Posted on 15. Apr, 2011 by admin in Random, Timbuktoonblog
Links Timbuktoons stumbled upon that were helpful, weird or just plain fun…
Shaping the Future: 7 Predictions for the Creative Community
2011: Second Wave of Children’s Mobile Apps Is Coming
Peter Jackson video tour of The Hobbit
Ed Catmull, Pixar: Keep Your Crises Small
Apple will be the first $1 trillion company
Posted on 13. Apr, 2011 by Todd Hampson in News, Press Releases, Random, Timbuktoonblog
This sums up our post-production scare in the Summer of 2010.
Here comes the train!
Animation, motion graphics, and video production studios easily get so focused on the daunting task of production that we forget about how hairy post-production can be. We forget that the light at the end of the production tunnel is the train known as post-production coming at us…full speed.
Big studios aren’t immune.
When most of Pixar’s Toy Story 2 was finished, the files were accidentally deleted. In less than 30 seconds critical assets and entire scenes disappeared from their main systems right before their eyes. Even worse, when trying to recover those they discovered that for over a month their back-ups had been failing!
The situation looked bleak until they discovered that one of their employees out on maternity leave had backed up all of the assets so she could work from home and be with her family. This detail-oriented mom saved the day (and hopefully received some extended maternity leave!).
Racing against time to render the final scenes for the feature film Jonah, Big Idea Productions had several unique post-production challenges. Not only did they have to crew up and hire additional lighting artists, they had to obtain 200 more render machines to meet their release date just two months out.
With no room available to store the machines, they had to run fiber optics to the other end of the mall where their studio was temporarily located. On top of that, while rendering final scenes, they discovered that their high-end render farm was rendering some scenes into a black hole! It was a couple months of chaos!
Our 2010 post-production scare.
Last summer we were wrapping a large graphics package project up when post-production ate our lunch for over five days. Files refused to render completely, audio and video wouldn’t sync and at the lowest point the source files completely disappeared. To this day we still aren’t sure why!
We had so many things go wrong that Murphy’s Law had a few amendments added to it!
We pulled two all-nighters in a row, had files rendering on four different machines in two locations and the project was overdue. I had to leave for a trip after the second all-nighter but a couple of files still didn’t render correctly. So, our creative director worked the weekend, learned three new programs on the fly and earned some major stripes to get it done.
7 Lessons learned:
1. Block out at least twice as much time you think you’ll need for post-production.
2. Budget at least twice as much as you think you’ll need for post-production.
3. Expect Murphy to show up at some point.
4. What you sow in pre-production is what you will reap in post, so plan well.
5. RAM is your friend.
6. Don’t use .aif files in After Effects.
7. Don’t under estimate post!
Bonus Lessons:
• One all-nighter can be fun. Two in a row is not…at all.
• Sabotage and Enter Sandman played loudly will help keep you awake at 3AM.
• Coffee can only do so much.
Posted on 10. Dec, 2010 by admin in News, Random
Phineas and Ferb Take the Boys’ Market by Storm
The 50 Best Inventions of 2010
If It Won’t Fit On A Post-It, It Won’t Fit In Your Day
What Happened to Downtime? The Extinction of Deep Thinking & Sacred Space
7 Steps to Creating a Sure-Fire Marketing System
Growing Up Digital, Wired for Distraction
50 Clips To Honor Disney’s 50th Animated Film
Oscar Short List for Best Live Action and Animated Short Films; Watch the Animated Shorts
Posted on 10. Sep, 2010 by admin in Random, Timbuktoonblog
Posted on 13. Aug, 2010 by admin in Random, Timbuktoonblog
Here are a few links we found useful, interesting and fun…
Good Brands Focus And Deliver: Hollywood movie making and marketing disappoints.
Welcome to the schizophrenic economy
2 great posts from Josh Selig, Planet Preschool (here and here)
How Peppa Pig brought home the bacon
Children think hopscotch is a drink
A Glimpse Into the Genius of Pixar
Posted on 18. Jun, 2010 by Sean Copley in Random, Timbuktoonblog
Posted on 30. Apr, 2010 by Sean Copley in Random, Timbuktoonblog
Posted on 09. Apr, 2010 by Sean Copley in Random, Timbuktoonblog
Posted on 26. Feb, 2010 by Sean Copley in News, Random, Timbuktoonblog
Posted on 13. Nov, 2009 by Sean Copley in Timbuktoonblog
Welcome to games-galore ‘Kung Fu Panda World’
Wall-E Explodes on the Comic Book Scene
Purpose, not just promise, is the key to winning in today’s market
Up Director Pete Docter on His Next Project and Why Pixar Movies End With Chase Scenes
The Last Campaign: How Experiences Are Becoming the New Advertising
In the Clouds