Sunday, April 21, 2019
Monday, March 18, 2019
Friday, March 1, 2019
Art Director vs No Art Director
The short story...
Don Gauthier is my Art Director. He helped expand/create the visual world of Mr. King from Genevieve Cote's original illustrations in her books. Currently Don has been pulled away to work on establishing a style for another production. This is a problem. I still need my Art Director.
Long story...
Genevieve's illustrations were what drew me to Mr. King right from the beginning. However, moving from book to series meant we needed to expand her world while staying true to her style. Although I had a pretty good idea of what this world would look like I needed an experienced Art Director to help bring it out. This is where Don came in. We were able to work back and forth, honing what I refer to as the stylistic language of the series. Moving into production Don has been able to provide Keys for settings indicated within the scripts. Keys providing our background artists a guide to ensure the locations indicated in the storyboard are on style and adhering to this stylistic language.
However... Due to studio requirements, and perhaps an assumption that he had created enough momentum for our BG artists to continue on by themselves, Don was moved off Mr. King and on to another production. In my opinion, this has been too early and his guidance is still required.
You see my opinion is that an Art Director is a full time job on a production. It is an immense responsibility to oversee all BG artists interpretations of the Art Directors keys. A mentor to facilitate the language and to interpret how the Director may be reacting to their work in order to keep the production on style. Since he has been gone I find 90% of my time looking at designs for approvals has been spent on backgrounds. Not very efficient from a production point of view. I have voiced my concerns with my producer and am hopeful that I will have my Art Director back, at least in a 50% capacity, in the near future.
But lesson learned...Do Not underestimate the value of a good Art Director.
Friday, February 15, 2019
Animatic challenges
The Remarkable Mr. King is comprised of 3 X 7 minute shows per episode, for a total of 13 Episodes.
The scripts have translated into boards which, when assembled into their animatics, come in around 7:30. That's pretty accurate writing! That's pretty clear boarding!
However, There was a moment which I remember where I sort of lost focus on scripts. I believe it was around the time the animation department started up. There may have also been a bit of script fatigue. I use this term to describe losing touch with my own rules on what is necessary for the story. (There are 39 of them you know.)
Anyway, by not concentrating as hard as I should have I had a few animatics come in at a whopping 9:40!
9:40 on a 7:00 show is quite significant. (Please note the page count in the scripts were still 10-11 pages which has been standard throughout the season.) But thankfully it only took a couple of days to get the animatic cut back down to time without sacrificing the story. This was with very minimal re-boarding and only a few additional pick ups. How was this possible you may ask?
I asked myself that same question and have come to the conclusion that because our stories follow a strict 3 act structure everything I needed to tell the story was there. Mr. King has his like that leads to his Big Think. His Big Think leads to a few mishaps as a result. His Thoughtful Think where his reflection leads to his resolution. It's there in every script. So what I ended up cutting was some funny dialogue, some business with secondary characters which was fun but didn't significantly advance the story.
Animatics in both of these cases were sent out for notes at our standard rough cut time. Notes from the group were minimal and not unlike any other episode I've sent out.
*Though Mr. King is an internally produced series I believe that by having a good story structure with clear characters in place you will be able to solve many challenges whether dealing with internal or external clients.
The scripts have translated into boards which, when assembled into their animatics, come in around 7:30. That's pretty accurate writing! That's pretty clear boarding!
However, There was a moment which I remember where I sort of lost focus on scripts. I believe it was around the time the animation department started up. There may have also been a bit of script fatigue. I use this term to describe losing touch with my own rules on what is necessary for the story. (There are 39 of them you know.)
Anyway, by not concentrating as hard as I should have I had a few animatics come in at a whopping 9:40!
9:40 on a 7:00 show is quite significant. (Please note the page count in the scripts were still 10-11 pages which has been standard throughout the season.) But thankfully it only took a couple of days to get the animatic cut back down to time without sacrificing the story. This was with very minimal re-boarding and only a few additional pick ups. How was this possible you may ask?
I asked myself that same question and have come to the conclusion that because our stories follow a strict 3 act structure everything I needed to tell the story was there. Mr. King has his like that leads to his Big Think. His Big Think leads to a few mishaps as a result. His Thoughtful Think where his reflection leads to his resolution. It's there in every script. So what I ended up cutting was some funny dialogue, some business with secondary characters which was fun but didn't significantly advance the story.
Animatics in both of these cases were sent out for notes at our standard rough cut time. Notes from the group were minimal and not unlike any other episode I've sent out.
*Though Mr. King is an internally produced series I believe that by having a good story structure with clear characters in place you will be able to solve many challenges whether dealing with internal or external clients.
Monday, January 28, 2019
R & R
Retakes and Revisions
When working in television/episodic you often have to make a choice regarding the quality of the final product. I have worked on series where the budget is quite large, resulting in numerous retakes and revisions in order to get to the highest quality possible. Mr. King does not have that budget. Not even close. In fact, we have one of the smallest budgets in recent memory. So when it comes time for calling retakes/revisions one has a difficult decision to make. What to call? What is the level that one aim to achieve. This goes for all departments. Storyboards, Location design, Animation, FX, Music.
What do you do when time, money and crew are short?
In short...Know your show.
Know what show you are making.
Ensure the show you are making falls within the budget attributed to it.
Be as clear as possible with your direction, in all areas.
Find a common language with each department to ensure efficient and accurate communication.
And, you don't have to settle. You do have to be able to adapt however.
Sometimes things don't go as expected. You pick your battles but you still have battles. Push for quality but have realistic expectations for what is possible without losing the morale of your crew.
We're all in it together, along for the journey. And at the end of the day I want everyone to be proud of what they've created and to look back on our production knowing it's the absolute best we could do.
Oh, and so far, Mr. King has exceeded my expectations, from all departments.
When working in television/episodic you often have to make a choice regarding the quality of the final product. I have worked on series where the budget is quite large, resulting in numerous retakes and revisions in order to get to the highest quality possible. Mr. King does not have that budget. Not even close. In fact, we have one of the smallest budgets in recent memory. So when it comes time for calling retakes/revisions one has a difficult decision to make. What to call? What is the level that one aim to achieve. This goes for all departments. Storyboards, Location design, Animation, FX, Music.
What do you do when time, money and crew are short?
In short...Know your show.
Know what show you are making.
Ensure the show you are making falls within the budget attributed to it.
Be as clear as possible with your direction, in all areas.
Find a common language with each department to ensure efficient and accurate communication.
And, you don't have to settle. You do have to be able to adapt however.
Sometimes things don't go as expected. You pick your battles but you still have battles. Push for quality but have realistic expectations for what is possible without losing the morale of your crew.
We're all in it together, along for the journey. And at the end of the day I want everyone to be proud of what they've created and to look back on our production knowing it's the absolute best we could do.
Oh, and so far, Mr. King has exceeded my expectations, from all departments.
Tuesday, November 27, 2018
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.
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.
Thursday, November 22, 2018
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.
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.
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
Monday, October 22, 2018
Product placement
Eliana Clemente was hired as my Storyboard Revisionist. But she is so much more.
A talented draftsperson she has been able to help out with Prop design and perhaps someday soon, colour.
In the meantime her passion for our little project has shown no bounds. I present exhibit A: A Mister King Hot Water Bottle Cozy.
First in a long line of M. King products, I'm sure.
Like Mickey Mouse I'm sure it will be worth a fortune some day.
A talented draftsperson she has been able to help out with Prop design and perhaps someday soon, colour.
In the meantime her passion for our little project has shown no bounds. I present exhibit A: A Mister King Hot Water Bottle Cozy.
First in a long line of M. King products, I'm sure.
Like Mickey Mouse I'm sure it will be worth a fortune some day.
How to rig a character
Or how to rig a character for efficiency.
I have worked in hand drawn animation, Flash animation, and 3D animation but never really worked in Toon Boom's Harmony. That being said I've always felt that character rigs at our studio may be a bit over produced, if that makes sense. Some times characters are rigged so thoroughly they take away the necessity to actually draw. Some times the rigs don't fully consider the final look of the character or the range of motions they'll be put through.
One of the first conversations I had with Scott Williamson, or TD Supervisor, was that I wanted a simple rig for our characters that was going to be easy to work with and very efficient. Our characters have an animated texture which glows within and a sort of charcoal, sketchy line. I wanted the texture to have little to no impact whatsoever regarding the animators and the brush line had to be easily replicable. Scott was able to deliver on both accounts as well as add some special treats which we discovered during our time together on Bubble Guppies. We're talking sliders which control pre posed character posing and expressions. buttons which control the animated textures being on or off, timing of textures, opacity of textures and a bunch of other stuff I have no idea about.
Some of this has existed before Mr. King but to my knowledge not as efficient and simplified.
I have asked Scott to type up a more thorough list of that which he has worked to create but for now I think he's too busy creating more "simple" tools.
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