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Post by funnybunnyjay on Oct 29, 2016 16:57:23 GMT -6
I can relate to your struggle so much. I started making an action fantasy series but getting this script done has been such a huge pain. The first episode is only meant to introduce 3 characters but the episode is somehow over 10 minutes long. That's way slower than I wanted it to be.
I would recommend you script, get voices for, and finish animating the first episode before you even begin scripting the second one, because by the time the first episode is finished you might wanna do something else completely different for the second one. If you think of the second episode now you'll lose the inspiration to animate it by the time you get around to making it.
The only reason why I've ever managed to finish an episode of an animated series is because I put very little effort into it. I recommend anyone who wants to make an animated series to first create something that takes almost no effort before attempting to animate something more difficult. You'll at least have something out there to show people and completing a low effort animation will give you a sense of just how long it takes to complete an animated episode. Even something with bad artwork and lazy animation can take a very long time, so I recommend people try it so that they can gauge whether or not an ambitious animation project is the right choice for them. I've seen countless animators announce these amazing looking ideas, only to never come out with anything because they aimed too high.
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ChibiGissy
Hella Cool Guy
Icon done by TenshiHanka/Otakrap
Posts: 1,115 
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Post by ChibiGissy on Oct 29, 2016 17:10:06 GMT -6
Hmmmm. That's a tough one to say for my part. Given I usually zig-zag my ways. With things like, Pentalty All About, I already had the whole story set up given how I already had the original story written when I was 16. With other works like Carrot Fluffs, Mi-Pie and Sour Candy Filled Donuts, I tend to know what will happen in the next episode so I just write scipts for those down.
But if you really want to plan out for the script, I suggest, do like bullet points for plot points for the series. I kinda feel that maybe easier. After all the plot points are written down, you can start from there.
As for audio, I usually start on the audio once every single person who voices a character in my series turn in there lines especially if some of them take way too long to turn in their lines, I get desperate for audio editing
Speaking of voice actors, I highly suggest asking your friends to see in they can voice act. If not, well, there's always casting calls.
AND if you're waiting of voice actors, believe me, I have been there, you can do like short little one-shot fanimes to do one the side, like how I did with Genko Hates Her Life, Hinaniko Does Not Care, Evako Had One Job, and Puiko of the Silence.
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Post by eternalashley225 on Oct 29, 2016 20:47:24 GMT -6
For me Ive had different ways of approaching my fanimes. Usually I start with a basic idea of plot and where I want the story to end. Basically getting the key elements of the story and where I want it to go. Sometimes characters come first and sometimes after, I've usually done character designs first and often I make characters and try to give them a story (as was the case with the Mew Academy characters, with Odd 4 the basic plot came first). With any of my projects the script came first and I worked episode by episode instead of writing out the whole series. For Odd 4 I did not storyboard at all, I just went right into animating, but for Mew Academy I do storyboard before hand. With audio, I like to send the script to my VAs as soon as its done so I can give them as much time as needed to record their lines. Since I storyboard for Mew Academy I generally line the storyboard up to the voices to make sure i have correct timing to animate and kind of guess how long the episode will be. After everything is animated I put it all together and export and then start on the next episode script.
Generally starting out with something less involved, maybe a short series, would be a better start just to gauge how fast you animate. Sometimes side projects help to keep you interested in a longer project.
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C♡c♡
Apprentice Member
Posts: 142
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Post by C♡c♡ on Oct 29, 2016 22:17:04 GMT -6
I've made the mistake of hyping up ideas of mine then abandoning or ignoring them 'cause new ones keep coming or I put too much pressure on myself.
What I'm trying to do now is reason with myself because the main thing holding me back from doing anything is fear (and life stuff, but mostly fear). I'm leaving several potential projects on the back-burner and not really announcing them to the public, but rather occasionally bring them up into conversation to get feedback and scratch the "I gotta share this right now" itch (if that's a thing).
I either design characters or the world that they exist in first, then I proceed to writing lines, quotes, scenes, outlines- really anything helps even if the script for an entire episode isn't immediately completed. It's important to have three things decided right from the get-go: the beginning, middle, and end. So even if scripting isn't final, you can start with a clear idea of what you're going to keep doing.
I recommend writing for at least 15 minutes a day while asking yourself questions about the objectives, conflicts and solutions in your stories. The pieces will eventually come together and you'll be more motivated to work on the script.
best of luck~
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Post by otakrap on Nov 2, 2016 4:04:38 GMT -6
Looking at this thread has made me realize something that I may have forgotten, which is, I've almost always released episodes for challenges.
DTMH was made with the inspiration of participating in fanime awards and I've also done the 2 hour challenge, 48 hour challenge, weekly challenge, and 12 hour challenge. All of my series are at least part comedy and the non challenges are joke series that I've made. I haven't even gotten myself to finish Knight Friends and that series is made really lazily. Its that feeling of "I need someone to animate with me" that I have which makes no sense but is how I function anyways. Otherwise things are going to get real lazy.
I can't say any of my advice will help since I don't have a single animated series that takes itself seriously.
Enough about that though. Here's what I do for most of my series:
- Think of an idea. This can be basic plot or how you plan to animate the series. I've made entire series based on animation shortcuts because of how lazy I got.
- Character design. I've only done this first with PoaNW because I wanted to base the story off of the character designs. I like characters with masks because they look cool and you don't have to do lip syncing. Half of my fanime characters probably don't have visible mouths so that priorities can lie elsewhere.
- Get sound. Not exactly sure if I get the sound before or after scripting, but it doesn't matter too much. Hearing music is just more fun than scripting so I'll put it before.
- Scripting. I've always written in play format and always scripted all at once. You can send all of the lines to VAs at once this way. PoaNW had a script which was around 240 words per episode and around 3000 for the whole series including names. This way of writing is really awkward and I don't advise it though. I'll often times write or imagine scenes according to what song I'm using it and time it to the music mentally too.
- Casting call. You don't really need this if you ask friends. I've only done one with DTMH and chickened out when the spots were filled cause I didn't want to leave anybody out.
- Draw inspiration art while waiting for lines or something idk
- Audio editing. Never had too much of a problem with this. I like to be able to hear my entire episode before I draw a single frame of animation so that I can get timing right and listen to my episode imagining how the scenes will look.
- Story board frames. These are key frames but with the brush so big that you can't add detail. Then key frames and then in-betweens if you want. I did lip syncing last for DTMH... and then never animated lip syncing since.
- Video editing. In case you're using Sai or paint or anything that doesn't have a timeline you could use some sort of video editor.
- Exporting and uploading. This is a step because sometimes the opening is too loud and you have to make adjustments. I've had to make adjustments for plenty of my series/artwork/music after exporting it because I noticed an error after I exported it.
You don't have to do things in that order, but that's the order I stick with generally. None of this is probably helpful but it was fun writing lol
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