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Thread: Community Animation Project

  1. #1
    Moderator CNO's Avatar
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    Hey all.
    Looking for work to put in your portfolio, to work on a team, or just make something great and have some fun in the process?

    I am currently toying with the idea of directing a group project among anyone on Flashkit who wants to get involved to produce a killer animation. The idea is simple - take a concept, agreed upon by everyone involved, and see it through all the stages of production through completion.

    The project would be run somewhere between a studio level and a college class, where there would be deadlines people would be expected to meet and a certain level of professionalism, but everyone would also be learning and collaborating toward a common goal. It's a big commitment, but I think the result of combining the talents here would be nothing short of amazing.

    Here's the stages I'd expect a project like this to go through:

    Pre-production
    ***
    Concept
    Outline/Story
    Thumbnails/Story Sketches
    Character Design/Model Sheets/Concept Art (for environments)
    Timing/Exposure sheets

    Production
    ***
    [Record Voice if Necessary]
    Storyboards
    Animatic
    Modelling and Animation
    Backgrounds
    Inking and Coloring

    Post-Production
    ***
    Sound
    Color Correction
    Optimization
    Testing

    Of course, there's a whole bunch of logistical and other issues I am leaving out of this initial proposal - let's see who might be interested first.

  2. #2
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    ho ! sounds good
    too bad i have no time enougth
    anyway, i'd like to try something for it : music composition and perform. Actually, that was my first job. I own enougth hardwware for this stuff. Let me know if you're interested CNO, and good luck for this project =)

  3. #3
    Moderator CNO's Avatar
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    Sounds great, Akane. I remember seeing the list of equipment on your home page - It'd be awesome to have a professional quality score. Time is always gonna be an issue - this can move at quite a leisurely pace, I just ewant to make sure it does get finished (Pref. before Flash 6 is out!!)

    Any more takers?

  4. #4
    i have a background in video editing, and a little animation. I would love a real project collaboration. I am getting real good at drawing in flash now. check out my threads on this board.

    I got plenty of time, and not enough ideas or feedback. So I am ripe for this

  5. #5
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    I'm interested in the project.
    i'd like to offer character design and concept art and the like.

  6. #6
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    ho ! some replies already ! good
    CNO , lol, i said i had no time for art =), i got time enougth for music ! moreover, music is the only thing on wich i keep my copyrigths ! all graphic stuff should be copyriggtthed to the company where i work.

  7. #7
    Moderator CNO's Avatar
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    Thanks for responding so far, everybody.
    I think an ideal situation would be that at least portions of the final project be open source - or tutorials be written outlining the process - I really want to bring together the FK members in a "communal project", if you would. It'd be a great showcase of everybody's talents, great promotion for Flashkit as well.
    Right now I'm still kicking around ideas and taking names, let's see if we can drum up enough interest to make this happen!

  8. #8
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    cool idea! It would be cool to have everyone work together teemwork can go a looonnngggg way...isn't that rite cno? i'm interested...=D


  9. #9
    Moderator - Anime Curator Naldoman's Avatar
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    I came here to animate in Flash and chew gum, and I'm all out of gum!!

    * Sounds interesting to me. Would be useful to have a production schedule posted BEFORE we start work, so we all know what kind of time requirement it will be on our personal schedules. Also, so we know when to reasonably expect the finished product to be nearing completion.

    ** In all group projects there is the issue to how to proceed when key parts are not finished, or are seriously behind schedule. I would be comfortable with allowing CNO to re-assign tasks to another volunteer if something is not completed on time. Nothing kills a project faster than work not done. At your day jobs, your boss can kick your behind, or bring in someone from the outside to replace you. Since the hiney kicking is not viable, I suggest the replacement strategy be in effect.

    *** CNO, this would make you our project director/producer. Is that too heavy a load? The producer's job tends to be to play the bad guy and get work out of people.

    **** Should we cover our lazy behinds by assigning the same task to two or three people, and use all the finished pieces in the final product? (Ex. we need 10 character designs, 3 people design 10 characters each, and we use 10 of the 30 designs submitted. If two people fail to deliver, we can still hit the production mark)

    Inking/coloring---Shall we set standards for line weight and a uniform custom color pallette?

    Uses of JPG, BMP, GIF, PNG, and file size limits?

    fps, stage size, optimization guidelines?

    One more thing: I suggest a TEST PROJECT to run 30-60 seconds to let our team warm up, see if the standards we set cause any problems or raise concerns, watch the red flags of production pop-up so we can try to steer clear of those issues when we do the BIG PROJECT. Also it's a great audition for everyone to contribute and get feeling of comraderie.

    [Edited by Naldoman on 12-21-2000 at 01:51 AM]

  10. #10
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    you know i am in on it

  11. #11
    Originally posted by Naldoman

    One more thing: I suggest a TEST PROJECT to run 30-60 seconds to let our team warm up, see if the standards we set cause any problems or raise concerns, watch the red flags of production pop-up so we can try to steer clear of those issues when we do the BIG PROJECT. Also it's a great audition for everyone to contribute and get feeling of comraderie.

    [Edited by Naldoman on 12-21-2000 at 01:51 AM] [/B]
    I agree that we could start with a teaser or something. Also we can take the symbols and stuff that's left on the "cutting room floor" and make outtakes and other neat stuff.

    If we don't coordinate the feel, like Naldoman said, we could end up with a movie looking like Tarantino's "four Rooms" which might be another neat idea sometime, but maybe not in this instance.

  12. #12
    Moderator CNO's Avatar
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    *Hands Naldoman a stick of gum*

    Allrighty, now, let's get down to business!

    I'm still struggling with the concept of production time - I'd like to make it very open knowing the obligations that beseech everyone here (school comes first, work comes first), so I definately want to be generous. I also want to make sure that the scope of the project doesn't balloon past anything we can handle - initial project (complete) should probably be 5 minutes max, probably less. The "teaser" idea is a good one for a test - and something that could easily be worked up from an animatic.

    Having proposed the idea, I will gladly take up the role of director, understanding that I am going to be as much a team member and doing as much work as everyone else - Don't want to seem like I'm "higher-ranked" than anyone. Still, I will be even-handed, and like I said in the first post, I expect a certain level of commitment and professionalism (with leverage) so that things don't spiral out of control - people can be cut from the team if not contributing.

    That having been said, I expect everyone to be at all different levels, and as a team, the main goal should and will be to help each other out and learn from everyone involved.

    Regarding work not coming in, I think rather than assigning tasks and leaving people to go off on their pwn, we should have everyone involved in all processes, even if it's just critiquing the work and brainstorming. We should set up some sort of web storage space where we could have discussions and post work for review. But we should definately have a CYA clause.

    We will need to have standards, but that's a matter to be discussed a little later on down the pipe. Standards will need to be established and agreed upon by everyone involved - things like line weight, palette, common symbols, frame rate (probably 30 fps - so it can be output to tape if someone is interested for portfolio use later on...), and everything else. It'll also involve some testing to determine balance between speed and stage size, etc.

    Since there's seemingly enough interest, and I've rambled on for quite a bit, I think this is a go. I'll gauge response a bit further, then we can start working on logistics and story concepts.


  13. #13
    Eat Rice!
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    Umm.... i'm not that good with flash and can't really draw all that well...especially with deadlines. But i'd like to help in some way. I'll buy everyone donuts! acctually.. i can't even do that....

  14. #14
    no noise means no bees xup878's Avatar
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    hhmmm.....

    sounds alot like a project i'm working on with a group of friends at the moment... were through the storyline and character design bits though...... looks like we got a bit of competition... if u guys get it together, but we got the advantage of actually knowing each other not through the net

  15. #15
    Moderator CNO's Avatar
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    Sure you can buy us donuts!

    Glad to see you're interested, Riceraver - no one should feel intimidated or that they're not "up to a certain level" - everyone's going to be involved with all aspects, and there's lots of roles to fill. The most important skill I'm looking for is dedication.

    And xup878, no competition here - we're all out to help one another. I can't wait to see the results of your project, it sounds like it's gonnna be killer.

    Take it easy over the holidays, everybody!

  16. #16
    when are we gonna get started?

    We need to.

    1. determine who's up to this and on board.
    2. get a place to lay down some serious chat, on the project itself.
    3. get some preliminary designs up and overall concept started.


    lets start over the holidays, and not wait until classes start up again. I think we need to have it at least conceptualized by Jan 10th.

  17. #17
    Beyond the Sea
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    I'd love to be included!

    I haven't been to this board in a while...Flashkit was being really slow for me. You can count me in for story ideas and concepting as well as background illustrations. I'll leave the animating for people who know what their doing.

    We should get this affiliated with Flashkit. Maybe a storyline involving the kit or at least some of the people on the boards. I be they'd be willing to host it after its finished, especially if we post tutes and opensource FLAs (you hear that Mark? Scills? Jezza?).

    I'm probably going to be pretty light, workload wise, in January, so I could help out quite a bit then.

    Keep this going!
    Rich

  18. #18
    Moderator CNO's Avatar
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    Ok, here's the story so far...

    The project is a go, and I agree with the general consensus that we should begin soon. I'd like to see the project start full swing right after the holidays, and I'll start laying down the foundation during this period. In keeping with the Battleseed tradition (), I'll keep all the organizing in this thread, so everyone knows where to look at first.

    First off, I think we should establish Flash 4 as a standard. Though Flash 5 may have better drawing tools, I don't forsee using any advanced actionscripting, and I think it would be the best strategy to make sure everyone has the necessary tools without file conflicts. If team members do decide to do some work in 5, it should be exported as editable .swfs.

    Next - what platrofm is everyone working on (Mac, Windows 9x,NT,2k, Linux, etc.), and additionally, how many have Microsoft Netmeeting (Or know of another free group application with a whiteboard utility?)

    What are everyone's strengths? What areas of development do people want to focus on? (I say focus because I hope to get all people involved in all aspects, if only critiquing).

    Who is going to prepare written reports? I want to have the process outlined in a tutorial format, and I'm willing to take this on, but I'd like to have help.


    So, let's get some story concepts! Everyone is free to participate.

    I like the idea of having a Flashkit-related Anime. It'd be cool to have a Flashkit team (almost like Stan-Lee's Backstreet Boys online Flash 'toon, but without the Backstreet Boys. And cool. ) - battling Flamers and evil servers and the sort - could be a campy sort of humor action thing.

    I'd like to do a horror action over-the-top John Woo style anime - maybe that's just because the new Dracula movie just came out.

    Let's hear from everybody else!

  19. #19
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    my idea is a futuristic metal gear sold thing

  20. #20
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    I'm working with Flash 4, Windows 98, and i do have netmeeting

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