We’ll someone had to do it. And it just doesn’t seem right to charge Santa Claus when he has been doing so much for so many for free for so many years. So we animated Santa Claus. In fact we animated his friends, family, Mrs. Claus, Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer, A bunch of Elves, and we had fun doing it. Our project team worked half here in the United States and half in China. It was fun and successful!
John Salerno works with JS Enterprises Animation Studio. The company has provided animation services in the United States for years. He has worked in creative services for decades with Fortune 500 companies and small start up companies. He reads and writes Chinese fluently and for years has built relationships with quality-conscious animator in China who have a passion for exceeding clients creative expectations but not the budgets! Here’s is how he does it.
2009 has proven to be the year of testing budgets! And companies, large and small, huge and tiny, are passing and failing. Many animation projects that were scheduled for production in 2008 are still sitting around collecting dust without funding; Or at least without the confidence to allocate funding.
Enter stage left: “Outsourcing” Seems as if this character could turn out to be the hero to save the day! And the price seems incredible! Too good to be true. Why didn’t I think of this before. Animation at 10% of what I was paying previously. But there are a lot of curve balls to come:
1. Communication from square one. Right from the start, describing the project may take about ten times longer than you expected. Talking in email is time consuming. Talking over the phone is polite, but it seems as if they say they understand but only about 30% to 60% is actually being communicated effectively. So even getting the details of the agreement, pricing, contractual understanding, is tricky. And the subtleties of the action and script have not even entered into the picture yet!
2. Once the project begins: Working on projects in the USA already presents communications challenges. For instance, if you have a technical question, your project manager my be qualified at sales and scheduling, but when it comes to knowing what can and can’t be done technically, he or she will have to go find someone in the animation department who can answer that question. That “delay” is a lot like when you’re on a cell phone and you have an echo. Except the echo may take 24 hours or more if you are going through an intermediary who happens to be the only one in the company who speaks English a little, but knows very little if anything about animation, and has little or no experience with the creative aspects of animation, storyboarding, script interpretation, cultural, architectural, fashion, and geographical differences between the two countries, not to mention body language and gestures, such as a wink (as used in the west) or waving someone to come to you which is the opposite of the hand gestures used in China.
Scenes and sets designed to look warm and familiar: Have mom whipping up a meal in the kitchen and you quickly realize the challenge: A typical Chinese kitchen versus a typical kitchen in the U.S. of A. The home-grown kitchen will have a very different look and feel, and when it comes to props, instead of the ketchup you’ll get the soy sauce and instead of the toaster you may wind up with a rice cooker. All these things can be changed to be correct. The problem is, the budget is affected as is the patience of the art department when so, so many things are seemingly fine yet they need to be redone. Wearing patience thin doesn’t help the spirit of the work flow. In fact, sometimes ideals in the beginning of the project are compromised to simply: “Let’s get this project finished any way we can and let this be a lesson for the next time!”
There are very successful ways to work with outsourcing on animation projects. A lesson can be taken from the very large movie and television production companies that outsource so much of their work today. But the key point is that they know just what to outsource and what NOT to outsource. What to expect and how to get the optimal results on budget without compromising the look and feel of the project. It is all about keeping a portion of the creative process on home turf.
Enter stage right — the Real Hero: There on the horizon, galloping onto the scene to save the day, is the catalyst for success. A project manager with animation experience, creative services experience and roots in the audiences culture. With this combination, success is very likely. The experience will be positive and it will prove to be an approach to animation that is worth repeating.
Animations like these really cute Santa Claus Animations can be done at a fraction of the cost overseas. Here are a few samples: Santa Claus in his Northpole Home and a couple of really funny Santa Claus animations: Santa Claus Surfing and Santa Claus, Rudolph, in and Elf Volleyball Match.
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This Forum will allow you to list you project descriptions for international animation studios to review. Find resources for every type of service for the development of animated projects from full length feature film, DVD, television in NTCS and PAL as well as high definition presentations. Find cost effective, high quality animation services worldwide. Bilingual, experienced animation professionals to manage projects. We cover the pros and cons of outsourcing your animation projects internationally. We will share the experience of our users to get the most out of mutually beneficial relationships in high quality creative services animation projects. Our goal is to build cost effective, artistically positive long term relationships.
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This Forum will allow you to list you project descriptions for international animation studios to review. Find resources for every type of service for the development of animated projects from full length feature film, DVD, television in NTCS and PAL as well as high definition presentations. Find cost effective, high quality animation services worldwide. Bilingual, experienced animation professionals to manage projects. We cover the pros and cons of outsourcing your animation projects internationally. We will share the experience of our users to get the most out of mutually beneficial relationships in high quality creative services animation projects. Our goal is to build cost effective, artistically positive long term relationships.
JS Enterprises Animation Studio www.cybergoal.com
Call 503-738-5052 for a
Free Consultation to help you source and complete your animation project.
Very experienced, bilingual, full service animation resource with local and overseas resources. Services include: