An ideal production team: Your experiences and advice

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Permalink Reply by Thomas Whitfield on July 5, 2009 at 3:29pm

My take on the necessary core team members you would need to take your project from first pitch to series premeire--

1. Screenwriter--if not you; then a capable storyteller who can narrate an audience of children through the three primary phases of story development: A) Establishment B) Conflict and C) Resolution -- all within a way that illustrates the gospel message. Must be done in episodic fashion.

2. Concept Artist--if not you; then a talented artist to begin the process of sketching out "beat boards" and model sheets of the key characters--based on the episodic screenplays. This also includes initial primary sketches of background layers or any elevation views of 3D CG backgrounds. The construction of the puppet characters should be based on some simple style guidelines which are first sketched out by the concept artist.

2. Storyboard Artist--if not you; then someone to take the production script(s) and all of the research drawings done by the concept artist and then begin telling the story visually through scene-by-scene storyboards. Emphasis on key poses, camera positions, variety of shot angles, and adherence to the production screenplay in order to ensure continuity during the storytelling process. Nothing gets built in 3D, acted out, or animated until storyboards have been done for each episode.

3. 3D model builder/set extension designer--this is typically anyone skilled in the discipline of constructing 3D architecture, props, and scenery using high-end 3D titles such as Cinema 4D, 3DStudioMax, Maya, Lightwave, SoftImage, Modo, Vue, or Blender. ( I may have left out a few titles--but these listed are all of the majors used in the industry ). Based on the shots illustrated in the storyboards and "beat boards" drawn by the concept artist--virtual sets, faux settings, and the whole CG world for your story is modeled, textured, and lit by your key 3D artist(s).

4. Voice-over actors--the off-camera talent needed to act out the screenplay. For those performers conducting all of your puppet work, these will most likely be the same.

5. Cinematographer/Director--directs the action and films the story. These will be green screen shoots, right?

6. 2D Compositors--using high-end titles such as AfterEffects, Combustion, or Nuke--you will need one or two motion graphics artists who are also skilled 2D compositors to take all of your green screen principle shooting and key out everything and then composit the shot(s) into the CG scenes.

7. Audio engineers/foley artists--for dubbing in any non-vocal sound FX and enviromental sounds, plus musical underscore, needed to help unify everything in the story.

As taught to me in person by a somewhat-famous veteran Hollywood animator--the classical 5 Steps Of Animation are:

1. THINK! -- What's my "story line"?, staging, beginning thumbnails, beat boards, and storyboards
2. Layout--Field size, action over time, the action line, and composition.
3. Key poses
4. Timing
5. Animate!

So ... anyway, those are some of the primary and almost mandatory positions that would need to be filled prior to beginning your project--in my opinion.

Anyone else in the forum have their own ideas about this?

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Permalink Reply by Durand Robinson on July 6, 2009 at 2:47am

That's a great overview of the creative right brain'ers. Now, how about a review of the left brained kinds of people that actually keep the creative folks herded in the right direction?

Durand

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Permalink Reply by Jeff Holder on July 10, 2009 at 7:17pm

Hey,
Here's a couple of thoughts. To answer your question about the left brainers. You will need a line producer type who will be all about time, money and schedules. If you're animating, he/she should know at the end of every day how many shots were supposed to have been done and how many were actually done. Sometimes called production manager or UPM, this person is key. Along with a manager wrangling the logistics, you'll need some kind of accountant. Maybe part time or subbed out, but the money, cash flow and payroll is critical and most projects takes nearly a full time person. I've produced, and been executive on quite a number of kid programs. Feel free to email me if want to talk sometime. Jeff@FlyOverProjects.com

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Permalink Reply by Durand Robinson on July 23, 2009 at 3:29am

Jeff, thanks for the left brain advice. I'd love to walk through some of this with you over a IM chat or skype call at some point after the summer rush of activities here. I'm starting the process of doing beat boards today (Thanks Thomas!) but won't likely get the production group set up until autumn.

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Permalink Reply by Clyde Taber on July 8, 2009 at 8:43pm

Great input Thomas!

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Permalink Reply by Jurgen Beck on July 13, 2009 at 4:29pm

As a composer for film, I'd like to point out that the importance of music should not be overlooked. In fact, it always surprises me that the musical score for a film or TV production is almost an afterthought.

With music refining the story that is told through the visual medium, it makes sense to engage a composer (if one is used) at an early stage in the production. It may come as a surprise how much a composer can contribute to the success of the production just by him/her giving input from the musical side of things.

Here's more info about the topic: http://www.jurgenbeck.com/archives/259

Thomas has the musical underscore wrapped into item #7, but there is so much more to it...

Jurgen

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Permalink Reply by Durand Robinson on July 14, 2009 at 1:32am

Thanks Jurgen. I can't think of any element in an Irish based film that could carry more emotive energy than traditional Irish music. I'm friends with several great trad and contemporary musicians here including Grammy award winner Moya Brennan. The story would be incomplete without the pipes, flutes, fiddles and bodhran beat.

I'll give your article a look to be sure to be sure....

Slàn agat.
Durand

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Permalink Reply by Willow Bear on July 22, 2009 at 9:35pm

I have worked in daycares, schools and have achild of my own as well as love the world of animation and I am sorry to have this advice, but I really dont know any kids and I remember when I was a kid that puppet shows were very boring and were skipped over quickly. Like I said, I love the idea of putting out a kids show and would love to help but puppets just arent what kids want to watch these days.. Even reading a book on tv is better then puppets. Hope you werent offended. And I hope you the best even If you believe puppets are hte way to go,, hey maybe Im wrong. :) Good Luck and God Bless

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Permalink Reply by Durand Robinson on July 23, 2009 at 3:51am

Thanks for the feedback. Puppets (or human actors for that matter) can be dead boring or captivating. I think it comes down to character development, story and performance. If the only difference between puppet A and puppet B is its color you've certainly failed for sure. But that would be the same for two poorly developed animated characters or live actors.

Europe may be different, but TV here is full of puppets both for kids and for adults. You find them in TV ads for cars, spaghetti sauce and fabric softener, MTV, music videos, even late night talk shows (Two puppets host the most popular one the moment) and political comedies. And that's before we talk about educational and recreational television for children in which puppet involvement is practically a main-stay.

Our hope is to interweave the puppets so well into the virtual animated world of Lighthouse Island that you'll only see the characters without even thinking about them being a puppets. Time will tell how successful we are.

One of the main reasons I enjoy puppetry for kids is that when it comes to adapting the programming for new markets in new language areas, lip-syncing is much less of an issue (especially since puppets don't have lips.) The lack of exact mouth movements makes new dialog created in other languages seem more natural.

In places like the US, you have a base market, albeit shrinking. European Christians are fewer and less connected. And the numbers of us trying to create quality media for what is one of the most influential places on earth is shamefully, embarrassingly small. We cannot afford to create media that could not benefit cultures outside our own.

It's my thinking that puppetry and CG together will maximize impact of the investment of time talent and resources for the kingdom. But you know there may be something more effective I'm overlooking, and it wouldn't be the first time (even today) that I've been wrong. I'm not offended. But I am curious to hear what you think would work best and why.

Durand

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