spreadsheets & coffee

As you all know by now, animation is a painstaking process requiring a lot of careful preparation, and unfortunately this side of preproduction isn’t very exciting. Nor does it make for interesting photos.

Unless you like spreadsheets, in which case it’s hot stuff indeed. I’m currently buried deep in google sheets, breaking down the storyboards and entering every single element into our asset database. This is a big spreadsheet that tracks what needs to be made, and which scenes it’s used in, how many times, from which angles, etc. By the end of this process every last tree and rock will it’s own number. O_o

Ah, the magic of animation… But this allows us to track what needs to be created, and in what order, making sure things proceed along smoothly during production. Embrace the numberz!

Script Meeting

In more exciting news, I recently had the chance to catch up with Neil (and the ever-charming Ash) for coffee, and to talk over my script for the animation. Due to the structure of the poem, adapting it to a visual medium hasn’t been a simple process, so it was important to make sure Neil was okay with the direction we’ve taken. Happily he really likes our interpretation and has given the project his blessing moving forward. Huzzah!

New Member Of The Team

We’ve recently added a new member to the team – meet talented Melbourne animator Jessica Harris! Jessica will be helping out with 2D animation and FX. You can check out her work here: http://ohjessicajessica.com (take a look at her amazing enamel pins!)

Okay, I’m off to wire up our latest lighting rig (backlighting for clouds!), and finish camera tests so we can lock in the lens we’re going to be shooting on. More updates soon!

– Jim & the gang