Comments on Animation Tips & Tricks: If You've Finished a Scene and Your Client Says T...

I'm not a pro, but can't you get clients t...

2010-01-08T06:57:48.422-08:00

I'm not a pro, but can't you get clients to 'sign off' at certain stages of the work? To say that they are happy with the direction/content so far?

I think Kristen makes a really important point up ...

2009-12-29T14:09:10.766-08:00

I think Kristen makes a really important point up there.

Using ruff animation to show the client how things will move is a logical method to save on having to, potentially, rebuild 'finished' work.

BUT, unfortunately, (what a way to start a sentence, ugh) many clients can't make the mental leap to convert the rough into the finished and will find the rough work lacks appeal, or niggles at their investment concerns.

We're caught between diablo and the beancounters. So it may be worth producing 50 frames of finished animation within the longer sequence of ruff work, to help the client visualise the goal.

I know, it's extra work. So choose carefully. I reckon choose frames that would be fun to do. The boss will probably be more directive and help you choose the frames critical to making the sale. If the luck fairy is hovering over the lightbox (another name for a computer) at that moment, the two frame racks may be the same.

It's all about how effective our communication is. If we are noy perfect at painting on our client's imagination with spoken words, then we have to provide the visual cues. And if the client is not an animator, the more 'finished' the examples have to be to help them.

Back to the beancounters - so budget for that, or as Kristen points out, what seems to be a fiscal loss actually can build into future work that balances the books on the extra communication effort on the first client-animator interaction.

Methinks.

Great info, also good addition Kristen.. thnx

2009-12-24T07:30:54.041-08:00

Great info, also good addition Kristen.. thnx

Just experienced this with a client, not three wee...

2009-12-23T13:23:25.293-08:00

Just experienced this with a client, not three weeks ago. We used a 'rough' line effect in our simple, stick figure style animation, in order to maintain the 'un-produced' art design. Client saw the style before production, in several similarly produced animation clips. When they saw it on their animation project, they HATED it - and even said so! I pushed my bruised ego aside, and recreated the sequence, (which basically involved deleting frames from nested loops). As a result, we went WAY over budget, because we had to redo all the timing. But, they loved the finish product and invited us back to do others with the idea of creating a promotional series. So, I guess it wasn't a total loss. This was one of those situations where we did everything right, but it STILL went wrong, which sometimes happens. You've got to pick yourself up and keep going, or the next guy in line is going to run you over.