Podcasts #46 and #47
☆
☆
☆
☆
☆
“This review is specifically upon Podcasts #46 and #47, but I'm also going to discuss the overall podcast:
I've been a longtime listener of the podcast, avid animation hobbyist, and I draw almost every day.
If you are looking for Animation Inspiration and Disney History, the Bancroft Brothers are a great place for being inspired. After listening to them for so long, I don't even identify them with Disney anymore, as much as with them as individuals.
That said, they spend a great deal of time repeating the core tenant of "Draw every day if you want to get a job at Disney." Personally, I do draw every day, and I'm a bit beyond hearing that reminder, and I would like to hear a different mantra at this point.
To put things in perspective, there are probably 10,000 Animators globally, 2D and 3D animation is an extremely small nitch; there are a lot of people who want to do animation, but there aren't a lot of jobs available, Art School is prohibitively expensive for most, and most don't have the patience to learn from scratch on their own time.
With that said, The Bancroft Brothers are looking to expand the appeal of their show by discussing popular animation over animation instruction on the podcast. That's not to downplay the tremendous contribution to the small animation community: they continue to make great Animation Instruction at affordable prices on their website, and I would consider the brothers to be Authorities on their craft.
If you are one of the 10,001 who wants to actually learn this craft, you are better off paying for one of their courses/textbooks instead of listening to the podcast. You need about $1000 dollars on hand to buy the equipment, books you need to self learn. (Wacom Tablet, Light-Box, Col-Erase Pencils, PhotoShop, ect), but that's much less than 40,000 a year at one of the major art schools, and you'll come out with good skills.
Specifically on Podcast #46:
This podcast inspired me to see the new Angry Birds film.... Whcih I was very dissapointed with after viewing. I loved the first trailer that came out in September 2005, The Animation and Character designs were excellent. However, the story was pretty awful as a whole. The movie is a bunch of flash-carded sequences, which work well on their own and as trailers, but not together.
Instead of discussing specific animation-related techniques or approaches to the medium, the interview mainly revolves around how Clay Kaytis and Fergal Reilly got the dream job of most aspiring animation students of directing a studio feature, and some student-friendly inspirational quotes.
The Bancroft Brothers have staged numerous interivews such as these over the past two years, with big names such as Brad Bird, Pete Doctor, Travis Knight, Don Hahn, Brenda Chapman, ect. There's often more discussion about Studio Politicing that you would see on Cartoon Brew or the TAG Blog than technique sharing that you read on Mark Kennedy's blog.
A notable exception to this trend was the interview with Paul Briggs, head of story on Frozen and Big Hero 6, who took the time to deconstruct the key story points of his movies on tape, and discussed viable strategies for brainstorming and storyboarding.
I probably won't listen to another Bancroft Brothers interview with a big name, unless there's going to be a discussion relevant to me as an animation filmmaker. But, if you are interested in Disney history as a casual fan, there's no better source than the former directors and supervising animators themselves. What I can say about Tom and Tony, is that they don't give the BS about Disney's history that you read in the opening chapters of Illusion of Life, and describe the pros and cons of working there.
For Podcast #47:
I was looking for some inspiration and creative perspective this morning with my cup of tea, and I was not dissappointed. I think the Bancroft Brothers did a really nice job with this one and I would start it as a five overall. This was not the standard 'Draw every day" mantra we hear agan and again from EVERY person in the industry, but instead a critical discussion of understanding and evaluating your life goals.
Some statistics from me:
I generally listen to the podcast until about the 30 minute mark on most episodes, I often don't have a full hour in one sitting to listen to the whole thing.
My suggestions for the future:
More art instructional materials: Lecture about some art tips and tricks, supplementary materials to the Taught by a Pro website. If you have guests on the show, ask them the specific technical questions inexperienced people can't generate in 10 seconds. I would be happy to pay money monthly on Patreon if I felt I learned something I could directly apply to my work every time I tune into the podcast.”Read full review »
Versatile Horse via Apple Podcasts ·
United States of America ·
06/05/16
More reviews of The Bancroft Brothers Animation Podcast
☆
☆
☆
☆
☆
“Love everything about this.”
alex plosion via Apple Podcasts ·
United States of America ·
11/13/16
☆
☆
☆
☆
☆
“This is an amazing podcast to listen to, especially if you want to hear about the creative proccess and how the industry works. I am currenlty changing carreer paths and going to school for animation in a few months, this podcast is really helping me prepare for future goals and what I may...”Read full review »
Peter Szakacs via Apple Podcasts ·
United States of America ·
12/05/16
“Besides being uber talented artists, the Bancroft Bros have such funny and approachable way of talking to the listener… kudos to them for this great show full of great anecdotes from the Disney Studios era, tips on animation and storytelling and an incredible list of guets from the animation...”Read full review »
Darthferyache via Apple Podcasts ·
Great Britain ·
09/28/15
Do you host a podcast?
Track your ranks and reviews from Spotify, Apple Podcasts and more.
Listen now
Links
Genres
Artwork or description wrong?
Request an update »
Updates may take a few minutes.
Do you host a podcast?
Track your ranks and reviews from Spotify, Apple Podcasts and more.
