063: Cultural Exploration and Animation Artforms

Catalyst: A Creative Industries Podcast

Catalyst is a Creative Industries podcast, from Chapman University. Each episode features Chapman students who have completed a Podcasting course through the Center for Creative and Cultural Industries at the university. Students who had no podcasting experience or technical ability in the genre before taking the course were able to contribute all the segments to Catalyst this season with the goal being that they will take this ‘hands-on’ experience and carry it over to the launching of their very own series. Each episode of Season 8 will feature one to two different interviews conducted by CCI students, exploring different aspects of the Creative and Cultural Industries.

Opening our show this week, we hear an interview by Olivia Creech who was joined by Dr. Rebecca S. Hall, a curator for the USC Pacific Asia Museum and cultural consultant for Disney’s Raya and the Last Dragon. Dr. Hall talks about the winding road she took from Kansas City Art Institute to her PhD program at UCLA in Art History, and how her love of research and textiles flourished and influenced that journey. They delve into Dr. Hall’s career as a museum curator and break down the exciting opportunity of working on an animated feature film and what the term “cultural consultant” actually denotes. They conclude the conversation while discussing Hall’s favorite exhibition she has curated, “We Are Here: Contemporary Art and Asian Voices in Los Angeles,” and its significance for local Asian communities.

Our second segment this week features an interview with Disney Television animation editor, Christopher Gee, by Peter Timberlake. Gee gives great insight into what an animation editor does and what he loves about the creative process of editing. Peter learns about Gee’s climb at Disney to eventually work on shows like Kim Possible, Monsters at Work and Buzz Lightyear of Star Command, and the difference is between an animation and live-action editor. They conclude the interview with a discussion of the challenges and joys of working for a TV animation division of a large company such as Disney, and some practical advice for those interested in the pursuing animation editing.