Tuesday, October 27, 2009

The realities of a production schedule

I actually know nothing of the realities of a production schedule because I have not yet come across one that had any place in the real world. Schedules are made, usually missing some keys stages, then blissfully ignored.

And then a show is made from start to finish in total chaos.

Right now, I'm feeling that. I'm actually feeling rather unsupported. Like I'm a one-man army trying to pull a whole show together. And pulling an entire show together is too big for any one person. So I can only prioritise what I can and hope that everything else falls into place.

Just like I hope someone comes to my door and delivers a whole truck of money. Actually, that's probably more likely.

I do wonder - is it like this on all shows? Is a state of utter chaos totally normal? Do all shows run this fine line where they're in danger of completely falling apart at any moment?

Does anyone know?


On an unrelated note, John K made his blog private for a while. It's public again now but it sounds like he may not be continuing it or may consider other plans for his blog. That would be a massive loss to the animation world. We're in a place now where skills are being lost, mostly due to the massive changes in the animation systems. John K's blog is in incredible resource for animators and should be regular reading, especially for newer, younger animators being born into a world of Flash studios. Mr.K would be the first to say that his way is just one way of doing things (I certainly don't always agree with some things, though I never doubt the man's talent) and he encourages people to find their own 'voice' in their artwork but his lessons, stories and (usually pretty funny) rants are really important for people to have access to. He has a point of view that is uniquely his. So I hope he keeps his blog open.

But, just in case, it would be an idea to read all you can from his blog and take something away from it. And maybe show him a little support too - he has earned it.

From me personally, I'd like to say a big 'thank you' to Mr.K for everything he has contributed to animation.

5 comments:

Andy Latham said...

Well I don't know about TV, but it's certainly like that in games form what I can tell. Utter chaos. And noone learns from past mistakes.

Adam H said...

"I do wonder - is it like this on all shows? Is a state of utter chaos totally normal? Do all shows run this fine line where they're in danger of completely falling apart at any moment?

Does anyone know?"

I work in the children's game industry, and it's the -exact- same way. My comrades & I were discussing this the other day and I asked, "Why dont we make more reasonable production schedules if we're always going over?"

"Well, cause then we'd go over that one too."

...gah!

I was wondering what happened with John's blog...I genuinely hope he doesn't stop or privatize it. It's been daily reading for me since I was in college 3 years ago and I can honestly say I've learned as much or more from it than all what all my loan-bought lessons taught me in school. That guy is a treasure-trove of cartoon resource.

Red Pill Junkie said...

"On an unrelated note, John K made his blog private for a while. It's public again now but it sounds like he may not be continuing it or may consider other plans for his blog."

Does anyone know what prompted this sudden change?

Bitter Animator said...

I don't know any details but I think some people on some sites were giving him a hard time and that was spilling into the comments on his site, which he has to read.

David said...

I have never been one of the people in charge, so I can't say for absolute sure how "seat of your pants" the productions I worked on were.

The ones I know about are the ones that ended in disaster. Disaster flows downhill!

I suspect any production without a great production manager is five minutes from collapse.