Jason, one day i’ll sit down next to you, and we’ll have fun together, when i’m definitely better. Thanks for all your replies, you’re an inspiration and a model to follow. By the way, your reel is amazing and this dog is so funny!! 
Haven’t seen Madagascar yet (on the screens next week) but can’t wait to see it.
All the best man!
Hi Jason!
I finish reading this thread today, you a kind of cg celebrity. You seem to be a nice person, Im happy for you. I really think it has most to do with the care and humanity you put in your internet posts than your amazing works. Congratulations to your success and humbleness. I’m sure you are going to meet all of your goals.
P.S. Just to sincerely thank you. You dont need to reply this one brave Jason.
Hello Jason, I’ve read half the thread already and I was scared to post my questions too late so if I ask something already anwsered bear with me please:)
I work for an animation company here in Venezuela, we’re producing by the fingernails a feature film and our company has brougth a lot of CG experts here to give conferences and shows. People like Brian Rosen from Pixar, Michelle Meeker (ROTK, Shrek), Cristina Drahos (Matrix and tons of other flicks), Sandra Voellker (Babe, Stuart Little), Esdras Varagnolo and Paul George (I Robot, Day after tomorrow, these last two are also Venezuelans) have been invited here and they have given incredible shows, sharing their expertise and encouraging the audience (mostly CGI fans and afficionados) to follow this path and go pro. So my questions after that long expose would be:
Did you get to meet Michelle Meeker during your Weta period? how was the experience working with her (If you got to do so)
Would you be interested in taking part on these type of experiences here? We would really appreciate your insigth about the industry and the craft and you also look like a really nice person to talk with.
Are you still active in this board? (not sure if this has been asked or anything, sorry)
Given that you get to fulfill your dream of forming your own studio (I really hope so) would you be hiring / taking interns from the people in CGtalk? (hope I didn’t put you against the ropes with this one;) )
As I said, I’m working on a feature film, but our crew lacks the academic background / experience required in a big-budget Hollywood CGI production. What we lack in experience I think we compensate with passion, creativity and near-obsession self teaching, but this may not be enough for Hollywood. Any advice/words on this? Should I be worried about this? I really want to take my career outside Venezuela (WETA, Lucasfilm, Pixar and the like) and have the chance to work with the bests there are and improve my skills and so on.
I don’t have animations of my own posted in this forum, I tend to focus on Modelling and rigging, but my friend Bigyuyo has a small playblast from a particular project we’re working on. You can check it following this link http://www.geocities.com/bigyuyo/index.html
sorry for the messy website (Geoities=Evil)
Not a question, and I know modelling it’s not your field, but you’re equally kindly invited to check my personal WIP (again, follow signature) just for fun, no reply to this required. Thanks in advance and I hope you like it
Heh, I always ctrl-c the post before hitting the submit button just in case, especially if it’s a long one (see, you can always learn something in CGtalk )
Well, that’s it (WOW, I’m sorry for the amount of questions). I want to really compliment you for your work on LOTR especially on Gollum. I know it was a team effort but i’m sure there are tons of shots that you get most of the credit. (LOTR is my favourite movie so having the chance to talk with you here is really a priceless opportunity) I haven’t seen Madagascar yet and wasn’t particularly looking forward to it but all this talk about snappy animaton has pumped my interest, I’m sure your work there is equally superb. Again, speaking for thousands of CG afficionados down here, we would really like to see you at a conference/show/whatever the name, I promise you Venezuela won’t dissapoint you (have you heard about our Misses? 
Weee!)
Thanks for all Jason, good luck and best wishes
Francisco Morales
more answers coming!
hey folks… was really busy last week so I didn’t have time to go back and re-type answers, but I’ll finish it all up this week!
woo! 
Guys, please refrain from posting new questions… this Q&A session ended a week ago, although Jason has been kind enough to continue posting replies to questions he had not yet answered. Please do not add additional questions.
Thanks!
Okay, this isn’t a question to jason, but to CGTalk: Any progress on setting up the Aaron Sims Q&A? I’m a huge fan of his, and I have been agonizing to ask him some questions. Of course, I realizze there are technical difficulties, but could you possibly give an estimate of when he will be on?
By the way, Jason, I’m sorry I didn’t get a chance to post any questions (I had finals in tha past couple of weeks, so things are a bit hectic). I adore Lord of the Rings, and much of it couldn’t have happened without your help, so thank you.
Oops. I’m really sorry about that, though I can only alegate ignorance as a defense on my behalf. I had no idea that the Q-A session had ended when I posted my questions. Sorry for that.
Aaron was supposed to be next, but unfortunately he is busy right now. So he will be doing a session in a few weeks. I am busy trying to organise someone else in the meantime.
Okay, then, I guess that gives me more time to think up questions:). Besides, I’m sure he’s hard at work making Tethered Islands. Thanks for the prompt response!
No question,
I just like to say thanks Jason you sound like a really good person.
Good luck!
Lol… Gotta say thanx too… I’m new here, and the thing that made me stay here and start all that’s been going on in the last three weeks (doing graphics for two books and entering a mini-challenge here :P) was Jason’s enthusiasm… No questions lol
first of all hi and hows life’? man you are so talented character animator ever when i first saw u at alias’ movie interview and knowing ur one of those key people who’s behind the CGI
fantastic movie LOTR i was amaze specially ur talent’ U ARE GREAT!
ok heres my Q.
Q-1 : WACOM (other brands) tablet pen digitizer or MOUSE?
Q-2 : SPAWN OR BATMAN? (and pls tell me why) im interested.
Q-3 : STEVEN SPIELBERG TIM BURTON OR GEORGE LUCAS??
Q-4 : rate yourself 1-10 as an ARTIST /ANIMATOR’
Q-5 : SCI_FI or HORROR?
i hope u will having some time to answer my Q. keep up the good work man ur one of my idols in 3-D world’ more success to ur life
flyingP
Just curious, apart from Weta, did you get an impression of how the overall industry is developing in NZ ?, another 8 weeks and I’ll be back in NZ myself after a twelve year absence so any info would be most appreciated
It seems like the industry is doing pretty well over there, especially in wellington and in auckland. I didn’t talk to anyone NOT workin at weta (in the industry, I mean… I talked to lots of people not working at weta who don’t work in the industry, but… well… you know what I mean), so I’m not sure of any specifics… but I have a feeling it’s growing quite a bit. Have a great time going back! NZ is awesome.
[b]Sagroth
[/b] Maybe that’s not your primary speciality, but reading your answers I’ve figured out that you want to have your own studio and make your own projects one day, so I’m really interested in your opinion.
It could be fun, but I’ve seen a lot of artistic people start their own studios only to have them (the studios) die a slow death & the people work themselves to… well… to death. I’d be happy to start something up with a few friends, as long as I had someone to manage the show & get all the money for us while we created cool stuff. If there were money in film festivals… ahh…
So what do you think about skills of animation/vfx-heavy film director - is it essential for him to know at least basics of all animation/vfx technical stuff? Or should he just leave that 'tricky stuff' for specialized team and spend more time on actual directing craft?
I think it’s incredibly helpful for anyone to know at least a little bit about anything they’re working with. For example, if a director understands that when they say “I want wet hair flinging around and lots of water droplets all reflecting and refracting” that it’s going to be a hard and expensive shot, then that’s great because they can work with the vfx supervisor on making sure that it’s in the budget. However, it’s not necessary for them to know EVERY little thing about how stuff is done… just enough to respect the artists creating the work.
I know that in his early films (btw, what d'you think about them, honestly? :)) Peter Jackson had a lot of work in 'natural' vfx stuff. Do you think that helped him a lot while planning/making LotR trilogy?
Haha I loved all of them except Meet The Feebles… just didn’t get into that one when I watched it the first time. It was funny the second time, but the first… ehh. Forgotten Silver is one of my fav films of his. I LOVE it. He and Costa did a great job with it. I do believe peter’s knowledge and love of fx and animation helped him quite a bit with LOTR. He was able to converse with us on a number of levels about how to get things done (not saying “do this”, but could understand when we said “that’s hard”). Plus it was just great hearing the stories from him and Richard Taylor about the things they used to do.
And lastly, if you for example want to be an animation film director, what skills are you going to improve for that purpose?
I would like to improve my “subtle” animation skills. I feel like that’s the real area I want and need to work on.
More to come folks… more to come.
It seems like the industry is doing pretty well over there, especially in wellington and in auckland. I didn’t talk to anyone NOT workin at weta (in the industry, I mean… I talked to lots of people not working at weta who don’t work in the industry, but… well… you know what I mean),
so I’m not sure of any specifics… but I have a feeling it’s growing quite a bit. Have a great time going back! NZ is awesome.
thanks Jason the more positive impressions I’m hearing the more comfortable I am feeling with the move…hell I’d be going back anyway like you say NZ is awesome, have missed it heaps.
Cheers and all the best mate, and thanks for taking the time 
Just wanted to say thanks Jason. I really really enjoyed reading this the last few weeks. Great job.
hi jason
i am Rigger in india i am gr* fan of ur RIg’s, i love way u make them i always try to make some thing new learning from your Rig…keep doing good work, great guy great job.
I just saw The Fellowship of the Ring and I just wanted to say whoever did the Cave Troll and the Ballrog did a fantastic job. Especially when the Cave Troll is about to collapse, the hand that reaches for the mouth ; the muscles are failing and then he falls to the earth ; it’s pure excellence.
I don’t know if you did anything on that Jason but I am amazed at that whole scene. LOTR is quite a work of art !
Hey Jason!
Wow need to catch up on the thread! Are you going to be at Siggraph this year?
Alex
haha hey alex!! yeah, I’m way behind… got TONS of work to do & haven’t had time to do any more answers… hopefully within the next two weeks things will calm down & I’ll have a bit of time to finish up!
and yep, it looks like I am going to siggraph… I’ll catch up with ya there!
-jason
paperclip has once more provided a compiled Q&A:
http://features.cgsociety.org/cgtalk/meettheartists/jason_schleifer/