Aussie animators storm(troop) the world

After Adam Elliot won an Oscar for Harvie Krumpett, Australian animators have really been taking it to the world. Films such as Happy Feet, and series like Animalia continue to do us proud.

Another Aussie animator is Justin Mettam, a 3D story artist on Lucasfilm’s Star Wars: The Clone Wars series.

For the past eight years, Mettam has been based in the US. As a 3D story artist he has responsibility for creating the cinematography from the script.

Since finishing Film & TV studies in Western Australia in 1992, Mettam went to London where 3D animation was a fast growing industry. After sending a show reel to Animal Logic in Sydney, he landed his first job. As well as working on commercials, some of his other work made its way to Babe: Pig in the City and an independent film called Willful.

After leaving Australia in 2001, he headed to the US.

“While I was traveling through Canada I met a guy at a computer games studio who liked my demo reel,” he said. “He suggested I send it to Industrial Light & Magic. ILM liked it too and offered me a job in 2001.”

Now Mettam has a pivotal role on Clone Wars, working closely with the episodic director, Supervising Director Dave Filoni and occasionally George Lucas to determine camera angles and movement, editing speed and frame composition.

“A 3D story artist is like a storyboard artist, but instead of using pencil and paper we use 3D software to create the images. The advantage of creating a 3D storyboard is we can then add animation and timing to the sequences, and we can direct the actors, because they are basically our puppets.

“We can find camera angles in 3D that would otherwise be hard to conceive of as a traditional storyboard artist. So, our role is to help develop the script into a visually interesting story.”

In a process that takes months from script to screen, Mettam says he is afforded a great deal of creative freedom.

“As 3D story artists, we are given quite a lot of creativity and the more trust the Episodic Director has in us the more creativity we are given. Our job is to help tell the story so we choose the shots and deliver to editorial the first cut of the show,” he said.

“The biggest challenge is in maintaining the quality of a feature while working with a TV budget and schedule. I haven’t seen any other computer generated shows on TV yet that have been able to reach the level of quality that we have been able to achieve. We are constantly honing the way we work and developing new working methodologies, so we can have an effective working model that can be replicated for other shows.”

The voice cast for Clone Wars includes Matt Lanter, Ashley Eckstein, James Arnold Taylor, Tom Kane and Olivia d’Abo and James Marsters.

“All the voice acting is done in LA”, he said, “sometimes even after we have finished laying out the story. But generally we don’t work with the actors.

While he was never a big fan of Star Wars films, Mettam says the job has been a very educational ride. Working as an Aussie in LA also has some advantages, says Mettam.

“It’s great being an Australian in the US. Oddly enough even though I have been here for 8 years now, I am still seen as some kind of exotic novelty. The Yanks love our little sayings.

“I haven’t paid much attention to the state of the animation business in Australia since I left in 2001, bu I expect it must be better now than it was in 2001. I’m very encouraged when I see great films like Happy Feet, Lord Of the Rings, and Australia, to name a few, come out of Australia and New Zealand.”

Meanwhile, Mettam has a teaser for fans of the series.

“Without giving away too much, I can tell you we have some great villains. Also a new character is introduced, Anakin’s Padawan.”

Star Wars: The Clone Wars screens Fridays from 4.30PM on Cartoon Network and Saturday mornings on TEN.