The pressure of an opening

I was tasked with coming up with an idea and subsequent board for the opening credits of Mr. King. The one catch was that it needed to be 30 seconds in length. Normally this wouldn't be too much of a problem as most opening themes today are on the peppy/high energy side. The plan for MR. King however, was to be a series that had a quiet type of energy. I also wanted to steer clear of an opening that had lyrics. " Mr. King, yeah, Mr. King, yeah, he's so remarkable...that Mr. King, yeahhhhhh."

Booo...

I've always loved the opening musical theme to Babar. Thought it was sweet, pretty, and beautiful. And recognizable. Norm Beaver, one of the heads of our music department, cast the net and we received 10 submissions of various themes. Long story short I chose a piece, the rough version you'll hear in the attached video, from Erica Procunier. Now that I had the piece of music the boarding could begin. My initial thought was for the opening to have a series of backgrounds representing each of the characters homes, pop up like a pop up book. One BG swinging toward camera only to be replaced by another. I tried this first and determined it didn't work. Back to the drawing tablet I tried another version where each location would" paint on. Again this didn't work as there were too many characters homes to show. I then tried a different approach entirely by having Mr. King paint his castle home as each character came to watch. Though it kind worked time wise I finally determined that no one, the audience most importantly, would know what the heck was going on. I grew increasingly more frustrated and also knew the clock was ticking as far as deadlines go.
On a Wednesday night, a week ago from this posting, I decided to just throw in the towel and stop. I'd have to ask for some sort of extension in the morning. Went to bed. The next morning I arrived at work and decided to open the very first pass/attempt that I had boarded. I stared at it for about 30 seconds then decided to cut my first background, which was Mr. King's house. This was all it took and it timed almost perfectly to the music. Obviously I had to climb a mountain to fully understand what I had at the base. Thankfully it has been well received by our group of commenters and I am happy to share the leica for the opening, with rough temp music, below.
Looking very much forward to the final product.

Animation, almost the final frontier

When our production started I knew our studio was going to be very busy. I also knew the city was going to be very busy. As a result when it came time for crewing up animators I knew it was going to be a challenge to secure senior type animators. Don't get me wrong. I have no problem with junior types and in fact readily welcome them. But there was a fear that I would be "stuck" with an entire team of inexperienced animators. Animation, after all, is what this is all about.

Judy Leung, our studio manager, was tasked with crewing up Mr. King. It was a challenge to be sure.
Long story short...We hit the Jack Pot! Judy has managed to put together a great group of animators that to date have pretty much nailed the look which I was hoping for. All but one of the animators are new to our studio. All of them have fantastic attitudes. All seem very happy to be working on the show. And most importantly, we have a great balance of experience.

I like to think the series is animator friendly. It helps that I was an animator for many years and thus have structured the show to allow for achievable deadlines. I will post samples of some of this  beautiful work in the near future.

Client notes, without the clients

So Mr. King is a bit of a unique production in that we don't have outside clients. I have worked with demanding clients who have a strong idea of what quality is, despite budget, and I have worked with clients who have no idea what a constructive note even is. The notes they give can either push you towards achieving higher quality or end with you wanting to rip your hair out out of frustration.
 For Mr. King we essentially have the following people giving comments on scripts, leicas, and finished animation.

Hugues Dafour: Corus Kids/Network guy

Genevieve Cote: Creator/Illustrator of Mr. King

Vanessa Esteves: Supervising Producer

Kids Can Press: The publisher of the Mr. King book series.

Stacie Goldin: Educational consultant.

I personally couldn't be happier with this group. When Comments are given they are constructive but more importantly come from a place of caring about Mr. King.
What helps, I think, is that they had all been brought on early enough to be apart of my vision for the series. They all were won over by my initial pitch and I believe felt they were part of something special. In the beginning when things are most fragile, they each gently offered up concerns or suggestions, keeping their ego's in check. This was very constructive and helpful. As a result I feel very fortunate for the group we have and like to think they too feel very much a part of what will no doubt be a very successful series.

One thing to note in particular about notes...It's okay to not have them. In fact this can help immensely with confidence and focus. Compliments, honest ones, are as important. And just because you can make a comment, doesn't mean you need to.
Sometimes things are beautiful just the way they are.

Below, for posterity, are some comments I received on a leica for Mr. King's Picnic.

Leica notes – 5A Mr. King’s Picnic – rough leica notes

 Genevieve,   Vanessa, Hugues (no notes)

Lovely story with timely social undertones!

No notes from me, just one tiny suggestion: maybe the ant's antennas drooping to amplify their exhaustion? (scene 30-31)

Mr. King's neat manners with the napkin at the end are very cute - obviously, Tex has taught him well!

Adorable. Love the ant-burp at the end ☺

No notes.

Makes me nostalgic for a summer picnic!

All good!

END