Recipe 6 - Review of All Props

What You Will Learn

You will discover the preparation required before animation can take place. The way scenes are rigged, what is NOT shown in the camera, and all the poses and tidbits related to the action are displayed before we finish the animation.

Why It Is Important

To see the sizing and layout behind the scenes in our system will give new animators a respect for planning. This step is the result of applying the S.L.T. acronym. The size and layout of the props and backgrounds show how Long shots, Medium shots, and Close-ups are accomplished. The area where new animators struggle the most is how big to make things and how to engineer props to be animated.  This recipe will go a long way in managing expectations when assembling scenes for a movie.

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Recipe 8 - Dialogue and Word Play

What You Will Learn

You will learn how to sort through a brainstormed list of dialogue ideas to invent clever and funny wordplay for a scene. You will see how the emotion of a scene can help you choose which ideas are best. You will finish your dialogue for each scene. 

Why It Is Important

Word play, puns, idioms, and acronyms are the life blood of short animation. Unless new animators are going for a "silent movie" on purpose, words and the way we act them out in our Voice Overs (next recipe) will be the most important reasons a movie succeeds. Since most animators using Animating Kids are new, the words become even more important than the animation quality. Beautiful animation can be dragged down by poor dialogue, but poor animation can be saved by the voice acting when the words are carefully chosen. Have fun with the amazing amount of word play possible in any movie idea. 

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Recipe 9 - Voice Overs and Sound Design

What You Will Learn

You will learn how to layer dialogue and sound effects (SFX) in a movie. You will see the recipe from the White Hat level in voice synchronization used in a real movie. You will discover that voices can be added as almost the final step to a movie. Additionally, you will find that SFX amplify the impact of the action. SFX includes "Hits" and "Stingers" which add snap and energy to any scene.

Why It Is Important

SFX and Voice overs (VO) are more important than animation quality in the success of an animation. VERY IMPORTANT! We cannot overstate the importance of getting SFX and VO right. We work with looping sequences of lip animation. This means we can do the dialogue last. This also will enable new animators to experiment with many different VO's of dialogue and extend or contract the lip-synching to fit their verbal inventions. See the lip-synching recipe in the White Hat section for review. 

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Recipe 10 - Summary and Final Movie Premiere!

What You Will Learn

We will review the entire process to keep the steps clear as we play the final version of the movie. New animators will be reminded of the planning, preparation, and hypothesizing that went into the successful invention of the new, unique creation which is the finished animated movie.  You will see the sense of satisfaction and excitement that accompanies the completion of an animation.

Why It Is Important

Though the Animation Chefs invented the Remote Control Movie using this system, any subject matter can be animated using this process. It applies to animating the Water Cycle or Molecules, History or Holiday Cards, Recycling or Rocket Science, or any other subject matter. Find a character, put it in a setting, give it a big juicy problem. Storyboard a shot sequence. Build the sets. Animate. Do sound design. Press play. Viola'. You have reached the Blue Hat Skill Level.