I interviewed the incredible Animation Director Yann Tremblay in May 2013 for the Vancouver Film School's (VFS) main blog. It marked the completion of my VFS Classical Animation Class 10 graduates trifecta (or would it be better called a hat-trick?) — as well as the last interview I would do for VFS. He along with Bardell Animation Supervisor Trent Noble and Animation Director Andrew Overtoom (SpongeBob SquarePants) all graduated from the same Classical Animation program back in 1997.
All three of these guys were great story-tellers and very funny guys. Yann had some crazy stories to tell about his professional career. He has been working in animation since right after he graduated, and two of the films he was involved in (The Triplets of Belleville and The Illusionist) were nominated for Oscars. Which is not bad for a guy who started out wanting to be an actor, and didn't even think it was possible to study animation in Canada.
He moved to Vancouver from a small town in Quebec, barely able to speak English, but with a desire to learn acting. Then one day while checking out the VFS Acting program, he saw a poster for the Classical Animation program and it hit him like a divine 2001: A Space Odyssey Monolith moment, complete with the Gyorgy Legiti music in the background. It was the first thing he did that felt absolutely right to him.
After he graduated, a lot of people said it would next to impossible to get work doing 2D in Canada. But Yann had no problem with that — and he pretty much taught himself how to do 3D, too. The stories Yann told me of his efforts to advance in his career were at times hilarious, but they also evinced a tenacity, a dedication to getting it right, that was inspiring.
Yann's work, like that of his pals Trent and Andrew, speaks of a love for the great masters of 2D animation—the Disney and Warner Bros studios of the 30s, 40s and 50s. It doesn't hurt that he drew constantly (even while cooking!). I loved his work in the Sylvain Chomet films and I can't wait to see what he's going to do next.
Read my full interview with Yann Tremblay here on the VFS Blog.
