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2 Toon Boom News Spring 2013

From left to right: Diedrich Bader (presenter), Francisco Del Cueto, Marisa Labrador, Joan Vogelesang, Lilly Vogelesang, Karina Bessoudo and Robert Dancik.

AWARDS

On February 2, 2013, the International Animated Film Society, ASIFA-Hollywood, granted the Ub Iwerks Award for the Toon Boom Pipeline at the 40th Annual Annie Awards™. As part of the juried awards category, the Ub Iwerks Award recognizes the technical advancements that make a signifi cant impact on the art or industry of anima-tion, enabling freelancers and studios to collaborate on large productions.

The gala event gave the Toon Boom team a wonder-ful opportunity to mingle and enjoy the moment with its customers and friends in the animation industry.

toonboom.com/professionals

TRADE SHOWS

Toon Boom remains rooted in the fi eld, with speaking opportunities in Canada and road trips planned to Asia, as well as Eastern and Western Europe. Joan Vogele-sang was a guest speaker at the National Capital India Forum in Ottawa and participated at the Doing Business in India seminar at HEC Montreal. On the industry event

front, after attending Rio Content Market 2013 (Febru-ary 20–22), Cartoon Movie (March 6–8), and AQUOPS (March 26–28), the team will attend MIPTV (Booth C-109) in Cannes, France (April 8–11), ExpoPixel in Bologna, Italy (April 15–17), and eLearning Africa in Windhoek, Namibia (May 29–31, 2013). We hope to see you soon!

Printed in Canada

Channeling Creativity Towards Infi nity

Toon Boom takes great pride in developing technologies that enable anyone to express their ideas. When customer feedback praises how comfortable they feel with the products, they’re thrilled to focus on what matters—expressing themselves visually. As our modern lifestyle revolves so intensely around technology, Toon Boom strives to provide the best creative experience possible for all, on both desktops and tablets.

While the team is globetrotting the world, the company moved to a new location, right in the Plateau area of Montreal. The Plateau is one of the most vibrant and dynamic districts with an abundance of multicultural entrepreneurs and businesses. We look forward to welcoming you here!

Toon Boom Animation Inc.4200 St.Laurent Blvd, Suite 1020Montreal, Quebec, Canada H2W 2R2+1 514 278 8666

toonboom.com

This issue’s cover courtesy of BENT Image Lab

A Corus® Entertainment Inc. Company

3Toon Boom News Spring 2013

Proud recipient of:

Aired on Discovery Channel on January 28, 2013, the In View with Larry King report on 21st century education illustrated the great benefi ts of using Toon Boom’s creative technology in the classroom. As a test case, Toon Boom chose Bluffton Elementary School, South Caro-lina, for their students’ impressive achievements in a very short time, right after implementing the Flip Boom line into their core curriculum. Indeed, during the fi rst year of implementation, this innovative approach translated into an increase of up to 15% in overall marks throughout the core curriculum, maintaining a much higher performance than the state level. There was also an over 40% increase in science, 36% in math, 12% in social studies, and 26% in writing amongst African-American students.

Integrating the arts into education goes far beyond teaching creative skills; it amplifi es students’ learning experience and opens their horizon to become whatever they aspire to be. During the 2013 Oscars ceremony, First Lady Michelle Obama clearly stated that message which positions Toon Boom’s unique offerings for education as a natural companion to reach this goal.

Watch all videos at toonboom.com/bluffton

In View With Larry King Focuses On 21st Century Education Featuring Toon Boom

First, Toon Boom has recently joined the Arts Schools Network (ASN) in order to collaboratively promote the benefi ts of using arts as a medium of communication to teach core curriculum while developing students’ creativity. During the Spring of 2013, Toon Boom

hosted a series of free 45-minute webinars on Animating the Core and The Power of Digital Storytelling. Toon Boom will also attend ASN’s Annual Conference in New York in October 2103. Their community of art leaders, schools, and organizations from around the world is very open to using creative technologies to teach all subjects, engage their students, and stimulate their interests.

artsschoolsnetwork.org

Second, Canada’s Information and Communications Technology Council (ICTC) has recognized Toon Boom Studio and its curriculum as one of the best vehicles to teach 21st century business and technology skills to Canadian students. Toon Boom has been approved as an offi cial educa-tional resource and curriculum to support the learning of leading-edge skills among Canadian students through

one of ICTC’s youth and education initiative programs, Focus on IT (FIT). At a time when youth unemployment is high, FIT provides the necessary building blocks for an innovative learning experience and encourages students to acquire 21st century skills in business, technology, and communications while completing their secondary school diploma.

Meeting the FIT standards is a testament of Toon Boom Studio’s signifi cant pedagogic impact not only in Canada, but also in the United States and beyond.

ICTC President and CEO Namir Anani, commented, “It is through the educational innovation of organizations, such as Toon Boom, that our Cana-dian students have access to fi rst-class curriculum that prepares Canadians for

the ICT jobs of the future. Toon Boom Studio engages students in a meaningful way, exposing them to the possibility of working in the interactive media fi eld, and preparing them for the workforce through instilling critical business and technology skills in them.”

This great accomplishment will be carried over all of Toon Boom’s educational initiatives worldwide.

ictc-ctic.ca

EDUCATION

2013 started off with two major announcements related to Toon Boom’s dedication to education.

Emmy-Award Technology


TECHNOLOGY NEWS: PROFESSIONALS

From Mind to Media with Toon Boom Storyboard Pro 4

Following its crowning with a 2012 Primetime Emmy® Engineering Award, Toon Boom Storyboard Pro has leaped forward with a new version that effi ciently and elegantly caters to live-action, gaming, and animation studios alike.

Watch the demo video and try it now!

toonboom.com/storyboardpro

• Use Storyboard Pro to plan live action projects, camera angles, action, scene order, and script integration for televi-sion or feature fi lm production

•

• Create custom bitmap-style brushes

•

• Create storyboards for games, planning workfl ows, and cut scenes

•

• Use the new pixel-based colour picker, and save colours in the palette for reuse

•

• Export your project from Storyboard Pro to Premiere, Final Cut Pro, or Avid for animatics and live action projects, and to PDF for print

•

• Export from Storyboard Pro to Animate, Animate Pro, Harmony, or FBX for 2D, 3D, and mixed media projects

•

• Create and draw on pixel-based bitmap layers

• • Plan animated proj-ects, from shorts to television and fi lm projects, making use of the advanced drawing tools, layer animation, camera animation, and script integration

•

• Take advantage of Storyboard Pro’s 3D toolset to plan multiplane scenes, integrate 3D objects, and create basic animation for advanced animatics

•

bitmap-style brushes

Storyboard Pro to Animate, Animate Pro, Harmony, or

and mixed media

Plan animated proj-ects, from shorts to television and fi lm projects, making use of the advanced drawing tools, layer animation, camera animation, and script

objects, and create basic animation for advanced animatics


TOON BOOM STARThis section is dedicated to Toon Boom employees. In each issue, we will introduce you to the people behind the tech-nology and put a face to the voice you may have spoken to.

Vladyslav Pronin has been part of Toon Boom’s Web Marketing team since November 2011. He takes care of email marketing, paid search programs, affi liate market-ing, online ad placement, content marketing as well as web analytics. Targeting multiple channels, Vlad also manages the weekly campaigns, which include promo-tions, upcoming events, announcements, social media contests and advertising and electronic newsletters. To bring quality traffi c to the website, he regularly conducts keyword research for organic and paid search. Keeping Toon Boom’s electronic communications fresh and effec-tive is one of Vlad’s key goals. Subscription, engagement, and conversion form the basis of all the programs he over-sees and delivers. Recently, he worked on migrating the affi liate program to a new platform to establish a better fl ow of communication with affi liates and to keep them aware of latest sales, products and content updates. Vlad is a graduate of McGill University with a Diploma in Infor-mation Technology and Internet Business. Before joining Toon Boom, he worked for Atelier ID on brand building and online program mandates for technology companies, in particular, related to military simulation and ERP soft-ware. Originally from Kiev, Ukraine, Vlad worked in fi lm production and advertising at Gulliver Film for six years, offering production services throughout Europe. Then, he moved to New York where he worked in fashion and photography for two years. On a personal note, Vlad nurtures two passions: the fi rst one is music. Trained as a classical pianist, he is now producing electronic music. Vlad has extensively read about academic and electronic dance music history, its social impact and its culmination in rave revolution of the late 80s. His other passion is classical European cinema and conceptual fi lms featuring directors, such as Michelangelo Antonioni, Jean-Luc Godard, David Lynch, Jim Jarmusch, to name a few. Quite a nice mix of personal interests and technology background!


INDUSTRY TIPS

For all scriptwriters, including myself, a completed fi rst draft is like a newborn. Writers tend to be protective of their “babies”. It’s not easy for scribes to expose their infant scripts to the scrutiny of notes, but they know it’s the best way to help their creations grow.

Why are notes worth the risk of exposure? How can they help? I’ve found that insightful notes can improve all aspects of my scripts: dialogue, pacing, characters, relationships, humor, visual impact, and marketability. The process of giving and receiving notes can be a graceful dance, when the writer and note-giver are in sync, but sometimes the dance can be awkward. There are things to consider when working together in this reciprocal relationship.

I asked three writers, a consultant, and a producer the same question; “What is the most important thing to remember when giving and receiving notes?” The writers agreed that being open to criticism is essential.

Writer Mike Rabb explains, “When it comes to taking notes you have to have a thick skin. Don’t fall so in love with your writing that you can’t hear what the person giving notes is saying, but remember that critiques are subjective. It’s up to you to use what works and ignore the rest, unless you’re being paid. Then your choice to ignore is somewhat limited.”

Writer Monique Gramby concurs, “Don’t take notes personally. As a children’s writer, it’s important to be nimble and fl exible in our ever changing market. I view notes as another tool in my arsenal to help me deliver a better, tighter script!”

Writer Kevin Caruso prefers collective notes, “A writer must be a sponge when receiving notes. It’s always better

to have several readers, trusted readers, read the material. Usually, the consensus of notes is a conscientious method to understand what works and what fl ops.”

From the perspective of consultants and producers, constructive notes can be illuminating. Consultant Lisa Goldman explains, “The notes you give a writer must be in the best interest of the story and help make it stronger on every front. Being the fresh eyes on a script allows the note giver to see things the writer can’t because he/she is too close to it.”

Producer/Development Consultant Bonita Siegel believes the core of the story is tantamount. “When giving notes, determining the intent of the writer comes fi rst. The notes should help to achieve and strengthen that goal. When receiving notes, writers should hold onto the core concept, but remain open to ideas that add details. If notes change the core concept, discussion is required with the note-giver.”

Clearly, the giving and receiving of notes can be a wonderfully collaborative process when both the writer and note-giver approach this relationship with a receptive, respectful mindset.

Donna Lisa's scripts and songs have been honored by iParenting , NAPPA, and other media organizations. Her screenplay, Kheng Kheng Crocodile, is under Agreement with Flat Rock Pictures. Donna’s series, Bat Cat And Bitsy, will be produced by Engine 15 Media. Donna has been working with producer, Bonita Siegel, on her series, Toucan You Can! Her CD (same title) received twenty international awards. Donna is A&R Coordinator and a contributing songwriter on Playful Journeys.

Making the Most of Script Notesby Donna Lisa

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INDUSTRY TIPS

You've labored for hours but it was worth it–the characters are technically perfect and artfully crafted. And you’ve just been informed you can’t do anything with it because it is not yours. How could this happen? Didn’t I tell you in a previous article that copyrights belong to the "author" of the creation and you are the author if you created it? In most cases the answer is yes, but sometimes rights of ownership and copyrights belong to someone other than the person who created it. How? For many artists it comes down to three dirty words–“work for hire.”

The “work for hire” doctrine basically states that an employer owns whatever an employee creates. According to the Copyright Act, this can occur in one of two ways:

1. A work prepared by an employee within the scope of his or her employment; or

2. A work specially ordered or commissioned for usea. As a contribution to a collective workb. As a part of a motion picture or other audiovisual workc. As a translationd. As a supplementary worke. As a compilationf. As an instructional textg. As a testh. As answer material for a testi. As an atlas

IF the parties expressly agree in a written instrument signed by them that the work shall be considered a work made for hire. (See Copyright Offi ce’s Circular #9, Works Made for Hire).1

How does this play out for animators? Well if you work for a studio doing animation for their projects, you would fall under scenario #1 above. Disney Studios, Nickelodeon, and Cartoon Network are examples of companies that would have this as part of their standard employment contract for animators.

If the work you were doing was part of a feature-length animation you could fall under scenario #2b above. Pixar and DreamWorks would be examples, but also small animation production studios working on a specifi c project for someone other than them.

It would be important for you as an animator to read the employment contract you are given before starting that new job at the studio and see how they defi ne “work for hire.” It could be pretty broad, encompassing even things you do outside of your work hours and work place IF certain conditions are met–things like using the studio’s equipment (hardware, software, tools, etc.) or if they withhold taxes from your paycheck.

Perhaps you’re not an employee but a freelancer? Does your contract read “independent contractor” or “on commission?” Even if it does, read the clauses that talk about intellectual property–does it state you are

I Don’t Own My Work? What?!by Deborah Gonzalez, Esq.

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“assigning” your copyrights to the person or organization that hired you for this job? Under U.S. law, unless you assign your rights in writing, you retain the copyrights even when you hand over your physical (or more often, digital) work.

Another question that comes up is can you use the work as part of your portfolio? Depends on the contract you signed in regards to the work. If a work for hire as an employee, the employment contract should lay out what you can and cannot use for your portfolio. You may ask about using it as “fair use.” You would need to make sure that the portfolio and all its contents are under your complete control and it reaches a limited audience for the sole reason of showcasing your skills to help sell your services. Depending on what the actual work is, keep in mind how much of the work you are showing in your portfolio. Full video clips of an animation pilot would probably not be permitted, especially if the animated video is being promoted for purchase.

There have been some very interesting cases regarding who is the author and the work-for-hire doctrine issue.

1. 2003, an illustrator of Tarzan books, Burne Hogarth, sued Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc. for copyright residuals. The court decided that Burne was a work for hire and not entitled to copyrights.

2. 2002, Stan Lee sues Marvel, claiming he is a copyright owner of Spiderman and entitled to a portion of the profi ts from movie profi ts. Marvel claimed Stan’s contributions were based on work for hire and not entitled to profi ts. The case was settled for an undisclosed amount.

3. 2012, Tony Moore, illustrator of graphic novels, sues Robert Kirkland, who claims he is the creator of The Walking Dead, for a share of profi ts form the television show as co-creator and therefore co-owner of the copyrights. No decision yet.

So as you are putting the fi nishing touches on your project, or even before you begin it, make sure you know who owns the copyrights to the work–you or someone else. Always check the contract. And if there is no contract, get one made. Don’t let your rights, and potential profi ts, fl y out over the horizon.

For a good reference on “work for hire” standards in other countries, see: http://tiny.cc/s57stw

I really hate when old production standards and union and guild rules get in the way of a better process.

New software, like Toon Boom’s Storyboard Pro, has forever changed the process of previz, storyboarding and producing animatics, and now unions and productions need to change with the times.

Last year I ran into a production exec who tried to stop board artists from editing their own animatics. Tough chance. That boat has sailed. Every artist who uses Storyboard Pro is editing their own animatics no matter what anyone says.

I was down at the Digital Domain studios (remember them?) in Port St. Lucie training the board artists on using the Storyboard Pro software. Once they saw the power of the software they were all off and running and loving how it worked.

One of the execs heard me talking to the artists about editing animatics. That exec pulled me into her offi ce and told me the story artists were not allowed to edit animatics. They had an editor to do all the editing.

I told her that it was easier and faster for the board artists to edit the fi rst pass of animatics as it happens while they draw. Plus, only the board artist knows the timing of a gag as they are drawing it.

She told me it wasn't allowed for them to edit. I told her it didn’t matter what she said, what I said or what the rules were, the board artists will take advantage of new storytelling tools, like drawing on a timeline. I told her they were already editing while we were arguing because they can. It makes them better and they want to do it. Get used to it, we are doing it.

The power, speed, fl exibility and the ability to make better storyboards exists in one program, which is quickly becoming the industry standard. Why would you stand in the way of progress that is truly better, faster, and cheaper?

Get out of the way of progress. It’s happening whether you like it or not. We are story artists and now our story comes to life even faster!

Mind Your BusinessTime to Change Pre-production Rules

by Mark Simon

1http://www.copyright.gov/circs/circ09.pdf

Mark Simon is a director, producer, board artist and artist advocate. He’s worked on over 3,000 productions and works with TV show creators on packaging and pitching their concepts.

Go to www.Storyboards-East.com and www.SellYourTvConceptNow.com.

Deborah Gonzalez, Esq. is an attorney focusing on intel-lectual property in the art, music, and entertainment industries. She especially enjoys her animation clients and their projects. Deborah speaks at various conferenc-es and festivals to help educate artists about their rights. To learn more about her practice and for more resources for artists check out her website at www.dgonzalezesq.com. Information provided in this article is for general education purposes only and does not constitute legal advice.


CASE STUDY: TIMBUKTOONS

They’re known for their custom art directions and making clients feel like they’re in the next room even though they may be thousands of miles away.

Home to an onsite core team of talented artists from highly respected southeastern animation schools, such as The Savannah College of Art and Design, Timbuktoons has the latest technology, including a robust Toon Boom pipeline (Storyboard Pro and Harmony) for all styles of traditional, digital, and rigged asset-based animation.

The studio also uses cloud technology to serve customers in different time zones and manages a broad distributed team (The TimbukCloud Team) for larger or niche projects that require additional artists and produc-tion capabilities.

The team boasts a roster of award-winning layout and background artists, storyboard artists, voice artists, writers, 2D and CG animators, sound designers, and visual development artists.

This approach allows for rapid crewing up and down to fi t just about any project, and allows the studio to deliver content to market more quickly and cost effec-tively without compromising quality.

Their clients include: The Discovery Channel, Extreme Makeover Home Edition, 5 Hour Energy, The National Archives, The Department of Veteran's Affairs, Jellyfi sh Labs/JellyTelly, and Compassion International.

They have pitched concepts to Cartoon Network, Disney Channels Worldwide, Disney Television Animation, The Hub, BBC, PBS Kids, Porchlight Entertainment, Mission Pictures International, and several other networks and distribution companies.

This dynamic and innovative studio is led by Todd Hampson, Founder/Owner and Chief Artistic Offi cer, as well as Sean Copley, Creative Director and Cloud-Team Manager. Together, they cumulate over thirty-fi ve years of experience in creative development, production management, and art direction.

For almost a decade, Timbuktoons used Flash and After Effects pipelines, but decided to make the transition to Harmony because they needed a stand-alone solution that offered high-end, feature quality capabilities.

"One of our 2012 goals was to move to the Harmony pipeline as our primary workhorse in preparation for doing more high-end animation," Todd said.

OPERATING A CLOUD STUDIO USINGTOON BOOM FROM START TO FINISH

Timbuktoons was founded in 2003 and is an award-winning cloud-based development, pre-production and 2D animation studio that specializes in creating family-friendly media for the broadcast, education and gaming industries.

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Timbuktoons had been using Storyboard/Storyboard Pro for several years as part of their pipeline and wanted to maximize Storyboard Pro's time saving techniques, such as: splitting up and exporting scenes directly to Harmony with a single command.

"Since we're a small studio, we need every time saver we can get,” said Sean.

Timbuktoons had been considering Harmony (and its earlier incarnations) for several years but was waiting for the right opportunity to make the switch.

"Having stand-alone versions so that our offsite TimbukCloud Team members could be easily integrat-ed was a big selling point for us, as were many other features, such as complex character rigging and deform tools," Todd stated.

Timbuktoons identifi ed two Harmony related goals in 2012: Producing a fully animated tradigital project and producing a project using Harmony's character rigging capabilities.

To reach their fi rst goal the company produced Orbie, a 10-minute pilot episode for a non-profi t organization helping orphans around the world.

For their second goal, they produced another 10-minute short called Tick Tock: Episode 2 that teaches kids how to fi nd help if they’re experiencing abuse.

Both projects are part of their CWAC: "Cartoons With A Cause" initiative available on their website at http://timbuktoons.com/2012/10/cartoons-with-a-cause/.

The company will submit both shorts for various awards in 2013 and has won several awards for other productions in which Storyboard Pro was used includ-ing: Mae Shares A Secret (2012 Gold Davey), Vacation Surprise 2 (2012 Silver Davey), six commercials for [atc] AutoCenter (2011 Gold Davey, Silver Addy, Bronze Telly), and a series of superhero themed how-to webisodes for Veteran Affairs (2012 Gold Telly, 2011 Gold Addy).

Timbuktoons maintains a core team of key develop-ers, art directors, and animators at their headquarters

near Augusta, GA, as well as a distributed team (known as the TimbukCloud Team) of voice artists, storyboard/layout/background artists, 2D and CG animators, and writers. In the spring and summer, there are also a few interns enjoying brief stints on the production team.

“Every production is different and we custom build solutions based on budget, time, style, and type of animation (traditional, tradigital, rigged characters, motion graphics, 2D/CG mix, stop motion, etc.)," stated Sean.

For clients unfamiliar with the animation process, they developed a series of characters called Action Heroes of Animation: Masters of the Pipeline to help explain the process in a simple and fun way. Check out their instruc-tive and fun blog at http://timbuktoons.com/category/timbuktoonblog/. They’re also currently working on an iOS app and eBook to further educate clients.

Timbuktoons uses Storyboard Pro for live action, motion graphics, and character anima-tion projects. Concept art is generated using mostly digital tools including: Sketchbook Pro, Photoshop, Illustrator, and other industry standard software.

They use Wacom Cintiqs to draw direct-ly into these programs, so their pipeline is 100% tradigital from the fi rst stroke, unless


CASE STUDY: TIMBUKTOONS (CONTINUED)

the project calls for traditional media or actual hand-drawn animation.

"We have a traditional animation desk, but honestly Harmony's drawing tools are so true to traditional media that we rarely use it," explained Todd. "It works as a nice prop and the kids all love to play with it when they come to the studio!"

Whether the production is fully animated or rigged-character animation, Timbuktoons uses Storyboard Pro for boarding and animatics and export the scenes direct-ly to Harmony.

For the fully animated Orbie scenes, they did a rough animation pass, clean up, digital ink and paint, and then shadow and highlight effects directly in Harmony.

For the rigged characters in the Tick Tock short, they received fi les from Tod Carter at Brain Freeze Entertain-ment (producer of Episode 1), then developed three more rigged characters for Episode 2.

Everything was created natively in Harmony including backgrounds and effects.

"The fact that we could get production-ready Harmony assets from another studio proved to us that Harmony was defi nitely a good fi t for our TimbukCloud Team model," stated Sean.

Timbuktoons now uses all Adobe products for post-production (Premiere, After Effects, Audition) after switching from Apple Final Cut Pro Suite last year.

"We're really glad we added Harmony to our capa-bilities. The integration with Storyboard Pro, the amazing drawing tools, the powerful rigging and deform tools, the 3D camera, and several other features all helped save time and have set us up to produce high-end animation affordably at a time when the economy and amount of competition demands it," stated Todd.

"2012 was a learning curve year for us and there's nothing better than an actual project to force you to fi gure it all out,” he continued.

“Now that we have a few Harmony projects under out belt, we're going to be aggressive about diving deeper into Harmony's capabilities, as well as market-ing our Storyboard Pro and Harmony services to studios and production companies that may need help with their productions.”

Timbuktoons has big plans for 2013. Preparing to cele-brate its 10-year anniversary has spurred the company to identify new goals for the next decade and thoroughly update its business plan to take advantage of the current state of the advertising, animation, and gaming indus-tries.

They will be leading workshops at CTN Animation Expo in Burbank, CA again this year and further estab-lishing themselves as a key 2D animation development and production studio.

They are also developing funding plans for their IPs and will begin seeking investors for the fi rst time in the history of the company. •

timbuktoons.com


MIXING TECHNIQUES AND TEAMS TO CREATE HOLIDAY MAGICBased in Ottawa, Canada, BIG JUMP Productions is

a privately owned, independent 2D hybrid animation production house.

With its 4,000 square foot facility, BIG JUMP focuses on quality and undertakes an average of two to three series per year using the entire Toon Boom pipeline–namely Manager, Storyboard Pro, and Harmony. Their specialty is a seamless combination of traditional and digital tech-niques, which deliver impressive results. Led by Rick Morrison, President, Cory Morrison, Vice President/Studio Director, and Rodrigo Amador, Vice President/Studio Director, BIG JUMP brings together highly accred-ited specialists in all elements of production, producing projects from concept to post. Their collective experience in development, distribution, fi nancing, and producing

represents another attractive asset for their clients in real-izing their projects to the screen.

One of their latest productions stood out and received lots of attention due to the quality of its animation and the innovative approach BIG JUMP took to deliver it. The Magic Hockey Skates (an Amberwood Entertainmentproduction) is a twenty-two minute television special that is sure to charm the young at heart for many years to come. The Magic Hockey Skates fi rst aired on the Cana-dian Broadcasting Channel (CBC) in English.

The Magic Hockey Skates tells the heartfelt story of a young boy who begrudgingly buys second-hand skates which turn out to make him the best hockey player ever– via three magical wishes. Opting for a tradigital technique, this production was a seamless mix of 50% traditional and

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CASE STUDY: BIG JUMP PRODUCTIONS


50% cut-out animation, combining character builds with old school drawings to create the classical look and feel. Spanning over six months, this production created close to sixty jobs, including four storyboard artists, thirty anima-tors, six builders, and four compositors.

This production was headed up by Rick Morrison, Studio Producer; Rodrigo Amador, Technical Direc-tor; and Cory Morrison, Line Producer. The production crew included these talented people: Shannan Thomson, Line Producer; Sarah Mercy and Jason Boose, Direc-tors; Kris Pearn, Creative Consultant; Colin Tsandilis and Azalia Shin-Chin Liu, Animation Director Assistants; Rob Lundy, Builds Supervisor; David Badour and Robyn Moir, Art Direction; Joshua Gay, Location Design and Layout Supervisor; Allan Stewart, Lead Character Designer; Darren Ward, Props and Vehicle Design; Scott Armstrong, Lead 3D Designer; Jennifer Myers, Assembly Supervisor; Sy Nguyen, Lead Composi-tor; Miranda Brewer and Mathieu Hains, Senior Animators; and Daniel Elder, FX Animation Lead.

Amberwood Entertain-ment provided the team with approved script and voices—one of them being Don Cherry, one of Cana-

da’s most famous hockey fi gures. The pre-production phase took approximately seven to eight weeks and went very smoothly.

Moving on to production, Harmony was put to full use for animation and compositing. All designs (location and characters) including turnarounds were fi rst done in Photoshop and then sent to their Builds Department. Props were designed and created in Harmony, so they could be broken up as they were created. The Builds team redrew the characters in Harmony focusing on extensive breakdowns for the facial features, hair, and head struc-tures while keeping the bodies (arms and legs) very simple. “There are 180 characters in total, which represents an impressive library of assets,” explained Cory Morrison. “All animators had a Cintiq pen display which allowed them to create extreme subtleties to enhance expression in the characters’ faces. The animators then hand drew the arms and legs to achieve the desired look. Each animator was assigned a number of sequences and all animation was completed within fi ve weeks,” he continued. Once design was complete, they turned their attention to colour. Working together, the directors and art directors started to fl esh out the colour palette for the show.

Design was being completed during the storyboard process. The pipeline was set up so the board artists could pitch their sequences to the directors, make revi-sions and implement them. Once the board was complete and designs done, layout followed. Production layout was executed in Photoshop as tight roughs; once approved, the art moved to background paint. At this stage, all lines were removed allowing the BG elements to be defi ned only by colour.

With over 520 shots to complete, the hockey arena at the head and tail of the show was built and laid out in Maya to achieve the integrity of the ice and surround-ing structure, eliminating inconsistencies and allowing for a timely delivery. The Maya sequences, including ambi-tious camera moves, were imported into Harmony for the animators to complete the shots. “The most challenging were those scenes that contained crowds in the arena.

CASE STUDY: BIG JUMP PRODUCTIONS (CONTINUED)


In addition to the 3D arena, it included the crowd cheering animation, as well as the ten players on the ice. Over 90 stand-alone characters where designed to fi ll the stands. They were all drawn in Photoshop and individually layered in Harmony at the composite stage. We created roughly 20 cheering cycles using deformers on the actual Photoshop fi les to achieve the desired look without having to do new builds. We then speckled the characters in each crowd shot to bring the audience to life. It worked wonders,” stated Rodrigo.

The Assembly Department managed all the assets, carefully referencing the storyboard along with detailed lead sheets and assembling each shot with the appropriate builds, background, and design for the animation team.

”We initially focused on shots that required FX elements, moving them quickly into animation. As shots were completed, they went to composite,” added Rodrigo Amador.

In parallel with Harmony, BIG JUMP extensively used Manager. Some of the team working on the project was located remotely, including both animation directors. They provided each one with a stand-alone version of Harmony along with the fi les required to deliver their portion of the animation. “Manager has been integral in keeping every-thing effi cient and most importantly, keeping the lines of communication open,” shared Rick Morrison. “Combining

in-house with remote talent enables us to grow the studio as production requires, while keeping the overhead down. This approach allows us to tap into talent pools throughout Ontario that we could not access otherwise. This translates into cost effi ciencies which are passed on to our clients,” added Rick Morrison.

“If it was not for the Toon Boom pipeline, we would not have been able to do the project. It is so much more effi cient. We created a lot of drawings during the produc-tion and Toon Boom is by far superior with its ability to draw directly into the system. At BIG JUMP it is paramount that we keep the artists at the heart of the creative. The Magic Hockey Skates was inspired by a traditional sensibil-ity and we strived to maintain that unique look and feel,” concluded Rick Morrison.

BIG JUMP has its roots fi rmly planted as an animation production services facility and that will not change. In addition to being a source for producers and broadcast-ers globally, they are venturing into proprietary IP. The transition is a challenging one to say the least, thus they will not be venturing out alone. BIG JUMP is presently in discussions with various partners in Canada and abroad to assist them in realizing their concepts to the screen. Look for them at the Kidscreen Summit 2013! •

bigjumpproductions.com


CASE STUDY: BENT IMAGE LAB

Established in 2002, BENT specializes in wildly creative spots and videos that range from the frenetic to the deeply moving. Koodo Mobile, Golden Grahams, Micro-soft, Diet Dr. Pepper, Mastercard, Thom Yorke, Modest Mouse, They Might Be Giants, Coca-Cola, Guitar Hero, Cartoon Network, TLC, Hallmark Channel, NBC’s Grimm, IFC’s Portlandia and fi lm directors Todd Haynes and Gus Van Sant are just a few of the high-profi le clients that have called on BENT for some of their quirky, highly original

work. BENT’s long list of spots, music videos, animated fi lms, and promos has earned impressive recognition from top fi lm festivals and industry shows, including SXSW, the Clios, Cannes, Sundance, the Chicago Film Festival, AICP/MoMA, the Rosey awards, the Broadcast Design Awards, the Tribeca Film Festival, the Rotterdam Film Festival, and the Florida Film Festival. BENT’s principals are David Daniels, Chel White, Ray Di Carlo and Tsui Ling Toomer.

BENT was mandated by the Hallmark Channel to create a fun animated short for Halloween using the popular ecard characters Hoops (a pink cat) and Yoyo (a green bunny). The plot brings together both characters who get trapped in a haunted mall on Halloween night. Entitled hoops&yoyo's Haunted Halloween, the 21-minute TV special aired October 26, 2012.

To create this delightful project, the team included Ray Di Carlo, Executive Producer; Rob Shaw, Director; Tsui Ling Toomer, Producer; and, Sam Niemann, Animation Supervisor. On the Hallmark side, the team gathered Jodi Schade, Executive Producer; Diana Larson Stuart, Exec-utive Producer; Shawn McClaren, Executive Producer; and Peter Martin, Production Designer.

MIGRATING TO HARMONYBENT Image Lab is a Portland, Oregon based production company and creative laboratory, known for melding art, design, and storytelling. It’s a place where the brightest ideas are driven with an artist’s passion and realized through the use of cutting-edge technology.

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This was an opportunity to progressively integrate Toon Boom Harmony into the hoops&yoyo's production process, the team could appreciate the signifi cant benefi ts it could bring to this project in terms of animation quality. “A lot of thought and research went into the decision to use Harmony. hoops&yoyo’s Haunted Halloween could have been done with Flash, a program and a pipeline that people at the studio and freelancers were already familiar and comfortable with. Ultimately, Harmony’s capabilities made it a worthwhile decision, and I believe the cartoon we made could not have been done with Flash. Our fi nal product was completed on time and looks great in large part thanks to Harmony,” stated Sam Niemann.

Once the storyboards were approved, the editor broke up the animatic into individual scenes, which the animator imported into Harmony to use for reference. “Each scene was saved as its own Harmony project fi le. The animators had access to a library of character models, rigs, props and backgrounds, prepared beforehand, that they could import into their scene as needed,” he explained.

The overall production workfl ow included a combi-nation of Illustrator, Harmony, and After Effects. “The workfl ow felt a lot like a 3D CG workfl ow to me, where you’re animating assets in scenes to a camera. The team at Hallmark created illustrations and designs, which we either used or referenced in the creation of fi les for Harmony. One of the animators did a lot of scene set up where he imported layers from an .ai fi le into Harmony scenes. An animation rigger would then bring in the characters, break them into the necessary pieces and them rig them with bones and deformers in Harmony. The characters and background would be combined in each scene with a camera. The animator would animate the character and then export layers for fi nal compositing in After Effects. This allowed us to develop some moody looks for the

special while maintaining a relatively fl exible workfl ow,” added Rob Shaw.

Animators extensively used some of Harmony’s inno-vative features, the fi rst one being the deformation tools. “The characters in hoops&yoyo's Haunted Halloweenare very graphic, very fl at and distinct. It was a fun chal-lenge for the animators to give these little guys life and personality. Harmony’s deformation tools added fl exibil-ity and allowed us a great deal of control and subtlety in their performances, helping us create fun, lively charac-ter animation while maintaining the character’s important graphic elements,” shared Sam.

Another great feature was the lip sync tool. hoops&yoyohave loud, funny voices and limited mouth shapes that don’t necessarily conform to the usual phonemes, (not to mention they often talk over each other), so Harmony’s built-in Lip Sync tool almost did do a perfect job for us and helped a lot. It could get us 80%–90% of the way there, making it necessary to make just a few hand adjustments to the lip sync,” continued Sam.

Animation Supervisor for “hoops&yoyo’s Haunted Halloween” Sam Niemann works on the show


CASE STUDY: BENT IMAGE LAB (CONTINUED)

Then, the multiplane camera served the project very well: “The way Harmony uses the camera module and a virtual 3D space made creating convincing parallaxing motions a breeze. We had lots of fun animating our char-acters fl eeing ghosts in a high-speed (and slow motion) foot chase through a shopping mall, and careening dangerously through downtown in their car! There’s even a scene where they drive their car through a tunnel that looks so much better than it might have because I was able to actually build a virtual tunnel, and actu-ally (virtually) drive the car in Z space through it,” confi ded Sam. (Fig. 1)

Moving on to 2D and 3D integration, Harmony’s latest version helped to push the envelope creatively. “hoops&yoyo's Haunted Halloween is a beautifully designed 2D show with a very fl at, graphic style, but we did bring in a couple of 3D elements to great effect I think. hoops&yoyo have a very handsome 3D car that zips recklessly through town! And when the script called for our characters to be running through the shopping mall while trapped inside a tent, like a hamster in a ball, it begged to be realized in 3D animation. The way Harmony integrates the 3D elements into those scenes allowed us to take advantage of some fun 3D animation, nestling it nicely in our graphic 2D world,” he continued. (Fig. 2)

At this point in time, the compositors preferred using After Affects to apply the fi nal compositing. However, some of them were

Fig. 1

Fig. 2


able to experiment with Harmony’s powerful compositing engine. “Though we left much of our FX animation to our compositor and After Effects, we did have the opportunity to take advantage of some of Harmony’s effects modules. For example, our characters’ bodies, heads, arms, and legs are a fl at shape and a solid color, so when a character’s arm would pass over their head or body, it would essentially appear to disappear. We were able to rig the characters with a set of modules (cutter, tone, shadow) so that when-ever an arm passed over another body part, it would automatically produce a drop shadow, as well as automati-cally trimming the arm to the body shape,” explained Sam. (Fig. 3)

At the rendering stage, Harmony demonstrated again its advanced capabil-ities. “Since we wanted all of the elements in a scene exported separately, so they could be more easily manipulated by our compositors, rendering our scenes could have been someone’s full time job, but with Harmony’s render network, scenes were easy to set up, so that with one click all the separate elements would be exported, properly named, and where they belong,” he concluded.

BENT has always been a company that has prided itself on the idea of not predetermining what technical process or software platform a project should follow until they have gathered all of the relevant information necessary to make the proper call. “Once Toon Boom got its foot in the Bent door it has garnered an ever-increas-

ing presence in our workfl ow, as we are fi nding again and again that it can be used to enhance the creative process for many of our productions,” admitted Ray Di Carlo.

Considering the high calibre of BENT’s executive and creative team, the Toon Boom pipeline will surely act as their robust production backbone to create animation effectively and impress their customers and audiences even more. •

bentimagelab.com

Sam Niemann (in doorway), Director Rob Shaw, Editor Ben Blankenship (at computer) and Line Producer Michel Jackson (right)

discuss direction for “hoops&yoyo’s Haunted Halloween”

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Following his education at The Joe Kubert School of Cartooning, Sherm got his start in animation at Nickel-odeon on The Ren and Stimpy Show as a character layout artist, followed by a three-year stint on Hey Arnold as storyboard artist and director. In early 1998, Sherm Cohen was invited by SpongeBob creator Steve Hillenburg to be part of the original SpongeBob SquarePants crew as a writer, storyboard artist, and director. “I'm most proud of the work I've done on SpongeBob SquarePants—it's certainly the project that affected more people than anything else. When I see people decorating their offi ces with SpongeBob drawings, or when I see kids walking around singing the F.U.N. song... it just makes me feel very happy to know that I've made other people's lives happy through my cartooning. I've also enjoyed teaching story-boarding through my online tutorials. When I hear from someone that my tutorials have made a difference, that makes all the work worthwhile,” shared Sherm.

After SpongeBob's fourth season, Sherm created his fi rst book, Cartooning: Character Design, published by Walter Foster Publications. Since 2006, Sherm has been working as a storyboard artist, supervisor and director at Walt Disney Studios on shows including Phineas and Ferb, Kick Buttowski and Fish Hooks. He was nominated for an Emmy® for directing Kick Buttowski’s fi rst season. Sherm's latest project involves creating and teaching the Story-board Secrets Online/DVD Course.

“I started using Storyboard Pro while I was doing story-boards on Phineas and Ferb. I kind of eased into it by just working on one section of the storyboard in Storyboard Pro, while still drawing the rest of the storyboard with pencil on paper. Gradually, I felt comfortable enough to draw the entire storyboard with Storyboard Pro, and by now I can't imagine working on storyboards without it,” explained Sherm.

“When I moved to work on Kick Buttowski, using Storyboard Pro became a lot more important. At this point I was working as a storyboard supervisor and direc-tor, which means I have to be working on many different storyboards at any given time. Working in Storyboard Pro makes it easier than ever before to create revisions, add new scenes, reframe shots, and rearrange panels as needed,” he added.

As part of his creative process, Sherm still draws his thumbnails on regular copy paper to let his ideas fl ow and

know where he is going with the story. Sometimes, he will write the dialog fi rst, because he can type faster than he draws. Then, he starts drawing in Storyboard Pro, rough-ing in with a big fat brush in light blue and cleaning up on a new layer. Sherm will use Photoshop only to resize, transform, or blur an image. “I like to keep the fi le size as low as possible for imported images, so I shrink them in Photoshop before importing them. Also, the Toon Boom perspective tool only works on non-textured vector art, so I need to use Photoshop to transform images. On the rare occasion that I need to add a blur effect (for soft focus) I will use Photoshop for that effect as well,” he commented. Sherm keeps a well-organized library of assets, includ-ing backgrounds in Storyboard Pro to conveniently reuse them as needed.

“In Storyboard Pro, using a light table and the onion skinning make the drawing experience very intuitive. It really frees me up to know that I can draw big sloppy roughs, and then do my cleanups on another layer. I also really love the animation disc feature—it's nice to be able to rotate the workspace the same way that I would turn this paper around for getting the best stroke,” stated Sherm.

Many times during the revision process, the framing needs to be changed. “The easiest way I've found is to use the camera tool. Simply resizing the camera frame allows me to create the framing I want over as many panels or scenes that I want,” he added.

There are several other Storyboard Pro features Sherm takes advantage of: “Using the Select tool to resize drawing elements has also saved me hours of time that I spent going back and forth to the photocopy machine. The Library tool makes it easy to reuse a character, prop, or background...especially something as tedious as a school

20

FREELANCERS: SHERM COHEN

With nineteen years in the industry, Sherm Cohen is a cartoonist, writer, and storyboard artist. He’s also Toon Boom Storyboard Pro Certifi ed. His track record and impressive career speak of his talent and love for the art of animation.

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desk! I use a couple of custom brushes, including a brush with a semitransparent grey tone which enables me to add shading right on top of the artwork. The “draw behind” feature is also one I use all the time. With a white brush, I use this feature to paint a white backing on characters, so they stand out from the background layer and make them opaque. Many artists will cut and erase sections of the backgrounds to accommodate the characters, but for me, using the paintbrush to opaque the fi gures lets me move them around without disturbing the background,” he explained.

“I feel like I draw with more boldness and confi dence than before. Having the undo feature lets me draw a bit more spontaneously because I can always just undo the line if I don’t like it. It also lets me focus more on posing and acting because I don’t need to worry about size and placement so much. I can always resize and move indi-vidual elements after I draw them,” shared Sherm.

Fish Hooks is a storyboard-driven show with 10 to 12 artists on board. Storyboard artists get a complete episode from beginning to end and write up the story, including all jokes and dialogue, based on an outline. “This is creatively rewarding,” admitted Sherm. For an eleven-minute episode, it takes fi ve weeks to complete the storyboards. About one week is allocated to create the thumbnails, another week for rough drawings and getting input from the directors and on the third week, pitching to the crew and executives. The last two weeks are spent on clean up before the revision process starts. As the Storyboard supervisor, Sherm makes one more

pass on all storyboards, making sure all compositions and expressions work, and listening to the audio tracks. Then, the storyboards are exported in two formats: the fi rst in CSV for the production staff to type up the script and have the voices recorded in the sound studio. The fi nal audio tracks are then sent to the editor. The second format is in TGA for the editor who can easily keep track of the scene and panel numbers. They can match the audio with


FREELANCERS

the storyboard fi les to generate an animatic. “We always add to the storyboards. In the editing room, the director can draw directly on the boards using a Cintiq to make improvements,” stated Sherm.

At this point, the revised animated storyboard goes back to Sherm. The revision team cleans up the added poses and they use the Panel tracking feature to export only the panels that were revised and send them to the editor to generate a new animatic. This process is repeat-ed and refi ned approximately three times.

Once fi nalized, the storyboards in PDF format and animatics are sent to Mercury Filmworks in Ottawa, Canada. “They do great work. This is the only time in my career that the animation comes back better than I’d hoped it would,” confi ded Sherm.

Compared to his previous work methods, Sherm experienced signifi cant productivity gains using Story-board Pro. “I don’t have piles of paper all over my desk, and I don’t need to keep walking down the hall to the photocopy machine if I need to resize a scene or reuse a background. Another huge time saver is the way Story-board Pro automatically numbers all the scenes and panels...for a 700-panel board that used to be a long and tedious task. It used to be hard to add extra panels after the fi rst pass...you had to cut up the pages and renumber by hand. Another important time-saver is the way I can type in the dialogue and action...or even use cut and paste when I was working from a script. I’ve found that all that writing puts as much stress on my hand as the drawing does, so if I can type that stuff, it goes a LOT faster and it’s much easier on my wrist! Finally, the Library is an easy way to store and reuse backgrounds, props, and visual refer-ences,” explained Sherm.

“In Photoshop, you need to jump through lots of hoops to get it to do what Storyboard Pro does naturally,” he added.

“I love using Storyboard Pro because it is clearly designed as a storyboarding tool from the ground up. All the tools I need are there when I need them, and the Time-line and Onion Skin features let the artist work in a fully global way - from the beginning of the storyboard to the end, and from the top layers to the bottom,” concluded Sherm. •

storyboardsecrets.com


Born in Croatia, Filip Janečić is a self-taught 21 year-old animator. Although his primary focus is on 2D animation and illustration, he’s tried his hand at graphic design, photography, web design, 3D animation, music produc-tion, video production, VFX, and writing. He is currently studying Communication sciences (Radio/TV department) and working as a freelance illustrator-animator. Filip uses Toon Boom Animate Pro and his top fi ve features include the multiplane and Z-depth camera animation, the colour system, the ability to create and composite 3D elements, the vector drawing tools and the ease of use for

different animation techniques. As a previous Flash user, he felt Animate Pro seemed like an easy solution to the produc-tion diffi culties I was having.

“Animate Pro is an all-in-one software so it makes it easier to achieve what I want to create without having to use multi-ple programs or third party software. Also, features like the dynamic colour system make it easier to make changes quickly and effi ciently,” he shared. •

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Joseph “JoJo” Baptista is a designer, storyboard artist, and animator living in Hollywood, California. He has a degree in animation from Woodbury University, and apprenticed under Stephen Worth at Animation Resources. JoJo recently completed an animated short for Ralph Bakshi’s Kickstarter campaign for the Last Days of Coney Island

project. He used Toon Boom Animate to create the anima-tion and worked very closely with Ralph Bakshi himself to complete the project. “One of the things I learned on one scene through Ralph was the importance of anticipations and breathing spaces between actions,” explained JoJo. He’s an advocate of traditional animation and fi nds Animate supports his methodology with the onion skin and x-sheet tools. “The ability to draw directly and play your anima-tion immediately without having to go through a bunch of formatting and optimizing was a big time saver. This allows you to spend more time on the creative end of animation without having to fi gure out all the technical drudgery,” he added. •

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Located in Lagos, Nigeria, Sporedust is a digital technol-ogy and animation company providing media solutions and quality production to consumers and clients. With a passion-ate team of diverse talent spanning across various divisions and departments, the company’s mission is to create top quality content and entertainment experiences, in the likes of Disney, Pixar, Dreamworks and other great anima-tion companies, through animation and technology. They are working on Chicken Core, a Nigerian animated feature which follows the adventures of a group of chicken warriors in their quest to rid the land of Amaji from the clutches of the tyrannous Boar King and his minions. Chicken Core

aims to deliver a fascinating package full of action-adven-ture, drama, and intrigue for both the young and elderly. It is targeted at the local and international audience while also seeking to bridge the gap between cultures in Nigeria. Using Toon Boom Studio, they created an animated short titled The Rise of Kings, a prelude to the era of the chicken kingdom. It’s a tale of when the chickens were manipulated by an ancient menace, and then sought to liberate them-selves in a fi nal battle for freedom. •

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An award-winning animation company located in a castle in Burbank, California, Starburns Industries, Inc., started the way most studios have started: as a crazy idea. Found-ers, James Fino, Dan Harmon, Joe Russo II, and Dino Stamatopoulos set out to create the perfect working environment where artists could actually enjoy them-selves. With projects under their belt like NBC's animated Community special, Abed's Uncontrollable Christmas, Adult Swim's Mary Shelley's Frankenhole, Moral Orel origin story, Beforel Orel, plus the original Charlie Kaufman animated feature production Anomalisa underway and Adult Swim's fi rst original half-hour primetime cartoon Rick & Morty premiering later this year, one can say Starburns Industries is a success. Starburns Industries has successfully used Toon Boom Storyboard Pro on all of their stop-motion and traditional animation television projects, as well as their current stop-motion feature, Anomalisa. “We fi nd it gives our entire team the greatest creative fl exibility when it comes to incorporating notes and revisions at various stages of production and post-production,” stated James A. Fino, Partner/EP at Starburns Industries. “Later this year, we're looking forward to producing the Adult Swim sci-fi comedy series, Rick and Morty, in Toon Boom Harmony to continue the stunning visual style we established with Bardel on the pilot,” he added. •

starburnindustries.com

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ANIMATION STUDIOS

Improve StudentAchievement


Visit toonboom.com/bluffton

As seen onIN VIEW WITH LARRY KING

Bluffton Elementary School, located in Beaufort County, South Carolina, USA, uses Toon Boom in a cross-curricular environment, fostering creativity and heightening the desire to learn.

In the most recent (2011) state-administered standardized tests (Math, Science, Social Studies and English/Language Arts), Bluffton Elementary students achieved 15% higher test results in core subjects compared with those from other schools. “The results are outstanding,” says Christine Brown, principal of Bluffton Elementary.

The introduction of (Toon Boom) animation showed that with male students, often those at a higher risk, test scores increased by 14% in sciences and 11% in writing from those a year earlier, results that earned the school awards from the South Carolina Association for Educational Technology.

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GLOBAL ANIMATION SOFTWAREENTREPRENEURIAL

COMPANY OF THE YEAR AWARD

“Animation makes learning a lot easier…because when you put a subject into an animation it’s better than just hearing about it, or reading it in a book.”

Bluffton Student

Improve StudentAchievement

Animation Lab at Bluffton Elementary School


Operating for over fi ve decades, the Laguna College of Art + Design(LCAD) is one of the elite institutions that has both regional

accreditation from the Western Association of Schools and Colleges and national accreditation by the National Association of Schools of Art and Design. LCAD offers fi ve undergraduate majors and a graduate department. They offer a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Drawing and Painting, Illustration, Graphic Design, Animation, and Game Art. The graduate program awards a Master of Fine Arts in Drawing and Painting. Their curriculum uses the latest technology and upgrades in hardware and soft-ware, including Toon Boom Storyboard Pro, Harmony, and Animate.

In the Animation department, co-chairs Dave Kuhnand Dave Pruiksma have designed the four-year program around fi lmmaking, exposing students to all aspects of animation production. They cover conception, storytell-ing, character design, layout, backgrounds, ink and paint, compositing, and sculpture. “We put great emphasis on teaching hand-drawn animation to ensure students master all principles of animation and give them a solid founda-tion, no matter what they specialize in after,” explained Dave.

Each student creates a fi lm project up to three minutes long, using the style of his choice. All instructors are indus-try professionals and provide a mentorship approach, working with students as supervising animators. “Students are much more responsive and benefi t the most from this hands-on approach as they get feedback in real time,” continued Dave. “We feel that making fi lms reaches more people as student projects are sent along the festival route. This proves to be better than a portfolio. It also demonstrates they can work to deadline and manage time well,” he added.

In addition to the two co-chairs’ impressive track record, the instructor team brings in high caliber experi-ence working in leading studios. Each instructor teaches his core specialty. This team includes Duncan Marjoribanksfor animation; Rick Hoppe for senior fi lm; Karen Keller for layout; Mike Show for animation; Luc Desmarchelier for visual development; Lou Police for background painting and character design; and Glen Miller for CG animation, to name a few.

Toon Boom Harmony was chosen as the de facto stan-dard to teach traditional animation and introduce students to digital tools. “Students found Harmony to work very well to create their fi lm as it truly mimics the traditional production process,” explained Dave. Last fall, LCAD organized a master class to work on a collaborative project headed by Eric Goldberg. A team of fourteen students created a three-minute short called Attack of the 50-foot

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Hero, which is now showing in festivals. “Students deliv-ered Disney-quality animation in twelve weeks all using Harmony,” stated Dave.

Setting the learning environment around a fi lmmak-ing experience enables students to discover what they excel at, what they love the most, as well as develop their communication skills. “Working on a collaborative project forces them to communicate clearly and effectively. It is not just about being a great artist. They also need to work well with other artists, understanding each one’s strengths and role,” shared Dave.

Storyboard Pro will be integrated into the curriculum in Fall 2013. In addition to the Animation department, students from the Illustration Entertainment track expressed an interest in using the software as well. As future designers, they see its great benefi ts for develop-ing concepts for theme parks or consumer products.

In relation to Flash-style animation, students will now be using Toon Boom Animate. “It integrates very well into the curriculum and is very easy to adapt,” explained Dave.

Being an hour from Los Angeles puts students close to the entertainment industry and graphic design studios. They can work in internships and gain from experience in a real studio environment during the school year. The department also holds an open house at senior year to give students the opportunity to show their work. Knowing their placement ratio is 92%, LCAD’s Animation department is fast growing, producing well-prepared, market-ready new talent. •

lcad.edu

In its sixth year of operation in Israel, eCamp is an innovative summer camp welcoming children and teens from thirty different countries. While this English-speaking camp focuses on technology, media arts and gaming, it aims at creating the next genera-tion of high-tech enthusiasts and entrepreneurs, as well as social connections across the world. Work-shops are structured as follows: Nanobyte campers, grades 2–5; Kilobyte campers, grades 6–7; Megabyte campers, grades 8–9; and, Gigabyte campers, grades 10–12.

eCamp gave Flip Boom All-Star a test drive with two groups of ten 6–10 year old kids, who had three hours to create an animation. “This tool is brilliant. The kids were able to create very nice projects in a short time,” stated Dotan Tamir, CEO at eCamp. “Based on this successful experience, we decided to drop Flash and took the decision to make a complete transition to Toon Boom products. We will also conduct a mini eCamp during Passover on Toon Boom Studio with kids who are already eCampers. For this experiment, they will attend a four-hour workshop,” added Dotan.

In addition, the eCamp team was solicited by the Rishon Lezion water recycling facility to organize animation workshops on the environment and recy-cling. They were also contacted to be part of the Web Street Festival in Tel Aviv in May to come up with kid-oriented workshops using Microsoft tablets. eCamp trained counselors are planning to visit schools and colleges to deliver hands-on workshops and advocate the use of technology in digital media creation. Their 2013 summer season starts on July 7 and ends on August 17, delivering three 2-week sessions.

ecamp4u.com

Image courtesy of eCamp

VISIT US AT MIPTV 2013 BOOTH C1.09Copyright © 2013 Toon Boom Animation Inc. All rights reserved. A Corus® Entertainment Inc. Company. Toon Boom is a registered trademark of, and Toon Boom Harmony,

Storyboard Pro and Manager are trademarks of Toon Boom Animation Inc. Fishtronaut artwork used with permission © TV PinGuim.

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AWARD-WINNING SOFTWARE Toon Boom® is a 2013 Ub Iwerks Award and a 2012 and 2005 Primetime Emmy® Engineering Award Recipient

PAPERLESS STORYTELLINGToon Boom Storyboard Pro™ is the artist’s tool of choice for planning games, television series, or feature fi lms, whether the project is for Live Action, Mixed Media, or Animation.

FROM IDEA TO REELToon Boom Harmony™ is the most advantageous solution, handling all steps from pre-production to design, animation, compositing and multi-platform rendering.

TRACK FROM ANYWHEREToon Boom Manager™ is the perfect production tracking system that combines everything required for monitoring daily activities, production pace and communication between members of the team.

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