Presenting my YouTube channel, where viewers can find the full 65 episode run of Jem, as well as my various storyboard animatics. If you've enjoyed the production material I've brought to you through the Archive and would like to show your support, please head over to the channel and subscribe.
Showing posts with label Jem. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Jem. Show all posts
Monday 12 June 2023
Monday 29 May 2023
Storyboard Animatics, Part 3
As an interlude while I prepare to make the next homegrown storyboard animatics, I have uploaded the five that were available on Shout Factory's 2011 Jem And The Holograms DVD box set.
Jem music video storyboard gallery
Jem theme (first draft)
Artist: Will Meugniot
Jem theme (final revision)
Artist: Will Meugniot
Artist: Will Meugniot
The Misfits - Abracadabra
From MP 5205-36 Music Is Magic
Artist: Keith Tucker
From MP 5205-36 Music Is Magic
Artist: Keith Tucker
Jem And The Holograms - Everybody Wears A Mask
From 5205-50 Mardi Gras
Keith Tucker
From 5205-50 Mardi Gras
Keith Tucker
Jem And The Holograms, The Misfits, The Stingers - Now
From MP 5205-59 The Stingers Hit Town, Part 2
Artist: Will Meugniot
From MP 5205-59 The Stingers Hit Town, Part 2
Artist: Will Meugniot
Monday 22 May 2023
Storyboard Animatics, Part 2
Using the storyboards available at the Archive, I have been producing some more storyboard animatic videos.
Jem
View music video storyboard gallery
The Bands Break Up
Jem And The Holograms
Getting Down To Business, Version 2
Storyboards by Mike Vosburg
Trick Or Techrat
Jem And The Holograms
We Can Change It, Version 2
Storyboards by Larry Houston and Will Meugniot
Jem And The Holograms
We Can Change It, Version 2
Storyboards by Larry Houston and Will Meugniot
Transformers
S.O.S Dinobots
Act III section (with deleted scenes)Friday 17 January 2020
The storyboard and slugging process
In the last article, we looked at the process of story editing a script. Now we look at two of the key aspects of production: storyboards and slugging.
Here are some examples of storyboard cover pages from the archive
Once a script was passed to Marvel's storyboard department, first draft storyboards were normally expected to be completed within two to three weeks. Ideally, each act of an episode would be assigned to a separate artist. Some top artists, such as Will Meugniot on the G.I Joe episodes Cobra Quake and Worlds Without End part 1, had provision in their contracts to storyboard an episode on their own. As the workload increased at Marvel during late 1985 and into 1986, there were instances of an artist having to storyboard an episode on their own in the same timescale normally given to three artists. Such as Doug Lefler's incredibly rough boards for the Transformers episode Cosmic Rust.
At this time in the animation industry, the obligation to be on-model did not lie with the storyboard artists. That was reserved for the layouts, a process which had been outsourced either to the animating studio, or to !XAM Productions in Utah.
Because of this, combined with the presence among Marvel's storyboard department of top comic book artists, storyboards had a variety of contrasting art styles. From clean, simple lines to very rough to heavily stylised in a way that would never make it to the actual animation.
From Defenders Of The Earth episode 39: The Defense Never Rests
From the Dungeons & Dragons episode 16 The Girl Who Dreamed Tomorrow
From Jem episode 33 Trick Or Techrat. The music video for We Can Change It, version 2
Once the first draft was completed, a copy would be sent to the animation directors (Or sequence directors, depending on how they were credited). A number of them were veterans of the animation industry, who started their careers with either the original Walt Disney or Warner Bros. Studios in the 1930's and 1940's.
Their role was first to time out, or "slug", the non-dialogue portions of each scene. The list of timings would then be handed to a producer to add to the storyboards. As seen below in this page from Spider-Man And His Amazing Friends.
The numbers refer to the Feet and Frames of footage required for each scene.
Meanwhile, the animation directors would prepare the exposure sheets for each scene. These would be detailed frame-by-frame instructions to the overseas' animators. As shown at the link below in these examples from the later seasons of Muppet Babies (From the blog of warburtonlabs): http://warburtonlabs.blogspot.com/2017/02/original-muppet-babies-cels.html
A quick key to the exposure sheets:
The top row would detail the production number, footage length, scene number and sequence number.
The horizontal bold lines, every eighth line down, represent half a foot of footage.
Then from left to right:
Column 1: Represents the path and flow of action
Column 2: Details dialogue, broken down into it's phonetic components
Column 3: Lists the levels of animation. In other words, how many separate cels were required for an individual frame. The maximum number of acetate cels allowed was always five, with the sixth column being the background
Columns 4 and 5: Notes for the Camera Operator including trucking, panning, field size and which background was to be used.
The raw "unslugged" recordings of the dialogue session, once they were available to the sound editors, would then be spaced out to the director's timings to create the full running length of the episode. With the slugged recording available, producers would then know how many scenes would need to be cut in final storyboard revisions.
Once the final storyboard revisions had been decided upon, the storyboards would be packed up. Along with the exposure sheets, model sheets/cels, colour keys, background keys, background layouts and a whole host of other production material and shipped out for animation.
Here are some examples of storyboard cover pages from the archive
Once a script was passed to Marvel's storyboard department, first draft storyboards were normally expected to be completed within two to three weeks. Ideally, each act of an episode would be assigned to a separate artist. Some top artists, such as Will Meugniot on the G.I Joe episodes Cobra Quake and Worlds Without End part 1, had provision in their contracts to storyboard an episode on their own. As the workload increased at Marvel during late 1985 and into 1986, there were instances of an artist having to storyboard an episode on their own in the same timescale normally given to three artists. Such as Doug Lefler's incredibly rough boards for the Transformers episode Cosmic Rust.
At this time in the animation industry, the obligation to be on-model did not lie with the storyboard artists. That was reserved for the layouts, a process which had been outsourced either to the animating studio, or to !XAM Productions in Utah.
Because of this, combined with the presence among Marvel's storyboard department of top comic book artists, storyboards had a variety of contrasting art styles. From clean, simple lines to very rough to heavily stylised in a way that would never make it to the actual animation.
Once the first draft was completed, a copy would be sent to the animation directors (Or sequence directors, depending on how they were credited). A number of them were veterans of the animation industry, who started their careers with either the original Walt Disney or Warner Bros. Studios in the 1930's and 1940's.
Their role was first to time out, or "slug", the non-dialogue portions of each scene. The list of timings would then be handed to a producer to add to the storyboards. As seen below in this page from Spider-Man And His Amazing Friends.
The numbers refer to the Feet and Frames of footage required for each scene.
Meanwhile, the animation directors would prepare the exposure sheets for each scene. These would be detailed frame-by-frame instructions to the overseas' animators. As shown at the link below in these examples from the later seasons of Muppet Babies (From the blog of warburtonlabs): http://warburtonlabs.blogspot.com/2017/02/original-muppet-babies-cels.html
A quick key to the exposure sheets:
The top row would detail the production number, footage length, scene number and sequence number.
The horizontal bold lines, every eighth line down, represent half a foot of footage.
Then from left to right:
Column 1: Represents the path and flow of action
Column 2: Details dialogue, broken down into it's phonetic components
Column 3: Lists the levels of animation. In other words, how many separate cels were required for an individual frame. The maximum number of acetate cels allowed was always five, with the sixth column being the background
Columns 4 and 5: Notes for the Camera Operator including trucking, panning, field size and which background was to be used.
The raw "unslugged" recordings of the dialogue session, once they were available to the sound editors, would then be spaced out to the director's timings to create the full running length of the episode. With the slugged recording available, producers would then know how many scenes would need to be cut in final storyboard revisions.
Once the final storyboard revisions had been decided upon, the storyboards would be packed up. Along with the exposure sheets, model sheets/cels, colour keys, background keys, background layouts and a whole host of other production material and shipped out for animation.
Sunday 8 December 2019
Jem production order master list
4041-A The Beginning
4041-B The Challenge
4041-C Fire
4042-A Nowhere To Go
4042-B The Mansion
4042-C The Yacht
4043-A The Video Clip
4043-B Defections
4043-C Zapped
4044-A The Sparks Fly
4044-B The Robbery
4044-C The Detective
4045-A Synergy
4045-B Prisoners
4045-C The Big Contest
4046 Jem: The Movie (Combined edit of 4041-4045)
MP 5205
Season 1
01 Starbright, Part 1: Falling Star
02 Starbright, Part 2: Colliding Stars
03 Starbright, Part 3: Rising Star
04 The World Hunger Shindig
05 Adventure In China
06 Last Resorts
07 In Stitches
08 The Beginning (half-hour version)
09 Disaster (half-hour version)
10 Kimber's Rebellion (half-hour version)
11 Frame Up (half-hour version)
12 Battle Of The Bands (half-hour version)
13 The Music Awards, Part 1
14 The Music Awards, Part 2
15 The Rock Fashion Book
16 Broadway Magic
17 In Search Of The Stolen Album
18 Hot Time In Hawaii
19 The Princess And The Singer
20 Island Of Deception
21 Old Meets New
22 Intrigue At The Indy 500
23 The Jem Jam, Part 1
24 The Jem Jam, Part 2
25 Culture Clash
26 Glitter And Gold
Season 2
28 Scandal
29 The Presidential Dilemma
30 The Talent Search, Part 1
31 The Talent Search, Part 2
32 The Treasure Hunt
33 Trick Or Techrat
34 The Bands Break Up
35 Danse Time
36 The Fan
37 Journey To Shangri-La
38 One Jem Too Many
39 Music Is Magic
40 Father’s Day
41 The Jazz Player
42 Rock N Roll Express
43 The Middle Of Nowhere
44 Roxy Rumbles
45 Aztec Enchantment
46 KJEM
47 Video Wars (broadcast Season 3)
48 Renaissance Woman
49 Alone Again
50 Mardi Gras
51 Homeland, Heartland (broadcast Season 3)
52 Journey Through Time
53 Beauty And The Rock Promoter (broadcast Season 3)
54 Britrock
55 Out Of The Past
56 Hollywood Jem, Part 1
57 Hollywood Jem, Part 2
Season 3
58 The Stingers Hit Town, Part 1
59 The Stingers Hit Town, Part 2
60 Midsummer Nights Madness
61 The Day The Music Died
62 That Old Houdini Magic
63 Straight From The Heart (AKA Your Fifteen Minutes Are Up)
64 A Change Of Heart
65 Riot’s Hope
66 A Father Should Be…
4041-B The Challenge
4041-C Fire
4042-A Nowhere To Go
4042-B The Mansion
4042-C The Yacht
4043-A The Video Clip
4043-B Defections
4043-C Zapped
4044-A The Sparks Fly
4044-B The Robbery
4044-C The Detective
4045-A Synergy
4045-B Prisoners
4045-C The Big Contest
4046 Jem: The Movie (Combined edit of 4041-4045)
MP 5205
Season 1
01 Starbright, Part 1: Falling Star
02 Starbright, Part 2: Colliding Stars
03 Starbright, Part 3: Rising Star
04 The World Hunger Shindig
05 Adventure In China
06 Last Resorts
07 In Stitches
08 The Beginning (half-hour version)
09 Disaster (half-hour version)
10 Kimber's Rebellion (half-hour version)
11 Frame Up (half-hour version)
12 Battle Of The Bands (half-hour version)
13 The Music Awards, Part 1
14 The Music Awards, Part 2
15 The Rock Fashion Book
16 Broadway Magic
17 In Search Of The Stolen Album
18 Hot Time In Hawaii
19 The Princess And The Singer
20 Island Of Deception
21 Old Meets New
22 Intrigue At The Indy 500
23 The Jem Jam, Part 1
24 The Jem Jam, Part 2
25 Culture Clash
26 Glitter And Gold
Season 2
28 Scandal
29 The Presidential Dilemma
30 The Talent Search, Part 1
31 The Talent Search, Part 2
32 The Treasure Hunt
33 Trick Or Techrat
34 The Bands Break Up
35 Danse Time
36 The Fan
37 Journey To Shangri-La
38 One Jem Too Many
39 Music Is Magic
40 Father’s Day
41 The Jazz Player
42 Rock N Roll Express
43 The Middle Of Nowhere
44 Roxy Rumbles
45 Aztec Enchantment
46 KJEM
47 Video Wars (broadcast Season 3)
48 Renaissance Woman
49 Alone Again
50 Mardi Gras
51 Homeland, Heartland (broadcast Season 3)
52 Journey Through Time
53 Beauty And The Rock Promoter (broadcast Season 3)
54 Britrock
55 Out Of The Past
56 Hollywood Jem, Part 1
57 Hollywood Jem, Part 2
Season 3
58 The Stingers Hit Town, Part 1
59 The Stingers Hit Town, Part 2
60 Midsummer Nights Madness
61 The Day The Music Died
62 That Old Houdini Magic
63 Straight From The Heart (AKA Your Fifteen Minutes Are Up)
64 A Change Of Heart
65 Riot’s Hope
66 A Father Should Be…
Tuesday 16 July 2019
July 2019 new additions
Here are the new additions to the archive for this month
Transformers, part 1
If Sunbow Productions commissioned it and/or Marvel Productions produced it, it is welcome here.
Transformers, part 1
- A modern reproduction, created by TheRoboplasticApocalypse and posted with permission, of the original Marvel Comics treatment for The Transformers. Written by Jim Shooter, this treatment would form the foundation for both the comic and the cartoon.
- A transcript of Marvel Productions' internal correspondence from story editors Bryce Malek and Dick Robbins, to Margaret Loesch and Lee Gunther, detailing their development work on the main Transformers series as of April 30th, 1984.
- A second version of the Transport To Oblivion script. This computerised revision on June 8th, 1984 preceding the handwritten final revisions on 22nd June, 1984.
- A transcript of The Eye Of The Beholder, one of five premises submitted to Sunbow by Cary Bates and Greg Weisman in April 1986. None of the premises were taken forward to the outline stage. Bates and Weisman would make their television writing debut on the Jem episode Video Wars. Written likely in spring 1987, aired February 1988.
Once again, I invite all those viewing this blog: If you have production material and wish to preserve it for posterity, please get in touch. Especially interested in....
- Premises, outlines or full scripts
- Storyboards
- Voice actor call sheets
- Dialogue scripts. Including those that contain all original dialogue that can replace "as broadcast" copies
- Memos and internal correspondence
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