Behind the Screens

What it Takes to Make an Animated Short

By Griffin Beam

Animation is found everywhere from shows to movies, and the artists making them put in a lot of time and effort to make them. Often behind-thescenes of animation go unnoticed.

Especially the behind making a cartoon.

Associate at UT Ben Bays, who has animated various things from feature films to video games, said animation doesn’t always move in a set path or timeline. He explained the process of making it really depends on what it’s going to be used for.

“Animation is a big idea and the etymology of the word means to breathe life into something,” Bays said. “I come from a background of illustration but if you add change over time you get that idea of animation. So it’s a medium that needs to exist in time but doesn’t need to be linear. So I created a lot of animation for interactive and video games and obviously, there is not a singular timeline that moves through it, it is in response to player input.”

Professor at UT Frederick Aldama, who is working on a cartoon called Carlitos the Chupacabra, has worked on a variety of things including comics, TV and radio, literature, and cognitive science. He explained that even if you don’t have an animation background or don’t know how to animate, it is possible to find companies willing to do that part.

“I found a company based out of Mexico City, and we work well together,” Aldama said. ”When I need something animated I send them a copy of the script and storyboard and then get to work on animating it.”

Aldama explained that after the animation was completed, they wanted to get it on a big network like Nickelodeon. In order for that to happen, he needed to find a company that was willing to do the marketing for them. They found

There are many different styles used to make animation. Some styles are done digitally and others are more hands-on and physical, but each style has its own positives and negatives that come with them. Through the Lens 25 the company they were looking for, and are now getting close to the marketing part.

“We are planning on heading to a company that will be able to fund us enough to make advertisements and get it on Netflix and Nickelodeon,” Aldama said. “We found a company willing to fund us enough to be able to do the advertising and marketing we need for our film. Their name is Astra Media. They like to help projects like ours get off the ground and find success.”

Sanjna Bharadwaj, a student in a fine arts school, was required to make a cartoon by the end of the year as a project for this school. She also talked about how friends can help with unfamiliar challenges and that there is always someone out there willing to help you with those obstacles when it comes to animation.

“I would say for anyone who wants to animate films get their friends to help if you want to animate,” Baradwaj said. “I have also learned through my journey with animation that you might think you’re the only person you know who does animation but I guarantee other people also do it and are just thinking there is no one out there willing to help.”

Bays explained that there are two main genres of animation digital and physical, and both of these types have their own benefits and defects that come with them. According to Bays Digital can be done mostly on a computer while physical is typically filmed in person and the materials are manipulated by a person.

“ A hard part about physical animation is that what you see is what you get; you can’t change it that much,” Bays said. “A hard part with digital is that most people say oh we can fix these mistakes later meaning they end up taking longer to finish their animation.”

Bays explained four different main types of animation each of them having their own different workflows too. One of the types Bays explained was frame-byframe, In this type, you draw the frames individually and then assemble them which is why it’s called frame by frame.

“The workflow is different for if I want to make water drip compared to characters talking,” Bays said. “One is frame-byframe animation where you draw or sculpt with clay making it frame-by-frame.”

Bays mentioned that the other three also have their own workflows these three being Interpolation, procedural, and simulation. He also elaborated on what they are and how you complete them, and how the steps have a wide range of variety between the three.

“Another type is interpolation where you use digital media and you can plot the frames and digital tools will interpolate it into an animation,” Bays said. “Another way is procedural where you use curves and trigonometry and imagine different types of waves and make them intercept to make it seem like it was the purpose. It makes it seem like it was random but it wasn’t what we call this noise. Another one is simulation where you animate something and then apply rules to it to make it seem more realistic. So the workflow depends on which type you decide to use”

A lot of people think that animation is only the main character however

“Something I would like to add is that Animation can include things like background and what’s going on and effects,” Bays said. “while most people only think it is the main character and how it moves.” according to Bays that’s not exactly correct. He said that it includes anything that moves and also counts as animation.

Bharadwaj explained that you need to keep on trying no matter what happens and that she never expected that her animation would be as successful as it was. This was mainly because she didn’t know as many people compared to others according to her.

“I also didn’t expect to get into SXSW because most of the time film festivals revolve around your connections,” Bharadwaj said. “I would also say that you need to keep on trying for your film to be successful.”

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