Monday, 6/9/97 UCLA graduate student animator wins Academy Award
Former engineer hopes 4 1/2-minute short will gestate into
career
By Stephanie Sheh Daily Bruin Contributor Many students dream of
hearing the words, "And the Oscar goes to …" But for Mark Dale
Levine, this dream is a reality. Levine, a masters of fine arts
animation student, won the gold student Academy Award for his
animated film "Unborn Baby Blues." This feat came only after many
difficult decisions. One was deciding to quit a stable aerospace
engineering job to return to school in order to study art and
eventually animation. "I was (working at Rockwell) for about six
years," Levine says. "After about four years, I realized that
aerospace was not for me. Most of the guys there loved what they
were doing. It took me a while to realize that these guys are
enjoying this a lot more than I am." Levine signed up for evening
art classes as a hobby. Art, however, is not new to Levine. Growing
up in Miami, he made 8-mm stop-motion animation movies with his
friends. Because at that time there was no animation industry in
Miami, a career in that field never occurred to Levine. "(After
taking classes) I realized, ‘Hey, I can do this for a living,’"
Levine says. "I looked at illustration and got accepted into Art
Center. I then started going to animation festivals and thought,
‘Hmm … maybe I can do animation.’" At this point, Levine hit a
snag. Since he was an illustration student at Art Center, he would
have to wait six to seven terms before taking an animation class.
"I thought, ‘Hmm … that’s a long time,’" Levine says. "And in
illustration and in animation, it’s not getting a degree that gets
you a job, it’s your portfolio. People often leave school before
they get their degrees. I wasn’t sure that I was going to last much
longer than six or seven terms anyway, so I thought that maybe I
could look into getting accepted elsewhere for animation." After
taking a summer course here, Levine applied and was accepted into
UCLA’s animation department. Two years ago, Levine made the
regional, but not final, level in the student Academy Award
category. This time around, he fulfilled his dream. The
announcement came as a surprise to Levine, who is still reeling
from the excitement. "The previous day Federal Express sent me a
letter," Levine says. "I was going to wait until my wife got home
to open it. It was kind of thin so I thought, ‘Hmm … it’s
probably the proverbial, "Well, you didn’t win anything,"’ But then
I thought to myself, ‘This is Federal Express. Would they Federal
Express that? Well, they might, this is the Academy.’" Although
Levine decided not to open the letter, he did check his answering
machine. And he was delighted to hear some very exciting messages.
Levine calls "Unborn Baby Blues," the 4 1/2 minute film that earned
Levine his Oscar, "a humorous portrayal of a baby’s life in the
womb and the use of her imagination to amuse herself." "Basically,
the baby’s inside the womb and she’s bored," Levine explains. "So
she’s kind of escaping with her mind and going out, doing stuff and
having lots of fun, but the reality keeps coming back that she’s
stuck inside this womb." Levine came up with the inspiration for
the film when his wife was six months pregnant with his now
14-month-old daughter, Amber Dale Levine. Amber Dale has seen the
film since she was 6 months old. Levine says that his daughter
really likes it and will jump around when she watches the dancing
sperm in the opening sequence. To achieve the correct style for the
dancing sperm and the rest of the film, Levine used a technique
called "sand on glass." In this type of animation, the camera takes
shots of pictures that are made out of sand. Levine believes that
using sand gives the animation extra life. Richard Quade, who was
one of the head animators on "Toy Story," also won a student
Academy Award using sand on glass. Levine hopes that his award will
provide him with similar career opportunities. Levine is interested
in computer and three-dimensional animation jobs. His background in
engineering has made him very comfortable working with computers.
As for career advice to other students, Levine reminds them that
there is something disagreeable about every job. However, the
important thing is to love something about the job as well.
Previous Daily Bruin Story Festival offers relief with student
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