photo vault: animator overtime

Back in college, I took a Photojournalism course and was assigned to do a photo story. My boyfriend at the time was a student in the prestigious Character Animation program at CalArts in LA. His endless nights of animating intrigued me, so I decided to take a trip to SoCal and cover a late night in the CalArts animation cubicle hall for my photo assignment.

I observed a lot of wacky antics that evening: puppet shows, celebrity impersonations...an especially fond memory was learning how to skateboard through the hallways using a shopping basket. 

All photos were shot on 35mm.

Animator Overtime: A brief chronicle of a typical late night / early morning in the Character Animation department at California Institute of the Arts (CalArts) in Valencia, CA. 

11:36PM: The workday has just begun as CalArts character animation student, Scott, 22 (center) reviews story ideas for a short film called Monster Hunter with fellow animators Dan, 28 (far left) and Bailey, 23 (back).

12:45AM: Character animation student, Sean, 20, spends his 36th hour without sleep in his cubicle animating a sequence for his upcoming student film, Hot Date on a Stick.

Atop Sean's cube is his newly constructed puppet "Mr. Walters", modeled after his high school science teacher. 

1:13AM: Amidst the mess of his tiny cube, Armen, 28, sketches some last minute storyboards for a class assignment. 

2:40AM: Through the pinhole into his cube, Travis, 22, busily sketches a sequence for his short film Incons'pig'uous.

Inside the wall of Travis's cube, a friendly creature greets visitors. 

3:10AM: Bogged down by the stress of the semester, Ron, 25, takes a moment to read the next chapter in his self help book.

Remnants of Ron's frustrations dangle from his doorway.

4:02AM: After 47 hours of animating, Tony, 21, takes a brief nap at his desk beside his puppet-friend Chuck, before getting back to work.