FROM SKETCH TO ROLLNG CREDITS: THE ANIMATION PRODUCTION PROCESS
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From
the doodles on books and several written drafts of stories thrown in the bin,
our imaginations of various characters and animations have spanned several
conversations in restaurants, offices, car rides and even classrooms.
Until.
The
feeling of dread and excitement hit you as soon as the season finale is
announced from your streaming service. A few minutes later, you are holding
your gasp and sigh, as the credits roll on the screen.
A
few weeks later and you cannot seem to find anything else to watch and you
begin to wonder, why wouldn’t they make it quicker?
How
long have you waited until the next season of your animated series or show?
Before you storm with your fellow couch potatoes to the studio’s email or office,
armed with placards. Let us help you prevent you from being on the wrong side
of news, by getting to the bottom of it.
Production
process of animation
Fun
fact:
Spongebob Squarepants was actually made by a former marine biologist, by the
name of Stephen Hillenburg.
It
started as a comic book, called “The Intertidal Zone” which he made in college.
When he pitched the show to Nickelodeon, he carried an aquarium to explain it
all.
Fun
fact:
Did you know that the voice of almost 5 characters of The Simpsons, which are
both of boys and girls, are voiced by a lady? Her name is Nancy Cartwright, and
she does the voices of Bart Simpsons (Homer and Marth Simpson’s son), Kearney
Zzyzwicz (local thug), Nelson Muntz (4th grade bully), Ralph Wiggum
(Chief Wiggum’s son) and Todd Flanders (Ned Flanders’ youngest son).
Fun
fact:
In the making of the Lion King, the six-minute scene, involving the migration
of the wildebeest, took three years to complete.
As
we can see that the process of production in animation undergoes various
unexpected twists and turn and the people who accomplish these tasks. However,
let’s get past the screen and know how these steps work.
The
animation production process, involve three phases, pre-production, production
and post production.
Pre-production
Concept
idea and development
From
the crazy idea you wrote in your composition class to the story your told at
the party, which was never forgotten, most of the beginnings of an animation
begin with a concept idea. It could be as simple as a lesson you learnt in a
story from your grandparents or as complex as a time when you survived a chase
with a wild animal.
Fun
fact:
The classic animation of Popeye, was actually inspired by a real-life person,
known as Frank “Rocky” Fiegel who was a resident of Chester, Illinois. He was a
rough and tough guy, who often got into brawls in bars. Away from bars, he
worked as a general laborer and often showed feats of strength and toughness,
even during long hard days of work.
The
cartoon world met Frank, from his love for children and he often handed them
sweets. The cartoon creator of Popeye, who goes by the name of E.C Segar, was
one of the children. Segar was inspired by Frank’s feats of strength and
toughness, thus the trait of strength in Popeye and also the physical
appearance of Frank.
Image
source: https://gilaherald.com/editorial-popeye-the-sailor-man-really-existed/
Image of Popeye and Frank “Rocky” Fiegel
Image
source: https://maritimecyprus.com/2021/03/31/maritime-history-popeye-in-real-life-1868/
The
concept idea or phase, involves being able to brainstorm and explore ideas,
which come from personal experiences, books, art etc. The goal is to be able to
be boundless and let creativity flow and see the far reaches of the ideas.
It
also involves carrying out any research if necessary, in regards to the type of
story that is being discussed. For example, if the story involves a particular
culture, city or region. It is important to be able to learn as much as
possible about the aspects involve in the potential idea, to allow for proper
representation of people, cultures, regions, ethnicities etc.
Apart
from cultural aspects, other things which are explored, include, art styles,
various settings of the story, current trends etc. This could also include, the
design of the environments, backgrounds, the type of world (magical, fantasy,
sci-fi, traditional village, futuristic technology, alien etc)
The
various types of characters are also explored as well as, what type of genre
the story will be as well as the themes explored. Which characters will be
protagonists or antagonists, what type of conflicts will be involved etc. The
synopsis and story outline are also developed
The
goals of this phase involve, being able to find out if the idea has enough potential
and also refining any rough areas of the idea. It is very important, as other
phases of production, will be guided from the activities carried out here.
Script
writing
After
the being able to go through the brainstorming phase of a story idea and
navigating the various explorations of character, setting, environment,
animation style, themes and many more, it is finally time to flesh out and get
the story refined.
The
script writing phase aims to finally give the story a plot with main plot
points, scenes are developed, characters are given their dialogue, the setting
and environments of various scenes are done and the pacing of how quickly the
story moves or needs to have slow moments are decided.
When
completed, the first draft of the script is reviewed by the creative team or
group of writers as well as the director, and assessed to look for any plot
holes, lack of believability in dialogue, lack of strong conflict,
inconsistencies in characters actions or poor pacing in the story. The
corrections are given back to the writer or writers, and another process of
correction is done.
This
process of review, feedback and correction can go for a couple of days or week,
depending on the magnitude of the project. It is important to be able to be as
thorough as possible during this process because it advises a lot of the
creative decisions of other departments.
Character
and background design
The
character whose posture you wish to imitate or costume you love to wear, are
all designed and created in this phase.
Unlike
movies that are made with a recording camera, animation only has imagined
characters designed in a particular way and made to act. Therefore, this is
where character design becomes crucial and follow up after the story is finally
laid out.
Fun
fact:
During the production of some of Disney’s animated films, the actually brought
live animals to the studio for the character designers to learn from. Some of
these films include Lion King and Jungle Book.
This
phase of the production involves some of the artists, drawing various types of
designs of characters that fit the character descriptions as well as the
appeal. Artists use references from real life to stylize their drawings and
show the production team for review. It can also go through various reviews and
feedback until it is accepted
Below
is a link showing the exploration of character designs in Warner Bros Animation
animated series of Batman Beyond (2004)
https://characterdesignreferences.com/art-of-animation-9/art-of-batman-beyond
Character design explorations of the Pixar animated film, The Incredibles (2004)
Image
source: https://www.thedesignsketchbook.com/how-to-make-your-character-design-attractive-and-interesting/
Background design involves the design and
development of environments in relation with the scenes in the script and
setting of the story. It also goes through review, feedback and corrections.
Below
is a link for the backgrounds done for Batman The Animated Series (1992-1995)
Poster
of Batman The Animated Series
Image
Source: https://www.rottentomatoes.com/tv/batman_the_animated_series
Storyboarding
and animatic
From
that, exciting action scene where the agent jumps out of building, the hero
flies across several planets or the hero survives a crowd of enemies, this is
the part of the production process, where your favourtie scenes are formed and
decided upon.
The
storyboarding phase in the animation production process involves taking the
script and making sketches of scenes in order to be able to see the story in a
visual manner and see how certain scenes work together visually.
Fun fact: The origin of storyboards began in the 1930s, where they came from doing sketches of scenes and putting them up on a thumbnail on a board. The Disney short film, The Three Little Pigs, contained the first complete storyboards.
Below is a link to their storyboards
https://www.luikerwaal.com/newframe_uk.htm?/pigs1_uk.htm
Storyboards of the intro of Batman The Animated Series (1992-1995)
Image
source: https://artbookisland.tumblr.com/post/136795549322/batman-animated
Below
is the intro video for Batman The Animated Series. Can you spot the scenes?
https://youtu.be/rrmUk2YUm14?si=9OkUNisVbtpbECKB
During
this phase, storyboard artists work closely with directors to ensure they
capture, the best camera angles and shots, that help tell the story in the best
way possible. The goal of this phase, is to make sure that all scenes work and
are not incoherent or seem to lack to captivate the essence of specific scenes.
In order to bring this to life, an animatic is used.
An
animatic involves the use of the frames which are sketched out in the
storyboard to be played out to and give a preview of how the scenes work
together for the film.
Below
is a link to the storyboard and animatic for Disney’s feature film, Encanto
(2021)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o9BFnmskMgg
Below
is a link for the storyboard sketches and animatic of a restaurant scene in
Pixar’s feature film, The Incredibles 2 (2018)
Voice
acting
The
character you know who has a very distinct voice and can be easily recognized
if you heard them anywhere is done here.
In
this phase, voice actors and actresses, act out their pieces of dialogue from
the script, in the same emotion, personality and attitudes from the characters.
The recording is done in a recording booth where they have several takes and
feedback is given until the final version is accepted by the voice acting
director and the animation director of the production.
Below
are short videos of voice actress, Nancy Cartwright, who voices characters on
the Simpsons.
https://youtube.com/shorts/VSx1fH34N3s?si=b_OvNihLe_XvFtPn
https://youtu.be/vxC1lYlmw1Q?si=vB_UgXey6tP1qPCU
Another
famous voice actor is Mel Blanc, who voiced a number of Looney Tunes
characters.
https://youtube.com/shorts/iXTXjZK-Umg?si=cNpdmFYo3eyOHnpm
Production
Animation
This
is where everything comes together and the main animation work is done.
Animators bring to life, all that has been planned and set out from the
pre-production phase. This involves being able to use the voice acting
recordings, to act out characters in the correct emotion, mood, personality and
attitude of the characters in various scenes.
Animators
place the character in correct sequences of frames, to be able to accurately
capture the characters.
The
nature of this phase can depend on the type of animation being used, and the
needs it may have in terms of making sure that the characters are brought to
life.
This
phase can include reviews and feedback from the director and often involves
work with the storyboard artists as well.
Post
production
After
the animation has been done, this is the phase in which, environmental or
background sounds are added, as well as sound effects. Any necessary, songs or
theme songs are also added.
Depending
on the nature of the animation, special effects are added to an animation to
enhance scenes and make sure they have reached the quality that is desired by
the director.
Below
is an example of the sound design and production after an animation is complete
https://youtube.com/shorts/3gPXJFm_b-E?si=k86QosqWEWDfcvbZ
Below
is an example of how an animated scene moves from finish to added effects.
https://youtube.com/shorts/fkOJQ5yjwO4?si=OxPz4ozPqy-7lAL1
Distribution,
Promotion and marketing
Depending
on the time of animation that has been worked on, this is the phase in which
the animation video, is made presentable for viewing by audience on a particular
intended platform. This could be cinema, TV online, streaming, social media
etc.
It
also involves the promotion and marketing of film, which could include teaser
trailers, posters, social media marketing with influencers, press tours,
interviews on radio stations and many more.
Conclusion
Animation
production, is an exciting and wonderful process, but it can also be time
consuming and tedious. However, it is important to note that it is essentially,
a collaborative effort and every department, works together to achieve the goal
of having an excellent animated film, series or shows.
Depending
on the type of animation, production can take various types of routes and ways
to accomplish. Apart from the type of animation, the nature of the production
can also depend on how production is carried out. For example, there can be a
huge difference in the nature of production, when doing an animated series and
an animated documentary.
It
is important to learn that animation production may not always require a
clear-cut route and could be adaptive in many ways, in order to achieve the
goal of producing an animated video. It could also vary depending on the
capacity of the studio and scale of production.
References
https://platt.edu/blog/insane-facts-favorite-animated-tv-shows-growing/
https://nancycartwright.com/characters
https://www.disney.my/article-7-things-you-didnt-know-about-the-lion-king
https://news.disney.com/incredibles-2-behind-the-scenes
https://entertainment.howstuffworks.com/incredibles.htm
https://www.bobpictures.com/post/top-10-classic-cartoon-facts-you-ve-never-heard
https://openlab.citytech.cuny.edu/comd3523-fa2016/2016/11/07/origins-of-storyboarding/
https://www.iamag.co/from-storyboard-to-final-frame-incredibles-2-awkward-parr-family-dinner/
https://www.luikerwaal.com/newframe_uk.htm?/pigs1_uk.htm
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