520 SR. THESIS UPDATE PITCH: ORIGINAL SCORE & SOUND DESIGN - DELIVERABLES, DATES & WORKFLOW

A. ANIMATION UPDATE PITCH

The list below covers the essentials for getting faculty up to speed on your current progress and pitching to potential collaborators for original music.

1. Project Description/Design Workbook: A compilation of project description, story treatment, character biographies, and character & environment design elements.

2. Storyreel: As close to final timings as possible the storyreel should include scratch musical score and sound effects.

3. Director's notes on Sound Design: You'll want to include a description of how you see the role of music in your piece.  For now, stick to a general overview. Later on, you may want to provide to a scene-by-scene breakdown describing the emotional tone and musical role in every scene.

You may also want to include a limited sampling of music or excerpts from short films that you feel best exemplify the role that music will play in your project.

The following documents are an example of a live conversation between Director and Composer on Google Docs: Director's Notes.pdf and a Composer's Score Plan with Notes.pdf.

 

 

B. APPROXIMATE HAND-OFF DATES & WORKFLOW

An ideal workflow between the Animator, Musician and Sound Designer for scoring a short animated film is listed below.  As in all art-making endeavors, every project has its specific needs, limitations and opportunities so we remain flexible.

Typically this process includes the following roles: Animator, Director, Editor, Sound Designer, Musician and Composer.   In most cases, these roles are shared by individuals wearing multiple hats. Whatever form your post-production roles take on, here are the key steps for hand-offs and deliverables.

1. Animator/Director pitches rough storyreel to Musician/Composer (January): This is generally comprised of loosely timed storyboards with "scratch" (stand-in or temporary) musical score and some scratch sound effects.  Often this is accompanied by "Directors Notes" to help the Musician understand the sub-text of each scene.

2. Musician/Composer provides “musical sketches” (February) These sketches should provide the animator with a broad musical vision for the project and be simple enough to accommodate feedback. Once a direction is clear, Animator and Musician part ways to work on their respective parts of the project. 

3. Musician/Composer provides midi-track (March) : At this point the musician may provide a midi-track that animators can work with to time their final animation or the animator will continue to work to scratch audio.

4. Animator/Editor provides final timings as "locked edit" (Early April): Once animation is nearly complete, the animator/editor works closely with the sound designer to create final timing for a "locked" edit. Final animation is ideal at this point but due to tight deadlines, the locked edit will likely contain near final animation and low-resolution renders, and a combination of scratch and final audio FX.

5. Musician/Composer provides finished score to Animator/Editor - 1st then final draft (Mid-April): The animator/editor will then replace scratch score with final music. Leave time for some back and forth adjustments as the final elements are put into place.

6. Animator/Editor works with Sound Designer to create a final audio mix (May): At this point the sound designer (if you have one) provides final sound effects and works with the animator/editor to create a final audio mix. Four ears are always better than two.

7. Create final credit roll (May): Make sure that you have included the credit roll as part of your sound design!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Stephan Leeper/Central Michigan University 2023