If only they knew

I wonder if the Wiggles guys get stressed? Or those Imagination Movers guys? I look at their shows and think - that must be fun. Is it a 'grass is always greener' scenario or are they really having as much fun as it seems?

We're making a nice little children's show. The end product should be rather pleasant. It should feel relaxed. Calming even.

But behind the scenes, there's a war going on. My sanity, an innocent bystander caught in the crossfire. I think this comes down to the lunacy of making shows one frame at a time. At its very core, animation is an act of total insanity. Back in the day, shrinks would have recommended lobotomies for those suffering from a severe case of animation. Okay so for a while they were throwing around lobotomies for a runny nose but the point still stands - animation is, technically speaking, nuts.

Loopy.

Bananas.

At least with the modern days of Flash, a missed mistake isn't a full-on apocalypse. It's easier these days to fix stuff. Back when I started, if you got notes back on a scene, you could be pretty sure you'd be starting from scratch. I once animated on a music video for someone rather famous. The whole animation sequence was planned out to match a live-action segment she was shooting. As it takes longer, we started the animation first and were close to finishing when the shoot took place. Well, she turned up to the shoot, decided to wear a different outfit and wouldn't let anyone tell her otherwise. The animation no longer matched and every frame had to be redrawn.

And now she's a withered old has-been so joke's on her, eh?

But back to now. As I write this, there is a document of required fixes that would take more time just to read than we have to fix them. I suspect we're in trouble.