It’s only a matter of time until animator Dave Carter is a household name here in the US. His ability to capture a performance visually and translate it to animation is truly inspiring and the interview below is a great glimpse into that process. The good citizens of New York can meet Dave in person Friday July 25th for our big kick off at the IFC Center. Taylor caught up with him recently via phone and had this to share.
THE ANIMATION SHOW YEAR 4 Theatrical
Dave Carter
Animator, “Psychotown” (2008)
Interviewer: Taylor Jessen
Date: 4/6/2008
Via phone from Australia
Animation Show: I’m talking to Dave Carter, the creator of Pyschotown. And the first
question I have to ask you, Dave, not just because it affects your process as an animator but because it affects this very phone call, is that you are deaf. You have a cochlear implant. Can you talk about the extent of your deafness? How is your hearing now? And when did you first hear?
Dave Carter: Well, I didn’t hear anything until I was eight. So nearly up to then I was pretty much living in complete silence. And so ultimately that’s kind of had an effect on the way I see the world and obviously everything is so visual. And it still very much – even if I’ve got the implant nowadays. Yeah, so I guess it’s programmed this sort of visual orientation, way of seeing things.
AS: So I guess you learned to lip-read from an early age.
DC: That’s right, yeah. I never learned sign language, so – because my mother decided that her mission was going to be – that would ostracise me from the real world so she insisted that I learn to lip read. So yeah, that’s been my main mode of communication. And lip reading has sort of paid off in a good way because I’m pretty good at lip syncing because I can tell when it’s not right when I’m animating it.
AS: You have a real clear speaking voice, all things considered, so how did you get to
where you are now? Was there a lot of therapy involved?
Entire Interview Here
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