TRANSFORMERS 2: exclusive interview of Jean-Denis Haas

Here is a brand new exclusive interview for TRANSFORMERS: REVENGE OF THE FALLEN which complete the other one did by Natasha Devaud by giving an eye on the animation and CG aspects of the show

Jean-Denis Haas work since 5 years at ILM, his resume contains big shows like STAR WARS: EPISODE III - REVENGE OF THE SITH, PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: DEAD MAN'S CHEST, TRANFORMERS or STAR TREK.
As you have seen it in a past news, Jean-Denis is working on the next movie of James Cameron, AVATAR !!!

He gives us a some of his times to talk about his work on the show

Hello Jean-Denis, can you tell us what was your position on the show ??


I was one of the lead animators on the show.


In what consist your job ??


Transformers 2 was my first show as a lead, so my job requirements changed a bit. Usually you are assigned shots and you animate the characters within that shot according to the direction of the client. As a lead animator I was overseeing certain sequences and made sure that the animators working on shots within those sequences had all the information and help they needed.


On which scenes have you worked ??


Most of my work was focused on the underwater sequence where I helped with previz and animation of shots. I also animate a few shots with Ravage, Optimus Prime & Megatron in the forrest fight, Jetfire, etc.


How is the preparation for a typical shot ??


You check in with a lead or supervisor who will give you the specific direction for your shot. That way you know what's going on and what the action or acting beats are for your character(s). Then you start planning out your shot by either acting it out, shooting video reference or using other tools. Whatever helps you out to get a good idea of what you want to do. Once you're clear about that, you start blocking out the shot.


For the animation, have you used iMocap or keyframe animation ??


I have used both. Some actions can't be mocapped (or would be very difficult and time consuming to do so) and you end up doing it by hand, others will benefit from motion capture takes because you get a lot of subtleties in your animation, which help it make the movement more real.


What was the references for the animation ??


Animators would either act out their scenes or we would study footage found online or through other media. The footage used ranged from fighting bits to acting moments.


Is Michael Bay very specific what he want with the animation or he let the animation supervisor doing that ?
I would say both. He is really good about collaborating with the artists. So either you would get very specific notes from him or he would ask us to come up with something interesting that fits the tone and style of the movie. He has a very good eye for cool shots so either way his comments are very helpful.


What was the most difficult characters to animate ??


That all depends on the definition of difficult. A character can be difficult to animate because of its size, the way it's constructed or any other physical feature, and how it fits and relates with the environment and/or live action plate. Some characters also had more complex acting moments like Jetfire or Optimus Prime. So I would say all the characters might have difficult aspects to them from time to time.


Have you encounter any problems ??


I haven't had any major problems, but that's because the tools and the production team here at ILM are really good at providing you with as many solutions as possible to any potential problems. You never end a day with a feeling of "I can't fix this problem." Obviously you will always encounter complications on a show, but those are usually technical in nature because we push ourselves to do better work than on previous shows.


How many times did you have for this show ??


I worked on Transformers 2 for a couple of months.


What is your next projects ??


Currently I'm working on James Cameron's "Avatar".

Thanks a lot for your time !!