by Tiffany Williams and Doneisha Watkins
On Wednesday, January 29, 2014, SIATech Los Angeles students attended a workshop at the Grammy Museum at LA Live. (Pictured are students Tiffany Williams and Doneisha Watkins.)
The museum hosted special guests Michael Dante DiMartino, Brian Konietzko, and Jeremy Zucker of the Nickelodeon animated series “The Legend of Korra.” The guests were there to talk with students about their experiences in animation and music as well as answer student questions.
Michael DiMartino is the creator and executive producer and story editor of the animated TV series “Avatar: The Last Airbender” and “The Legend of Korra,” both on Nickelodeon. He was born in Shelburne, Vermont. He studied at the Rhode Island School of Design with Bryan Konietzko, who he created “Avatar” with.
Bryan Konietzko then went on to earn a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Illustration from the Rhode Island School of Design in 1998. He was a Storyboard Artist and Art Director for the Nickelodeon animated series “Invader Zim.” He has also worked as a character designer at Film Roman working on “Family Guy” and as Assistant Director for “Mission Hill” and “King of the Hill.”
Jeremy Zucker, an amazing composer in sound design, also went to school with Michael and Bryan. He worked with others on many other films like “Kung Fu Panda: Legend of Awesomeness” as well as in advertising.
During the interview, students were able to meet the special guests. They showed us clips of their new series “The Legend of Korra.” They showed us detailed segments on how the composer Jeremy creates the musical background for each of the clips. Bryan explained the animation of the clip and how they create and combined animation and music with each take.
Bryan had a lot of feedback and gave us a lot of advice on how to follow what he calls a “river of pathways.” He was advocating for the perfection of work.
SIATech students asked many questions and received a lot of feedback on how to become musicians, artists, directors and animators.
Tiffany Williams and Doneisha Watkins are students at SIATech Los Angeles at Los Angeles Job Corps.
