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In Producing Animation's Chapter 8, we cover all the specifics as to how a project gets off the ground and fully prepared for production. The topics covered include:

• The Role of the Producer During the Pre-Production Phase
• Design and Art Direction
• The Voice Track
• Storyboarding
• Animation Timing
• Songs
• Title Sequence
• Preparing A Shipment
• Flow Chart of Pre-Production Steps: Television and Direct-to-Video

Here is an excerpt describing one of the most critical stages to every animated project: Storyboarding.

The Purpose
It is every filmmaker's goal to come up with an innovative way of telling his or her story. In animation, it all begins with the storyboard. After all, it is the first time the words are taken from the script and translated into images. The storyboard artist's job is to draw panels that illustrate scenes depicting the characters, their action and their environment. At this stage of the game, there is a full range of possibilities open to the director since they are starting with a blank slate.

By allotting adequate time for storyboarding, the producer gives the director and the artists the opportunity to nail down the story and improve it as much as possible. The more time spent on fixing script problems in this stage, the better. In fact, in an ideal world, production does not start until the majority -- if not all -- of the boarding is completed and approved. Since the storyboarding phase is the last comparatively inexpensive portion of production, it is one of the best places to allocate resources to avoid potential problems down the line. If, for example, the story is not entertaining or is predictable, this is the time to delve into it. In such cases, production should be halted, if possible, or slowed down so that writing issues can be addressed before spending further monies. Unfortunately, we have worked on too many shows where the deadline to start production and/or the lack of funds has forced this phase to be rushed. The result is that story points left unresolved at this point haunt the entire production. To quote a veteran storyboard artist, "Somehow there is never enough time to do it right, but there is always time to do it over."

Getting Started
Before the director can hand out an assignment to the storyboard artist, the following items have to be in order:

• The script
• The voice track (if available)
• Character models
• Location designs
• Prop designs
• Office space and supplies (if the artist works in-house)
• Page and panel setups
• Sample completed storyboard panels illustrating the show's style and complexity level (if applicable)

Initially, the director divides the script into sequences. Each sequence is further broken down into scenes that become the individual units which go through the production pipeline and are then assembled to make the final project. The location where the action takes place and the time of day are typically the factors that the director uses to delineate a sequence. On a primetime 22-minute show, for example, it is common to have three artists working for six weeks (or 18 staff-weeks) on a storyboard. Due to time and money limitations, once the artist gets guidance from the director, they focus their efforts on making the story work. For the most part, however, there aren't many departures from the script. On these types of shows, storyboard artists in essence take on the role of editors and cinematographers. They work on how the show should be cut by the way they depict the scene, asking such questions as, 'Is it in a single master shot? Or are there many cuts?' They also create the template for the look of the film through how they choose to set up camera angles and how the characters are framed and composed within the scene.