Focusing On Minutia Allows Crew To Forget Their Show Is A Piece Of Crap
"Tails For All Ages" may be a depressing waste of time and talent, but don't tell that to the crew responsible- they're too busy wondering how anthropomorphic mice might set their tables for lunch!
Director Borge Gunnarson shows me some drawings. "See how the pictures on the wall are actually postage stamps? It's that kind of attention to detail that will reward repeat viewings." A worried look crosses his brow, but he quickly shakes his head and smiles brightly. "It does for me, anyway."
Word around the Digistorm Entertainment Studio has it that while the show itself limps along with trite scripts, flat vocal work, and incompetent timing, director Gunnarson, along with his crew, spends most of his time and energy devising plans for mice to have bottlecaps for washbasins, kitchen sponges for doormats, and bicycles made from eyeglasses.
Producer Candace Boorman is excited.
"Gunnarson is adding a second layer of energy to an already exciting property. He's here hours before I get in, and stays many hours after I've gone home. Just this morning he showed me a drawing of Morty the Mouse using an old orange juicer as an umbrella. The rain runs down the curved section of the juicer, then runs out the spout on the back. It's the cutest thing I've ever seen. We HAVE to get the writer to write in his script that it rains in this episode, so we can use it!"
Joe Brant, the location designer, is surprised that he's busier than usual.
"Usually, I just design a location, it's approved, and that's that. But Borge gets all these ideas after the fact, so the designs keep coming back, you know- 'add in a toothbrush for a scrub brush, add in a coin as a serving tray.' You get kind of sick of seeing the same drawings come back again and again with all these revisions, but if it makes the show better, then I say 'why not'!"
Why not indeed! It's detail like this that makes television animation the sparkling wonderland that it so often can be!
Director Borge Gunnarson shows me some drawings. "See how the pictures on the wall are actually postage stamps? It's that kind of attention to detail that will reward repeat viewings." A worried look crosses his brow, but he quickly shakes his head and smiles brightly. "It does for me, anyway."
Word around the Digistorm Entertainment Studio has it that while the show itself limps along with trite scripts, flat vocal work, and incompetent timing, director Gunnarson, along with his crew, spends most of his time and energy devising plans for mice to have bottlecaps for washbasins, kitchen sponges for doormats, and bicycles made from eyeglasses.
Producer Candace Boorman is excited.
"Gunnarson is adding a second layer of energy to an already exciting property. He's here hours before I get in, and stays many hours after I've gone home. Just this morning he showed me a drawing of Morty the Mouse using an old orange juicer as an umbrella. The rain runs down the curved section of the juicer, then runs out the spout on the back. It's the cutest thing I've ever seen. We HAVE to get the writer to write in his script that it rains in this episode, so we can use it!"
Joe Brant, the location designer, is surprised that he's busier than usual.
"Usually, I just design a location, it's approved, and that's that. But Borge gets all these ideas after the fact, so the designs keep coming back, you know- 'add in a toothbrush for a scrub brush, add in a coin as a serving tray.' You get kind of sick of seeing the same drawings come back again and again with all these revisions, but if it makes the show better, then I say 'why not'!"
Why not indeed! It's detail like this that makes television animation the sparkling wonderland that it so often can be!
posted by Animazing! at 7:53 PM
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