The process of editing for a group animation project was a new experience, as opposed to the shorter animations we had done up until then. Since there are multiple shots and constant revisions being made, it was a constant job that had to be done throughout the duration of the project.
During pre-production the main task was to put together animatics from the beat boards and storyboards, mostly working on timing it out to get a feeling for how long the animation would be and whether it needed shortening. The editing of the animatics, (mainly done by Ross and assisted by Nickoel), was done almost everyday as the story went through several heavy changes. Placeholder sound design sourced by Ross was also included quite early on as we knew that we would be using music and sound effects in lieu of dialogue. As the project moved onto previs and 3D layout, the editing process stayed mostly the same.
The largest change came when everyone started working from home. Ross had to take over as sole editor and learned to use a workflow (on Final Cut software) to edit the animation everyday for the next morning's daily. He created a system on the shared Google Drive for people to drop in their new play blasts which would then be shown in the next morning's daily meeting. Although there would be a couple mistakes here and there, it allowed him to learn more about the editing discipline and after the team got into the routine, he was able to produce the edits readily.
The final edit Ross made (of all our playblasts to show the animation before we began fully rendering), was a satisfying experience for the team to see what they had achieved in the last few weeks. Editing for animation was a different experience that what we had expected, but Ross managed to keep up with the pace and demands of the role.
The other side of the editing process was the sound design. Ross had found the song Hawaiian Dream quite early on and although there were a couple of other options floating around here and there, it became the main music. There was feedback that it ironically didn't sound Hawaiian because of the steel drums, but as a team we decided that it would be fine since other people had commented that they liked the music and that it did sound Hawaiian. It was a matter of personal preference and that there would always be conflicting feedback.
Towards the end of the project, industry feedback from Max proposed to mix more than one song, to get the feeling of a change at the end. This was supported by others like our studio assistant. For the last couple of days we've tried different combinations of songs, mixed at different times. There's been mixed opinions...
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