Animator draws on local skills for global success

Award-winning US-based digital animator, Irishman Richard Baneham, wants to see Irish animators make a living at home, writes  Brandon Glenn.

Dublin-born animator Richard Baneham moved to Los Angeles 10 years ago because there were not enough options for making a living in the Republic. Now he wants to help ensure future animators do not have to make that choice.

"Unfortunately, all the big-budget stuff happens in LA, but with [animation on personal computers\] so cheap and so easy, and there's so much talent at home, maybe in another generation people will move some studios home," he says.

Mr Baneham, an animation supervisor for the academy award-winning Lord of the Rings: Two Towers and Lord of the Rings: Return of the King, will be speaking at the 02 digital media conference in Dublin on April 26th.

He hopes to "inspire some younger guys to take a chance to look past doing a regular job and know that it can be done".

"I was very lucky and got some timely breaks but, with a little hard work, you'd be surprised how far you can go."

Mr Baneham's interest in art and animation was sparked when he was a child after seeing animated Disney feature The Black Cauldron.

He attended Dublin's Ballyfermot College of Art and Design, where he spent his third and fourth years working at the since-closed Don Bluth Studios, gaining valuable experience in traditional 2D animation.

During his final year at Ballyfermot, he received his green card to immigrate to the US. Due to date restrictions of his green card, he had to depart for the US before the end of the school year, forcing him to cram a year's worth of classes into about six months, he says.

Mr Baneham then moved to Los Angeles with his then-girlfriend and current wife, a make- up artist. Some of his classmates from Ballyfermot came over, as well, making his adjustment to life in the US much easier.

"My particular class was very lucky," he says. "We had a lot of friends who came over and made a network of Irish guys and girls. It makes it easier to be here. There's always somebody in town and something on the go. It's a little insular piece of Ireland in the sun."

One of his classmates who lived for a time in LA was John Rice, now of Dublin-based multimedia and animation company Jam Media.

Mr Rice calls Mr Baneham "a very talented animator, and he's not selfish about it. He's very quick to pass on his talent and skills".

A couple of weeks after arriving in LA, Mr Baneham attended a job fair, which led to his employment at Rich Studios, where he worked as a character animator on The Swan Princess, a film in which a sorcerer transforms a princess into a swan.

"The movie stank, but it was a great learning process," he says. "Everybody has movies they're not proud of, but they're the ones you learn the most from."

Mr Baneham next secured a job at Warner Brothers Animation, where he worked on films such as Space Jam and Quest for Camelot, but his big break came when he earned a spot on The Iron Giant in 1999.

The film, which featured the voices of Jennifer Aniston, Harry Connick Jr and Vin Diesel, was Mr Baneham's first experience working in 3D animation, also known as computer-generated imaging (CGI).

Some animators who are "computer-phobic" might have a difficult time making the transition to CGI, Mr Baneham says, but not him.

"Once you make the audience empathise with the character, the medium doesn't matter," he says. "The technical process is different, but ultimately it's about performance."

Although The Iron Giant didn't find much financial success, Mr Baneham considers it one his greatest artistic achievements.

"There was very little interference from the studio, because Quest for Camelot had done badly box office-wise, so that left The Iron Giant in a situation where there was no backing," he says. "But the movie itself is one of the best animated movies out there."

Mr Baneham finished up his career at Warner Brothers as an animation supervisor on Cats and Dogs and Scooby Doo, but he credits his experience on The Iron Giant with precipitating his offer to work on the Lord of the Rings films.

Lord of the Rings director Peter Jackson was a "big fan" of The Iron Giant, Mr Baneham says.

As an animation supervisor on two Lord of the Rings films - the second of the trilogy, Two Towers, and the third, Return of the King - Mr Baneham moved to New Zealand for two years and directed a team of about 50 animators.

He says his main challenges were dividing up the work among all 50 people, "getting in touch with each animators' strengths as far as casting and getting people to be like-minded about how a character performs.

"If you don't have a constant running throughout the character, it becomes hard for an audience to relate to."

Although Mr Baneham calls his work on the Lord of the Rings projects "the longest and hardest, mentally and physically" that he's had to endure, often working up to 100-hour weeks with few days off, the satisfaction he feels when he sees the final product on the screen makes the effort worth the hardships, he says.

Recognition doesn't hurt either, although he stresses "it's not what drives me".

He received a Best Animation of 2002 award by the Visual Effects Society for his work on the character Gollum from The Two Towers and the movie also won the 2003 Oscar for best visual effects.

Mr Baneham was offered work in New Zealand on an animated version of King Kong after his time on the Lord of the Rings films, but declined the offer so he could spend time in Los Angeles with his wife and 13-month-old son.

After speaking at the digital media conference, he'll soon begin work on an adaptation of the C.S. Lewis novel The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe with Shrek director Andrew Adamson.

Ultimately, however, he'd like to get back to Ireland.

"We'll eventually move home, but things are going so well with the pictures right now that it's hard to slow down," he says.