They aren't there

Telling me they should be there does not magically make them appear. I know they should be there. That's why I checked first before getting in your face about them not being there.

Was this easier or harder back in the paper days? I'm not really sure. I do know when I got layout packs, they were always there but that could have been because I was in a studio with a good system and people who know what they are doing. But not now. Not with computer files. Flash files. And servers.

About a hundred folders to search through, none of which contain what they are supposed to. Is there no system here? It seems putting hopes on things being the way they should be is the norm here, which is odd because nothing is ever as it should be.

What a mess. I just want to find an old scene for reference... is that too much to ask?

When systems fall apart

Not the exact scene of carnage I witnessed yesterday morning but not far off. Someone in the studio had been working for days, alone, on some really old design that had been abandoned well before preproduction even began.

How this happened at all is baffling but the big deal is why it wasn't caught.

There is a production manager person in here who is meant to make sure that everyone has what they need, is kept up to date and should know who is doing what at any given moment. So it's hard to blame the person who was actually working away on stuff that is totally unusable. The system broke down.

It's quite a costly error because other animators were waiting for the work that was actually supposed to be done.

It brings home just how isolated people can be in a studio full of people. I remember thinking that myself when I started way back in the old days. It was just me and my scene. I felt totally disconnected from the process and had no idea what anyone else was doing. The director should be on top of things, as should the producer, but when they are getting fed information from someone who has lost track of the system, they have no real way of knowing until the work comes in incorrect.

Or someone comes in early and spots the drawings on a desk.