The Very Basic Steps of Making an Animation Movie

Animation is one of the fastest-changing and most rewarding platforms to showcase one's creativity level. There are many professionals and upcoming animators who are work day and night to secure a position for themselves in the ever burgeoning market of cartoons and animations. Here, one can easily satiate his creative spirits by working for various TV programs, advertisements, commercials and computer games.

Early examples of animation work started appearing around 1910. At this time normal drawings were photographed one at a time to create a short animation clipping. Well, this traditional method was a very intensive and long drawn out process. Here hundreds of drawings were used for each minute of a short film. In recent times, it has been found that the animation industry is constantly evolving and creating easier and better ways to animate. Now it has become possible to make an animation movie sitting at home with the help of images of 2-D or 3-D artwork.

Here's an outline to help you make your own animation movie:
-Before drawing anything, figure out the basic theme of your movie. Will it be a comedy or action packed? Imagine your characters and then develop a plot.

- Now create a storyboard. It is not necessary to have the drawings of your storyboard to be the perfect ones. Rough drawings will do at this stage.

- A neatly laid out script is a must to give life to the characters of your storyline. Hence first write a script. Make sure to include everything as every small detail counts. Give stress on dialogues.

- Now conceptualize and write in detail the profiles of the various characters. It will help you to develop the story further.

- With the script ready, you are ready to begin the real animation work. Decide the animation technique you want to use. You can choose between flipbooks and the traditional method. While flipbooks are cost effective, it has several drawbacks such as absence of sound facility and limited film length.

On the other hand, traditional animation is time consuming and costly but it guarantees great quality. Apart from these two options, you can always use animation software. The various animation software programs come with easy to understand interface, different menus, palettes and toolbars etc.

-Once you are finished with developing the movie, it's time to edit it. Editing is very crucial to come up with quality product. All the minute errors can be mended at this stage.

-Show the final product to your family, friends, teachers or mentors and make note of their viewpoints regarding the movie. If they have any good suggestions regarding the movie which you find will make the animation film more entertaining and appealing do incorporate the ideas and make necessary changes.

-Now the animation movie is ready to be marketed. Well, for marketing you would need plenty of copies. The best way to do this is through CD/DVD replication or duplication. Both replication and duplication are reliable methods to copy your master disc into a number of copies. Depending upon how many copies you want to release in the market, you can choose between CD or DVD duplication or replication. Replication is usually the preferred method if you require more than 1000 units. There are many reputed companies providing CD/DVD duplication or DVD replication services.

- After the DVD replication or duplication job is over, think about the packaging part too. To make a positive impression amongst your buyers it is essential to package your product well. Some leading CD and DVD duplication and replication services providers also offer good quality on disc printing and CD packaging solutions.

New Books New Book

Animation Career Paths - A Look at the Storyboard Artist

The storyboard is the visual shot-by-shot translation of a script and is the basis for the entire production process that follows, including design, background and layout, animation, and post production. Despite changing technology, storyboards are still mostly drawn by hand.

Storyboards represent the finished product long before great time and expense goes into a project. The storyboard artist, working in the style of the production, maintains storytelling continuity, breaks down the script into scenes or shots, establishes the size relationships between characters and props, and indicates the acting by hitting strong poses on each story point. In addition, the storyboard artist is often the first to rough out new background locations, characters, and props. A storyboard artist balances strong drawing skills with a good knowledge of anatomy, acting, directing, staging, and the ability to think creatively and quickly. With such commanding skills, story-board artists often develop into animation directors.

Veteran storyboard artist and co-creator of Frederator/Nickelodeon's Call Me Bessie!, Diane Kredensor, describes the daily duties of a storyboard artist, "First, you go through the script and thumbnail out your shots. Then you pitch your thumbnails to the storyboard supervisor or animation director for notes and changes. From there, you flesh it out, adding the acting, into a full rough storyboard. Some productions already have the voices recorded and the board artist will board to track. Otherwise, you create (draw) the acting and the voice actor match your board. Once your rough board is approved by the director, you make it pretty, putting everything on model, and then you're done.

What kind of training and skills does a storyboard artist need to develop to start out and to keep advancing in her career? According to Diane Kredensor, you want to be a good draftsman, able to draw the human figure in a variety of poses. " Other skills should include strong storytelling, cinematography, staging and composition. Storyboards should clearly communicate ideas to the entire production team, so strong communication skills are an important asset".

All the experts agree that the most intensive learning takes place on the job. The more experience you have out there working with other people's good boards, the better your own boards become.

New Book