The DreamWorks Kid

The past couple days have been good. I've been able to really see how the voice recording of actors goes down, as well as being a part of the immense preparation that goes into each and every session. It's a lot fun when the actors riff off of each other. While most of that material isn't used, the results (especially when you have Apatow Troupe and SNL members in your cast) can keep you laughing to yourself all day.* During bits of down time, my office mate and I like to pull up his reference videos and watch the hilarity. Why stuff like this isn't added to DVD bonus features is beyond me.

The really exciting thing that transpired lately came when I decided to ask my supervisor about scheduling meetings with various heads, sups, and leads around in the department to talk with them about their jobs and any tips they might have for a young up-and-comer like me. We're in a crazy crunch time right now, and taking time to spend with an intern is a pretty big favor to ask as the people I wanted to speak with have precious few minutes to spare. But I finally manned up and decided that there was no harm in asking. The response was overwhelmingly positive. My supervisor seemed very excited about my interest in meeting with people one-on-one and immediately started giving suggestions of the best people to talk to. He told me that when anyone who works here would be more than happy to mentor me - all I have to do is be willing to ask. He'll be working with me to book times with the Head of Story, a few of the best story artists in the studio, and various heads of other departments (at my request - I want as much knowledge of this process these guys will give me) as early as next week. I'm not only going to be able to talk with these people about the pros and cons of their positions, but also ask what they did to get where they are, how they do what they do, and have them critique my own work on some of my past projects. The thought of amazing professionals giving me tips on how to improve excites me beyond all reason. I've been glowing all day (more than usual - if I glow any more I should work for the Hallmark channel). Who better to learn from than the literal best of the people doing exactly what you want to do?

Tomorrow we have department mixer with all the other Dragon departments, which should enable me to meet even more of the people around here. It seems DreamWorks is never short on fun events like this that keep the studio connected socially. They're even planning a Rock Band competition between the Dragon and Shrek 4 crews. It's nice, especially for nervous, shy interns like myself.

It's hard to believe that before long I'll have been here a month already. While my time here has, in some spots, been painfully slow (i.e. being away from friends, family, and the girlfriend), I'm still not over the blissful, surreal feeling of waking up in the morning and driving to the DreamWorks campus.

The past week was interesting in the way that I finally felt as if I was falling into a routine. I've been waiting for that to happen so I could begin to tell if the studio environment was, truly, everything I wanted it to be. However, it's pretty hard to dislike the daily routine of living the dream you've had since you graduated from diapers. I'm continually amazed by the level of talent that I get to see on an active, daily level here. On the occasions when my supervisors invite me into meetings, I get to see the level of detail and work that goes into every single shot. It kind of makes me sad knowing all the blood, sweat, and tears that went into animated films that sucked (I'm looking at you, Beowulf). While I can't give any specifics as what exactly is discussed in the meetings I've attended, I can say that it isn't uncommon for these artists to spend hours trying to figure out the best way a character's eyebrows can express something.

The other week also saw the beginning of special intern programming for myself and the other people assigned to other various shows at DreamWorks. The studio has put together a great series of meetings just for us - two of them a week - that allow us to meet and have Q&A time with heads from every department in the animation process. It allows us to understand exactly what goes on from start to finish, which is very cool. This week was Story (my department) and Editorial. I have to admit that I thought I knew the animation process down cold. I also have to admit that I can sometimes be an idiot. The volume of work required by these departments is vastly more than that of a live-action film. For example, one of the storyboard artists I was able to talk to had come from live-action (he had worked on films like Spider-Man), where he would draw up storyboards for a scene the night before it was shot and everything would be cool. That doesn't happen in animation. He revealed the average story artist spends a week or so on a scene, with the director popping in and out every so often to approve things or request changes. Then it's sent down to editorial where it's assembled in real-time with scratch audio, music, and voice acting to see if it works. Even if it does, in fact, work, there are always revisions and clean-ups needed, as a lot of times the clips are shown to test audiences (and, of course, executives). And that's without any script revisions. So much effort goes into creating the final shots that appear in theaters that only story panels that are fully approved and perfect get sent to animation.

This week is all about prepping for voice-acting sessions with the stars of the film. All last week I worked with the script coordinator to prep all the sides for the actors to use during the recordings in New York and here in LA. It's quite amazing, we have the technology here at the studio to turn a wall into a screen that projects the room in New York where the actors and directors are. It's basically like looking through a big window, where you can talk back and forth in real time. It enables the team here in LA to help with anything needed on the other side of the country - it's only an e-mail or a fax away. Not to mention that Gerard Butler, America Ferrera, and Jay Baruchel don't have to perform in a room full of executives. They just get to have the quiet thought in the back of their minds that they're being watched 1984-style.

Also, if you guys have a chance to check out Coraline, do so ASAP. In my book it's one of the greatest animated films of the past decade. Pure awesome. I'd love to hear what you guys think of it and publicly ridicule anyone who speaks ill of it.