Media X students get inside story from Oscar-winning director

Media X students met Oscar-winning director Mark Andrews in September when he visited the digital media program and shared his insights on the film business. He also discussed his 17 years of developing stories for Pixar Animation Studios.

Andrews’ list of credits includes some of the most popular animated and action movies of the past two decades. He was a storyboard artist on 2002’s “Spider-Man,” the head of story and visual development on “The Incredibles,” and of course, “Brave,” which won the 2013 Academy Award for Best Animated Feature.

“Lectures from artists such as Mark Andrews are incredibly important,” said Media X Program Director Kevin Pontuti. “Students can hear firsthand from successful professionals — in this case, Oscar-winning —what it takes for a successful career in the industry.”

Andrews calls the filmmaking process “alchemy,” referring to the elusive effort to turn ordinary metal into gold. He impressed upon the students that there’s nothing magical about movie-making; it’s all hard work.

According to Andrews, movies tend to get stuck in the story development phase and tough decisions are necessary to move forward. For example, sometimes directors have to eliminate a favorite character or storyline to make a film work.

“I make the babies and I kill the babies.”

Director Mark Andrews

He cited the project “Brave,” which he took over after the original director, Brenda Chapman, left. He said the first thing he did was to get rid of everything unnecessary to the story and focus on Princess Merida.

When asked how bad movies happen, Andrews answered, “Good intentions. The difference between good and suck is a hair.”

Media X professor Gary Armagnac invited Andrews to Pacific when the two collaborated on an animated feature project that Andrews was overseeing for Pixar earlier this year.

“Mark asked me to work with him as a performance capture artist,” Armagnac said. “I learned so much working with him and with the crew at Pixar, and I was able to bring that knowledge back to Pacific. I feel it is vitally important for me to continue working in the industry.”

In addition to providing insight into the animation process, Andrews offered students career advice. He cautioned that not every project will inspire them but that it’s still their responsibility to remain creative.

“Being hands-on,making things all the time ― that’s the best,” he said.

He also said that career development is about cultivating a reputation as someone other people want to work with.

“When you get out of school, build your reputation,” he said. “It doesn’t matter what you worked on; it matters how you worked on it.”

Students said they were impressed to meet someone with such vast experience in filmmaking and grateful that Andrews was frank with them about how the industry works.

“Having such distinguished industry professionals come to class and talk to us about what it really takes to succeed is eye-opening,” said Media X major Jonathan Sosidka ’21. “He’s able to provide the real, unfiltered truth of how you rise to the top in such a competitive field.”