Behind The Pixel: Closing The Animation Communication Gap

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Speaker 1
In this corner. You know, it was I was doing like a thing.

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Speaker 2
Low, like.

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Speaker 1
And this corner coming in it, I.

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Speaker 2
Forget his name. So we can't say that phrase because he's trademarked that phrase. What? Yeah.

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Speaker 1
No. Yeah.

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Speaker 2
No one can say it. I mean, you can say it, but if you say it the way he says it.

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Speaker 1
Well, I'm not saying it. You're completely... You're going

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Speaker 2
to be ready to rumble in the court of law.

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Speaker 3
That's right.

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Speaker 1
Is that a real thing?

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Speaker 2
It's real thing. No way. Yeah. Yeah. He's very famous for it.

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Speaker 1
Okay, well, we'll put that in his, like, a funny thing. And it's a parody. It's parody.

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Speaker 2
I don't want any legal trouble with that guy.

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Speaker 1
In today's episode, we are talking about all things storyboards, what they are. Yep, how they work in productions and how to give good feedback when reviewing them. Very important. And we'll probably go into some spicy common problems. Spicy, spicy that we tend to see in the stage. So stay tuned. It's going to be great.

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Speaker 2
It's going to be great.

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Speaker 1
Not great. We can't... another... I don't want to get sued by Great Clips.

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Speaker 2
Let's just go. Hey there. Welcome back. My name is. I'm excited about this one. I'm really excited.

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Speaker 1
That's your name?

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Speaker 2
My name is Will.

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Speaker 1
My name is Kathryn.

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Speaker 2
And this is Behind The P\ixel. This is an Open Pixel Podcast. This is a podcast where we try to bridge the knowledge gap between those who buy creative content and those who make it. And you know who... Making It is a great show, I don't know.

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Speaker 1
Is a great show. It's a great show. I loved that show. Is it still going?

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Speaker 2
I don't know.

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Speaker 1
I hope so.

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Speaker 2
I know they've done delightful. I think it was two seasons that yeah.

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Speaker 1
I feel like we might have talked about it on the podcast before, but if you yeah. If you enjoy wholesome reality crafting yeah.

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Speaker 2
Like yeah Amy Poehler and...

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Speaker 1
Legit question, how well do you think you do on the show?

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Speaker 2
On the making it show? Yeah, I'd kill it. I would kill that show. I would be so good at that show.

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Speaker 1
I admire.

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Speaker 2
Because I love working with my hands. I know I don't do that very often. I mean, I guess I animate with my hands, but.

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Speaker 1
Well, some backstory you've taken, like circuitry, classes.

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Speaker 2
And I knows a little bit of circuitry. I do a little bit of 3D printing. I am really good at measuring things.

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Speaker 1
We've really wanted to get into pottery.

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Speaker 2
Yeah, The Great Pottery Throw Down. Also a great show. But I would I would I would destroy everyone on that show.

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Speaker 1
I'd be out the first round. So two different two different people.

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Speaker 2
I think if.

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Speaker 1
This is the first time that you're listening to us, we are Open Pixel Studios. Yes, we are co-founders. We are animators in our own right character animation, motion graphics, animation for Will. And we've been doing this for the last six and a half years now.

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Speaker 2
So seven. Yeah, coming up on seven.

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Speaker 1
But why you're here is because you're listening to the podcast and if you ever have any questions that you have for the podcast, you can go to openpixelstudios.com/podquestion.

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Speaker 2
Pod question.

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Speaker 1
pod question.

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Speaker 2
Such a good URL. Yeah, some of the best. I also want to remind people to drop a little bit of tip coin in our jar.

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Speaker 1
We have any.

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Speaker 3
Any tips.

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Speaker 2
Like, Comment. Subscribe. hit the things. It does help. Leave a review. It does help the podcast thrive and.

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Speaker 1
Yeah.

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Speaker 2
be seen by other people.

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Speaker 1
At every other podcast place and we know how annoying it is.

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Speaker 2
But yeah, even those that are not in the U.S., I see you because I look at the metrics. I know you're out there. Welcome. Hit the button.

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Speaker 1
It's appreciated.

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Speaker 2
Just tap it. It's so easy. It just.

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Speaker 1
Just do it. Yeah. We're aging ourselves again.

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Speaker 2
All right.

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Speaker 1
What are we talking about today?

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Speaker 2
In today's topic, we are talking about storyboards, sometimes referred to just as boards. You might hear that. Or story panels, right?

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Speaker 1
Some people say that never like bored stories.

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Speaker 2
Never bored stories. Okay. Now no one ever clarifying, especially if you're doing like a board story and you're walking into a board story on a boardwalk, you don't you don't want to be there. Yeah. Okay. Yeah, you will die of boredom. You might meet Anthony Bourdain. All right. Okay. Wow. If you... I know it’s bad I know.

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Speaker 1
Well, no, it's it's like it's a good pun. It’s a good pun. He was he was great.

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Speaker 2
He was great.

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Speaker 1
Yeah. Yeah. Okay, okay.

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Speaker 2
Okay. Today, we're going to embark on a journey through this essential stage to unlock some production secrets. So secrets that many people don't know. Many people who don't do this type of work.

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Speaker 1
Sure.

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Speaker 2
So let's just jump right in. So in this production episode, we're going to make a few assumptions here. One, we're going to assume that you've been through these top three stages, these stages that come before this production stage. The ideation stage is what we call it. The ideation block of time. You've generated ideas, feelings, tones. You have aligned all those with your target audience.

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Speaker 2
You already know who you're going to talk to. You've completed your script. That's another big stage. It's an A.V., it's an in a script format. And we're assuming that you've separated out by a shot number. Okay, we're hopefully you're using our template. If you don't remember, our template is on the free resources at our website, basically slash movie script.

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Speaker 1
You know, like.

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Speaker 2
You have visual directions written out. Sure. In that script for each shot. And you've completed the concept stage, which we just did a episode about a little last week. Two weeks ago. Yeah. And you've created a visual guide or at least have options that you've selected, right? You've gone through that and now you're ready to review your storyboards, right?

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Speaker 1
So if you haven't done any of those just yet, you might want to go back and listen to the many episodes.

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Speaker 2
This shot, this podcast down. Right.

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Speaker 1
And you turn.

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Speaker 2
It around, turn it around, then go back.

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Speaker 1
Listen to the other episodes. But, you know, the only reason is that it might be more informative to understand the whole workflow from like through the thread as opposed to just jumping into one. But you know, you might have experience already. So another note here that I think is probably important to mention is that you can really make storyboards for any type of video production, right?

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Speaker 1
Live action or animation, feature film or TV. Yeah. But for this, we're assuming that you're making animated storytelling videos with a marketing or communication angle. Yeah, right. Which is really more aiming to like sell or educate, and it can also entertain in different ways.

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Speaker 2
In an entertaining way.

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Speaker 1
Yeah, yeah.

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Speaker 2
Okay. So with that out of the way, let's get to the meat of our topics.

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Speaker 1
Oh, excuse me. The plant based meat.

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Speaker 2
Oh, thank you. Sure. Let's. Yeah, whatever. If you want to go beyond me.

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Speaker 3
Oh, no.

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Speaker 1
Right. That's where I'm slowly working my way towards becoming vegan or vegetarian. At least.

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Speaker 2
Vegan. I think it's vegan.

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Speaker 1
So I kind of know it won't take off.

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Speaker 2
But let's start. Yeah, let's start with the basics. What exactly is a storyboard?

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Speaker 1
Great question.

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Speaker 2
Great question. So the easiest comparison to think of is a comic book version of your animation and in comic books it's a sequence of panels. If you're a marketer, you can think of it as slides in a slide deck that outline the key moments of your story. So it depicts the actions of each scene through the camera angles that a creative director has already selected, and typically includes some sort of mechanism of synchronization to figure out what you'll hear, what you'll see, and what will happen in the entire shot.

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Speaker 2
That's kind of what it is. Each panel in this storyboard represents a crucial moment in the story, so it captures the composition, the character. If you're dealing with characters and other important visual details that really need to be shown. So by organizing these panels in a sequence.

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Speaker 1
A sequence.

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Speaker 2
Sequence, you create a visual narrative that unfolds, allowing you to envision the final animation without key, without any motion done. Yes, that is key. You don't want to pour so much effort into motion. Takes a long time. You don't want to put that effort in until it's ready to go.

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Speaker 1
That's fair. Yeah, right. And you're looking at it through the lens of like what your audience member is going to see. Yeah, right. Not necessarily what you're seeing. One thing to note here is that the script, the thing that you're writing, all this story ideas down. Yeah, it serves as like your story roadmap overall. And then when you shift into the storyboards, they're really serving as a visual roadmap for everyone who needs to sign off on the project and the overall direction for the animation.

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Speaker 1
So think of it as a guide, right? It bridges the vision gap that sometimes many CEOs or CMO's or product marketers may face when they're asking themselves like, What does this story look like when they're reading the script right there at the script phase and they're saying, What is this? What am I seeing? There's sometimes a gap there.

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Speaker 1
So the storyboard is a great place to figure out what it actually looks like. And so they're not only essential for animators, but they're really essential for the entire production team as a whole. Yeah, they provide a common language for everyone that's involved, ensuring a shared understanding of the story, visuals and, you know, overall direction. It's kind of like having a visual translator that bridges that gap between your imagination and the finished product as a whole.

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Speaker 1
Yeah, right.

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Speaker 2
I actually I think I started taking that class on Duolingo for storyboards. Oh, because I speak that language. Yeah.

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Speaker 1
Oh, I see.

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Speaker 2
Yeah, yeah. It's really hard.

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Speaker 1
How far have you gotten?

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Speaker 2
I got a couple of stars.

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Speaker 1
Oh, good.

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Speaker 2
Okay. I'm on my 30 day streak. Oh, nice. Congrats. I'm getting. I'm getting up there. But there's some challengers. I've only done Duolingo really for like two months. And they've changed so much.

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Speaker 1
They have changed a lot, I think, for a new.

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Speaker 2
Animated show by Duolingo.

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Speaker 1
Yeah. There. Yeah, that's a that's an interesting like analysis of like how animation has evolved with Duolingo over the years. So what we have to do an episode about.

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Speaker 2
That, we might it's not really that whole, but I mean it's.

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Speaker 1
Three different brands and how they get.

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Speaker 2
That, that's what it is.

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Speaker 1
That would be cool. Okay, but we're going to sidetrack like, okay, so why don't we explore the role of the storyboard during the production stage? Yeah. So what's happening?

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Speaker 2
Yeah. So here's what's happening internally. So a creative director looks at an AVI script and they identify how to best represent each shot. So during that production stage, the storyboard acts as a reference point for making really crucial decisions, and it helps us assess the flow of the story. It opens up discussions around visual coherence or, you know, things that are working together, not working together, you know, you trying to figure it out and whether or not the script is actually working in the way you intended it.

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Speaker 2
So it's all kind of tied together in this one little package. And, and so once we have our first storyboard in hand, it becomes sort of the centerpiece of collaboration. And it's basically the foundation by which your animated video will be completed.

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Speaker 1
Beautiful. It's a masterpiece.

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Speaker 2
So what happens when the client gets a storyboard?

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Speaker 1
When you review and you're analyzing each panel or frame or page is, as we sometimes call them, any one of those? Yeah, any or all of them. You can identify areas for improvement, refine character actions, and fine tune any of those narrative beats changing colors, adding or subtracting visuals as needed. Whatever makes the most sense for the story, it also serves as a primary communication tool during reviews.

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Speaker 1
As you provide feedback, you can reference specific panels, you can highlight what works and suggest adjustments where needed. So the storyboard here is really meant to be more of a facilitator of clear and effective communication, ensuring that that vision is understood and translated into the animation seamlessly.

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Speaker 2
You know what? It's you know, it's like as I heard you speaking, it's it's like a contract when you go and like get a contract from someone. All parties need to agree that this is the right thing. Right? Right. And it's drafted up by a lawyer or something.

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Speaker 1
And what happens when you don't read the contract?

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Speaker 2
Correct. Fully in perpetuity. And you're like, now, you know, Chippendales is totally toast anyway. That's great, great, great. Yeah. Yeah. Anyway, so the idea here is that it's not necessarily binding. It's you can change it, right? But it's something to look at and negotiate over. And I think that's the important part. Yeah. Yeah.

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Speaker 1
It's meant to be a place for negotiation in a way.

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Speaker 2
Right, right. Yeah.

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Speaker 1
So.

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Speaker 2
Or you know what?

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Speaker 1
Don't just sign it. Just.

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Speaker 3
Just don't.

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Speaker 1
Sign off and then do.

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Speaker 2
Whatever you want. I don't care.

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Speaker 1
I'm so glad. Yeah. Empower people to think for themselves to.

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Speaker 3
Do.

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Speaker 2
What's best for you.

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Speaker 1
Right. All of that is to really say that you should embrace the power of the storyboard stage. It's the blueprint that transforms your simple marketing idea into that captivating and memorable animated story.

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Speaker 2
Yeah.

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Speaker 1
Yeah. So being that that storyboard is so crucial to the success of the project, right? We thought it would be helpful to really provide some guidance here about how to give feedback at this particular stage.

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Speaker 2
Yeah, because it is it is a pretty big stage to give feedback on. So once you've looked through your first set of boards, obviously we can't tell you what to say in the very specific situation, what you're looking at, you know, but we can provide guidance when giving feedback on on the boards as a whole. So we're basically assuming that you always want to provide constructive feedback.

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Speaker 2
This is basically the same for all reviews at.

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Speaker 1
Every stage.

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Speaker 2
Constructive. You don't want to be destructive, you don't want to be restrictive either. So you want to just keep that in mind. Let's go down the list. What are some tips that you can possibly give our readers?

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Speaker 1
Sure, we can give some tips. The first thing you want to do is really be specific, right? So instead of saying what we like, even I've said this in the past, like, yeah, like, oh, I don't really like that. Right. That's something I like. Have you saying something like I don't really like this part. What you can do instead is provide detailed explanations of what isn't working and why it's not working.

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Speaker 1
That way you can point out specific frames or pages or panels or actions in a scene or visuals that need improvement and articulate your reasoning behind your suggested changes. Right? So for example, at a place like Pixar that's made many stories over the years, right?

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Speaker 2
We'd like to think that.

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Speaker 1
Some of our favorite stories.

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Speaker 2
We'd like to think that they're okay.

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Speaker 1
They're they're wonderful.

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Speaker 2
They've got they've got the elements.

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Speaker 1
Oh, nice, relevant, topical boom for this particular moment in time. Well, so they have a strategy around critiques in general. Yeah. Right. Through a lot of their work, they'll ask questions like, What did you like or love about that particular piece? And What's confusing about what you actually saw there, right? What's the part you didn't necessarily understand and what suggestions, if any, do you have for improvement?

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Speaker 1
Right. None of those are coming out in sort of a an attacking or blaming or you're.

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Speaker 2
Also giving you're giving a space for them. To them, the person who created the work to be appreciated. Yeah, I think that's the first. That's sort of the first. What did you like or love? Show me some appreciation. And then the confusing part is like a clearly and that's a bad word. I mean, it's fitting word, but you want to make everything clear.

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Speaker 2
You want to make everything as clear as possible. Yeah. Especially in animation, so.

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Speaker 1
All right. Okay. Well, so the second.

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Speaker 2
To second tip here is to remember that you want to focus on the story and the intended message. So you want to frame your feedback in terms of how it aligns with your marketing goals and the emotions you want to invoke. So it's not about how you feel. It's about the goals that your marketing has. So this way you can guide the animators to fine tune visual storytelling elements to achieve that, whatever that desired impact is.

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Speaker 1
All important things. Yeah. All right. Third one, if you were having trouble providing guidance, which is, okay, that happens all the time. Instead, you can provide examples or references to help illustrate your feedback overall.

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Speaker 2
Always a good idea.

00;17;03;26 - 00;17;24;17
Speaker 1
Always a good idea. We love when that happens. So whether that's referencing a particular scene from a movie that you've watched in the past or sharing visual inspiration that you gathered from somewhere, references can really assist in conveying your vision, setting the expectations, even if they're drawn in something like Emma's paint.

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Speaker 2
Love, evidence, paint. Got it. Can I still use it?

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Speaker 1
We've. We've called it back.

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Speaker 2
You only opened it just today.

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Speaker 1
To point.

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Speaker 2
Some stuff.

00;17;34;00 - 00;17;34;21
Speaker 1
We're shocked.

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Speaker 2
It's the quickest, fastest and like a pixel driven thing that you could do. Like, just. I need a couple of pixels in this area.

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Speaker 1
Yeah. Side note, if you decide on your own to draw, the thing that you need to see is reference. Oh yeah, that would be awesome. I would love that to it up. Yeah. Well we'll explore that.

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Speaker 2
Creativity from your from your youth.

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Speaker 1
Yeah. Yeah, no from even from today channel it.

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Speaker 2
Channel all.

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Speaker 1
The time. Yes, you have the creativity.

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Speaker 2
All right. Lastly, if you have a background in design or graphic design or anything like that, you have a leg up in reviewing these things. So utilize that knowledge, analyze the color, maybe the lighting, the composition, the typography. So these elements significantly impact the mood and the tone of your pieces. So keep that in mind. Consider whether they align with your brand identity and the emotions you want to evoke in your audience.

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Speaker 2
Sure. So do that.

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Speaker 1
Just yeah. I just want to acknowledge just in this moment that we have a thing in our notes here that says Insert joke here.

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Speaker 2
Yeah, that's where I came across that. And I didn't know what to say. I see. That's why I said just do that.

00;18;52;26 - 00;18;57;17
Speaker 1
That's the joke, you know. Oh, I see. Sometimes. Sometimes you don't have a joke and that's okay.

00;18;57;17 - 00;19;02;11
Speaker 2
Sometimes it's not funny. No, sometimes it's very serious. And you need to do.

00;19;02;11 - 00;19;05;02
Speaker 1
We are switching the tone up real fast right now.

00;19;05;18 - 00;19;07;04
Speaker 2
You need to do this right.

00;19;07;04 - 00;19;34;01
Speaker 1
All right. So we've talked about what a storyboard is, how it should be used in productions, right? Yeah. But what we know from experience is that this isn't always smooth sailing. Yeah. Andrew You know, maybe can we spend some time here pinpointing some areas of, like, rough waters that perhaps are, are sailboats you should avoid, you know, when navigating the the seas of the storyboard.

00;19;34;01 - 00;19;44;05
Speaker 2
Are the storyboard board feedback be blowing winds in the production schedule? You mean that's my pirate voice?

00;19;44;16 - 00;19;46;17
Speaker 1
That's not bad. Not bad. It's not bad.

00;19;46;17 - 00;19;48;29
Speaker 2
I could be a voiceover actor.

00;19;48;29 - 00;19;59;29
Speaker 1
I was a temporary pirate in voiceover. Oh, yeah? Yeah. I provided scratch audio for a for a video game character that was a pirate.

00;20;00;00 - 00;20;02;22
Speaker 2
Nice. And what's the character can you say.

00;20;02;29 - 00;20;17;10
Speaker 1
It was for? It was for toys for Bob. When I was working on the Skylanders games. Oh, okay. Yeah. So to bring that back I guess I'll say something like our the storyboard feedback be blowing wins just like you did.

00;20;17;17 - 00;20;18;07
Speaker 2
That's not bad.

00;20;18;12 - 00;20;25;18
Speaker 1
It's not bad. It was. That's how I like, lost my voice. I think it's like 20 minutes. Just. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I am the captain.

00;20;25;18 - 00;20;26;16
Speaker 2
You are the captain.

00;20;27;28 - 00;20;49;11
Speaker 1
So we're going to talk to you a little bit about some of the common production issues that tend to happen within the animation productions so that you're aware of them and you have a better sense of how to navigate those waters without being a pirate. The final decision makers and stakeholders aren't involved early enough to give sign off when they're supposed to.

00;20;49;11 - 00;20;50;26
Speaker 1
Yeah, this is a big problem.

00;20;50;26 - 00;20;51;13
Speaker 2
That it happens.

00;20;51;13 - 00;20;52;16
Speaker 1
All the time. It happens all the time.

00;20;52;16 - 00;20;53;29
Speaker 2
We just talked about it today.

00;20;53;29 - 00;21;23;26
Speaker 1
We talked about it today is yeah. So what tends to happen is that a lot of the direction that needs to have signed off and needs to have the right eyes on it technically doesn't get seen and the people who need to see it are usually the CEO, the CMO, the brand director, a key board manager. You know, any of the stakeholders that you identify in that moment, you need to have that person in the room or on the zoom call or, you know, in an email thread to give direction to the entire creative team.

00;21;24;04 - 00;21;33;02
Speaker 2
It's a board member. A Yeah, you nailed it. CMO, CFO, sometimes a CFO, yeah. So the financial thing I'd.

00;21;33;06 - 00;21;33;12
Speaker 1
You know.

00;21;33;12 - 00;21;34;13
Speaker 2
Illegal is.

00;21;34;13 - 00;21;43;09
Speaker 1
It legal? Yes. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So we're saying to do this at the storyboard stage, it's really critical, even if you think that they might not get it at first.

00;21;43;09 - 00;21;45;29
Speaker 2
Right. We do hear that a lot. You know, they're not going to understand.

00;21;46;01 - 00;22;02;06
Speaker 1
They're not going to stand what they're looking at because they don't see it in motion or something like that. If that happens, then that's an opportunity to let the creative team explain what is happening. Yeah, and they can walk them through the process. They can say, this is how the motion will look. Yeah, this is what's going to happen.

00;22;02;13 - 00;22;06;11
Speaker 1
But you really want to get their signoff on. Is the story working overall?

00;22;06;11 - 00;22;14;18
Speaker 2
Honestly, with a with a 30 to 1 minute video, it takes maybe 15 minutes of their time to just walk through what's going to happen.

00;22;14;18 - 00;22;15;28
Speaker 1
To make sure everyone's on the same page.

00;22;15;28 - 00;22;18;07
Speaker 2
Yeah, it just is such a simple meeting to have.

00;22;18;07 - 00;22;36;04
Speaker 1
And so because what ends up happening here is that we go into an animation, let's see, we don't get the sign off and we deliver what we think is a final version, right? We've already gone through revisions with the internal team and with the marketers, and then we find out that the CMO or the CEO isn't happy with the story.

00;22;36;07 - 00;22;37;02
Speaker 2
We like this story.

00;22;37;02 - 00;22;51;02
Speaker 1
Right at the script stage. Yeah, it is. It's really. Yeah. And so there's only a few days left in the production schedule. What are we going to do? We're going to have to shift. We're going have to pivot, we're going have to cut like it gets a little crazy. And so that's just a.

00;22;51;03 - 00;22;56;07
Speaker 2
I mean, it might not be an A, it depends on style and we can talk about, but it might not even be doable in the time.

00;22;56;07 - 00;23;15;13
Speaker 1
Right, exactly. And so there's just better ways to to plan this out. And it's that way, like everybody is happy with the final result. They already know what to expect before you even go into animation. And the artists are happy too. Yeah, because they're keeping on schedule. So that's a big production challenge that has solutions. Yes.

00;23;15;13 - 00;23;39;29
Speaker 2
Yep. So second tip here, things to avoid are common problems. The visual gap is hard to close because many storyboards are represented in rough sketch form. Things either look like stick figure drawings or a bunch of clip art and sort of mashed together as artists. We totally get it. It's a cost saving measure to save time, right? But this one really is on us as creative professionals.

00;23;40;21 - 00;23;48;00
Speaker 2
Your concept phase should depict the style, but in many cases, we should carry that style through to the storyboards.

00;23;48;01 - 00;24;05;11
Speaker 1
Yeah. So we understand why we would do rough drawings. And it's not to say we haven't done them. Yes, we have done them in very specific situations, but at least in terms of the the type of work that we do, most often it makes sense to just follow the boards all the way through to the final style.

00;24;05;16 - 00;24;26;12
Speaker 2
So obviously we present final frames so that there's no confusion on what will be seen on the screen. There are some exceptions. Characters are a big exception, but for the most part we present final frames. You take all the visual all the way through the pipeline, all the way through the workflow, and we get to figure out any kinks in that workflow before we get to full motion.

00;24;26;17 - 00;24;28;20
Speaker 2
So that's just something to to note, right?

00;24;28;20 - 00;24;29;23
Speaker 1
So why do we even do this?

00;24;29;29 - 00;24;39;23
Speaker 2
So we do this because some clients will say, well, we really don't know what this will look like. We can't really imagine what it what it will be.

00;24;40;08 - 00;24;42;26
Speaker 1
And they're looking at a rough when they're the.

00;24;42;27 - 00;25;05;17
Speaker 2
Yeah. And so that takes up a bunch of time in the production schedule to figure out okay how can we walk this person through to the end. It's just you're saving yourself time, right? Creatives on the other side are saying, well, it takes additional work to create those final elements. And so we don't want to sort of spend or quote, waste that time that is going to go in the wrong direction.

00;25;06;01 - 00;25;30;26
Speaker 2
So that's why the concept phase is so important right before this phase. So concept, we've given it the visual direction. Now in the storyboard we're seeing that visual direction all the way through the entire project. Right, right. So that, that just it just hits a different note in their minds. So if you build these frames that you present Nondestructive Lee, then making changes to your frames becomes a whole lot easier.

00;25;31;19 - 00;25;44;22
Speaker 1
I don't know what you mean by nondestructive, but I guess what is that? Or what other things are nondestructive in your life? And segueing to a different question.

00;25;45;00 - 00;26;04;11
Speaker 2
I'm not going to answer that nondestructive. So nondestructive means that everything has an undo that's built in. You can think about it that way. Okay. So if it's if you're building sort of layers on top of the artwork, every layer is undoable back to the original thing.

00;26;04;17 - 00;26;30;20
Speaker 1
Got it. Got it. Okay, that's interesting. Yeah. There you go. The more you know. Okay, number three, we're getting there. So another common production issue that happens that can be avoidable is that sometimes you're getting a storyboard and you're seeing what happens and you're saying, oh, I want to make a change to the dialog, right? I want to change the script out in this particular moment in time.

00;26;30;20 - 00;26;56;12
Speaker 1
And it's very easy to get lost in those words, to be like, okay, I'm going to take this sentence and I'm going to rewrite it. Now that I'm seeing the visuals, I kind of want to say it a little bit differently so that the message resonates more clearly, which makes sense. But it is a place where if you're not taking into account the the length of the word count in that moment in time, you might be saying, oh, I want to I want to rewrite this entirely.

00;26;56;12 - 00;27;20;25
Speaker 1
And I'm going to add a paragraph of text right now, all of a sudden, that shot that was a single sentence is now four sentences and has become a lot longer. You've added time into the animation, whether that was, you know, probably unintentional. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And so in that moment, if you're having confusion and you need to change the script at that point, it's probably better to do that when you get into the animatic stage.

00;27;20;25 - 00;27;32;05
Speaker 1
Yeah, if we're seeing changes to the script, we, we tend to say, okay, you might, we might need to make an animatic stage at this moment so that you can see what the timing relationship is with the visual.

00;27;32;05 - 00;27;36;07
Speaker 2
Yeah. And we covered animatics in another. I think we did it in Hack.

00;27;36;07 - 00;27;37;02
Speaker 1
Yeah, sure.

00;27;37;02 - 00;27;40;26
Speaker 2
So go check that out. We totally explain animatics and what they are. Yeah.

00;27;40;29 - 00;27;52;14
Speaker 1
Yeah. So we're not saying don't make changes to your script because you actually can. Yeah. It's more just being conscious of when you're making those changes, remembering that it's still changes and impacts the time is.

00;27;52;14 - 00;27;53;26
Speaker 2
Yeah, it's how it changes the pace.

00;27;54;00 - 00;27;56;23
Speaker 1
Yes, yes, sure, sure. So definitely good.

00;27;56;25 - 00;28;17;26
Speaker 2
So when you're in storyboards, leave the words alone, right? Right, right out the changes and then make those changes in the animatic. Right. Yeah. Last common problem here is that the boards will sometimes get scrutinized to such a fine precision that they forget that it's all supposed to be in motion.

00;28;17;26 - 00;28;19;08
Speaker 1
Right? Right. Yeah. Yes.

00;28;19;13 - 00;28;39;22
Speaker 2
It's like, oh, or what about this really specific thing? Like, we're not going to see that when it's moving, right? Not really. Right. So the most important part of the stage is to remember that the storyboards are temporary. They're supposed to be let go. They're going to be abandoned at some point. No. Yeah, you got to let it go.

00;28;40;14 - 00;28;44;25
Speaker 2
It's like, Jack, you got to let them die. I'm sorry.

00;28;45;05 - 00;28;47;24
Speaker 1
No, not Jack. Ever.

00;28;47;24 - 00;29;08;10
Speaker 2
We're talking Titanic. Yes, yeah, yeah. Okay. Anyway, so you must let go of what you're seeing on the page, because when it's in motion, you might not see the same things. You're going to see an entirely different set of things when when things are in motion. Right? So just just keep that in mind. If a picture is worth a thousand words, then a moving image is like a billion meanings.

00;29;08;16 - 00;29;08;27
Speaker 2
Right?

00;29;09;05 - 00;29;10;21
Speaker 1
Like, that's interesting. Yeah.

00;29;10;28 - 00;29;16;17
Speaker 2
Remember, that's. That's what we're aiming for. We're aiming for meaning and not necessarily words with the with the boards.

00;29;16;18 - 00;29;21;27
Speaker 1
Sure. What would you say is, like the meaning of life?

00;29;22;25 - 00;29;26;24
Speaker 2
All right, we don't have to go that deep here. What? That's way too deep.

00;29;26;24 - 00;29;29;03
Speaker 1
We can get there. No, we can't get there. No.

00;29;29;06 - 00;29;29;26
Speaker 2
42.

00;29;30;01 - 00;29;31;27
Speaker 1
And if it is 42, you're right.

00;29;32;03 - 00;29;32;12
Speaker 2
That's.

00;29;32;22 - 00;29;33;11
Speaker 1
You win.

00;29;33;23 - 00;29;35;02
Speaker 2
What's the prize? That's.

00;29;35;02 - 00;29;36;15
Speaker 1
That's Hitchhiker's Guide.

00;29;36;15 - 00;29;38;28
Speaker 2
To the Future, Michael's Guide to the Galaxy.

00;29;38;28 - 00;29;39;10
Speaker 1
Yes.

00;29;39;11 - 00;29;42;10
Speaker 2
If you don't know it, go watch it or read it.

00;29;42;14 - 00;29;42;28
Speaker 3
Read it.

00;29;43;07 - 00;30;00;15
Speaker 2
Yeah, I could just go Google it, children. In summary. So hopefully this episode gave you some good working tips. Tricks opened up some doors in your mind around how to give feedback and views. So, you know, storyboards, they're a blueprint for your animation, so treat them as such.

00;30;00;15 - 00;30;00;27
Speaker 1
Yes.

00;30;00;27 - 00;30;15;02
Speaker 2
When we're reviewing, try to get every stakeholder, every person who's involved, everyone who needs to see it on board and seeing it to avoid the painful scope change in the future. Right. Which could be costly. By the way.

00;30;15;10 - 00;30;23;01
Speaker 1
I want to just make a very quick note that by stakeholders, I just want to make sure we're all on the same page. It's not somebody who holds.

00;30;23;13 - 00;30;33;08
Speaker 2
A no, it's it's it's like Gordon Ramsay who cooks the steak. And when he's holding it. Mm hmm. That's when he becomes a stakeholder.

00;30;33;08 - 00;30;41;04
Speaker 1
Another thing that you should do is talk with your creative teams about what feedback is helpful for them at this particular stage. Yes, right. And every stage.

00;30;41;04 - 00;30;52;21
Speaker 2
But yeah. And lastly, you know, enjoy the process. Yeah. You know, it's this is this is really where it starts coming together. This is where things start to coalesce. And that's really where, you know, things start to jive here.

00;30;52;21 - 00;31;03;26
Speaker 1
Yeah, we have we've definitely heard multiple times clients say like, oh, this is exciting. Like to be able to see everything together laid out in a way that's like, Oh, this is really starting to come to light.

00;31;04;04 - 00;31;16;11
Speaker 2
I do want to caution don't skip the stages in between, because sometimes you get a script and they're like, Yeah, just move into storyboards because they want to get to that place because they know that that's the place where right, right. Things can be hashed out. But you really want to set creative direction, right?

00;31;16;11 - 00;31;18;25
Speaker 1
We've definitely mentioned not to skip steps. Yeah, yeah.

00;31;18;26 - 00;31;19;19
Speaker 2
So anyway.

00;31;20;01 - 00;31;20;20
Speaker 1
But yes.

00;31;20;20 - 00;31;26;08
Speaker 2
Again, if you have questions open pixel studios are com slash pod question.

00;31;26;23 - 00;31;27;03
Speaker 3
Product.

00;31;27;05 - 00;31;29;20
Speaker 2
What should I change it? Should it be easier?

00;31;29;20 - 00;31;38;27
Speaker 1
Yes. So this week, unfortunately, because we've screwed up our number system on our episode labeling so poorly, we.

00;31;38;27 - 00;31;39;25
Speaker 2
Don't know what the next thing we.

00;31;39;25 - 00;31;42;07
Speaker 1
Know, we, we do know that there will be an episode.

00;31;42;07 - 00;31;46;05
Speaker 2
There's absolutely a next episode. We just can't do the tease because we don't know.

00;31;46;05 - 00;31;48;23
Speaker 1
What it is. Right. So stay tuned next week for that one.

00;31;48;25 - 00;31;52;13
Speaker 2
It's going to be a great episode. I'm so excited for that episode as we.

00;31;52;13 - 00;31;57;26
Speaker 1
Have in our notes here that it should be a, quote, hacky sack sack kicker.

00;31;58;14 - 00;32;16;20
Speaker 2
So that's a reference to Animaniacs. We just finished a project where me as a creative director went into Animaniacs. I started watching more Animaniacs episodes and there's an episode where they it's all tongue twisters. It's oh, good. Yes. And hacky sack sack Kickers was the product that they made.

00;32;17;11 - 00;32;20;04
Speaker 1
Sure is so good. I believe it. That's great.

00;32;20;14 - 00;32;31;28
Speaker 2
A big thank you to media for producing this podcast. Our producer is Jackson Foote. Our music was created by hidden and licensed through Premium Viacom. Until next time, stay honest.

00;32;32;08 - 00;32;34;14
Speaker 1
Stay creative, stay open.

00;32;34;18 - 00;32;45;26
Speaker 2
Nice open piece of studio. Thank you so much for listening. If you're an audio listener, stick around for a bad idea and we'll see you in that amazing next episode.

00;32;45;26 - 00;32;46;26
Speaker 1
Whatever it might be.

00;32;46;27 - 00;32;47;19
Speaker 2
Whatever it is.

00;32;47;19 - 00;33;22;19
Speaker 1
The world is your oyster. I couldn't I couldn't pivot from oyster because people say, Larry, the world is your oyster.

00;33;23;02 - 00;33;26;28
Speaker 2
Hello? Yes. How you doing? Good. Okay. You ready?

00;33;27;07 - 00;33;27;20
Speaker 1
Yeah.

00;33;27;22 - 00;33;28;17
Speaker 2
Do you know what this one is?

00;33;29;01 - 00;33;29;17
Speaker 1
I do.

00;33;30;01 - 00;33;32;14
Speaker 2
I do that because you're looking at it on an iPad over there.

00;33;32;15 - 00;33;39;25
Speaker 1
No. So we came up with this years ago. I actually don't remember.

00;33;39;25 - 00;33;50;06
Speaker 2
I don't know when we came up with this, but I think so we attribute this one. I think I would attribute it to Karen. Yeah. Arthur, our former third co-founder. So shout out to her.

00;33;50;07 - 00;33;50;19
Speaker 1
Yes.

00;33;50;21 - 00;33;52;17
Speaker 2
I think she listens to this podcast.

00;33;53;27 - 00;33;54;16
Speaker 1
Who knows?

00;33;56;02 - 00;33;57;03
Speaker 2
Alan Free?

00;33;57;14 - 00;33;57;27
Speaker 1
Yes.

00;33;58;07 - 00;33;58;29
Speaker 2
Or free?

00;33;59;02 - 00;34;00;06
Speaker 1
It's a good name.

00;34;00;07 - 00;34;01;07
Speaker 2
It's a good name. Yes.

00;34;01;19 - 00;34;02;05
Speaker 1
Well, I'm.

00;34;02;05 - 00;34;03;14
Speaker 2
Not sure it's a good product, but it's a good name.

00;34;03;15 - 00;34;10;11
Speaker 1
Sure. Yeah, because I want you to think about when do you think about our free things? You immediately go to allergies and.

00;34;10;18 - 00;34;12;08
Speaker 2
Free of allergies. Yeah.

00;34;12;23 - 00;34;17;02
Speaker 1
And it's so I'm, I'm that no company has done it.

00;34;17;04 - 00;34;20;00
Speaker 2
I haven't looked actually. Yeah. So we might be taking someone today.

00;34;20;14 - 00;34;20;26
Speaker 3
To.

00;34;21;29 - 00;34;24;14
Speaker 1
Tell us what our free is. Our bad idea. Yes.

00;34;24;19 - 00;34;40;03
Speaker 2
So it is a pollen and bug zapper. Good for your nose. That's right. Okay, apparatus, you put it on. Yeah, it's. It's razor thin. It's like it's super.

00;34;40;09 - 00;34;41;13
Speaker 1
So you can, like, really see.

00;34;41;13 - 00;34;46;00
Speaker 2
You can barely see, you know why? Because it utilizes nanotechnology.

00;34;46;03 - 00;34;48;24
Speaker 1
Of course, you have to utilize nanotechnology.

00;34;48;24 - 00;34;56;19
Speaker 2
And those nanotechnologies things are are flamethrowers. They're tiny little nano flamethrowers.

00;34;56;26 - 00;34;59;13
Speaker 1
Okay. Yes. They come out of your nose.

00;34;59;14 - 00;35;25;06
Speaker 2
No, they go right into your nose, actually. And as pollen comes closer to your nose, it actually zaps the pollen in midair. Now, the other thing, because these flame throwers are so nano, they also, you know, that's like, well, these these these they can zap bugs as well that come close to your nose. So yeah, it's it's actually can zap.

00;35;25;06 - 00;35;27;02
Speaker 1
When you're dealing with those mosquitos.

00;35;27;06 - 00;35;31;15
Speaker 2
Those mosquitoes come around trying to bite your nose.

00;35;31;15 - 00;35;31;26
Speaker 1
Yes.

00;35;32;04 - 00;35;34;07
Speaker 2
They get zapped with nano nanotech.

00;35;34;11 - 00;35;37;19
Speaker 1
What how do you ensure the protection of your nose hairs?

00;35;38;16 - 00;35;42;20
Speaker 2
Well, that's a good question.

00;35;42;20 - 00;35;43;24
Speaker 1
I'm listening. Go on.

00;35;43;25 - 00;35;52;07
Speaker 2
It. You can it actually it's a trimmer as well. It's a it's a nose hair trimmer is of course. Which reminds me, I got to trim my nose here.

00;35;53;24 - 00;35;55;17
Speaker 1
So you're going to look great after.

00;35;55;17 - 00;36;01;04
Speaker 2
You're going to look great. You're not going to have any pollen and no mosquitoes will come near.

00;36;01;04 - 00;36;07;09
Speaker 1
You're right. Now, this is only for your nose. So if you're dealing with allergies in your eyes or your mouth.

00;36;07;17 - 00;36;11;02
Speaker 2
Or carefully throw around your eyes, that's a problem in your nose.

00;36;11;02 - 00;36;11;21
Speaker 3
Totally fine.

00;36;12;05 - 00;36;17;11
Speaker 1
Right? Yeah. So if that's where you ingest the most severe allergies and boy, do we have a product for you.

00;36;17;12 - 00;36;20;18
Speaker 2
Nano flame. Ellen is on it.

00;36;20;24 - 00;36;25;03
Speaker 1
No, he's not now. He's never. No, he's off. It is getting it.

00;36;25;03 - 00;36;28;01
Speaker 2
Alanis, this is Moose. Moose.

00;36;28;07 - 00;36;33;29
Speaker 1
There you go. All right. Well, thank you for listening, as always. We will catch you in the next episode.

00;36;33;29 - 00;36;35;25
Speaker 2
Yes, see you by.