P.2 Budget and Schedule

-Research-

-My Budget Sheet-

Trends in Animation Feature Films

2013:

• ·         Frozen
• ·         Monsters University
• ·         Despicable Me 2

2012:

• ·         Brave
• ·         Madagascar 3
• ·         Dr. Seuss Lorax

2011:

• ·         Kung Fu Panda 2
• ·         The Smurfs
• ·         Cars 2

All of these films are Sequels Franchisers, which is for merchandise and financial reasons because they know that it has an existing audience for example 'Despicable Me 2', They are computer animated and have a 3D option, they are also by well established companies such as: Pixar and Dream-works's. They have well established Hollywood stars staring as the voice actors/actresses, and are all family oriented films and adventure films).

Extra Films:

• ·         Cloudy with  chance of Meatballs
• ·         Lego Movie

These are more quirky, humour that is appealing to a wider range of audience audiences:

• ·         Paranorman                                   
• ·         Frankenweenie                                  
• ·         Coralline
• ·         Nightmare before Christmas

Pixar Research

What is unique about the working culture and environment of Pixar that has enabled them to be successful?
The working environment and culture of Pixar is known to the workers to be amazing and fun environment to work in! The general public themselves would also say the same, claiming that they would also like to work there because it seems to be an exciting place to work as it is a children’s animation studio and allows your inner kid out. The workers at Pixar enjoy talking about the work environment in the studios - Pixar studio workers have told interviewers that there is a bar that is in a hidden room behind a cupboard fill of books, that contains beer, wine and spirits, that can only be accessed using a passkey entry system.  The bar area is welcomed to animators and production managers, there is also a guest book that has to be filled in before entering, the workers say that they enjoy this because it is a nice way to relax after a full late days’ work. Besides from a relaxing drink after work there is also a pizza room for the workers, who work late, there is also a cereal bar which

offers the same service. Pixar also made an inflatable highway - a room full of inflatables, this was made so that the animators could experience the scene in toy story where the toys are running through the rubbish.  One of the most common quotes from workers is it’s the  "perfect working environment".

Animation genres:
The genre is mainly Children, family, comedy, and entertainment.

The recent Sky "toy story of terror" promotion advert was guided by WRCS London, Sky teamed up with Disney Pixar to create the advert. It is also the first time Disney has been involved in a co-branded movie channel.

Improvement:

When Pixar studios first set up shop it used to have 46 employees, and was only a computer graphic hardware company.  However they now have 12 hundred people employed approximately, and has won 26 Oscars and taken $8 billion.  Also in 2010, Pixar Animation Studios opened Pixar Canad
a in the downtown area of Vancouver and expanded their studios to roughly 2,000 square meters studio produced seven short films based on Toy Story and Cars characters.

Background on Pixar:
Pixar began in 1979 as the graphics group which was a third of Lucas’s films in the computer division. Around 1986, Pixar was getting funded by Apple Inc. co-founder Steve Jobs, who became its majority shareholder Walt Disney, also bought Pixar in 2006.

Awards:

• ·         Golden lion for lifetime achievement by the biennale venire film festival (2009) - Jon Lasseter, brad bird, peter doctor, AndrewS, Lee Unkrich.
• ·         academy award for best animated feature - finding Nemo (2003), The Incredible (2004), Cars (2006), Ratatouille (2007), Wall-E (2003), Up (2009), Toy Story 3 (2010).

Important people etc.:

• ·         Steve Jobs - Steve Jobs is an american marketer and investor, he is also a chairman and a CEO of apple Inc. chief executive of Pixar animation studios.
• ·         luxo Jr. - this is a short animated film involving the lamp in the logo produced by Pixar and is directed by Jon Lasseter in 1986.
• ·         Lucas film - Lucas film's creates films using the entire entertainment spectrum door example using production of original content, post production effects, audio for external clients, licensed products, gaming, animation, products, they also created the star wars films.
• ·         Tin toy - tin toy is a short animation created 1988, produced by Pixar and directed by Jon Lasseter. It was the third short film created in a small animation division.
• ·         Jon Lasseter - Jon Lasseter is an American animator, film director, screenwriter, and producer, chief creative officer of Pixar and Walt Disney animation studios, and principle creative advisor for Walt Disney Imagineering. Walt Disney was Jon Lasseters first job, although he ended up being fired for promoting compeering animation, after that he joined Lucas film who then sold him to Pixar. He also directed toy story (1995) which was the first creation from Pixar, a bugs life (1998), toy story 2 (1999), cars (2006), cars 2 (2011). Jon Lasseter has also won 2 academy awards for short films, and a special achievement award for toy story.

P2. Voice Talent

Voice talent

The 3 qualities the character must have is a clear voice so it’s easy to understand, very childlike – most common and favorable voice to listen to.

My dream cast for the George would be Robin Williams because his voice has a wide range from high to deep and I think he could pull of a American little boys accent and also convey the timid characteristics of this boy until he has a temper. His played various roles like Loveface and Ramon from Happy Feet and also Fender in Robots etc. Unfortunately he has passed away that’s why he would be my dream cast.

Vic Mignogna famous for anima voice cast like Edward Elric in Fullmetal Alchemist I chose him because of his naturally high voice and I think he could be great 

Shapes in Character

P2. Animation Process

The pre-production stage: consists of budgets, scripts, a brief and the concept are all discussed and considered as a rough structure based on your idea. If this is all approved, then the crews get hired.

Concept: is fleshed out more that includes detail and given substance. The narrative is then changed into a visual style of the animation. The focal point of this stage will be what is wanted, needed, and what has to be achieved. This is often done by experimenting and adapting things.Next, the director and storyboard artist come together to create the narrative in a visual form. 

Storyboarding: the purpose is pre-visualizing a motion picture. It is a graphic organizer that shows the types of shots, the camera movements wanted. the art director will develop a style and create the characters and environments. Most of these pictures showing what everything will look like would be drawn. Storyboarding can be done by an individual or in a group, however with a group it will take long as its not an individuals vision. This stage also allows rough guide lines for animators to work within loose restrictions, still giving animators room for creative inspiration.

Sound Track: casting the voices for each character is done by the director and producer until they find what they want. The chosen voice actors will then receive the script and go over the script. sometimes the voices can be all record in a day, but it can go for days, depending on the vision of the director and producer. The editor will then create a sound track example to show a representation of each character.

Modeling: from the original drawings and designs, modelers will begin to make CG examples (computer graphic(ing)) and the characters skeletons that the animator can move each joints creating realistic human movement.

Background: will be overseen by the art director. They are created and added using CG, basic sets will be built up by modelers, then more detail will come after set dressing is added. With 2D animation, the backgrounds will be scanned in and cleaned up on the computers, on the other hand to avoid the process of cleaning up the 2D animation can just be made onto the computers.

Layout: the layouts will be shot and made into a 'layout reel' or edited into the previously made storyboard. In the making of larger, more structured and expensive products there will be often two phases, rough and final.

Animation:all the assets needed for animation is done excluding the backgrounds. Different scenes will be allocated to specific animators by the director. As each scene is completed the director will approve it and will then be added to post production so it can be viewed in context. 

Each scene will built up to create an almost completed running animation. Effect animations will be added after all is complete.

P2. Animation Comparison Grid