The revision process in animation is probably one of the most difficult and most significant. This is where all ideas about the movie, character, and shot converge. Listen closely at the handout stage because the input you are being given at that moment has come straight from the director and is what he wants to see. As we stated a moment ago, show your work when your ideas are clear. You can’t sell the animation if it’s mushy and vague. You shouldn’t even have to explain what is going on or why, so take the time to make everything there very clear. Show other animators your rough poses so you can gauge whether the communication is there.
Keep the ideas simple. Keep your workflow simple. Many animators can block out their animation quickly, but then drown when it comes to the revision process. It’s like being a swimmer in an event in which you have to swim all strokes. You shouldn’t dive in doing the butterfly stroke, and then drown when you hit the backstroke. Develop a workflow that raises your performance level in all aspects of animation. We talked about this a bit in the beginning of this chapter, when we discussed using the graph editor and knowing when to change from stepped to linear to spline mode.
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The revision process. Sketch by Brian Dowrick.
BEAVIS AND BUTT-HEADON MTV:Beavis and Butt- Headwas first aired on MTV. Mike Judge created the aimless duo for a festival of animation when Abby Turkuhle, MTV’s senior vice president, picked up an episode for the network’s animated compendium,Liquid Television. MTV immediately con- tracted for 65 episodes from Judge, with Turkuhle as producer.
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ANIMANIACSDEBUTS:Steven Spielberg Presents Animaniacs(usually referred to by the shorter title
Animaniacs) first aired on FOX from 1993 until 1995 and appeared on the WB as part of its Kids’ WB afternoon programming block from 1995 to 1998.
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Use Chapter 4 to help you stay lucid and efficient during the revision process. Also, don’t hold onto your ideas for dear life. Your ideas are not that precious. You should be open to massaging them into something better. Most animators went to art school and were introduced to the critique process early on. If you didn’t go to art school and are not familiar with this process, understand that your work will be on the big screen for all to see, and your supervisors are there to make the scene as good as possible. Take critiques in stride. Everyone is there to make the animation better and to follow the directive of the storytelling and the direc- tor’s intention. Keith Roberts explains his frustration with animators who will not let go:
It’s frustrating when an animator holds onto something that is not working. Animators must not be too “precious” about their work. Be bold.
So what do you do when you’re asked to take half your shot in a completely different direction? It depends on the new direction being given. If it’s a subtle change, do not throw out the baby with the bathwater. If it’s a new idea entirely, many times it’s faster to rebuild the animation from scratch. You have already been through the shot and know the pitfalls of the rig and what will work for the shot. You can block out some- thing new more quickly than trying to work with something that is broken. If you build a house, you want the foundation to be solid. Keith Lango offers his approach:
The section that is being redirected will probably be torched to the ground. And if the new direction doesn’t work properly with the other half that they liked, I’ll likely nuke that as well and just start over from scratch. I’ve had to rescue enough scenes in my day, and I’ve always found it easier to just start over than to try and muggle something into shape. It just ends up looking muddy to me.
Remember, you will see these shots over and over again for years. You will see them in the theater, in trail- ers on television, again and again on cable, and when you go on an interview with these very shots on your reel. You want to be proud of them. Dave Zaboski offers what his mentor told him one day:
My mentor, John Pomeroy, said to me once, “Don’t worry about your drawings, Dave. Just imagine them blown up a hundred times their original size and shown in front of millions of people all over the world, forever.”
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THE NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMASPREMIERES:Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas is a stop-motion ani- mated musical film loosely based on drawings and a poem by Tim Burton, who served as co-producer.
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JURASSIC PARKRELEASED:Special effects were largely credited for Jurassic Park’s success. Through the use of CGI and conventional mechanical effects, the dinosaurs in the film appeared incredibly lifelike.The movie won Academy Awards for Visual Effects, Sound Effects Editing, and Sound, and spawned two sequels.
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WINDOWS NT RELEASED:Windows NT is a family of operating sys- tems produced by Microsoft. This is important because it made the PC a player in high- end graphics, along with SGI.
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It may be disheartening and frustrating at times, but stay positive and have faith in the process. Push hard in the beginning to get your ideas in there and get as much of yourself in the animation as possible. And make it all clear! The clearer and more entertaining the ideas are, the more likely they will end up on the big screen.