Season_Screen_TV_Review_№6-web

BEHIND THE SCENES
TO CONQUER THE GREATEST PROJECTS
Next, we faced another problem that no one could
have foreseen. It was the human factor. Animation artists
began missing deadlines one after another. In order to
escape responsibility, they started to disappear or leave
the project entirely. New came in their place. Naturally,
we did not have enough time to teach and properly brief
them, so many of them simply could not manage the set
tasks.
We were faced with a monstrous staff turnover. It
was like public transport in rush hour, not an animation
department. The problem stemmed from the complexity
of the project and the schedule of its implementation.
Furthermore, the budget was already set, and we could
not make adjustments. Thus, only someone absolutely
desperate could agree to such cooperation conditions in
their right mind. Yet, we are overjoyed that we have found
such people and they have become a part of our team.
I’ll be honest – I’ve never worked with character
animation, so I had to learn as I went. For me, the workflow
included looking for necessary motion references,
searching for literature and video lessons, which are,
fortunately, abundant in our information space. While
carrying out seemingly impossible tasks, I have formed
clear understanding of many nuances in this animation
area. The project made me realize — work, improve,
and outdo yourself. This is the only way to grow your
professional skills of a motion designer and become a real
expert.
Ivan Marchenko — project animation artist
CONCLUSIONS and TIPS:
Having faced such a load of problems and spent
incredible amounts of time and efforts to solve them,
we realized that it is better to prevent than cure.
First of all, do not set the bar too high, even if it seems
within reach. It doesn’t mean you shouldn’t raise it ever.
Just be reasonable about it, pace yourself, and be clear
about your capabilities. Creation of a series of programs
is a complex process, where schedule is one of the key
elements. It is a conveyor that must work without
interruptions. Miss one deadline, however slightly, and
you are up for an avalanche of blown deadlines. If you
set a too difficult task for yourself, you will run out of time
to accomplish it. This is exactly what happened to us.
Secondly, never start working on complex long-term
projects, if you do not have yet a fully formed team or
you are not completely sure in all members. Ideally,
you should have some spare experts that can quickly
get the hang of the things and begin working in case of
emergency. Human factor is highly unpredictable and
can let you down at the most inappropriate moment.
A good way to ensure some safety against it (especially
if you are working with freelancers) is to sign a sworn
written agreement specifying all possible nuances with
all appropriate sanctions and penalties.
Thirdly, remember: even if a member of your team
does not have enough knowledge or skill, do not panic
and search for a replacement immediately. It is much
more feasible to train a trusted employee than go for a
full briefing with a new one. Besides, the Internet is full
of available information and lessons. When faced with
this problem in the animation process, we found lots of
Internet resources with useful and valuable information:
http://www.referencereference.com/ — one of the first
resources to assist in character animation. Here you can
find loads of motion samples: running, dancing, etc.
http://www.biomotionlab.ca/Demos/BMLwalker.
html — excellent software for setting various character
parameters, such as sex, weight, mood, etc. Furthermore,
you can watch each motion from different angles.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gz4qhRUyPsM —
an excellent series of video lessons explaining the main
rules of animation. Easy-to-understand style and nice
colors. Enjoy!
https://vimeo.com/20889371 — here you can familiarize
yourself with an interesting technique for character
rigging that enables creating pseudo-3D effect.
http://animation-ua.com/ru/shkola/master-klassy/605-
richard-williams — Complete breakdown of the 12 rules
of the animation artist with detailed description of many
nuances. The course was developed by Richard Williams,
a British cartoonist, film and animation director with
two Academy awards for Who Framed Roger Rabbit?,
for which he has our special gratitude.
DUBBING AND
SOUND DESIGN
Considering the
above, this phase
proved to be much
more merciful to us.
Of course, it was not
free of problems, with
never-ending editsand
sleepless night of our
poor sound designer.
However, the phase
went more or less
smoothly, since we
had learnt from our
negative experience
and done our best to optimize the process to prevent
unforeseen situations. Nevertheless, we still could not
avoid certain issues, despite all the efforts of our team.
Initially, we wanted to record all sounds and sound
effects for the characters alive, so that they would have
their unique voices. Yet, there were five of them, and then
each episode had almost as many secondary characters,
so the task required additional financial resources,
while we had no more. Finally, we had to discard this
concept and use the available sound libraries. It led to
some serious issues. The thing is, ideally, any cartoon
or character animation brims with various special and
unusual sounds that highlight the on-screen action
and create funny and comical background. Despite the
abundance of libraries, we had to spend a lot of time and
efforts to find suitable sounds.
For example, we decided to use Chinese rap in a
certain scene of one episode. This is no easy task for
people situated in Europe. Furthermore, there is the huge
issue of copyright. Even were we to succeed in finding
the necessary track, we’d have to search for the contacts
of the performer, negotiate, sign papers, all the while
making our way through the language barrier and legal
technicalities of different countries. Besides, we were
restricted by the budget and schedule. In the end, we had
to abandon this idea.
The next issue arose from combining the final edit
with the dubbing. There are two methods for mixing
the dubbing and the video in video content production:
either you edit the video to match the dubbing, or you
make the dubbing to match the video sequence. Since
we were dealing with a part cartoon, part education
program, we considered the second option to be more
appropriate, although it was more expensive than the
first one.
At first, this is how we proceeded: the voice actor
received an edited episode with sound design and
recorded the text over it, placing emphasis where
appropriate. However, by the tenth episode, pressing
deadlines left no time to wait for the voice artist to
receive a finished episode. Besides, we had to cut the
budget due to additional expenses on animation. By the
end of the series, scripts were written blindly, based solely
on the scenario. As a result, the voice actor had to start
working while the episode was still at the initial phase
of animation, not to mention sound design and editing.
The voice actor had to rely on the text and timecodes,
outlined by our manager in advance. By that time he had
gotten the hang of it, since he understood that the project
was falling apart and verging on the brink of complete
failure if no measures were taken. Furthermore, our
voice artist was outsourced from the USA, and the time
difference posed a serious obstacle for the workflow.
After all production phases were completed, the
dubbing was recorded over the video. This is when we
could finally see all the shortcomings: sagging plot,
obscured meanings, and weak video sequence. As a
result, we were forced to invent laborious workarounds.
We had to make the dubbing match certain moments
and, if necessary, amplify it by means of equalization,
compression, etc. Only after all the adjustments had
been made, we could get down to the long-awaited final
episode rendering.
As I viewed every new finalized episode, I was
overwhelmed with pride. All the innumerable problems
we faced while working on the project showed us who
is who. Many people dropped out, unable to bear the
stress. As a result, only the most reliable professionals
stayed, who believed into the final goal to the last
and were ready to extend themselves 110%. They also
came to the aid of each other, whether the issue was
professional or personal. This is the real team, the one
that can bring you to unprecedented heights!
Dmitry Martyniuk — project producer and head of the
DMart Production Studio
CONCLUSIONS and TIPS:
As for the most vulnerable points of dubbing and
sound design, we should mention the following:
Since we were creating the project for the international
market, translation was of critical importance. Some
ordinary, word-for-word translation was unacceptable.
One should always aim at translation adapted for the
specific foreign target audience, taking into account age,
style, and slang language features.
Successful dubbing depends to a large extent on
the voice actor and his or her readings style. Take great
care when selecting the voice and pay attention to
the general mood and nature of the program itself.
If the voice actor can bring out the funny side of
the text, even the most boring information will be
perceived easily and with pleasure. For better reception,
order the dubbing from native speakers only. As for
the English language, buyers and channels prefer
British, not American accent. There is a nice resource
https://www.fiverr.com where one can find the
necessary voice actor at a reasonable price. Furthermore,
most voice actors from this resource are quite
understanding of the situations when it is necessary to
rerecord the audio.
***
In the end, we have only one thing left to say – do not
be afraid of difficulties. If the circumstances are stronger
than you and you cannot overcome them no matter
what, you are simply not there yet. But don’t forget: any
growth, personal or professional, is possible only when
you face problems and make extra effort to solve them.
In our case, “ANY DAY HOLYDAY” project turned out to
be an extraordinary challenge. Yet we persevered and got
our invaluable reward – a tight-knit reliable team of likeminded
professionals!
May you too find your own treasure on this thorny
path! Best of luck! ▪
DMart Production Dream Team
42 ▪ Issue 6 JUNE 2016 Season Screen TV Review
sstrnews.com
Issue 6 JUNE 2016 ▪ 43