The animation proccess?

D

drdes

New member
Hi all

My name is dave, hello!!

Right, what it is I have a possible cartoon series in the works, I am working on the 2nd draft of the first episode and the production company im working with seem really keen.

I was just wondered how the whole animation thing worked, from idea to screen. This would be my 1st animation series, and i have no idea how it all works.

with it being my idea, will i get a percentage of all money made? when we pitch it to broadcasters are they the ones who pay for it to be made? If im writing the episodes how much does that bring me?

I know that my questions seem to be around money, and i apologise for that but im just curious as to how the money and animation thing will work seeing as im a poor office worker!
 
How is it that you're far enough along to have a production company involved, and still don't know how animation works? Is this all true?

I suggest you read a few books on the subject. In particular, Jeffrey Scott's "How to Write for Animation" would probably help you a lot, although it has some bad information (he believes that anime means mature cartoons, and that in writing kids' shows you should dumb it down as much as possible, and talk down to the kids).
To be honest, judging from what I've seen of his work, he's not a very good animation writer, but the book some good information.

Also...
Most people don't get to make more than one animated series. Only the huge successes get the chance to do a second one.
 
Yes it is real. I just meant the proccess someone has to go through for it to be made, i mean i have a production company interested and they have told me to write a script which im doing, then once thats finalised i have to meet them and draw up an agreement with them, then we start pitching to broadcasters. But what happens if a broadcaster likes it and wants to show it. what happens next? was just curious to see if anyone could give me an insight, if they have been there and done it!

Thanks for the advice on the book, will look out for it!
 
You're starting to put the cart before the mule by immediately focusing on money you may or may not get.

If you've pitched a concept and they've accepted it, you're still only in the early stages of production. Even with a pilot episode being made, it might or might not be successful, and there might not be much along the lines of pay involved early on. It depends on the company and terms agreed upon concerning the project.

As for the actual method of animation, it all depends on what the company wants to do. It could be traditional, it could be digital.
 
You'll have hard luck finding a company who wants to do traditional animation instead of digital for one reason - it's cheaper to make digital.

As for the book that Jeffrey Scott wrote, I read it (because of a suggestion), and like the person before said, you shouldn't dumb down your ideas for kids.

However, my personal opinion is that you cannot write for animation unless you can storyboard with at LEAST basic drawings that define the pacing camera angels and everything else, because these can be just as important as what the characters say - you're showing people what the characters do, and when it happens. Possibly even more important, if you just wanted characters talking, go into live action, show don't tell.

So if you write a 'script', you should be able to storyboard it as well, instead of letting someone else do it, because the other person will interpret it differently than you, because he didn't write it.

So basically, if you're going to make a script, you're going to at least learn how to draw basic images of your characters, and storyboard it. You'd be suprised how many ideas you'll get to improve the cartoon while storyboarding, so give it a shot. However, it could be a good idea if you aren't too good at drawing, to treat this storyboard as a draft and let someone who can draw revise it.
 
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