Mike L. Murphy Animation Director!

The first movie I ever saw was The Jungle Book.

I remember looking up at Baloo, knowing he was a drawing, but being absolutely convinced he was real.  Magic.  Pure magic.

A great piece of animation is a very elaborate magic trick.  You’re taking something– a line, an object, a computer puppet– and designing it’s movements in such a way that it seems to come to life.  You’re creating an illusion.

With the advent of computer technology we can now make anything come to life.  Years ago it was primarily the artists at Disney who had access to this amazing art form.  Now anyone can create it.

And not just dorky animation geeks!  Some blockbuster directors have essentially directed animated films.  It’s no longer just for kids!

There are a few variations on what an animation director is.  The two most common are:

1) On a live action film, the animation director is the person in charge of overseeing the animation design.  They’ll work with the live-action film director to integrate the animation, design the characters performance and motion, and oversee an army of artists to make sure there is a consistent look and feel.  Typically the animation director has more to do with the filmmaking than an animation supervisor, however these two titles can often be interchangeable.

2) For an animated film, the Animation Director is the person, or persons, who direct the film.  They work with a studio full of highly talented artists and production people to make sure the film’s story is being told correctly, that the performances are cohesive, and the tone of the story is correct (tone is everything!).  A live-action director shoots their movie on a stage or location in a short span of time, whereas the animation director designs the movie in a studio over a number of years.

I’ve been animation director for a number of projects, in both capacities listed above.  These include several short films (Roger Ebert gave me a thumbs up!), a TV special, a few feature films, and a number of commercials.

So you can see the term animation director can mean a lot of different things!

Click here to read all about being an animation supervisor!

If you have any questions please leave them in the comments section below. Thanks!

Check out my new blog!I just started a new blog about all the plans I have for 2012!  CLICK HERE to check it out. I’m gonna tear it up this year like Chuck Norris, so follow along and hopefully I’ll inspire you to kick ass too! -M

Dish TV spotThis is a commercial I directed the animation for. Hope you enjoy it!

Hasbro’s Mr. Monopoly – Spot 4Here is the fourth of 4 Monopoly spots I directed for Hasbro and the Minnesota State Lottery. We shot the live action plates (fancy talk for backgrounds) in Santa Monica in one day. Then we spent about 8 days per a spot to complete the animation. This was a fun series to work on because ...

Hasbro’s Mr. Monopoly – Spot 3Here is the third of 4 Monopoly spots I directed for Hasbro and the Minnesota State Lottery. We shot the live action plates (fancy talk for backgrounds) in Santa Monica in one day. Then we spent about 8 days per a spot to complete the animation. This was a fun series to work on because ...

Sundrop MTV’s Real World SpotHere is a quick little project I animated for MTV. Enjoy! I animated this in a week, including rendering, lighting and compositing. Short and sweet, the way I like it!

Hasbro – Mr. Monopoly Commercial – Part 02Here is the second of 4 Monopoly spots I directed for Hasbro and the Minnesota State Lottery. We shot the live action plates (fancy talk for backgrounds) in Santa Monica in one day. Then we spent about 8 days per a spot to complete the animation. This was a fun series to work on because ...

Hasbro’s Mr. Monopoly – Spot 1Here is the first of 4 Monopoly spots I directed for Hasbro and the Minnesota State Lottery. We shot the live action plates (fancy talk for backgrounds) in Santa Monica in one day. Then we spent about 8 days per a spot to complete the animation. This was a fun series to work on because ...

Animation Interview Part 3Here is the final part of the animation interview!

Trahm: Legacy – Short Animated FilmI directed this short film for Stun Creative.  It was a viral spoof we created in 6 weeks (INSANE!) for the Rahm Emmanuel campaign.  Roger Ebert gave it a thumbs up!  Sweet! Read more about it here: http://www.screenmag.com/story/2011/mar/01/580/

Pig Out – Short FilmHere is my student film that I did at CalArts. It’s an old school pencil test about a hungry pig.

Dirty Jobs – Dirty Presidents – RooseveltYet another Dirty Presidents bumper I directed for The Discovery Channel’s Dirty Jobs show.

Dirty Jobs – Dirty Presidents – Jimmy CarterAnother of the 12 Dirty Jobs animated bumpers I directed for Discovery Channel’s ‘Dirty Jobs’.

Mrs. Butterworth – Animated Commercial  Here is a Mrs. Butterworth commercial I directed the animation for. We had about 10 weeks to bring her to life. This included redesigning her, building the model, rigging her for movement, animating, lighting, rendering, and compositing! I was also on-set visual effects supervisor so I got to wear a lot of hats! Here ...

Mrs. Butterworth – Geico CommercialThis is a funny Mrs. Butterworth / Geico commercial I directed the animation for.

Dirty Jobs – Dirty Presidents – Gerald Ford

Dirty Jobs – Dirty Presidents – Abe Lincoln AnimationThis is one of the Dirty Jobs bumpers I directed for Buster Design/Stun Creative.

Home Depot – CommercialHere is a commercial I shot for Home Depot. I had a lot of fun on this. My friends at Weta Workshop built all the miniatures. The live-action was all shot on a soundstage in Van Nuys, while the miniatures and FX were produced in Wellington, New Zealand. I casted my friend’s Grandfather Mac to ...

Get Lost- Short FilmI shot this film in my living room two days before moving to New Zealand! Don’t try that at home kids! The animation took 2 years to complete because I had to squeeze it in while animating on Lord of the Rings, which averaged 14 hour days! But suffice to say, follow your passions! This ...

Get Lost! Test AnimationsWhile developing the feature film ‘Get Lost’, I needed to show executives how inanimate objects would come to life. I hired a bunch of my talented computer graphics amigos to help me bring the characters to life. I had 5 people crammed around my dining room table one Saturday as each artist modeled the characters ...

Animation Interview Part 2Here is Part 2 of my Animation Interview:

Animation Interview Part 1Here is part 1 of an animation interview I did. 3 parts.