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HelloWinter posted:I initially thought of attempting that, but the website asks for a scan of the student ID (with the expiry date shown) and I thought that the student version might be timed specifically to that due date or something... Hmm. negatory. The license is in perpetuity. HelloWinter posted:Ohhh, that's really too bad Is there no way for you to work on it? negatory
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# ? Apr 2, 2016 18:33 |
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# ? May 25, 2024 13:43 |
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Futaba Anzu posted:What is your rationale for this? a hunch. Seriously tho, the amount of money mainstream hollywood/blockbuster films have to make back to be considered financially viable is ballooning to asinine rates and studios have elected to keep bloating the market with more and more of them at all times of the year, and just like....it can only go on like this for so long, y'know? Expecting billion dollar returns on every product you make is....not a sustainable business model. It's a bubble and it's gonna pop sometime. And like, besides all that....at some point the world is going to be different, because right now it is already different than it used to be.
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# ? Apr 3, 2016 01:17 |
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What kind of pencils would you guys recommend me getting for story boards and doing character art for a short 2D animated film? Would anything do?
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# ? Apr 9, 2016 15:57 |
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punk rebel ecks posted:What kind of pencils would you guys recommend me getting for story boards and doing character art for a short 2D animated film? Would anything do? yes.
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# ? Apr 9, 2016 17:19 |
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punk rebel ecks posted:Would anything do? y...yes. yes.
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# ? Apr 9, 2016 20:10 |
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Started 2D animating for the first time in years. I haven't done a proper 2D project in about 4 years, it's really weird coming back to it after going through an animation course where I animated nothing 2D. https://twitter.com/bizarspel/status/718552683494449153 bitmap posted:negatory. The license is in perpetuity. Is it not possible to buy a cheap bamboo or intuos or something, a cheap laptop, then sell them when you get your stuff back? curse of flubber fucked around with this message at 23:35 on Apr 9, 2016 |
# ? Apr 9, 2016 23:30 |
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Megaspel posted:Is it not possible to buy a cheap bamboo or intuos or something, a cheap laptop, then sell them when you get your stuff back? YOU try going back to a tablet after three years of a cintiq. Also, I'm on a lake in Guatemala.
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# ? Apr 11, 2016 01:45 |
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A tablet is doable it's just so different in terms of hand-eye coordination that I'd have to get used to it again. ~Once you go cintiq, nothing else is unique~
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# ? Apr 11, 2016 02:29 |
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whoah wait cintiq is pronounced like unique not like rick?
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# ? Apr 11, 2016 02:32 |
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bitmap posted:YOU try going back to a tablet after three years of a cintiq. Also, I'm on a lake in Guatemala. I still have a working standard size Wacom... It's not even widescreen! Before programs added in the ability to scan then vectorize/raster I had to trace my pen drawings then manually stretch the digital copies to get the correct perspective. So yeah, basically I can't blame you for not wanting to go back!
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# ? Apr 11, 2016 02:45 |
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punk rebel ecks posted:What kind of pencils would you guys recommend me getting for story boards and doing character art for a short 2D animated film? Would anything do? A lot of people I know like to do their rough in blue and their final design in good old graphite.
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# ? Apr 11, 2016 03:54 |
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Any general tips for animation interviews? I have one coming up this Wednesday. My prof suggested that I act very extroverted and likeable but I'm a pretty reserved person...
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# ? Apr 11, 2016 03:59 |
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HelloWinter posted:Any general tips for animation interviews? I have one coming up this Wednesday. My prof suggested that I act very extroverted and likeable but I'm a pretty reserved person... I don't know... that sounds like a recipe for disaster. I think you should just aim to feel comfortable and be pleasant around them. And know your poo poo in case they ask you.
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# ? Apr 11, 2016 04:56 |
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Agreed, an interview is not the time to try on a new personality. Interviewers usually ask open questions that allow you to show your knowledge, enthusiasm, etc. Try to think of it like a polite conversation with someone at a party (rather than a test). E.g., if the interviewer is also an animator, then you have something in common and you can "talk shop", or if they play a different role you can use that opportunity to learn how their department interacts with the animators. Some more animation specific things (I animate for video games so YMMV) ... If you've sent them a reel they might pull it up and ask you questions about your process on some clips. Also have a list of favorite artists/inspirations in mind, seems like that always comes up at some point.
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# ? Apr 11, 2016 08:56 |
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Thanks so much for the tips, guys!! I also found it bizarre that my prof suggested that I try on a different personality. I'll definitely try to be as comfortable and knowledgeable as I can during the interview. I have a hard time demonstrating my enthusiasm in proper words, but I'll try my best with that too!! I'll be interviewing with one person (possibly two); the main guy is the supervising animator that I've met a couple months ago while he was touring our campus and looking at student portfolios. The other person might possibly be the manager of studio operations. I can't exactly predict what questions they'll ask of me (safe to say though that they'll ask about my work process, influences, etc...) but when they are the ones asking me if I have any questions for them, I get stuck. Would it be safe to ask how the studio workflow works? Or something about their on working projects? Anything that demonstrates I got the enthusiasm for the job?
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# ? Apr 11, 2016 19:54 |
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HelloWinter posted:Thanks so much for the tips, guys!! I also found it bizarre that my prof suggested that I try on a different personality. I'll definitely try to be as comfortable and knowledgeable as I can during the interview. I have a hard time demonstrating my enthusiasm in proper words, but I'll try my best with that too!! You can make a list of things that you genuinely want to know and ask them if they don't get answered during the interview. How is it like working here? what are your policies regarding X or Y? Do you crunch? what's your favorite part about working here? what don't you like about working here? You are interviewing them as much as they are interviewing you.
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# ? Apr 11, 2016 20:53 |
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HelloWinter posted:but when they are the ones asking me if I have any questions for them, I get stuck. Yeah, I've struggled a bit with this too. Like chernabog said, have a list. If the conversation is heading towards one of your questions anyway, you could bring it up then. That way you won't feel as pressured to have something if they ask later. If they have answered them all, you can say as much. Or, if you feel like you haven't talked enough and have to ask something, pick one or two that they could expand on. Don't force it if you really don't have any further questions, though ... And don't worry too much about it either, if you can help it. Good luck
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# ? Apr 12, 2016 16:31 |
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Hello again!! The interview went well today (thanks for all the helpful advice!!) In the end they gave me a job offer, woo! I couldn't accept it right away since I might have a couple more interviews soon but I really like this studio. I might just go for it
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# ? Apr 13, 2016 17:50 |
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Just saying congrats since no one did yet. Did you end up acting like yourself or going with your teacher's horrible way?
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# ? Apr 17, 2016 02:10 |
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An Ounce of Gold posted:Just saying congrats since no one did yet. Did you end up acting like yourself or going with your teacher's horrible way? Haha, thanks! I went with the most sensible thing and acted like myself rather than someone I'm not. I felt more assured and comfortable that way.
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# ? Apr 17, 2016 20:08 |
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Hello again!! I decided to take the challenge of starting and completing an animation within a day. This is what came up. HelloWinter fucked around with this message at 11:53 on Apr 30, 2016 |
# ? Apr 30, 2016 07:11 |
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Hey, looks good. All I would suggest is that you revisit or completely drop the final action where Link flicks his head back. Something about it confuses the eye.
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# ? Apr 30, 2016 14:07 |
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bitmap posted:Hey, looks good. All I would suggest is that you revisit or completely drop the final action where Link flicks his head back. Something about it confuses the eye. I think how quickly the hat goes down and forward, and then going back is what's confusing about it. Great animation though, I dig it a lot.
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# ? Apr 30, 2016 19:40 |
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I think the motion is motion fine, it just needs to happen over a few more frames. If you stretched the last 3 frames out into 5 or 6 and filled in the inbetweens, I think it'll really sell the settle back into the neutral pose. Otherwise it looks great stuff, especially for a 1 day challenge!
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# ? Apr 30, 2016 21:38 |
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HelloWinter posted:Hello again!! I decided to take the challenge of starting and completing an animation within a day. This is what came up. For one day it's awesome. Keep an eye on your landing. It looks like he shifts the zplane a little downstage at the end. Another week of messing around in OpenToonz. This is my proclamation: Once the open source community updates the ui, fixes a few bugs, and streamlines a few processes this might be the software studio killer. This week I was playing with trucking in the camera while parallax scrolling. It's a beautiful thing for a home studio. Imagine the scene in Spirited Away when Sen runs through the flower bushes. Now when I say streamline... phew- this thing is rough. I was going to share but I lost my practice work. I learned that you cannot just save your file. You have to save your pallette per level, then save your levels (layers in Flash and Toonboom), and THEN save your main file... I understand why, but I wasn't expecting the free release to keep the room structure of a studio so intact. The built in FX are on par with any pro software I've used and once again, the open source community will hopefully keep this thing updated with new different flavored releases in the future. My conclusion is that I don't suggest anyone switching over unless you have extensive knowledge of how digital animation works, but it's free so wtf do I know? Just download it if you want and start monkeying around. I'd start by watching a few basic tips on Youtube otherwise you might not even find your tools to start! E: Oh and since we aren't under the NDA for Frederator anymore is anyone interested in seeing our failed pitch board for Bubbletopia (named and worked on before Zootopia I swear)? I could upload it somewhere on Wednesday somewhere if anyone has any suggestions. An Ounce of Gold fucked around with this message at 03:12 on May 1, 2016 |
# ? May 1, 2016 03:09 |
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An Ounce of Gold posted:E: Oh and since we aren't under the NDA for Frederator anymore is anyone interested in seeing our failed pitch board for Bubbletopia (named and worked on before Zootopia I swear)? I could upload it somewhere on Wednesday somewhere if anyone has any suggestions.
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# ? May 1, 2016 13:19 |
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Thanks so much guys!! I'm really happy with what I've managed to output in one day, but yeah absolutely, I've still got much to learn! I'm experimenting a bit by animating it in 1's instead of 2's, just to get the same 'feel' of smoothness that fighting games have. Here's a work in progress (sorry about the constant blank flashing...) but I've tried to address the issue of his hat flipping at the end. I might still have to add more frames in the end to regulate the motion properly. HelloWinter fucked around with this message at 16:18 on May 1, 2016 |
# ? May 1, 2016 16:07 |
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Hey everybody. I just released my third year film at CalArts, 3/4. Check it out! https://vimeo.com/164772081
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# ? May 2, 2016 18:38 |
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BrokenCycle posted:Hey everybody. I just released my third year film at CalArts, 3/4. Check it out! This is great. Very 70ish if that makes sense.
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# ? May 3, 2016 00:52 |
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HelloWinter posted:Thanks so much guys!! I'm really happy with what I've managed to output in one day, but yeah absolutely, I've still got much to learn! I got my computer set up and had a look at what was bugging me here. There is a change of direction in the whole pose, prediminately the head, and a change of mass at the end during the head flick. I realised I just wanted for him to spring up from the crouch at the end into an "up" extreme and then settle into his end neutral pose. I just...removed a few frames here and I feel it reads a lot better. The more I work in animation the more I realise that it's always better to imply more by explicitly stating less. Also...is this 20fps?
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# ? May 3, 2016 16:20 |
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bitmap posted:I got my computer set up and had a look at what was bugging me here. There is a change of direction in the whole pose, prediminately the head, and a change of mass at the end during the head flick. I realised I just wanted for him to spring up from the crouch at the end into an "up" extreme and then settle into his end neutral pose. I just...removed a few frames here and I feel it reads a lot better. Ahh, now I understand!! Thank you, I'll fix that And no, it shouldn't be 20fps... I worked with 24 fps.
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# ? May 3, 2016 18:52 |
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neonnoodle posted:Yes. I've heard about a lot of folks pitching to them, but I'm curious as to what that actually looks like. At home and about to post and then I thought, "I don't know where to post it." I can throw it on a site where you can scroll through the pics or I can just toss up the PDF we made for Frederator. Anyone have any suggestions of where to upload? E: For reals, anyone? Don't make me use google and try things! also BrokenCycle posted:Hey everybody. I just released my third year film at CalArts, 3/4. Check it out! This was good. It made my girlfriend cry. An Ounce of Gold fucked around with this message at 21:18 on May 5, 2016 |
# ? May 5, 2016 00:21 |
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BrokenCycle posted:Hey everybody. I just released my third year film at CalArts, 3/4. Check it out! Looks like a characterthat would be at home in the yellow submarine .Nice work and the sound is very good
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# ? May 5, 2016 11:18 |
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Alright I've uploaded our final failed pitch for Frederator Studios to Imgur because I didn't have a better place for it. Essentially you skype in with the studio and go through each panel and hopefully give them an idea of what it would be about. This is Bubbletopia: http://imgur.com/a/hOU8S/layout/horizontal The notes we got back and why weren't picked included: -Stakes not high enough (they thought water people should easily defeat fire [we thought it was covered with the hand sizzle at the throne]). We will fix that before animating by having Stitches (the cat) jump over the flame wall and join Bub. -Too deep. They wanted sillier shorter things. We kept building worlds. They did kindly say that if we put together a series presentation/bible in the future we could run it by them. That's pretty cool. That was it for that pitch. It seemed like we were close, but I'm sure we were miles away from what they wanted. They were very nice though. Our 3rd pitch to them was a little rougher. This was needs a couple elements changed. This is Mckenzie: http://imgur.com/a/pMAUJ/layout/horizontal This one went very badly. We caught them in bad time. They just got done arguing with someone that wouldn't take their notes for an hour and then it was our turn. They were in a sour mood and did NOT hold back. Notes: - Main character is not special. She's not unique enough. By the end of it they didn't quite get that she was so curious that she's basically a kid detective. They said no one would want to be her, act like her, dress like her, or be her friend. - The supernatural characters, we called Morphos, were not well defined. That's true. They didn't have limits to their powers in the pitch so it was apparently confusing as a potential viewer of what they were and what was going on. We probably will just change them to ghosts or supernatural undead to make things easier. An Ounce of Gold fucked around with this message at 03:28 on May 6, 2016 |
# ? May 6, 2016 03:14 |
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i know you didnt ask for criticism but i'm a bit confused by the composition of a lot of your panels, it's difficult to understand what is going on at times without looking at the descriptions underneath to help as far as pitches go, I would trust Fred on what works as a series and what doesn't, with their track record. is a pitch simply those boards and no bible/pamphlet? i agree with your philosophy of just dropping the viewer into a typical story, but I still felt a little lost with the story of McKenzie's until I stopped and re-read the first few pages. it seems like you're afraid to dole out any exposition but as a result characters seem (to me) to lack motivation, or they do things that I don't quite understand. They might have been a bit over the top in describing the main character but I do think you need to do a better job of establishing the interactions between her and other characters to show what their relationship dynamics are. I wasn't able to get any kind of read on the peripheral characters at all.
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# ? May 6, 2016 05:34 |
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Sorry everyone, this turned into an effort post on pitching!Quest For Glory II posted:i know you didnt ask for criticism but i'm a bit confused by the composition of a lot of your panels, it's difficult to understand what is going on at times without looking at the descriptions underneath to help I didn't ask for criticism only because I've already pitched these so they have already been changed from what you see. And almost anything said probably was already covered by Eric Homan. BTW what you said of the Mekenzie pitch is 99% true. Any criticism is welcome though otherwise I wouldn't have posted it to a public forums of course First off to anyone that wants to pitch to Frederator, panels don't matter in a pitch board. You ARE supposed to look at the description to find out what is happening. This is NOT a storyboard. We did FAR more work than what was necessary. Literally I could have scratched pencil on sticky notes (that's how Manly was pitched). The art doesn't really matter. That hurts me to type but it's true. You noticed in the Mckenzie pitch some of the art is still in the very first roughs. We ran into a deadline and had no more time, but we could have pitched JUST with roughs and no backgrounds and it would be fine. The fact that you didn't know what was happening until you read it is fine because you are meant to look at this while listening to the person pitching it. You got lost because I wasn't there to describe it as you looked through it. Just to be clear, this is NOT a storyboard. It just looks like one because we did far more work than we needed. We could have pitched with one picture per shot, full descriptions, and made it easy on ourselves. Obviously the less you draw the more they have to imagine Secondly, they did NOT want to see our series bible. They specifically said if we had one, they don't want it because it may sway their opinions. They might accidentally say yes to the potential instead of what is in front of them. That makes some sort of sense. We have recordings of the pitches (do this, they give so much info you will have to rewatch it all just to absorbed and retain the suggestions and information). We can't post that without Eric's consent, and with their NDA that probably isn't going to happen. They really only care about the story and characters because they are aces at art design. If there is something they don't like about your art, trust me, they will fix it before it ever gets to story-boarding. So that's art. Character-wise, you are right about Mckenzie. She lacks motivation. She wants to see the concert, but why, and why is that important for her not to miss it? None of that is in there. Maybe she wants to get close to Denim, maybe ZB is her mom's fav singer... We don't know. We failed. BTW I DO hate unmotivated exposition. Nice pick up. I dread it. In almost anything I watch or read if the characters begin with unmotived exposition or a narrator setting the scene I tend to drop it immediately. I hate pilot episodes if they tend to go this route for example. I find it utterly boring. It's not needed if your writing is good enough (which it wasn't here). The problem with Mckenzie is that we failed to define her in the opening with her friends. She needed to show something special at the start that would show the audience why only SHE could solve the case other than she eats a lot of food. That's not really helpful. Cute? Maybe, but not helpful in defining who her character is. We failed there. For example, if Mckenzie was a robot, then only she could use her robot abilities to solve the case. What makes Mckenzie unique and special? Apparently jack squat! I think if we were to revisit this property it would be smart to make Mckenzie a new ghost/morpho that Ann has been assigned to for teaching ghost lessons. Something like that. We need a stronger character base for her that's for sure. Basically she needs a personality other than the "fun" one. The last line you said was the only thing that Frederator disagreed with you on. They thought our peripheral characters were fine. It was one of the few praises we got for this pitch actually. For the Go cartoon pitches they don't even WANT side characters, so we were already battling up hill on creating a world they didn't ask for (they said world building is OK but not their aim). They want just a short back and forth between two or three characters. They were actually able to pick up on all three side characters and describe to us what character archetypes that they thought we put them in. They were right. They are just there for scene decoration basically. They aren't really a plot driving group like the Scooby Doo gang. Basically they are there so when Mckenzie returns we get a sense of normalcy after the craziness of the case. Knowing that she's friends with them is good enough for this plot. BTW you have a point, if we got picked up the relationship dynamics between her and her friends would be important. For this, it was more important (to Frederator) to show Ann and Mckensie's interactions and how they proceed. Mckenzie was our 3rd pitch to them last year. I'll describe our year so if any of you are on the fence on pitching you can get an idea of what we went through. Also, don't be afraid, just loving do it. The worst case scenario is two people from one of the most successful cartoon studios right now making fun of you. 1) Our first pitch was a concept pitch for Bubbletopia. They said it reminded them of a mix between Wizard of Oz and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. To me that is high praise because without prodding them Eric was able to pick up on my two main influences in literature growing up. I read every Frank L Baum Oz story and Dahl book when I was a kid. They loved that we worked as a couple and then started naming all of the couple that work in animation. That was cute. They asked what else we had. 2) That brings us to the concept pitch of Mckenzie (not what you see). This was a short story about a younger Mckenzie battling with depression about her father's death, while trying to concentrate on finishing an essay for school in her bedroom, and while Ann tormented her. Ann, in this version, was a personification of her frustrations (this was dropped for pitch 3). They didn't get it at all. After we explained a few things they had huge "Ohhhhh!" style faces and reactions. Then they were all smiles. They loved the supernatural parts of it. The short is they wanted a more fun take on Mckenzie which led us to pitch 3 that I posted above. 3) That pitch was a disaster. It almost made us give up because they were so mean. The main character is slightly based on the co-writer, my girlfriend. So when he said "no one wants to act like her, no one wants to be her friend, etc... It really hurt her. They said we could pitch again, but they were not interested in Mckenzie at this time. I think Kelsey even scrunched her nose and said, "no more morphos!" They were in such a sour mood compared to the first two times because of their fight with the previously pitcher. We took it in stride because we both have a sales background. Good luck trying to be mean to someone whose job it was to listen to irate customers be wrong about life. I lived that! It's ok to have a thick skin and stick up for your ideas btw; it's not ok to argue with them. There's a difference that the person before us didn't understand. Even though they were pissed, we used our charisma and charm to lighten the mood. By the end of the disaster pitch they were smiles again, opened up about why they were mad, and told us to pitch again. 4) That brings us back to Bubbletopia. We took our concept, their advice, and made the above pitch board. They had so few complaints about this one, but ultimately they were running on a deadline and only had a few more pitches left. They chose other properties. And you can't blame them right? We needed to bring Stitches into the whole story to up the danger and if the other pitches were already solid that's less work for them to do to get it to a final cartoon. Which brings us finally to HIDDEN CRITERIA. I have pitched to NBC, FX, HBO, and now a year with Frederator. My advice is be confident and not cocky. All of these networks/studios had hidden criteria. That means they SAY they want one thing, but once you pitch you realize they had other things in mind. I always think of a pitch as a funnel. At the start you are wide open. The more you pitch for that network/studio the more you narrow in on making it through. I swear, by the feedback, we were close with that Bubbletopia pitch. We almost made it through that funnel! And for fun, I found my rough output of me performing the roles for the final Bubbletopia pitch. My warning is that I'm doing all the voices but I'm not a voice actor, there is no sound effects, and there is no music. It WILL give you more of an idea of who Bub and the other are though. And of course, if anyone has any questions about pitching, our pitches, or if anyone would like me to post the original concepts feel free to ask. An Ounce of Gold fucked around with this message at 20:18 on Jun 9, 2016 |
# ? May 6, 2016 14:26 |
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I guess I'm kind of... I don't know, maybe I missed a day of class or something, but how do people get in a position to pitch to these networks in the first place? Bear with me because I didn't go to art school and I have never worked in the animation industry, and I live in a city that has scanty (and now almost nonexistent) presence in the animation business. Like, if I come up with a bunch of ideas for cartoon shorts, can I seriously make unsolicited pitches to networks?! How do they control who gets access to the people who hear pitches? It just seems so... open?
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# ? May 6, 2016 14:33 |
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neonnoodle posted:Like, if I come up with a bunch of ideas for cartoon shorts, can I seriously make unsolicited pitches to networks?! How do they control who gets access to the people who hear pitches? It just seems so... open? Yeah most of the time it is very open as far as contacting people. You just have to put yourselves out there. In this case I literally went to the Frederator website, found Erik's personal email and shot one over and started a dialogue. After that, we were in contact with another person and everything else gets closed off. You have to sign an NDA and until you fail you aren't supposed to share ANYTHING about it. Obviously no, you cannot just get a bunch of ideas and shoot them over unsolicited. That doesn't mean you can't talk to people. EDIT: One last thing, if whoever you contact says they aren't accepting new ideas at this time make sure you ask when they are. Most networks/studios have a schedule that they accept pitches on. An Ounce of Gold fucked around with this message at 15:21 on May 6, 2016 |
# ? May 6, 2016 14:43 |
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neonnoodle posted:Like, if I come up with a bunch of ideas for cartoon shorts, can I seriously make unsolicited pitches to networks?! How do they control who gets access to the people who hear pitches? It just seems so... open? Sure you can. Understandably you won't be taken seriously without an admirable body of work readily available online, though. If you just have a popular tumblr people frequently ask you to pitch. Honestly? Enter loopdeloop. Some people who run it or who are adjunct to it's are talent scouts for cartoon network and nick, and fred has been a sponsor
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# ? May 6, 2016 17:39 |
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# ? May 25, 2024 13:43 |
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Pfft, I wish I had a popular tumbler
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# ? May 6, 2016 18:55 |