Screen and Screen Again: Preparing for Production
You have now officially ended Pre-production. The film is finished; the animation is about to begin. Story problems are dealt with in storyboard stage so that the picture won’t need revisions after the animation is 40 percent completed (and there are films that have achieved this dubious distinction). Changes can and will still occur if you are on a commercial production. Sequences may be added or more likely dropped if directors and producers demand it. A well-run feature project will have some sequences in production while others are being revised, so that the film can be completed out of sequential order.
If you’re working on a personal film, you have completed the boards and timed the story reel. You have prioritized the sequences so that the expendable “C’s” go into production last and your major efforts go into the “A’s and B’s.” The character models are finalized, rigged and modeled if necessary, and the art direction set.
Layout, the first stage of production, is the cinematography of animation. Good layout pluses the storyboard staging, choreographs the camera moves, adds depth and design to backgrounds, and sets the stage for the animated actors. After layout, it is finally time for the animators to create memorable performances that are based on storyboard ‘rehearsals’. This book ends where most others begin.
I stated in the Introduction that animators were magicians. Like magicians, we work hard to make the impossible look easy. Our reward is a symphony of color, sound, and motion, and the pleasure of working in the most fascinating art form of the last hundred years. Best of all, in animation, the magic is real. It will come to you with practice. Good luck, and have fun!
[Fig. 23-1] My last thank-you is to Gizmo the cat, the cover model whose gentle, playful disposition provided welcome diversion while this book was being written.