005: Character Animation: Stuart Messinger on Performance, Storytelling, and Believability

“You brought in the B word. Yeah, believability is so important in animation, but also any performance, I think. If your audience doesn't believe it and isn't convinced by it, it's done..”

Stuart Messinger

In this episode Sarah Perry chats with Animator, Animation Educator and former VFX Production Manager Stuart Messinger discussing the animator's journey, highlighting education, performance and character movement. Stuart shares his path from storytelling fascination to industry success, emphasising connections, preparation and key skills for animators. They explore believability, collaboration, physicalisation and the role of props, music, and backstory in character portrayal. Stuart offers insights into balancing technicality with authenticity and reflects on his creative projects.

About Stuart Messinger:

Stuart graduated with a BA (Hons) Animation at The Surrey Institute of Art and Design (Farnham), and then from The Royal College of Art (London), MA Animation and went into Visual Effects production management. He was an animator on the CITV series, ‘Grizzly Tales for Gruesome Kids’.

Film credits include: ‘Valiant’, Tim Burton’s ‘Charlie and the Chocolate Factory’, ‘Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire’, Roland Emmerich’s ’10,000BC’, ‘The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian’ and Aardman Animations stop motion feature film 'The Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists' directed by brilliant Peter Lord!

Stuart has over 10 years’ experience of developing and delivering Animation courses, curriculum content and training and has worked with a number of leading educational institutions including presently for Aardman Academy for Aardman.

Chapters

Introduction and Background

Journey into Animation

Career Breakthroughs and Opportunities

The Importance of Education in Animation

Performance and Believability in Animation

The Importance of Physicalisation in Animation

The Role of Costumes and Props

Defining Believability in Performance

Understanding Character Backstory

To get in touch with Stuart follow @stuart_j_messinger_aardman_ac on Instagram or Stuart Messinger at LinkedIn
To get in touch with Sarah visit: www.sarahperrymovement.com and follow @sarahperrymovement on Instagram.

References:
Suzie Templeton: http://www.suzietempleton.com/
Aardman Academy: https://academy.aardman.com/