PRODUCTION – Management

With the prospect of having animation helpers, I realized that a unified organizational structure must be in place in order to ensure uniform quality and production pipeline efficiency. The creation of file organization structure and management systems were mostly developed in February (although some documents, such as the Production Index), and entailed the following steps.

• CREW LIST
• List of acquaintances who have expressed willingness/offering to support the animation production.
• Includes Name, Contact Info, Skill level, Suitability, Availability

• PRODUCTION PLAN
• Early document list roughly mapping out production pipeline schematics, from pre-production planning to post-production. Useful in the early planning stages to get an idea of the full lifetime of the project; discontinued after production entered full production phase as inherent design of document was unable to capture the nuances of animation pipeline.

• PRODUCTION INDEX
• An index (organized by shot) of all assets needed for production. This document was remarkable as it allowed certain assets (such as character hair or backgrounds) to be recycled, drastically cutting down the amount of work needed. It is estimated that roughly 50% of the assets required for production are recycled. It also provided a uniform platform to convey additional information, such as each shot's individual runtime, as well as notes for character animation.

• PRODUCTION DATABASE
• A series of folders on Google Drive accessible to all working parties (allowing them to upload, download, and modify documents as necessary.

• NOTES
• A series of documents providing detailed step-by-step instructions on how to accomplish assigned tasks. This also included lists on job allocation and rough progress tracking are also provided.

• SCHEDULE
  • A series of Excel spreadsheets put together in early-mid March providing much more in-depth progress tracking, as well as setting pace. Contains the following:
    • Calendar. Allows crew to tangibly interpret deadlines and workloads.
    • File Progress Tracker. Streamlined itinerary of the Production Index, organized according to asset (i.e. animations grouped by character, backgrounds, etc).
    • Scene Progress Tracker. Reorganized File Progress Tracker according to scene.
    • Crew Progress Tracker. Discontinued service after it became clear that nearly all of my friends had no real intention of contributing.