Season_Screen_TV_Review_№6-web

BEHIND THE SCENES
TO CONQUER THE GREATEST PROJECTS
BEHIND THE SCENES
OF “ANY DAY HOLYDAY”
FALLING INTO THE SAME TRAPS
THE HARD WAY
“Failures are finger posts on the road to achievement.” — C. S. Lewis
Behind every success there are always many faults and mistakes and the story of our
success is no exception. Whatever hard it was we always knew that we have no way to
retreat we need to move only forward. It seems that we are so aware of what are we doing
just because at the very begining it was extremely complicated to create the production
studio which will produce something unique and extraordinary and will not be afraid to
differ from all the rest. We are extremely proud to be real professionals at our sphere,
especially due to the hard way we have passed and it gave us a solid background and
the reason of self-esteem and self-appreciation. We do really appreciate what we are
doing; ad now it is the reason of our lives and the star we are permanently oriented by just
because the results which we had achieved after all came to us at great cost of many falls.
Large projects always demand loads of time and
resources. The team appears to be flounder in chaos with
everyone stretched thin. Of course, full immersion into
such processes naturally entails sleepless nights and
overwrought nerves. Every expert is like a rope-walker,
balancing at the edge of his or her professionalism; one
wrong step bodes a drastic plunge into the abyss of career
failure.
However, gradually, step by step, the thorny path
is left behind, and solid ground appears underfoot.
The cherished silhouette of a triumphal arc begins to
glimmer ahead in form of a completed project with all
its dividends. And believe it or not, the most important
thing is not the profit, but the realization of one’s own
professional growth.
One would think, this is the end, the project is done,
time to rest now. Nothing like that! It is not yet time to
relax, but to review the lessons learned and analyze the
mistakes made during the process of product creation.
And, take our word for that, there was an improper lot of
those! If we do not get to the bottom of all the troubles
encountered and forgo drawing appropriate conclusions,
we risk falling into the same traps when working on
further projects.
Since most of our mistakes were quite common ones,
many people and companies may find the tips below
very useful. And not only for those who work in video
content production, but also for people from totally
different industries. The main point here is dealing
with long-term projects.
First, we should tell a bit about the project itself.
“ANY DAY HOLYDAY” is an edutainment animation
program of 26 episodes. Each episode, 7 minutes long, tells
the adventures of five fairy-tale helpers of Santa Claus
traveling through different countries celebrating New
Year. One of the main distinctive features of the program
is its visual component: all characters and the interiors
have been painted by hand in watercolor and then
animated using SG technologies. This program is aimed
at general target audience.
The project proved to be an extremely rough ride
for our team. First of all, it was the first time we worked
on something of that scale, and we simply didn’t know
what to expect. If not for the atomic efforts of each
team member, the project would have been a complete
failure. Fortunately, we managed, but at what a price!
The production duration almost doubled, part of the
team dropped out, and the ones left kept working on bare
enthusiasm, at the end of their tether.
Was the result worth the effort? Yes, of course! After
all, no obstacles mean no growth. Furthermore, one
cannot form a really strong team without putting it
through hell. Put crudely, we did not make the project,
the project made us.
In order to grasp the full scope of the issues we had to
face, let us go through individual production components,
analyzing the mistakes made and identifying the
most important aspects that will help to avoid many
unfortunate situations in the future.
38 ▪ Issue 6 JUNE 2016
Season Screen TV Review