Animation Pipeline

Contemporary Animation Production Pipeline illustrated with The Croods (2013) by DreamWorks

Every animation studio has a production pipeline, i.e. a process which is followed when creating an animation. The pipeline usually consists of three stages, namely preproduction, production and postproduction. Each stage consists of a number of phases which are equally important in creating a successful animation film (Furniss 88). Even though the three stages have remained the same, the execution of the phases has changed over time and today differs from studio to studio (Furniss 89).

For this post a contemporary animation pipeline will be illustrated with the feature film The Croods (2013) by DreamWorks Animation Studios.

Stage 1: Preproduction

·       Idea & Concept

First someone will come up with an idea for a story.  The development phase is very important as it can determine whether the film will be successful.  The director (in the case of The Croods, Kirk De Micco and Chris Sanders) will then approve the idea and assign a writer to write the script or story.

·       Story & Script

In the story all the concepts come together. The script contains the dialogue, indications of sound effects, a description of the scenery and events, as well as the mood of the characters (Keigher). It serves as a blueprint for every other aspect of the pipeline and it is thus imperative that the scriptwriters consider their work from various perspectives such as those of designers, animators, actors and so forth (Furniss 69).

A part of The Croods script written by Kirk De Micco and Chris Sanders can be seen below:

“The Croods Script”, 2013. Screenshot by the author.

(http://gointothestory.blcklst.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/Croods-The.pdf)

DreamWorks summarises the plot as follows:

The Croods is a prehistoric comedy adventure that follows the world's first family as they embark on a journey of a lifetime when the cave that has always shielded them from danger is destroyed. Traveling across a spectacular landscape, the Croods discover an incredible new world filled with fantastic creatures - and their outlook is changed forever.

 (DreamWorks Animation)

·       Storyboard

A storyboard artist will then be assigned. He or she will receive the script and start drawing the events that take place as he or she visualises it (Keigher). The storyboard will serve as a visual representation of the script and includes details about the camera movement, visuals and character actions. The storyboard may change throughout the production pipeline (Furniss 73).

Ryan Savas is the storyboard artist of The Croods. See below one of his storyboards:

“Storyboards” Savas, n.d.

·       Animatic

From the storyboards an animatic or story reel will be compiled. The animatic usually contains still frames and sound elements such as the score at the actual running time of the final production (Furniss 75).  

Stage 2: Production

·       Concept Art & Visual Development

The development goes to the Visual Development Department who develops the look and feel of each sequence or scene (Keigher).  This is also where the characters are designed (outputs can range from drawings and paintings to sculptures).

Below is one of the character sketches by Takao Noguchi the character designer for some of The Croods’ characters:

“Character Designs” Noguchi, n.d.

An artwork by Jason Scheier, one of the concept artists for The Croods, can be seen below:

“Concept Art” Scheier, n.d.

·       Modeling

From the character design sketches the Modelers of the studio will then model the characters in 3D that will be seen in the final animation feature.  The wireframe models are made up of polygon shapes which are linked together and are created in programs such as Autodesk Maya and 3D Studio Max (Furniss 101).

“The Croods – 23,000,000 Years in the Making” DreamWorks TV, 2013. Author’s screenshot.

·       Rigging

By rigging a wireframe model controls are added through a process called ‘parenting’. By rigging the model, the model is made moveable for the animators to animate it (Furniss 101).

Below is Eep rigged. The shapes around her is the controls.

“The Croods – 23,000,000 Years in the Making” DreamWorks TV, 2013. Author’s screenshot.

·       Texturing

In the texturing process artist create the surface materials that appear on the characters and objects in the film. Textures can vary from fabrics to rocks to hair to skin (Keigher).

·       Animation

The character animators bring the characters to life by moving them with the controls created by the riggers. The animators are also responsible for synchronizing the voice overs to the performances (Furniss 101-102). In the case of characters dancing to specific music the animator will receive either a rough track or similar track of the music that will be used in the final feature to animate the character’s movements to (Furniss 72). Between 300 and 400 animators worked on The Croods (Mearian).

·       Visual Effects & Lighting

After the animation has been done visual effects and lighting has to be added. Visual effects may range from water to explosions and fire (Keigher). Below is examples of both.

“The Croods – 23,000,000 Years in the Making” DreamWorks TV, 2013. Author’s screenshot.

“The Croods – 23,000,000 Years in the Making” DreamWorks TV, 2013. Author’s screenshot.

The lighting not only determines the time of day but can also contribute to the mood of the particular scene. The hard light falling over the landscape as seen below signifies danger coming.

“New World” The Croods, 2013. Author’s screenshot.

The soft warm lighting in the following scene creates a romantic atmosphere.

“A Different Cave” The Croods, 2013. Author’s screenshot.

·       Rendering

Rendering is where every frame of the feature is rendered out as a image by means of a computer program. This process takes very long often depending on how much detail is in each frame. Certain objects such as hair take longer to render out than a flat surface (Keigher). Most studios have a render farm which is a clusters of computers designed for the sole purpose of rendering. DreamWorks has a render farm of servers made up of about 20,000 processors. The Croods, according to DreamWorks Studios, took 80 million hours to render (Mearian).

Stage 3: Postproduction

·       During the post production phase everything is compiled and prepared for distribution. Colour correction is done to the images and the final touches are done. The final sound is added to the feature and subtitles typed out and added (Furniss 102-103).

The film is now ready for the big screen!

Works Cited

DreamWorks Animation. “The Croods: Plot Summary.” IMDb. n.d. Web. 20 May 2016.

DreamWorks TV. “The Croods -23,000,000 Years in the Making.” Online Video Clip. YouTube. YouTube, 3 December 2013. Web. 21 May 2016.

Furniss, Maureen. The Animation Bible. New York: Abrams, 2008. Print.

Keigher, Adam. “Dreamworks CG Pipeline.” Adam Keighers Weblog. 16 October 2007. Web. 21 May 2016.

Mearian, Lucas. “The Croods took 80 million hours to render says DreamWorks.” DigitalArts. 26 March 2013. Web. 23 May 2016.

Noguchi, Takao. “The Croods: Character Design.” Noguchin. n.d. Web. 20 May 2016.

Savas, Ryan. “The Croods.” Ryansavas. n.d. Web. 18 May 2016.

“The Croods Visual Development Designs by Jason Scheier.” ConceptArt World. n.d. Web. 18 May 2016.

Bar Sheets

Bar Sheets: The forgotten language? 

In 1928 there was no formula on how to successfully pair music to animation, i.e. to plan them so that they grow and develop alongside one another (Thomas and Johnston 287). To improvise a score after the film was completed was an easy task, but to do it the other way around was almost unthinkable. That is until Wilfred Jackson came along with a very simple solution: the metronome (Thomas and Johnston 287). He reasoned that if a film ran at a constant speed of 24 frames per second, you just have to determine how much music went by in a second. Jackson had only a basic knowledge of music but could figure out how the beats, bars and staffs all relate to the timing of the animation. After much experimentation a new language was discovered (which, incidentally, only worked if the whole song adhered to a strict beat).

How did Wilfred Jackson’s new ‘language’ work? The animation director and the musicians worked closely together. The musician will change things and the director will enhance the actions until both are satisfied. The animator director will mark down the action on a bar sheet[1]. The music or sound can then be matched accurately to specific frames, which makes it easier for the animators to work to specific marked points (Thomas and Johnston 287).

When the bar sheets were first used the animation directors made notes on blank music notation paper or even on the sheet music itself (Michael Sporn Animation, Inc. 1), but later designed actual bar sheets specifically for the directors. Today blank bar sheets can even be downloaded in pdf form.

The following is an example of old bar sheets done on sheet music:

Source: http://www.michaelbarrier.com/Home%20Page/RedHeadedBabyLg.jpg

An example of newer bar sheets without musical notation not done on sheet music:

Source: https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi36bdnRZHh9rmSXEb8ttAd9L4WKI-IbJp4-_6xK7fZt6QZn3M6rkb55XruhCOcv5ZlxyT7sw2MLd1hi10k3bJR-O8g8w3q3cr8R1xcowflHykDMF-z00LF55XwhUo6GjfAyuu1Q0-1o8E/s1600/clampett-barsheet2.png

Below is an example of a blank bar sheet:

Source: http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6884/1394/1600/BarSheets.jpg

The bar sheets used these days have dropped the musical notation and only shows the tempo, what frames fit where, and to see the bigger picture (Michael Sporn Animation, Inc. 1).

Soundtracks are usually divided into four separate areas namely voice, music, effects and atmosphere (Webster 185).  With music all that is actually needed is a rough indication of beat or rhythm. One needs to analyse and breakdown the music in order to write down the start and finishing of the music, and then fit the frames in where they match the music (Webster 185).  

A bar sheet is read like a piece of sheet music; from left to write. You first analyse the key, check the tempo, check what frame or bar you are at and start animating from there on. Most animators do not use bar sheets anymore (Michael Sporn Animation, Inc. 1). This can be because the music is done afterwards, or because animators do not find them helpful (Jenkins on Michael Sporn Animation).

I think that if used in the right way, a bar sheet can be very helpful tool in animating to music. The tempo, beats and even seeing the notes alongside the frames might give the animator a better picture of what to animate and of the feeling the music conveys. For example, many notes in one bar means that the music is fast, notes written higher on the staff means that there might be some excitement in the music and so forth. Maybe this forgotten language must be given a second look and perhaps introduced in programmes preparing animators for the world of animation.

[1] A bar sheet or bar chart is a way of making notation of sound, music and dialog in a systematic manner (Webster 182).

Works Cited

Webster, Chris. Animation: The Mechanics of Motion. Burlington, Elsevier. 2006. Print

Thomas, Frank and Johnston, Ollie. The Illusion of Life. New York, Disney Editions. 1981. Print

Michael Sporn Animation, Inc. Bar Sheets. Michael Sporn’s Splog, 30 August 2006. Web. 12 April 2016.

http://www.michaelspornanimation.com/splog/?p=711