WHO'S CREDIT IS IT?: ROLES WTHIN AN ANIMATION PRODUCTION PIPELINE
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Let’s
face it, when was the last time you ever watched the credits after an animated
movie?
I’ll
wait for you answer at the end of this, if you can remember.
For
those who are experienced, maybe you have watched enough Marvel movies to stay
after the final scene.
Often,
we usually enjoy the highs, lows, twists, jaw-dropping and edge-of-the-seat action,
and the final scene leaves us wanting more or wondering if there’s a sequel or
next episode.
Another
thing. Have you always seen sooo many names and wondered why it is so long?
And
why it’s so important to have credits?
Animation
projects, especially films often have usually need and have a large team and it
is a collaborative effort to accomplish. So, who does what?
Let’s
get to know the roles of various people working in the animation production
pipeline. As mentioned, in our previous post, they are three phases of
production, which include, pre-production, production and post-production. Various
people fill roles in these phases which help to complete a piece of animation.
Roles
in the animation production pipeline
Animation
production roles can take many different shapes, depending on the type of animation,
size of the project or budget that is available. For example, a 30 – 45 seconds
ad that is seen on TV or websites can have a team of 5 – 10 people, while a
feature film of 1 hour 30 minutes may requires about 200 – 500 people. However,
for now, we could cover the general and basic outline of roles.
Pre-production
In
our previous post, we talked about the pre-production phase which involves a
lot of planning and exploration of the idea for an animation production. Some
of the roles include:
Producer:
Did
you have a class prefect when you were in school? This might fit the equivalent
in some ways. Just like the teacher usually leaves the prefect to overwatch the
class remains in proper function. The producer is usually in charge of the management
of the animation project, in terms of budgets, deadlines, ensuring that everything
remains on course as the project moves from department from department until it’s
completion.
They
always seek ways to secure funding for the animation project and in some
instances assist or give creative decisions to guide the project.
Below
is a link explaining the animation producer’s role.
https://youtu.be/YR4H1nc4M9k?si=mJHn8I8WDMUl5NsW
Director:
The director often holds the vision of the film or project. With the vision
they have, they set the mood, tone, visual look or style and music or sounds
that will be used on the project. Together, with the other departments, they
work out all the necessary details and objectives to achieve the goal of the
vision.
A
director often has a good imagination to help the vision come to life, a good
sense of leadership to inspire and guide other team members to achieving the
goals of the film, a good sense of storytelling to understand what makes a good
story which engaging plots and believable characters, a good knowledge of
animation including the principles and mechanics, finally, an appreciation of knowledge
of the arts, which help the director to draw inspiration from various sources.
Below
is a link of a video of animation director of Disney Pixar’s Incredibles, Brad
Bird explaining the director’s role in animation.
https://youtu.be/dE6NRFs5Ikw?si=w_uGOZeIzBnRqHby
Screenwriter:
Is responsible for the development of story ideas into a script, in accordance
to the director’s vision.
Writers
may work on an original idea they have or contribute to an existing story idea
for a particular project. The development of stories can include working out
the outline of scenes, dialogue of characters, conflict and character
development.
Writers,
often have a good understanding of story and what makes a good story, understanding
of all the features and components of a good story to be able to amend, change
and correct a story and being able to communicate and work with the director
and producer and share ideas.
Below
is a link helping understand the writing process in animation.
https://www.creativescreenwriting.com/animated-movies/
Storyboard
artist: They help craft a visual narrative of the film or
project, in the series of panel. This is often done through roughly drawn
panels of the scenes that are described in the script, which in turn should
represent the director’s vision.
Depending
on the project, they may be asked to refine the drawings or draw full descriptive
backgrounds. This may help bring a clearer vision for the director to work with
in terms of assessing the scenes in the story.
Below
is a link to the story of Patrick Harpin, who is a story artist at Sony
Pictures Animation
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7mlneY-E6ac
Storyboard
artists must have good drawing and storytelling skills, to be able produce work
in a range of art styles and sell a visual narrative, a good understanding of
sequential storytelling and communication of ideas with the director and writer
Head
of story: They are in charge of turning the writer’s script
into the director’s vision with a series of panels, which describe a visual
narrative of the film or project.
These
visual panels often consist of roughly drawn panels, from a managed team of
storyboard artists. They may also produce an animatic, which is a video made
from the roughly drawn frames or panels to be able to show the mock play of the
film or project. Often, they report to a senior storyboard artist for review
and feedback on their work.
A
good head of drawing must have good drawing skills to communicate narratives
visually, good understanding of animation with knowledge of animating and
editing, ability to take feedback and work with changes to the work and finally
the ability to share the story vision to the director and storyboard artists.
Below
is a former head of story, on Disney Pixar’s Wreck It Ralph talking about her
process
https://youtu.be/IomgUWKjUxA?si=sWZV8oC18p676u-_
Concept
artist: They mostly come up ideas for the look of the
film. The create potential ways in which the design of the whole project could
take, and are later taken and reviewed by the director. Their work is a
reference point for animators, art directors, background artists and character
designers.
They
work closely with the director to have a basis in which to work from to guide
other visual creative decisions for the film. They work is often quick and
loose and can go through review and feedback from the director.
A
concept artist must have good drawing skills to create various styles and a good
knowledge and experience in watching and seeing various animation productions
to understand various styles in animation and also a good imagination to come
up with styles.
Below
is a link for the exploration of The Simpsons
https://characterdesignreferences.com/art-of-animation-4/art-of-the-simpsons
Character
designer: They visualize and create the look of individual
characters, from descriptions given to them by the director. Other
inspirations, come from the script and concept art that is developed from the concept
designer.
Multiple
designs can be done for the character, be it on paper or digitally, and
undergoes review by the director and feedback is given for changes, until the
final versions are agreed upon. They could also pitch design ideas to the director.
A
good character designer must have a good ability draw, but more specifically in
various art styles for variety and adaptability to the director’s vision.
Below
is a link to the work of Bruce Timm, who is known for creating various character
designs for Warner Bros Animation
https://characterdesignreferences.com/art-of-animation-4/art-of-batman-the-animated-series
Image
of Bruce Timm
Image
source: https://www.illustrationhistory.org/artists/bruce-timm
Art
director: They are usually in charge of developing the
visual style for the animation project. They work closely with the director to
discuss and review the visual style, until they arrive at a finally decision.
They
examine the script, and identify potential, tone, moods and colour palettes of
the film or animation project.
An
art director, often has a strong imagination to create various appealing
designs, strong leadership skills which help being able to work together with other
departments and guide them across various aspects of the designs they have created,
an understanding of animation production pipeline to help understand the
significance of their role in the project, communication to help working with
the director to achieve a visual style
Below
is the link to work of an art director, Phil Bourassa who has worked on DC
Comic animation projects such as Young Justice (2010), Son of Batman (2014), Justice
League War (2014), Batman Hush (2019) and many others between 2007 – 2023.
https://www.imdb.com/name/nm2476081/
Are
you able to notice any trends in tones, moods and colour palettes in terms of
the visual styles he has worked on?
Some
work from Phil Bourassa
Image
source: https://ar.pinterest.com/pin/516365913521996333/
Background
designer: They are mostly responsible for designing the
backgrounds and environments in which the scenes of the project take place. The
consideration of the texture, colour and light during scenes is undertaken by
the background designer, and also the way in which foreground and background environments
work together.
They
often work with the storyboard artists and director to be able discuss and
approve ideas.
Background
designers, may have a strong ability of drawing with attention to understanding
form of buildings, architecture, cities, forests and other environments. Other aspects
in their technical drawings would be their attention to detail in colour, texture
and light, and how they work with various forms and structures.
Below
is an example of background designed in animation
https://youtube.com/shorts/sOV-RVOmCkw?si=B7rXV7RK0uOa1wZy
Voice
Actors: Record the dialogue and character voices before
actual animation begins, so animators can match the lip-syncing and emotional
tone to the voices.
Below
is a link of a voice actors work
https://youtube.com/shorts/RT4woyrX3gM?si=S-dxAVlcaqdh9eBK
Production
This
is the phase in which the actual animation video is made and all the details and
planning in the pre-production phases is applied. Feel free to refer to the
post on frames if anything seems confusing, as frames as a concept in animation
are highly important here. Some of the roles include:
Junior
animators: They help senior animators, create animations.
In
2D Animation, where frames are drawn, they often fill in the in-between drawings
after the other important frames have been done. They help clean up animation drawings
on frames, which means after the rough drawings that senior animators have done
in order to make sure they have smooth movement, the junior animators come in
and draw over clean lines to make a better appearance of the animation.
Below
is an example of clean up in 2D animation
https://youtube.com/shorts/FAPYZGlLXYs?si=oX9dNkCjxcvJtH4c
https://youtube.com/shorts/Z0W0rcntjVg?si=jQ5Gr4x7VERVnTng
In
3D animation, they help test rigs. Rigs, refer to characters that have the laid
out “skeleton” in which 3D animators “pull strings” on like a puppet to move.
They test them and assess their ability for believable movement.
Below
is an example of an animation rig test.
https://youtube.com/shorts/_qXLtEXNiis?si=vj-PNa9KtPoHf3-w
https://youtube.com/shorts/1g2qp7S39xU?si=R8mt2mo9F0hzA7ie
In
stop motion, they help create emotions, expressions and poses of clay figures
to meet the director’s requirements.
Below are examples of the preparation of clay
figures for stop motion
https://youtube.com/shorts/BxlJSdu1AGw?si=sW5x9IeAzZZlyiUG
https://youtube.com/shorts/R7UCpItENu0?si=fXo5_JWXanp_GQ8R
Good
drawings skills, and a good degree of spatial awareness are crucial to a junior
animator work and being able to convey the characters expressions and attitudes
in a particular action.
Senior
animators: They are often highly skilled animators who do more
of the complex scenes and movements in which characters are interacting, and
may require higher levels of expertise and experience.
They
also provide guidance and advice to the junior animators and at times may lead
teams of animators.
Through
their experience, they assist in being able to maintain the consistency of the
animation in the film or project.
Example
of complex scenes that senior animators handle
https://youtube.com/shorts/4vDi2B64F9M?si=YhnN-5r4_e-lGgNq
Description
of a senior animator’s work
https://youtu.be/H1T_pL26E4A?si=TyAasO1PCksdw_iI
Character animator:
They specialize in animating characters and their movements and work closely
with the character designers, to ensure that their movements are consistent
with characters personality and attitude.
They
have keen detail for characters expressions such hand gestures, types of walks,
smirks, eyebrow movements, types of runs and many more.
Below
is an example of ensuring characters remain consistent in while animating
https://youtu.be/1buElMp1oQg?si=a46d74hii8ybZlW3
Lead
animator: The lead animator is responsible of managing a
team of animators to animate the characters, in accordance to the director’s
vision.
Some
of the duties include, assisting in key animations, that are done for junior
animators to be able do in-between frames, being able to guide animators on
complex scenes and finally ensuring that there is proper communication between
the director and group of animators in terms of completion of the animation.
Below
is a video of a Lead animator on Disney’s Tarzan explain a scene that stood out
to him.
https://youtube.com/shorts/vqas--5d3Z0?si=b3gtkBW_mwMj_RM6
Below
is a video of a Lead animator explaining what it is like to be a lead animator
https://youtube.com/shorts/ni9Q-Yr9aiY?si=T9ChT_tZBZ5jJYDp
Post
production
After
the production of the animation is finished, the additional elements are added
to the video such as sound effects, music, special effects and video editing
are done. Some of the roles in this phase include:
Sound
designer: They often create the particular sounds to be
used, since animation does not have any sounds from a natural environment, and
if they are present, are often recorded from an environment and used.
Depending
on the nature of the film, they record sounds from real life to be used in
environments from the animation, such as rain, traffic, market chatter, footsteps,
pouring sand and many more. These are known as Foley sounds.
They
may also create sounds from scratch with a computer,which could also be used as
music or in particular times in the film or project, especially if the project has
called for use of a lot of fantasy, magical, mystic or alien creatures and environments.
Below
is an example of use of created sounds for alien creatures.
https://youtube.com/shorts/eNidkcOWQrI?si=8QxhVBMhYg61k7S9
Below
is an example of sound design for an animation.
https://youtube.com/shorts/sv3P4euHgZc?si=gzEvYYdsPG-mpe0X
Composer:
They write original music for animated films or projects. The music often reflects
in the atmosphere of the films to capture moments, character’s emotions and
story.
Composer’s
are given a brief by the director to work with and create the music. Demo
records are created during the storyboard and animatic phase. The composers can
rewrite their music, dependent on feedback from the director, editor and producers.
Different
animation projects call for different types of musicians to create music. Large
projects often use orchestras and large teams of musicians, while smaller projects
may hire smaller teams or solo artists.
Below
is a theme song of the popular animated series by Warner Bros animation, Batman
The Animated Series (1992 – 1995) which was written and composed by Danny
Elfman.
https://youtu.be/rrmUk2YUm14?si=hJqjlOpjnEBi2lNe
The
theme song, for X-Men The Animated Series (1992 -1997) which was done by the
Newton Brothers
https://youtu.be/sAkL2-vh2Sk?si=86_uNOup3SPscN2k
Editor:
They craft the telling of the story from the start of the production to the
finish.
From
the start of the project, they work with the writer, producer and director,
discussing the script and storyboard. They plan the different scenes and shots.
They work out what will need to be animated and how scenes will be pieced
together.
After
the animation is finished, they arrange the final footage and prepare a rough
cut, making revisions for the final cut which must be approved by the producer.
Editors carry on to oversee the incorporation of audio into the film,
collaborating with sound designers and music editors.
Below
is an explanation of an animation editor’s role
https://youtu.be/VMw55MhotKc?si=XB9OXtkGiMOI0eOz
Conclusion
The
roles in animation can vary depending on the size of the animation project. At
times, some productions can be flexible with roles and how to be able to create
work with various roles either one member covering many departments or using
simple equipment to get the job done.
However,
it all comes down to how everything is planned out at the beginning of the
project and how the goals are achieved by a particular studio or group of
creative people.
In
the end, they are a variety of roles in an animation production and can accommodate
people with various skills and aptitudes.
References
https://www.screenskills.com/job-profiles/browse/animation/production-management/director-animation/
https://www.illustrationhistory.org/artists/bruce-timm
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