Proposal For XYZ&You, Seattle:
An Addition To The Create-A-Thon Family
Initial Draft:
14 January 2003
Prepared by:
Daniel Pezely
Metarealm Media, LLC
www.metarealm.com
This presents the concept for a Short Format Animation Production, an additional Create-A-Thon event hosted by the XYZ&You user group.
Some details are sketched out, giving a sense for the nature and scope of the project.
This is our starting point. As the project matures and takes on a life of its own, details change as necessary. Our guiding principle is that we do what’s best for XYZ&You, its members and our community. To that end, the need being fulfilled almost dictates its own plan for when the time comes to write one.
Many of the 3,000+ members in XYZ&You seek inroads to a career in motion graphics– 3D modeling, animation, film, gaming, broadcast, interactive.
The paradox: How do you get experience on a real production when prior experience is required to get hired?
And of those already working in this field, some seek a cross-over into another aspect– such as from games to film effects.
The XYZ&You 48 Hour Create-A-Thon in 2002 is widely considered a success.
Build upon that idea by launching an additional direct participation festival in the spirit of the original Create-A-Thon:
Short Format Animation Production
Rather than competing against one’s peers, participants collaborate using professional equipment and software, executing a full production cycle within one month.
One animated short film uses 3ds Max. The next uses ToonBoom Studio. Then, a workflow including other tools: XSI, Maya, Cinema4D, Lightwave, etc.
Additional spin-offs draw upon local filmmakers for a live-action piece with special effects.
Participants receive on-screen credits– the gold standard for getting a paying job.
XYZ&You as a whole gains exposure in multiple ways. When launching the Call For Participation, we contact other organizations. Even loosely related groups, magazines, companies, schools and on-line communities are reached for contributing. Then again later, we request they attend the Premiere.
The Premiere event gets held at a recognized venue such as the Cinerama in Belltown, the Paramount Theater in Seattle or similar facility.
As a means of distribution, we contact appropriate broadcast television and broadband networks for showing both the animated short and a “Behind The Scenes” documentary.
We further spread the good word of XYZ&You with submissions to international cinema festivals that accept short format animation. After producing several shorts, a compilation gets assembled and submitted as a single feature-length presentation.
Every step of the way, press releases are sent to appropriate organizations. This promotes the participants, sponsors and of course, XYZ&You.
There are dual benefits: help entry-level artists get paying work due to their screen credits but also help promote XYZ&You as an international organization by showing them what we’re made of.
Overall, each Short Format Animation Production cycle spans 2-3 months from conception to premiere. The actual production phase is the middle four weeks.
This cycle includes the Call For Participation, soliciting vendors for temporary licenses of their products, arranging the Premiere at a local venue and DVD mastering & duplication for self-distribution.
The first Production consists of approximately five artists/animators in addition to management.
Eventually multiple Productions occur throughout the year. One gets the spotlight each month, overlapping Pre-Production and Post-Production phases from different teams.
Each participant receives his or her name and role in the Opening Title Credits on a Single Title Card as well as in the Rear Title Crawl.
The day-to-day management consists of a producer and director. Controlling the overall course, the Board of XYZ&You serves as executive management for each Production. A technical director of animation assists during Pre-Production and again when assembling the final materials for release.
This proposal focuses on the very first Short Format Animation Production.
Subsequent Productions may vary. (See Future section below.)
While certain elements are available without fee (in-kind), others require cash expenditure.
For covering actual costs, we solicit sponsorship from local businesses, the community in which the Production takes place and vendors with interests similar to XYZ&You.
Expected In-Kind Without Fees:
Anticipated With Actual Expenditures:
All sponsors receive full on-screen credit, as do Participant artists, crew and management.
The vendors of principle software supply one full license to each participating artist, the Director and the Technical Director. Plus: one license of the compositing software for our Compositor. (Ideally, the complete license becomes a permanent gift upon completion– at the Premiere with much fanfair– in place of prizes at other events.)
Using the standard cycle, our complete sequence:
In parallel, a “Behind The Scenes” documentary runs with its own production cycle.
For our first Production, the script and any voice talent are prepared during Pre-Production. This greatly simplifies the overall process.
The public portion of the Short Format Animation Production consists of the Production phase followed by an evening Premiere event.
During Production, we use generally accepted studio workflow and practices.
At each stage, we deliver a completed media file to the DVD author to show the workflow: screenplay, director’s notebook, original storyboard, storyboard timed with sound, model layout, rough animation, lip sync animation, full animation, completed animation fully rendered. Each stage is preserved on the DVD for educational purposes.
We absorb basic post-production procedures (i.e., rendering) into principle production since this is straight animation and not film.
The Premiere occurs as part of a regular, monthly XYZ&You group meeting.
Final DVD mastering is handled following the Premiere.
We send discs for duplication during the Distribution phase.
DVDs are available for sale at the following month’s user group meeting.
We establish our framework during Development. Here, we solicit sponsorship from vendors and local businesses– clearly identifying hard costs versus in-kind donations.
Also at this time, we review screenplays for selection.
From vendors we obtain things such as temporary product licenses (i.e., 30 day, full-function, without watermarks, etc).
Local business sponsor by agreeing to provide resources such as a venue for the Premiere event.
Other support comes from discounts or full donations for DVD authoring, mastering and duplication.
For expanding the XYZ&You user group, a video production team and camera crew is assembled to document the event. They create a “Behind The Scenes” documentary, starting with Pre-Production and Participant selection.
Once everything is in place, we attract voice talent participation if necessary for the screenplay.
Music is selected by the Director or a music arranger is dispatched. Licensing is addressed at this time.
(In subsequent Productions, registered participants vote on which story they wish to animate.)
In the first week, we hold our Call For Participation: artists, modelers, animators, etc. Registration is via the XYZ&You web site.
Candidates fill-out a brief survey to screen for skill level, software tools of choice, software knowledge (self-taught or via coursework) and basic workflow knowledge.
We hold brief telephone conversations or meetings with each finalist. Here, we review any portfolio material (optional), qualify the candidate’s ability to play well with others and sense their determination. Our criteria revolves around seeing the project through to its conclusion.
On the last business day of the first week, we notify the artists selected as participants and the runners-up.
A press release gets sent to local media announcing the participants once we confirm their acceptance.
An all-hands meeting takes place the first day of the second week. This includes the documentary crew and management.
The team creates the storyboard and establishes their workflow.
The five or so artists and animators all gather together on a weekly basis with the Director and Producer. The documentary crew also attends these group meetings.
Individually, each artist is free to meet with the Director and Producer any time. In effect, the Director and Producer are on-call throughout the Production phase.
Each artist– painter, modeler and animator alike– works on professional grade equipment. This means we supply adequate workstations and software licenses for the duration of the four week Production phase. (Any hardware on loan from any vendor remains within Spirit Studios at all times; only temporary software licenses may be taken home by participants.)
In addition to group meetings, documentary footage gets collected on-site to where each artist does their work. Footage shows the world how our artists benefit directly from the vendor-supplied equipment.
All production software must be known to work together seamlessly. This means all 3D modelers and animators use 3ds Max. Painters creating textures and backgrounds use Photoshop, DeepPaint or other package known to clearly work with 3ds Max.
DVD authoring begins. We share works-in-progress with the DVD author.
The documentary footage is transcribed and edited along the way.
Basic post-production workflow is addressed in the last few days. We composite our multiple render passes and generate appropriate target formats (i.e., MPEG2 for DVD, MPEG4 for future media).
Combined with a regular group meeting, “XYZ&You with Major Pixel Presents…” the first screening of the Short Format Animation Production before a large audience.
The venue for the Premiere event should have a marquee. Downtown Seattle or surrounding neighborhoods (Belltown, Capitol Hill, etc.) are preferred because crowds attract crowds in an urban environment.
The Cinerama and Paramount Theater are ideal locations as RES-FEST and the Seattle International Film Festival (SIFF) have benefited from.
The official starting time of the event includes 30 minutes for the audience to congregate in the lobby. Sponsors take advantage of the captive audience with display tables set-up in advance. Only when the lobby crowd is sufficiently packed will interior theater doors be opened.
The documentary crew captures general footage for coverage, audience opinions and brief “now that it’s finished” interviews with the participants.
Although we use the term “premiere” throughout this document, in keeping with the XYZ&You tradition, the members (audience) see the presentation without cost to them. This has the added benefit of saving the actual premiere (where audience majority is the general public paying for admission) for a festival. This, in turn, raises the chances for being accepted to top-tier film festivals, further spreading the word of XYZ&You.
Both the animation short and the documentary are completed by the end of this phase.
Full rendering is performed. Multiple render passes are used per the accepted studio workflow: includes RGB channel separation. (This facilitates various distribution channels and any unforeseen color correction requirements during final mastering.)
While colors safe for NTSC broadcast are used during Production, a final sanity check and basic color correction is performed at this stage. (The DVD master is for all video distribution: disc, broadcast and festival submissions.)
The completed animation short is sent for final DVD mastering. (Since DVD authoring has been on-going, this should be a straight-forward replacement of one media file with another since all timing information should be identical.)
Also in this time: our “Behind The Scenes” documentary is completed. (Transcribing and rough editing should have been on-going during Production.) Final footage gathered from the Premiere is assembled.
Any post-production for the documentary is completed within this time also. (Titles are prepared in advance.)
The completed documentary is sent for DVD mastering.
The DVD master including the animation short and documentary are reviewed prior to duplication.
DVDs mastered in the previous phase get sent for duplication.
Press releases are sent to the usual places announcing availability of the discs. The press releases emphasize educational value of the content.
The XYZ&You web site is updated to accept orders for DVDs and to announce that discs will be available at the following group meeting.
Alternatively, the animation is submitted to international film festivals.
(Generally, this is an either-or choice: immediate distribution which keeps the energy flowing internally within the community versus prestige and gaining mind-share through the year-long festival wait-and-see game. A good compromise is to compile several shorts into a feature length film which is then submitted as a single item to festivals.)
These are suggestions for the inaugural Short Format Animation Production, an XYZ&You Create-A-Thon:
Tony White, Executive Director
As a veteran animator respected world-wide with a list of credits recognizable to those outside the animation industry, Tony provides the overall direction.
With minimal impact to his regular duties, he imparts wisdom and inspiration to the crew.
He benefits by seeing the local animation industry grow and helping shape that community.
Major Pixel, Executive Producer
As Executive Producer, Major Pixel provides contact information and a good word to potential industry sponsors.
Being the public persona of XYZ&You, Major Pixel also is Master of Ceremonies at the Premiere event.
Without impacting his duties as proprietor of DKE, he also imparts wisdom and inspiration to the crew.
He benefits by seeing the whole of XYZ&You grow, thereby getting sufficient resources to hire a full-time manager for the user group.
These are suggestions for the inaugural Short Format Animation Production, an XYZ&You Create-A-Thon:
Daniel Joseph Pezely, Producer/Director
Having performed behind-the-scenes management roles throughout his career in the software development world, Pez establishes the plan from which we deviate.
Having studied the business, technical aspects and theories in both filmmaking and animation extensively for the past three years, he wears the two hats of Producer and Director. These roles also build upon his initial training as an illustrator’s apprentice and family tradition of being a graphics artist.
As Producer, he defines the day-to-day studio workflow, manages the artists and tracks the project, keeping it on time and within budget.
As Director, he sets the artistic vision for the story being told through animation, keeps the animation short collaborative with the “Behind The Scenes” documentary and creates a balanced package of entertainment and educational material.
As this inevitably becomes a labor of love, he takes up the challenge and completes his career migration into the world of filmmaking.
Matt Rapelje, Technical Director
As former technical assistant within DKE and thereby having worked through various challenges with the software tools, Matt blesses us with his experience, making the software adhere to our studio workflow.
Without significantly impacting his duties at his regular job, he spends lesser parts of 2-3 days during pre-production configuring the software to be used by all modelers and animators.
Then, during the final crunch time of Production, he returns for one day, helping bring everything together.
This role and well deserved screen credit is one way XYZ&You gives back to Matt for his generous efforts past and present.
Each subsequent Short Format Animation Production should change the principle software package used and expand the Call For Participation.
Consider the following:
Next time, use ToonBoom Studio as the principle software package instead of 3ds Max. Later, use XSI, Maya, etc.
Schedule the Production phases to coincide with seasonal breaks at area schools. (Plan for one at the beginning and another at the end of summer, also winter break– late December through early January.)
Expand the Call For Participation to everything except management roles: writers of screenplays, voice talent, members for the documentary crew, designers for title sequences, authors for the final DVD master, etc.
Nurture budding screen writers by inviting submissions from local writers in collaboration with the Richard Hugo House and Screenwriters' Salon.
Further empower the participants: let them vote for which screenplay they animate.
Compile several Shorts into a feature-length film and submit to festivals as a singular work.
Nurture budding effects artists by providing visual effects for live action. Collaborate with the likes of 911 Media Arts Center, Northwest Film Forum/Wigglyworld and the various regional schools.
Nurture relationships between local musicians and artists by producing a music video.
Nurture budding advertisement artists by creating a Public Service Announcement (PSA), promotional piece or other advertisement.
Group several DVDs as an educational library, then solicit publication and distribution through a major agency such as Ingram or Amazon.
Go national and international.