With hundreds of artists under the same roof at Montgomery Hall and countless alumni working with the industry’s best, SCAD’s animation department has good reason to rank among the top programs in the country. As I considered all the creative minds working side-by-side, telling stories through modeling movement, lighting a scene and coding characters, something dawned on me: If animators are storytellers who form the largest major at SCAD, imagine the stories they have to share.
The animation department has found a champion of a chair in Chris Gallagher, who assumed his new role over the summer. Through this biweekly column, I invite not only animation students but the entire SCAD community to listen in on my animated chats with Chris.
“Animation is animation.”
That’s Chris Gallagher’s philosophy regarding the categorization of disciplines within the field of digital media. Animation, visual effects, game design and motion media design all employ the same techniques. If a character in a video game remains static, it deflates the entire experience. When Gallagher worked at Weta Digital, Peter Jackson’s New Zealand-based visual effects company, he admired how its animation department approached, engaged and found the voice of CGI characters such as King Kong.
“When people think of the art form of animation, they think Saturday morning cartoons,” Gallagher said during our first meeting. “The art form of animation is very adult-oriented. It just happens to be that television makes us think cartoons are for kids. Cartoon is a style of animation but there are different styles, levels and expectations.”
He brought up “Monsters Inc.” In true Pixar vogue, the film touches children and adults on different levels without deviating into explicit “this scene is just for kids and this joke is strictly for parents.”
“That’s why I love the medium of animation,” Chris explained. “If you’re creating a performance for a character, you’re animating it, whether it’s a Transformer or Rapunzel in ‘Tangled.'”
“I just remember the color red.”
One of Chris’s earliest childhood memories is sitting on his father’s lap and watching “Pinocchio” during one of the film’s re-releases. He doesn’t remember the actual film, just the color red.
“Because of that, I have a romantic story in my head with Disney,” Chris said.
That story continued when Chris received his first job at the Walt Disney Animation Studios on the film “Tangled,” which was simply called “Rapunzel” at the time he joined.
“I worked on the simulation team to help make sure her hair was as good as it could be,” he said.
After “Tangled,” Chris spent over seven years at Disney as a animation technical director, combining all his interests in computer arts. His resume includes impressive contributions to Academy Award-winning films such as “Frozen,” “Big Hero 6,” “Zootopia” and, most recently, “Moana,” his favorite project to date.
“‘Moana’ was my second to last movie at Disney and the team on it was just incredible,” Chris said. “I worked with the heads of animation and they were inspirational in helping me work with them work better. The directors were awesome. The writers were great. I couldn’t have left production-oriented on a better note.”
“I wouldn’t have had the career I had without coming to SCAD and I’ve always been very interested in making sure the next generation is more successful than I was.”
Chris originally started his career in visual effects at Digital Domain, a visual effects company co-founded by film directors James Cameron and Stan Winston. Before that, he graduated with a B.F.A. in information and graphic design from Central Connecticut State University in 1999.
After looking at SCAD for his master’s degree, he decided to enroll because he knew he could focus in Savannah without getting lost in the city’s social life.
“I knew if I was in a place like New York, I would get distracted from my craft,” Chris said.
That attitude helped Chris earn his M.F.A. in computer art in 2001. SCAD means a great deal more to him than just the place where he honed his creative abilities.
“I actually met my wife here,” Chris said. “We sat together in Professor Malcolm Kesson’s programming class. We have a love story with Savannah. It’s like coming home. She went off and had a phenomenal career in visual effects. We knew now was the right time to come back and give back to students everything we learned.”
Over the course of his own career, Chris said he recognized he did not have the attention span to be an animator. He knew he would work more effectively and efficiently as a problem solver, a team leader who works with story designers, riggers and animators.
“If I look at the same 27 frames for two weeks, I lose the perspective and I lose what I’m there for,” Chris said. “It’s a lot of noodling, but certain people are very passionate about that. I think we need a passion for every element.”
From completing his master’s to overseeing the same academic program from which he earned his degree, Chris wants to enhance the animation department by partnering with other areas of study within the School of Digital Media.
“I want us to be a giant melting pot of collaboration,” he said. “Most projects in the real world are done as a team. One person does not do everything. Everyone has different requirements. One of my big initiatives is communication. I want to make sure students understand what a career in animation means…Everyone wants to be an animator which is great but there are other things you can be. I want to make sure I can help students find their passion earlier. I don’t want them to find their passion last quarter senior year.”
Written by Emilie Kefalas.
