In a Flash: Animation Production in Flash Growing
One such studio is Renegade Prods. Overseen by Darrell Van Citters and Ashley Postlewaite, Renegade has a long list of productions that include commercials (Cheetos, Trix, and the classic Hare Jordan), special projects (Captain Sturdy and Line Up interstitial for Cartoon Network) and TV series (Elmo Aardvark). For the last few years they dabbled a bit with Flash on special projects for Disney. They went full bore when they began production on the recent Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi series for Cartoon Network. Postlewaite took a few moments to discuss the process they went through to convert a classic full, in-house animation house to an in-house Flash facility.
My first question was what changes in crew were necessary for moving from a studio of paper animation to Flash?
“Some of the artists could do it, but not all,” she said. “We found that we had about a 50% conversion rate from paper animators to Flash animators. Luckily, our move into heavy Flash production came at a time of expansion, when we were bringing in new folks anyway. And at the same time we began building our new pipeline and fiddling with it. In some ways we were lucky not having done overseas production. That way we were building from scratch instead of trying to change an old way and retraining folks.”
The idea of a stock system, often discussed in Flash production, is not something one usually uses in full animation. But Renegade was prepared for the shift. “Darrell is a student of animation and well versed in much of its history,” said Postlewaite. “While setting up our production pipeline, we constantly thought back to the Hanna-Barbera TV and UPA processes. Of course, technology makes a Flash stock system much more sophisticated than the ones of earlier times. First, we don’t have to keep rooms of folders like those earlier studios. Well, actually we do have folders, but they are on the computer. In fact, our database can handle tens of thousands of images. The key word search ability allows us to instantly call up every tree or car for re-use, revision or reference.”
As Aniceto mentioned with his switch to final color, Postlewaite noted, “with most of our Flash projects, the animation is now being done on fully colored models and designs, literally animating in color. Of course that means some things have simply shifted in the pipeline, but still, it is still amazing at times how quickly productions can progress.”
I wondered if switching to Flash made a lot of production actually easier. “Definitely!,” exclaims Postlewaite. “Actually, just moving to digital ink and paint speeded up the process. I still remember how Darrell would rush the drawings to the camera company — often driving them there in the middle of the night. Then I would rush out in the morning to pick up the film and get it to our editor. They would then need to cut things in and get us a work print. Moving to digital turned a two-day process into something that now can take an hour.
“We could not be doing most of our projects today if not for Flash, at least not doing them in the states,” she continued. “Cost was a reason so much animation went overseas. Not only does Flash save money, but it is so much more efficient. It really helps up front with clients. We can tailor the budget to almost any project. Often the client tells us what they want to pay, and we can quickly show them options that can be kept quite firm. In hand animation, once you start the production you get to a point where new ideas or changes can get quite expensive. In Flash, changes can be handled far easier and with better budget control.”
Speaking of clients, I asked if any of them had an “aversion” to Flash. After all, with CGI taking the traditional world, did Flash also have a stigma to it? “Yes, we do find that some still consider ‘Flash’ a bad word in the market place,” Postlewaite admitted. “Folks tend to think of if as flat or stiff. We think that is due to the large amount of Flash that showed up on the web during the dot-com boom. At that time you had just about anyone, many without real art training, putting things up. The complaints most folks have of Flash are not necessarily the fault of the software, but the one using it. We often get clients discuss a move or a visual and then ask ‘Can we do it in Flash?’ At that time we push that the skill of the artist is what really limits the final project.
“We prefer to discuss it as ‘paperless 2D animation’,” she said. “That way we try to keep the focus on the art, not the tools being used. When we discuss a project, we try to find what the client wants and offer them a variety of options. For example, we have a new production in which we are animating oil paintings via Flash and it is turning out great. Again, it is really the artist behind the tool. When someone comes in with an idea, we try to get him or her to understand the wide range of tools available from paper, to Flash, to clay, to CGI. It should not make a difference what tools we use to create the final project — whether it is Flash, After Effects or some other program. Obviously, the clients enjoy the speed of using Flash, and the ability to make changes — always a double-edged sword.”
Renegade is continuing to push into the world of Flash. It’s working on a feature done in Flash — Christmas Is Here Again. Meanwhile, it keeps busy with TV series (Reanimated for Cartoon Network) and special projects (a Mary Poppins project with Disney).
Overall, the switch to Flash at most animation houses seems to have been accomplished with little real difficulty. As with any comparison between animation processes, there will be many factors that can affect the duties and final outcome. Schedule and budget are the most obvious, and often the least adjustable. Art style, creator awareness, knowledge of production staff and perception of final approvers can all affect the work process and final production.
But it seems that Flash is now a major contender in the world of animation production. Like Renegade, more studios will no doubt convert to Flash. Like Cartoon Network, more studios will experiment with manipulating the process of Flash. So the future promises even more shifts in the way animation gets through the pipeline. It will be up to the studios to keep their production people well versed in change, and history. For as much as some may see Flash as something new… in some ways, it is as classic as ink and paint.
John Cawley is a producer of animation (television and features) at Cartoon Network Studios in Burbank, California. Cawley is also a writer (Dexter’s Lab, Bugs Bunny, Disney features), an author (Encyclopedia of Cartoon Superstars, Cartoon Confidential), an editor (Get Animated!), a publisher (Faster! Cheaper!), a lecturer and a performer.
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