picked up Justin early in the morning and we made good time to Toronto. Timed the bridge just right and we missed all the semi-tractors then zipped right straight through the Canadian border--thank you Nexus pass. We talked almost non-stop the entire way. Have made this run so many times in the past by myself, was really nice to chat with someone instead of being stuck in my head the entire time. Well, we arrived at 2 p.m. and after an early check-in, it was off to the St. Lawerence Market (my brother had put in a request for Anton Kozlik's Canadian Mustard).

But on the way there from Union Station, I showed him the Sony Center "just in case we got split up on the way to the concert". In truth, at the hotel I had checked my e-mail/Facebook and saw a post from the Miku Expo stating that they'd be selling concert-specific merch a day early. Figured I'd surprise him since they weren't expected to have any at the show due to the import taxes between Japan, Canada, and the States. Thankfully, some deal had been worked out prior to the show.

The folks at the merchandise table saw Justin and I coming a mile away...

When we showed up at the Sony Center, they were still setting up, but we were, like two of five people who had seen the post and shown up. I bought a t-shirt, a keychain, and the music CD of the 2016 Expo's partial lineup. Eh, I'm not above picking up a couple souvenirs. And we were both happy to get our merch right then instead of fighting the crowds at the show.

"All your merch are belong to us..."

After picking up Ted's mustard order, we perused the St. Lawerence Market--Justin is both a foodie and a professional baker. Then I showed him Toronto's underground city as we walked all the way up to Dundas. I tagged a couple Japanese restaurants in the underground that I'd like to visit on future trips. Unfortunately, Uncle Tetsu's Angel Cafe isn't hooked up to the PATH, but we made it as far as the Eaton Center before going outside.

"Uncle Tetsu" doesn't have much in the
way of souvenirs so I kept my coaster.

I got tacit approval ahead of time from Justin's fiancée to take him to Uncle Tetsu's--thought it'd be funny to watch him squirm a little.

Have never been to a maid café before, mainly because I have no interest in being fawned over by a teenage girl who calls me 'onii-chan.' I've skipped the maid cafés at all the anime conventions that I've attended in the past. A trip to Japan is on my bucket list, but the only themed café I'm interested in attending are the ones where you can hang out, have a soda, and play with bunnies.

But, I didn't want to judge Uncle Tetsu's solely by the concept so figured I'd give the real thing a try. And I'll admit it, the maid café was fun. The girls were cute and friendly yet not overbearing or sickeningly sweet and the food was decent. Everything was well lit and very tasteful. While you were encouraged to take pictures of and with the maids, everyone was expected to keep their hands to themselves and behave respectfully (which I personally appreciated since I really don't like people hanging on me). Strangely enough, there were far more women than men at the café.

The Angel Special

Well, after finishing our meals, we were on our way out and one of the maids saw Justin's Hatsune Miku messenger bag. Next thing we knew, we got swarmed by all these maids 'ooh-ing' and 'ah-ing' over his bag and talking about the concert. Apparently one of the young ladies was from Sapporo (where Miku's backstory has her hailing from) and another was going to the concert on Friday. Normally unflappable and with a razor sharp wit that often matches my inappropriate sense of humor, Justin was caught completely off guard and it was deliciously amusing. We finished chatting up the maids and got a photo on the way out.

"Maiding" it up at Uncle Tetsu's :3

And then it was back to the hotel to recover from the walking--but we still found time to explore some game stores, the Silver Snail comic book store, and every Asian-themed curio store on Yonge Street from Dundas to Bloor! Later that night, we discovered a really good Japanese restaurant a couple blocks from the hotel that made it on my list of restaurants that deserved a return trip.

Friday:

The day was one big blur that began in Chinatown.

Toronto's "Dragon City"

'King Kasma' from "Summer Wars"

We started out at Sonic Boom Records over on Spadina--Justin is also a composer and bass guitarist so thought he'd enjoy a store where the basement is filled with new and used vinyl.

An hour later, we hit AnimeXtreme, then Navito World, then Meeplemart.

Lots and lots of anime, manga, and gaming stuff... It was hard for both of us to stick to our budgets given the wide selection of product and the fact that the exchange rate put the U.S. dollar worth $1.26 Canadian. But, we were both careful.

I ended up only buying a 'King Kasma' figure from the anime movie "Summer Wars" at Navito World--seriously, if you haven't seen Mamoru Hosoda's "Summer Wars" yet, you owe it to yourself to watch this movie with your family. I'm an 'English sub' kind of guy, but the English dub that Funimation did for Summer Wars was top notch. Seen it many times and I still get choked up near the end--you'll understand why when you watch it.


We tooled around Chinatown some more, grabbed some dim sum for lunch, then checked out Kensington Market. Without trying, we actually ate at Rol San, a restaurant where I had spent time with my fellow TAIS members after one of the summer screenings.

Made the sad discovery that it looks like Twylite Fashion, the Gothic Lolita store in Kensington Market, may be gone for good as I couldn't even find the seamstress whom she was working with. Was an extremely niche market to be sure, but I had hoped they'd survive. She's still got her Etsy store, so, hopefully will get to say 'hi' to her if she ever makes it back to Detroit's YoumaCon. On the bright side, Justin found lots of other little stores that he'd like to take his fiancé to when they come back to Toronto on their own.

'Miku, Miku, you can call me Miku...'

Then it was time for the concert. After a quick change of clothes at the hotel, we made our way back down to the Sony Center.

Even though we were about an hour early, there was already a crowd filled with Vocaloid cosplayers. Amusingly enough, throughout the evening, we kept running into people from Michigan. The couple sitting next to us at the show: from the Detroit area. The mother and her two daughters standing in line next to us at the stir-fry station in Marche's after the concert? Ann Arbor. Apparently we weren't the only people who didn't want to go to Chicago to see Miku!

Other than all the glowsticks that would occasionally obscure my vision of the stage, the concert was really enjoyable.

Instead of just a short six song Hatsune Miku-only set list, like they did at the Lady Gaga concert, Miku Expo had performances from Hatsune Miku, Megurine Luka, Kaito, Meiko, Kagamine Rin and Kagimine Len. As the headliner, Miku had the largest number of songs in the 26 song setlist.

Hatsune Miku performing 'Ten Thousand Stars'

The one song I wanted to hear was the first one they played ('the World Is Mine'). And I discovered some new songs that should be part of my somewhat limited Vocaloid playlist ('Blue Star', 'Ten Thousand Stars' and 'Miku'). We were close enough to the stage to see some really good detail on the animated characters, but next time, would love to be front and center.

Miku after a quick costume change

The autofocus feature on my iPhone's camera was a touch problematic due to the fact that these are 3d animated characters being projected on a pane of glass from behind the stage. Fortunately, with a little tweaking, the auto-lock function worked wonders once I got a character in focus.

Megurine Luka performing "Just Be Friends"

In order to give an idea of what the concert is like, I recorded the following two clips from the concert, but there are others on YouTube that people recorded from Toronto's Miku Expo performance. If you want to see more, I highly recommend those filmed in 1080p by YouTube user: "xtokashx." The video and audio quality he got in his videos was amazing--especially considering he was filming from the balcony on his smartphone!






After the concert, we walked across the street for dinner at Marche and I regaled Justin with stories of what it was like coming to Toronto in the 1970's and how it's changed over the years. And he schooled me on Miku and the vocaloid phenomenon. This lesson on electronic music would come in handy the next day when we went to the Miku Expo Short Film Festival at the Art Gallery of Ontario.

Saturday:

Once again, we were served well by going to the event early. There were two screenings of the film festival being held at the AGO's Jackman Hall, the first at 11 a.m. and the second (which we were attending) at 1:30 p.m. Well, they let us in early and we got the chance to peruse the Snow Miku merchandise that Navito World imported from Japan for this event.

Gah! My achin' bank account...

Justin and I checked in, picked up our Miku Expo pins and exclusive "Toronto Expo" sticker. The rest... well, again, they pretty much saw us coming a mile way... I picked up some Vocaloid pins and curios to make a shadowbox when I got back into town. Whatever I didn't use, I figured I could give away as prizes the next time I spoke at an anime con. We then dropped off our purchases at the car, ran over to the Asian Food Court on the corner of Dundas and St. Patrick for a quick lunch, then back to the AGO to get in line for the screening.

Now the Short Film Festival, that was much more what I am used to. It was a mixture of 2d and 3d music videos and two documentaries--one by three Japanese guys who did a five-day cross-country trip to see both of the 2014 Miku Expos--one in L.A. and one in New York. The other documentary was much more thought provoking as it looked at the open-source media Vocaloid phenomenon from a social standpoint and included interviews with officials from Crypton Future Media (the creators of Hatsune Miku). The individual six episodes that comprised the full "Mikumentary" can been on the Mikumentary YouTube channel. Or you can watch them all in the following playlist. After the one-hour screening, they invited up Crypton Future Media CEO Hiroyuki Itoh who took questions from the crowd. As one would expect, my personal favorites leaned towards the technical side of the productions.

Hiroyuki Itoh (r) and his translator (l)

Paraphrasing Hiroyuki Itoh's answers:

Q: How are the vocaloids animated?
A: Through a mixture of motion study and traditional keyframe animation. They are animated frame-by-frame for the most part, but the animators aren't shy about using a live model in order to make the characters movements more fluid and lifelike. After researching this subject further, and talking to my friend who was there with me at this interview, I'm pretty sure that he wasn't referring to actual "motion capture" or "performance capture" or even "rotoscoping" but much more like how the Disney animators would watch a live model performing actions and drawing said actions.

Q: How is the concert synched between the performers and the Vocaloids?
A: The animated videos of Miku and the Vocaloids are all pre-recorded (animated) and played during the concert. The videos are synched to the musicians using a "digital metronome" such that the timing cues are fed to the musicians' headphones (guitar, bassist, drummer, keyboardist)--that way, as the show progresses, the musicians know exactly what marks they need to hit and when.

Q: How is the show line-up decided?
A: It's based on what songs are most popular, then they add in new songs as well as some songs from earlier performances.

After the last question was answered, we walked back to the car, put the 2016 Expo's music CD into my car's CD player and made the drive back to Michigan.

So the big question: if the Miku Expo didn't have a short animated film program included with the concert, would I still go? I'd have to say so. Yes. If we're talking just about the music, I'm more of a Megurine Luka and IA fan. Their "voices" aren't as high-pitched as the other Vocaloids and I like "their" songs better than the others (save some of Miku's). The vocal styling's at the concert itself are pretty much what you hear on the CDs, after all this isn't a performance with live singers--just live musicians. But more than the Hatsune Miku social phenomenon, what really interests me is the technology. As I mentioned before, the Vocaloids are being projected on a sheet of glass from a couple of back mounted projectors. That's pretty much it. But it's the combination of an appealing character design, good choreography, some catchy J-Pop tunes, and a talented quartet of musicians that makes the show worth the price of admission. And when you factor in a crowd of adoring fans, it's easy to get swept up in the show and forget that you're listening to a live band play music in step with a pre-recorded animated character.

Much like the Cybertronic Spree, Miku Expo appealed to my sensibilities more as an animator than as a music fan, but the kid inside me who grew up listening to Kraftwerk and Thomas Dolby in the '80's and wore out my 'Beyond the Mind's Eye' VHS tapes in the '90's was just as pleased with the performance. All told, the trip was well worth the expense and I'd go again, even if I had to make the trip by myself.

Animated Thoughts: Your internship and you

It's June 1st, the school season is winding down, and students should be thinking about (and applying for) summer jobs. In truth, they should've started thinking about this back in February or March, but, some of us are pretty slammed as we approach the end of the semester. So for those people who have struggles like I did back in college, figured I'd revisit a situation I found myself in back in January.

I like to post job listings in the Women in Animation Facebook group, especially internship opportunities--I figure, if someone is going to get that job, why not a young lady who can bring a different perspective that has been arguably lacking from the industry, right?

So I posted a listing for an internship at Disney/Pixar. Immediately, someone tried to pile on with the usual, tired, uninformed "anti-corporation" agenda that you see so often nowadays.

I admit, I was annoyed and more than a little bit tired. After throwing the ball back in their court and watching them backpedal, so as not to be perceived as a total jerk, I wrote the following response:

"I think a better--albeit more verbose--way to state the concerns that I think you and [I] both share would be: After looking at the opportunities that Pixar has posted on their website, I noticed that there is no compensation listed on their internship job listings. This concerns me. While this information most likely will be provided to the internship seeker later on in the application process, interested parties should take note. It is my personal opinion that unpaid internships are violations of Federal labor laws, and businesses (both large and small) can use them to get around hiring a more experienced worker who would cost them more money in terms of salary and benefits. Additionally, unpaid internships can intentionally or unintentionally discriminate against students without the economic resources to support themselves during an unpaid internship--which can include many women and minorities who may have the skill and work ethic to perform the required duties but cannot take advantage of said opportunity due to a need to support themselves and/or earn money for the next semester of college. As an individual freelancer, I am registered as a 'Corporation' in my State--albeit a 'Limited Liability Corporation'. Doing so affords myself a measure of legal protection that being a 'DBA' does not. And as much as I would love to hire interns and give them valuable work experience, I cannot afford to pay an intern at this time. Thus, I have made the difficult decision to be true to my principles and not offer internships at my "Corporation" (although advice and mentoring is always available and free). While I am personally not in the financial position to hire interns, one would hope that a company such as Disney/Pixar--with their prominence in the animation industry and with their impressive annual revenues--would take a leadership role and pay their interns a fair wage AND provide a valuable learning opportunity in exchange for an honest day's work. Any student interested in the above internship opportunities at Pixar--or any internship for that matter--should discuss with their professors what is a fair wage for interns given the work they will be performing and the geographic region they will be living in BEFORE going into contract negotiations with any company. Additionally, there MAY be grants available for students that would support them during an unpaid internship, then again there may not. In the end, only the student can determine for themselves whether or not an internship opportunity, paid or unpaid, is worth their time and effort. But be smart and do your homework beforehand as there are unscrupulous people out there who will game the system and take advantage of students that are looking for experience and a chance to break into the industry."

For the purposes of this blog post, let's set aside the majority of my diatribe on unpaid internships. Yes, the above is my actual position on the subject and no, while there ARE some out there, I don't believe that every business is looking to take advantage of student interns. However, when you're unprepared for your internship, it becomes difficult to differentiate between a generic crisis or ignorance or actual malice. The real takeaway here is the last sentence. Boiled down to its essence: 'do your homework beforehand!'

Case in point: I had to leave one of my last internships during undergrad because, while it was computer graphics related, the gentleman who owned the company didn't have enough business to keep me busy, he couldn't pay me on a regular schedule, and the office was an hour's drive from where I could afford to live. And don't get me wrong, I really liked him and my co-workers and wanted to see the business succeed--and I did learn a lot in the two weeks that I was there. However, he was somewhat disorganized, I hadn't done my homework to the degree that I should have regarding what my expenses were going to be, and neither of us had a realistic expectation of what work I would be doing while I was there. There was no malice on either of our parts, just a perfect storm of the disorganized meeting the unprepared. After two weeks, I reluctantly had to resign and take a different internship closer to where I was living--even though it wasn't computer graphics related. Fortunately, he understood our mutual situations and we parted on good terms. And although it's always bothered me because I feel like I failed at that job, it was one of those situations that was never covered in my college courses nor in my previous internships. While I handled it as best I could at the time, years later, I can say that it did end up being a valuable life lesson--albeit one that could have been avoided through more diligence on my part.

So, given that the purpose of my life seems to be a cautionary tale for other people, what can we learn here that will spare future interns some grief?

When considering an internship, questions that students should be asking both before and during the interview can be broken down to separate categories. These and their questions include, but are not limited to:

The Job

1. What tasks are you expected to perform?
2. To whom are you directly responsible/to whom do you report?
3. What date does the internship begin? End?
4. What time of day does work start? Stop? 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.? 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.?
5. What days will you work? Monday through Friday? Tuesday through Saturday?

Compensation

1. What are the pay periods: weekly? Bi-weekly? Monthly?
2. Does the company take taxes and withholding out of the intern's paycheck or is the intern responsible for paying all taxes and withholding?
3. Will there be overtime? If so, is said overtime paid? At what rate?

Living

1. Geographically, where are you going to live during the internship?
2. Does the internship provide housing or assistance finding housing?
3. How much will housing cost?
4. How are you going to get to and from work every day?
5. Is there public transportation?
6. Can you drive your car from your residence to work and if so, do you have to pay for parking?

Note: I haven't stated the obvious question: what does the internship pay? That's because you need to consider the "Living" issue before broaching that subject with any potential employer, and this particular issue will inform the rest of this blog post.

I can't stress highly enough that students should put together a budget of what their projected living expenses will be while they are at the internship. Even if it's something as simple as:

• Rent
• Utilities/Water/Sewer
• Gasoline or Bus/Subway pass
• Food
• Toiletries (toilet paper, dish soap, paper towels, minor cleaning supplies, laundry detergent)
• Clothes cleaning (washer/dryer)

The above are the bare essentials. I'm going to assume that you don't have any credit card debt (hah!) or other expenses to speak of just yet.

Once you've identified a potential internship at a specific company, it's time to dig in and start gathering intel for that budget.

Start by looking for apartment complexes in the area. A rental office can tell you if they have apartments for a short-term lease and exactly how much rent is per month for the Summer. Don't forget to ask if they require a cleaning deposit and factor that into your first month's expenses. And especially don't forget to ask if the apartment comes with furniture or not. As a rule, furnished apartments are a little more expensive, but it beats sitting on the floor watching DVDs on your laptop--also, unfurnished apartments don't usually come with shower curtains, just F.Y.I. The rental office will also tell you if utilities (water, electric, sewer) are included in the rental agreement. If it's not, then you'll have to contact the local public utility company before you move in and before you move out to have the utilities turned on for the time you'll be living there and off when you leave. Even if it's not part of the rental agreement, the apartment complex's rental office "should" be able to provide reasonable estimates for utilities. And always ask the rental office if there is a washer and dryer that you will have access to and if so, how much it costs per wash/dry cycle. Also, apartment complexes 'should' have parking spaces, but best to ask just in case you're driving your car to and from work. If you're taking public transportation, ask if there is a bus stop/subway station within walking distance (whatever that may mean for you: 5 min walk, 10 min walk, etc).

An alternative to renting from an apartment complex is to check with colleges and universities in the area around the business. Some of them will rent out student housing over the summer to make a little extra cash for the school during the off season and the prices/amenities may be better than what you could get at an apartment complex.

After performing a quick search for studio apartments in my area, I found one with A/C and refrigerator, free parking, partially paid utilities and a laundry facility for $485 with a $400 deposit. It's within a seven minute drive from the local university and says that they're close to a supermarket.

Gasoline in the area can be estimated by using GasBuddy.com and doing a search for gas prices using the zip code of the prospective location--expecting that gas will fluctuate (optimistically) only by about 25 to 40 cents per gallon either way depending on external forces. You can use Google maps to figure out how many miles you'll be driving each day, do a sample of gas prices over the span of a week or two, and cross-reference that with your vehicle's gas mileage if you 'really' want to be that detailed, but for most of us, a rough estimate will suffice.

Lastly, unless you want to live on takeout pizza and ramen for the summer, I highly recommend stopping off at the local dollar store for some inexpensive cooking implements, dishes, glasses, and silverware. Ideally, the first place to ask is your relatives. Maybe they have some cookware and such that they'd like to get rid of. That's actually where most of my cookware, dishes and silverware came from. Mom was happy to be rid of them and some I'm still using today over twenty years later. Another option, depending on how much free time you have, is to hit the local garage sales and flea markets where there are lots of bargains to be had.

In any event, I would detail out a sample meal plan for yourself. I usually assume three meals per day, seven days a week on a '1-2-3' budget where breakfast costs X dollars, lunch costs 2X and, dinner costs 2.5 to 3X. Assuming you don't eat at restaurants, if it costs you two dollars for breakfast, then lunch would cost four dollars and dinner would cost from five to six dollars. In our example, eating for one day would cost you from $11 to $12, which translates to about $77 to $84 per week. Again, this is just an estimate, your appetite may vary. Even today, I'm a juice and a granola bar kind of guy. So my breakfast for the whole week only costs me about $5 to $6. That leaves me some flexibility in the food budget for other meals and snacks. While I personally don't recommend the takeout pizza and ramen diet to stretch your budget, the fact is that fruits and vegetables 'can' be a little more expensive than processed foods (and a little hard to find depending on where your internship is, but we'll assume you're not working in a food desert). So, if you want to stay healthy during your internship, plan for a little extra room in your budget for healthy eating.

When you have reasonable estimates for the above categories, the total monthly sum will give you a number for the bare minimum you will have to make in order to live while working at the internship.

If we use the examples listed above for our monthly budget, we're looking at:

	Low	Average	High(ish)
Rent:	$485.00	$525.00	$600.00
Utilities:	$50.00	$80.00	$120.00
Gas:	$60.00	$80.00	$100.00
Food:	$308.00	$340.00	$380.00
Clothes cleaning:	$24.00	$30.00	$35.00
Monthly Total:	$927.00	$1,055.00	$1235.00

The minimum wage here in Michigan is $8.50/hour. Assuming a forty-hour work week, you're looking at $340 per week before taxes or $1,360 per month. Your average tax rate being single, a dependent of your parents (meaning, they're probably claiming you on their taxes), and making minimum wage is approximately 6.28% (source: www.dinkytown.net/java/TaxMargin.html). So, on average, you're looking at $854.08 take home pay per month. As you can see from the numbers in our example, you wouldn't even make the minimum amount necessary to live in the area. So, you're going to have to look at alternatives. Is there a cheaper place to live a little further from your job site? Can you get a roommate to split the costs? Is there a friend or relative you can live with during the Summer? Can you get a part-time job during the evenings or weekends to help out? Or can you negotiate for a higher wage?

In talking these numbers over with my accountant, he told me about several apartment complexes about a fifteen minute drive away from my example's target area where the apartments are in the neighborhood of $415 per month for a studio and upwards of $840 per month for a 2 bedroom apartment. So, the landscape is not as bleak as it may look at first glance, but you'll have to do some digging on the internet and make some phone calls in order to find a good fit for your situation. Always call around!

The end of the school year can be overwhelming with all the exams, projects coming due, and that 'must move out of the dorms' deadline. But doing your homework beforehand demonstrates to a potential employer that you're prepared. The above budget should be determined BEFORE you even talk wages with the recruiter. On the one hand, they have very likely already determined the amount they want to pay for the internship. But on the other hand, you don't want to be in the position where you've accepted an internship offer and then you have to go back and reject it because what they're offering isn't enough to live on while you're there. And don't assume that the HR Director has done their homework on the cost of living in the area. Some internships will only pay minimum wage regardless of what it actually costs to live in the area around the business. Having your numbers figured out beforehand will give you a good bargaining position should you have to attempt to negotiate a wage that is more realistic given the cost of living in that particular geographic location. The HR Director may just dig their heels in on the wage for the internship, but, being able to make a polite, reasoned argument with hard data to back up your position can only help you during negotiations. At the very least, you'll know whether you can take the job or not. Of course, again, you can always take the job so long as you can find a part time job in the same location that you can work during your off hours. Would make for a very busy summer, but sometimes compromises have to be made. Especially if you want to save some money for the next semester!


Disclaimer: The advice being provided is intended to help the reader gather information so that reader can make an educated decision. It is not intended to be all-encompassing nor intended to be legal advice. The author takes no responsibility for your decisions and provides this advice solely as a starting point for your own research that fits your particular situation. "Do your own homework!" :)

Animated Thoughts: Festival Season part three: TAAFI 2016

It was nearing the end of April, and the Toronto Animation Arts Festival International was holding their bi-yearly celebration of animated film in downtown Toronto. TAAFI holds a special place in my heart. Not only was one of its founders a friend of mine, not only do I see many of my friends from the Toronto animation scene there, but this was the first festival I attended after paying off my student loans back in 2014. After a long seventeen years of self-induced servitude to Sallie Mae and various banks, TAAFI 2014 was the reward that I gave myself for buckling down for five years, working every extra freelance job I could handle, and getting out from under roughly $50,000+ in student loan debt. As I made the drive into Canada back in 2014, I shouted "freedom" at the top of my lungs when my car crossed the border. In what is becoming a tradition whenever I attend an animation festival in Canada, this year was no different as I crossed the Blue Water Bridge.



Atlas Moth

Due to weather and construction, the drive took much longer than usual. Much like in Michigan, Ontario's "construction season" has begun in earnest and it has really brought traffic to a crawl! So, rather than stay on the 403/402/401, locked bumper-to-bumper with semi-tractors, I stopped in Cambridge to "hunt" butterflies. As it is Spring, there was no shortage of Butterflies fornicating at the Cambridge Butterfly Conservatory. But, fortunately, I did get to see the Atlas Moth for once! He was hanging out, right next to where butterflies were emerging from row after row of chrysalises. I didn't stay in Cambridge long, but got some really great shots of some rather hard to photograph butterflies. And as the latest season of the Venture Bros. ended a month ago, I did have a good chuckle over seeing the Blue Morpho chrysalis.


The Blue Morpho ('Kano' sold separately)

Just shy of an hour later, traffic had cleared up somewhat, so I continued on to Toronto. After checking in at the hotel, I made my way through the subway construction for my traditional dinner at Marché down by Union Station. Good food as always, but I learned that I don't like 'black forest' cake. Never been a fan of maraschino cherries. Even as a little kid and my parents took me and my sister to the House of Ing here in Lansing, I couldn't stand the cherries in my 'kiddy cocktails'. Eh, next time, I'll stick with the macaroons. A touch pricey, but always worth every penny. Had a nice walk around Toronto at night after dinner, then I solidified my plans for Friday. Lots to do and only one day to do it in...


Marché, an animator-friendly eatery right down to the décor.

Friday:

The day was both fun and a little trying. Skipped breakfast and just started running around. Got my festival pass and dropped it off at the hotel then made a beeline straight towards the Labyrinth and BMV over by Koreatown. Unfortunately, there was no love there for any of the books on my list. Am rapidly reaching the point where the books I'm searching for are only to be found on the internet at inflated prices (or in libraries that are loath to give them up). By this time, judging by some newly forming blisters, it was pretty clear that my insoles were long past their prime. Undeterred, I picked up some gel soles and trekked down to Chinatown, home of my favorite Toronto-based game store: 'Meeplemart'. Found and picked up a game that I was thinking about buying at Gen Con. Thank you favorable exchange rate! Then I tracked down 'Navito World', the local importer of anime figures and memorabilia for Japan's 'Good Smile Company'. Had a great talk with the manager about next month's Hatsune Miku concert. Found out that, unfortunately, there won't be any Miku Expo-specific merch at the concert due to high import taxes between Japan, Canada, and the United States. Troubling. Am going to be at the concert with a die-hard Miku fan so this will undoubtedly be a real disappointment for him. Hopefully, they'll be able to get some t-shirts or pins in regardless of the import duty. On the bright side, I have a friend who's going to New York's Miku Expo a week later, so getting some souvenirs mailed to me shouldn't be that difficult. I can hear some saying now: "why not go to Chicago's concert as opposed to Toronto's since they're both about the same distance from Lansing?" I would argue that those people have never been to Chicago before. Toronto is very clean, especially compared to Chicago. Additionally, I feel safe walking around Toronto by myself at night. I don't feel safe in Chicago walking around during the middle of the day even in a group of people! But I digress...



Since Miku Expo won't have much in the way of merch, I figured I'd find a way to make the trip special for my friend anyway--find something that he couldn't do at the other concert locales. Taking him to Navito World should be fun. The figures there are a little pricey but there's some cool stuff that he might like anyways (am planning on picking up one of their little King Kazma figures from 'Summer Wars' on the return trip). But, the dogs were barking and the pair of scissors that I'd use to trim down my new gel insoles were back at the hotel. So, I started trudging back to Gloucester Street, all the while looking for someplace to eat between here and there. On the way back, I found Toronto's first ever Maid Café. Not sure if that little detour is going to fly with his fiancé, but, I put it on the list for the return trip anyways. At least "Uncle Tetsu" appears to be doing his best to keep his Maid Café classy and fun for all.

Later that evening, while waiting in line to get in to the screening hall for TAAFI's opening ceremonies, serendipity struck when I met a young man named Darrell. I work in forensic animation. Before becoming an animator, he worked for Canadian law enforcement processing crime scene photographs. Needless to say, we had a lot to talk about before the show. Also saw former Toronto natives: Barry and Carolyn Sanders. Wasn't sure that they'd make the trek out from Nova Scotia, but was good to see them. Happy to hear that they're doing well. Hopefully, they'll be back to this year's Ottawa Festival--just wouldn't seem like an OIAF without Barry being there.

Saturday:

George Brown College & the Corus Building

My favorite day of the Ottawa festival is Saturday--that's the day with all the professional development lectures and presentations. It's like being back at grad school except without all the tests and projects, just learning for the sake of learning.

TAAFI has three tracks: one with talks, one with screenings, and one filled with presentations. I usually bounce back and forth between the talks and the presentations. Would've liked to have seen a shorts screening program while I was there, but the chance to learn what folks in the animation entertainment industry are doing was just too enticing.

After a quick breakfast at Marché, and a cringe-worthy one-mile walk to the waterfront later, I got to see Bryce Hallett while waiting for the first session. Didn't get to talk for as long as I had hoped. Another person on my list of folks that I hope to see at Ottawa this Fall, Bryce always has a funny story to tell that leads to some very insightful thoughts about the world of animation. While there, I also got recognized by Lydia Pepin from Ottawa's Jam Filled Entertainment. Said she's seen me at the OIAF before. I'm a little surprised to be honest. Not used to being noticed as I don't work in entertainment. Had a lovely chat though. Got some great advice from her regarding social media and how to better manage it to maintain and further my career. Quickly added her on LinkedIn. Strikes me as a good person to keep in touch with. Also bumped in to Nancy Beiman. Should really try harder to stay in touch with her. Would be a very interesting person to interview for my blog, especially since she's still teaching at Sheridan.

'Being a Design Dynamo'

The presentations were rapid fire, one after another: 'Birth of a Short Film', 'the Inside-Outs of Pixar Animating', and 'Being a Design Dynamo'… such a wealth of information. I couldn't take notes fast enough. Above and beyond the wealth of information provided, the researcher in me was particularly pleased by the all-female panel for the 'Design Dynamo' panel discussion. But after three hours, I was feeling worn out so I skipped the following 'production pipeline' talk, and got some water and fresh air instead. The GBC building where TAAFI is held is mostly glass, so the sun beats down and heats up the place something fierce. Not the best environment for an overweight, out-of-shape animator who wants to stay awake during the talks (Bryce's "2016 is the year to get into shape" challenge from last year's Ottawa Fest still weighs heavily on my conscience). After my walk, I sat down in the lobby for a couple minutes to compose my notes from the previous sessions. Then I got up to refill my water bottle and walk upstairs when I heard someone calling my name. I turned around and there was Ellen Besen. Like before with Bryce, sadly, we didn't get to talk long as she was on her way to an interview, but it was long enough to get some sage advice about the women animator course I'm writing. Took her less than five minutes to cut right through the clutter in my head, and I don't think she was even trying. Wish I'd had the chance to take a couple of her college courses back when I was a student.

So Ellen heads off to her interview and I walk upstairs to get in line for the 'Nova Seed' screening--and right into the path of Kelly Neall, Managing Director for the Ottawa International Animation Festival, which led to a great conversation about animation festivals in general and the history of the OIAF. That right there was pretty much the high point of my TAAFI festival experience. I've been attending the OIAF since 1994 and over the years I've be able to talk to Kelly Neall and Artistic Director Chris Robinson only peripherally. I've always wanted to sit down and talk to them a little more in-depth but at the festival they're always running around like mad, making sure that everything goes off without a hitch. So it was really nice to get to spend time with Kelly over Saturday and Sunday and get to know both her, and by extension the festival, a little better.



The evening screening film 'Nova Seed' was interesting enough. Mad props to anyone who could animated a feature single-handedly. The film reminded me of the old Heavy Metal/Metal Hurlant magazines from the 70's and 80's that I used to look at when my parents weren't watching. Not sure how much of a commercial success it'll be, but I'm confident it'll have a good run in the festival circuit. The animator/director/producer… well, the guy who did almost everything on the film, Canadian filmmaker Nick DiLiberto was in attendance to explain how he created his film and the trials and tribulations he went through to bring 'Nova Seed' to the screen.

So at this point, my knee is tasking me something fierce from all the walking and I decide to call it a night. I say my goodbyes to Kelly, limp my way to the bus, head up to Marché, and sit down for dinner. At that point, I'm taking advantage of their free WiFi and catching up on FaceBook, figuring I'll skip the 'Nelvana bouncing ball' party and get some rest. Eh. It's very difficult for me to hear what people are saying at those "club atmosphere" parties and I've forgotten my triple-flange earplugs at home, so figure I won't miss out on much. That's when I saw one of the TAAFI posts about the Cybertronic Spree! I do some digging and sure enough, they're playing a set at the Nelvana party.

Me and my brother, Optimus, at the Alamo Drafthouse

Some background is necessary. Back in 1986, I took my nine-year old brother to see Transformers: the Movie. I don't remember doing this, mind you. I remember seeing the movie in the theater, I just don't remember taking him. But Ted swears up and down that I did, so, I guess that's what happened. Almost thirty years later, the Alamo Drafthouse theater is showing the movie again. So, I take my brother to see the movie at the Alamo and a fun time is had. Well, in years past, we had seen the videos of the Cybertronic Spree performing some of the songs from the Transformers movie. And we made a deal that if they ever came to Michigan, we'd go see them--knowing full well that the Cybertronic Spree is kind of a parody band and they'd never make it here. But, when you're three sheets to the wind and watching videos on YouTube, it seems like a reasonable pact to make.

So there I am. Realizing that not only can I see the Cybertronic Spree in person, I can text a photo of the concert to my brother and screw with him! Sitting there with my half-finished bowl of stir fry, wondering if they have gone on stage yet, and can I make it back there in time? Decision made, I wolf down dinner, hail a cab, and race back to the waterfront where the Corus building is hosting the party. Fortunately, they hadn't performed yet, so I chatted up Bryce, Kelly, Ellen, and Lynn Dana Wilton at the party while we waited.

The Cybertronic Spree

Then they were on stage--and they were just as awesome as you'd hope! Geek flag achieved: I have now watched the Cybertronic Spree at an animation festival with the Managing Director of the Ottawa International Animation Festival and four fellow Toronto animators! The band was well worth the drive out to Canada.


Geeking out with Hot Rod and Arcee

I would've stayed a little later after their set, but the night was catching up to me, so it was time to go back to the hotel. Would need to pack everything up before morning as Sunday's presentations and workshops were going to start at 9:30 a.m. I was so charged up, I walked (almost sprinted) the mile back to Union Station, blisters be damned!



Sunday:

Eric Goldberg with 'Things you've never seen.'

Eschewed a 'farewell' breakfast at Marché for my usual orange juice and granola bar and drove straight to the festival venue. Wanted a good seat for the Eric Goldberg presentation. It's not very often that the presenter gets enough time to cover their career from it's inception. But TAAFI had made the wise decision to give Mr. Goldberg two hours, and he used it adeptly to show films and talk about his early career with Roger Williams, his own animation business venture in England, what brought him back to the States to work with Disney, and even a touching tribute to Robin Williams.

The second session on Sunday was one I had been looking forward to most: Michel Gagné on 2d Special Effects animation. More background is needed: I vividly remember sitting in a room at the RIT Research Corporation back when I was in graduate school, reading a copy of Computer Graphics World that had a small article with artwork on Mr. Gagné's short film 'Prelude to Eden'--which he created as a test for the then new Animo animation software. Below is s a link to his film. Go ahead and watch it. I'll be right here when you get back.



Just based on that one photograph from 'Prelude', I was hooked! Of course, it wouldn't be until many years later, and with the advent of YouTube, that I would be able to see the entire finished short film. But ever since that day back in 1995, I've kept an eye on the art and animation of Mr. Gagné--from his work with feature studios like Dreamworks, Warner Brothers, and Pixar to his game 'Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet'. His presentation was a special treat for me personally as he spent a lot of time covering the design development of ITSP as well as some of his other work integrating 2d hand-drawn effects into 3d videogames. As I waited years to see Prelude, I am currently patiently waiting for him to finish his next personal film project: 'the Saga of Rex'.

After lunch, I had the pleasure of chatting with Kelly some more--behind the scenes festival workings, tracking down all the old festival trailers for the Ottawa Festival's 40th anniversary, the trials of transferring Betamax to digital, and all the things that one needs to do to make the second largest animation festival in the world run smoothly.

Technically, my last session for the weekend was the 'Animating on YouTube' presentation, but I just had to stick around to see the Toronto Animated Image Society talk. Several of my fellow TAIS members had put together a presentation that covered who TAIS is, what's going on at our new location, and showed some of the resulting animations that were produced through the animator-in-residence program. Some interesting work. Not sure if I'm on-board with the projects that are getting approval, but I'm more of a traditionalist and less of an experimental animator, so, we all have our biases.

Then it was time to go home. Said goodbye to Kelly and the TAIS crew. And in a stroke of serendipity, I bumped into Bryce as I walked out the door and got to say my goodbyes to him.

Come to TAAFI, we have red velvet cupcakes!

Wrapping up the experience, the only con from attending TAAFI was that I couldn't fit in any of the short film screenings because they are run at the same time as the seminars and presentations. Now Ottawa does this as well, however the way that the screenings are timed out and spaced in the TAAFI schedule meant that the screening I wanted to see on Saturday morning would've ended about 20 minutes into the 'Birth of a Short Film' presentation that I wanted to attend--thus forcing me to make a difficult decision. Considering all the positives, not a big deal, all-in-all. Next time, I'll bring some art supplies and sit in on the live figure-drawing workshops. I may even take an extra day and attend some of the hands-on workshops that TAAFI uses to bookend their festival. The chance to study hand-drawn animation with Eric Goldberg, or 2d hand-drawn FX with Michel Gagné... It'll be another two years until the next TAAFI. It can't arrive fast enough!