Colin's Bear Animation

Can you tell me a little about the class and why you created the video?

The course is called Animation Arts. I don't think it's too far-fetched to assume that this course would then be about the art of animating; I was wrong. The professor spent most of our time talking about modelling and it wasn't until the last four weeks that he even mentioned animation. Did he even know what course he was supposed to be teaching? Animation Arts is a mandatory third year course at my school (University of Ontario Institute of Technology) for all those in my program, Game Development and Entrepreneurship.

Unfortunately for the 55 of us in the class, our professor did not have an understanding (or at least he didn't demonstrate an understanding) greater than an above average student. He seemed to be learning it along side of us. This video is actually my final assignment.

Did you actually turn it in with the "Thanks for nothing" ending?

The version I handed in listed my student number as well as the professor's name instead of "UOIT" and "Thanks for nothing" respectively. One of my friends wanted to post the video on YouTube because he thought a lot of people would enjoy it, so I made the "director's cut" to show my displeasure for having spent a considerable amount of money for what was actually very little.

Did you get any response from your professor? What grade did you get for the project and class?

I believe I met all of the requirements of the assignment: to make a 10 - 15 second animation that included a walk cycle, though because I haven't received my mark I couldn't say for sure. (Editor's note: After our interview, he got his score: an A grade.)

A couple of my professors from other courses either approached me or sent me an email about the video -- and they seemed to enjoy it. They mainly were interested in how it made its way to game development studios. My dean even saw it, and she congratulated me. All that being said, I have no idea if the professor who the Bear Dance is about saw it. I would assume that he has, but when we presented the animations to the class, he played mine first and then after all of them, he said, "Let's watch the first one again." It most certainly wouldn't have been the first time he completely missed the point.

Have you been surprised by the popularity of the video and the remixes?

The response took me completely by surprise. Often friends find a way of being kinder to us than we deserve, but a lot of people did seem to enjoy it. I'm very grateful for having been given the opportunity to share this video with many others. And who knows, perhaps all the support it has been given will mean better things for the animation side of things at UOIT -- it made it to my dean after all. If that is the case, then I have a lot of people to send my thanks to.

The remixes are icing on the cake, I've laughed at all of them! But I wonder, could there be anything more psychotic than the BEAROLL 9 minute rendition?

Thanks, Colin!

On a personal note, I took some time off after leaving Yahoo! in mid-November, relocated to Portland and moved everything to a much nicer web server. Starting today, I'm going to be posting something new here daily. More on that later. Hugs and kisses.

February 7 Update: Colin emailed to let me know that his inadequate former professor no longer works at the school. "They've hired a new professor this semester and he actually works at Alias," he wrote. "In only two weeks it has become very clear that we now have someone worth our parents' hard-earned cash."

Also, by request, I found a full-length copy of the song from the video. Here's an MP3 of Funky Monkey Dance from the Mother 3 soundtrack. (The good part starts at 1:20.)