Making Animation: General Guidelines
by lena merhej

This is an introduction to a chapter that I was always amazed by: how is animation made? So far, I have only made small animations. Not more then 7 minutes. I have impatiently drawn all the images i could as fast as possible, only to see them move. I could see my images expand, morph, and transform. Animation is thrilling, but making it is laborious and extensive, but it is very very rewarding.

++ the design team at Curious Pictures working on Codename: Kids Next Door

The following is some notes I took during my internship at Curious Pictures, in New York. The animation team was working on the KND show (Codename: Kids Next Door) for the Cartoon Network. I was there for a few months, and I was able (I hope I was) to understand most of the procedure of compiling all the guidelines for the making of animation.

Script
The language of the script rendered is a broken down manner, using simple words that defines very specific actions or expressions. For instance, in the phrase: “as we slowly truck into the exterior”, the word “truck” refers to the camera movement and the word “exterior” refers to the background image.
Dialogue is an essential element in the script. It is often spelled out. Speech is in quotation marks. If, on the other hand, the speech is not specified as such, it is thoroughly described for ease of inferring.
Sound effects are another essential element that express a lot in very little. >> use extensively! Boom!zzz…PHEW!!

Design
Designs are all the images that characterize cell animation: characters, props, backgrounds, effects, and graphics. New designs are customized for each specific episode according to its added scenes.
Each design is usually identified by its category: C (for characters), P (for props), B (for backgrounds), E (for effects), and G (for graphics). It is also labeled by the following parameters: the design name, the design number, the show number, the design date, the scene number and the approval note.

++ the design team, [character designer, inker, and background designer]

Bible
Usually, the designs of the main characters, their characteristics, and some constant backgrounds are inscribed from the beginning of cartoon series, in the pilot. The characters are mapped out with their different expression, position, walks, and other movement, this is called the character bible.

Design Database
Designs are set into a database for easier access. Filemaker Pro is the program that Curious Pictures uses. Designs are set first into several stages of their development. These are the categories within which each design circulates in the studio.

The categories are:
1. New designs from outline
2. New designs from thumbnails
3. New designs from storyboard
4. Storyboard design revision
5. Design to color layout
6. Design to color copy
7. Stock
8. Layout
9. New paste up
10. Inked original archives

Reuses
Reuses are recycled designs from former episodes, use in new ones. When a certain design is recurrent in several shows, that design becomes a reuse in the shows that follow the one to which it was originally designed for.

Storyboards
Storyboard artists follow the script, and the designs, to create the sequence of the narrative. Thumbnails are prepared first, to map out the rhythm and the flow of the story, in terms of its consistency with the script and its accessibility (comprehension by the audience). Thumbnails are 3x4 cm. They are fairly detailed and are more then 80 percent of the final result of the action. Once the thumbnails are done, they determine reuses designs (design that have been already done) and new characters, backgrounds, ext. to be made. They are then blown up into 6x8 cm-storyboard panels.

Storyboard sheets consists of several protocols:
- the panel in which the design is inset, with the scene # and the panel #
-an action tag for specific actions (i.e. bone flies into frame, hits heliteacher and bounces off)
-a dialogue tag (i.e. heliteacher: (laughs))
-a sound/music/fx tag (i.e. helicopter blade spin)

The Storyboard consists of scenes, and panels. Scenes are distinct sets: when the background changes, this calls for a new scene. Scenes can be different camera views, cuts, and other background replacing transitions.
Panels are same-scene shots that call for a new action. The background is consistent, but the rest is not. Panning and trucking happen within one scene, in 2 panels.

++ the storyboard team [thumbnail and storyboard artists@ work]

Boardamatix
Storyboards are then scanned to create the boardamatix. (animatix of a board, get it?)
It is a compilation of the images, and the sound of the dialogue that has been preciously recorded. It determines the tempo of the storyboard. In other terms it sets the timing for each scene, and each panel according to the sound. For instance, a sound of a knock on a door should generally run through one scene.
Some scenes are sometimes omitted, or changed dramatically, because they do not work with the flow of the story. (Seeing the images on the screen is very different from the storyboard). The storyboard are afterwards revised and resubmitted. The revision team does this.

Exposure Sheet and Lead Sheet
The exposure sheet is the layout sheet for the timing of the animation. It defines action, mouth action, camera movement, in time. Making an exposure sheet requires a knowledge of a certain terminology that helps marking assignments and guidelines.
The lead sheet is a checking procedure sheet that checks the scene#, the footage #, the description, the int/ext, the day/night, the bg#

please note: this text is based on a two month internship I took at Curious Pictures in 2002/2003. It is based on observation and conclusion.