The Animator Element: Roger Gimenez
1. - How did you hear about Vancouver and its Animation Industry?
I had just finished my contract for the movie “Donkey Xote” in Spain and I sent my demo reel to Vanguard Animation. I was able to travel and live new experiences and I accepted the job offer they gave me.
2. - Was it easy to obtain a Work Permit?
In fact it was very easy. I was surprised. It took about 5 or 6 days. Vanguard did everything so fast.
3. - Can you tell us a bit about the culture at Vanguard Animation?
I think that Vanguard is a kind of a big studio. Adam Wood (ex Pixar animator) was the Animation Director and he brought the Pixar’s know-how to Vanguard. People are from all around the world and there is incredible talent. I really enjoyed working there and I had a very good time. They have a very good relationship with the workers and I wish to come back again some day.
4. - How did you get a job at Ilion Animation Studios?
I started my first contact with Ilion before flying to Vancouver. I sent the same demo reel as I sent to Vanguard. They told me that I was pre-selected for their animation team. It was on March 2007. On August I started the negotiations and finally we got an agreement.
5. - How is it like to work at Ilion?
Ilion is another big studio. We are about 200 people. Nevertheless it is their first film and I think that it needs time to build a philosophy and methods of working. Here, the structure of the animation team works with Leads, one supervisor and one director. We’re always looking for the highest quality of animation and I think we’re doing a great job. We have Dailies twice a day, one in the morning, in the screening room, and the other in the supervisor’s office. Javier Abad (the Animation Director) spends a lot of time in revising the shots and he has a very good eye to get brilliant animation full of sincerity and personality.
6. - What’s it like to jump from City to City and sometimes from Country to Country working for different animation studios?
This is a hard question to answer because I even don’t know how is it like. I mean, sometimes I feel there is a chance for me to grow up as a person and sometimes I feel that I’m tired of moving around so often. That has been my life since I became an animator in 2000. I’ve lived in 5 different cities (4 in Spain and 1 in Vancouver, Canada). So far I’ve had about 15 different homes. This is something that I’m not looking for, but I’m forced to do because here in Europe there’s not a strong animation industry and you can’t stay in one studio no longer than a project. So what I have had to do is trying to get the best project wherever that is. Because of this I’m trying to enjoy this nomad type of life, because it is also great to know different cities, languages, countries, studios and friends.
Of course, you have to forget to build a family (wife and kids), which in some moment can be important in my life.
7. - What are your thoughts about Vancouver as an Animation Destination?
I have never known a city with so many animation studios. It is just the best city for an animator, if love video games or TV series there is already a strong industry being developed. Fortunately, it seems that now Vanguard Animation and Mainframe / Rainmaker are going to do 3D Feature Films which is even better.
8.- Do you mind sharing some of your work with us?
Not at all!
I think that my work in this 3D film made possible for me to land a job in Vancouver to work at Vanguard Animation. This film had a big budget (about 30$ million) in Spain and it was based in Miguel de Cervantes’ book “Don Quijote de la Mancha”. It was made at Bren Entertainment and released in Spain in December 2007.
This is the second film made by Dygra Films in 2005. I did the entire job as a freelance from barcelona, the studio is in the other side of Spain but the communication was very good through Internet. Goya Award in 2005.
This movie was a tough one to get in. There was a group of about 30 animators wanting to be part of, after the studio animation tests, it came down to only 5 animators. I think this was crucial for me to get self-confidence and believe in my chances to become an animator. This was my second film after “The living Forest”. We did 2 sequences of the film working with the director in Canada. It won a Goya Award in 2004.
This is a pilot for a TV series made in Lion Toons (Barcelona) in 2005. It was about a TV host who presented incredible world records.
This is another pilot for a TV series made at Lion Toons in 2004.
This is the first film ever made in Europe in 3D. It was released in 2001. It is based on a book of the same name, which is pretty popular in Spain. The studio is called Dygra Films (La Coruña). This film won the Goya Award (the film Academy Award in Spain) to the best-animated film in Spain.
This is a 2D animated film; I worked in the 3D animation. I had to do some cat cycles such as: walking, running, jumping, eating, etc. and some other simple animations for a “human” character. The most difficult part of animating the cats was the tail. It had about 20 controllers, its a good example on how a rig can benefit or hinder the animation. The Animator Director gave us rigid rules to achieve what he was looking for. At the time I was a freelance animator for Bren Entertainment. Nocturna was released in October 2007 in Spain.
This is a film that mixes 3D with live action. It is about a tale that all Spanish children know: a little mouse (called Pérez) comes to your bed at night to exchange your fallen tooth for money. Until now, this is the most successful Spanish animated film and its budget was only 3 million dollars. It was released in 2006 and made at Bren Entertainment (Santiago de Compostela, Spain).
This is another 2D film, again I did some 3D animation like horses, humans and 3D cameras. It was made at Bren Entertainment and it got the Goya Award in 2003.
Roger Gimenez is an Animation Mentor Graduate. He has been successfully managing 2 very important skills that every artist should have, strive for a high level of quality on his art and a low level on his ego; allowing people to have opinions and make comments about his work. There is always a better way of doing it, and knowing this keeps Roger plussing and reaching for the best. Roger Gimenez has the humility to change.
If you want to find out more please visit his online portfolio at:
Roger Gimenez Online Portolio
