How do trackers and folders work together?

Happy Friday! And happy Holidays to all of you out there. If you don't celebrate anything then I just wish you a good day filled with many coffee's.

I wanted to talk about how trackers and your folder set up can tie in together. Our goal is to make it easy for the team to keep track of what is approved and what they have in review. So our folders reflect our trackers. If the trackers says you have a file with "REVISIONS" then you look in the "REVISION" folder. Easy.

  Listen to me actually show you what our file set up looks like. And I only cough in your ear ONCE.

Remember it looks small here I recommend going full screen or watching on youtube.





 

In the Spirit of the Holidays meet the team

With the holidays fast approaching I thought a post on the Loogaroo team would be nice. We posed in front of a tree like respectable people. We can pretend when we have to.

Meet the in-house team! Many more people are part of the family. They just work at home in their pj's. I have to say the wonderful people I work with can be the best part of my job. I see the love and passion they put into their work everyday.

 Left to Right - Keith Dury, Josie Cable-Russell, Sebastien Daigle,Christine Richard, Sorcha Rule, Kelly Hay-Hambrook, Simon Hebert, Melanie Albert, Jessica Beckett, David Phan, Casey Johnson and last but not least Gene Fowler.

Love you guys!

Let's watch a video of some trackers!

Happy Friday everyone! I almost forgot to post today! How could I forget my loyal followers (probably all five of you, one of them is my husband)

 I hope you find today's post informative. I do show you some of the trackers that we use on a consistent basis. We do appear to use ALOT of trackers, I don't even show all of them. But with many trackers it is very easy to see where we are for any given process.

And each Dept knows exactly what they should be working on. They can also see where the other Depts. are so they can pick up their own process when the previous one finishes.

I broke it into two parts. Enjoy (P.S I am sick but I only cough ONCE in this video. It was like holding in a fart trying not to cough) This is a VERY condensed version of what our trackers look like.

PART 1 - This one talks about animation trackers and assembly

PART 2 - This one talks about design trackers and client trackers.

Gene's previous doodle still applies. All the trackers are connected.

Real Talk Mental health and artists

I want to to some real talk about mental health in our industry. I know mental health is so important across all industries. But, I can only speak for the industry I am in and what I experience myself.

You may have seen some of my posts be a light hearted attempt to say "Hey I am stressed and busy" Well I am going to be honest about that and the struggle to hit a weekly deadline to post and how it effects me mentally. But, I am honestly feeling so rewarded by doing this blog. 

We all know the buzz words and how everyone you meet seems to joke "oh yeah I suffer from anxiety. Being nervous, anxious or sad is part of the human condition. But, suffering from anxiety or depression isn't something I would wish on my worst enemy (Rest easy Skeletor)

I always say motivation can get your started. But discipline will keep you in the race.

So, mental health and the creative mind, why does it appear to affect us almost across the board?

I want to share some of the things I personally go through. Maybe you will see yourself a bit in my struggles

If you are creative do you find:

• Your mind racing and unable to be shut off
• Constantly thinking of "what if?"
• Trying to start on project and jumping to the next
• Getting overly upset about critque of work
• Getting so overloaded by too much communication and worry about deadlines you go numb.

Sometimes you don't even realize these things are running through your mind. You are not alone. just a few famous artists Vincent Van Gogh, Sylvia Plath, and Virginia Woolf all eventually ended their own lives.

No one is saying if you have a creative mind this will happen to you. And its not a definite link. Some studies say mental health issues may just "appear" higher in the creative community due to lifestyle. And its true. Alot of us work late and we just accept that we will "burn out" at some point. Or living the life of the "tortured artist" sometimes people think they need to fit that image. To suffer for their art. I find creative's also crave attention. I am sure we all do to some point. But, for the most part artists share their inner most thoughts with the world. Whether it be music, fine art, photographer or any other creative endeavour.

I think we make that so much a part of our identity it really opens us up to have a more drastic reaction to mental health issues.

Its certainly something we need to ALL be aware and take at least small steps to improve the quality of life that we have.

For example. Today I was planning a BIG post on trackers. But the last few nights I haven't been sleeping and even then dreaming of my task list. My brain is trying to tell me "hey YOU, you are overloaded slow down"

I am learning (slowly) that when that happens as much as I want to share my knowledge with you all. I need to take care of myself first. Taking care of yourself it will trickle down and it will spread to other aspects of your life. 

Things that I have been trying to do. Things may be different for you but maybe this will get you thinking.

1. First, try to get help. Don't scoff at the idea of a counselor. And don't accept the first one if you don't feel comfortable with them. Shop around. If you don't have health insurance it can be an out of pocket expense. You can get on the waiting list for public help, expect about a six month wait though. Counselors might not be the only way to go. Sometimes there are groups you can go to. Make sure you look around your neighborhood.

2. Get out! As artists we tend to be hunched over drawing tables or computers. Getting out can do you more good than you think. Go for a walk, go to the gym. It has been determined that exercise, no matter how minor can help your mental health. Exercise is well known to stimulate the body to produce endorphins and enkephalins, the body’s natural feel-good hormones which can make problems seem more manageable. The simple act of focusing on exercise can give us a break from current concerns and damaging self-talk. Further, depending on the activity, people may benefit from calming exercises, be energized, and get outside or interact with others, all of which are known to improve mood and general health

3. Come up with a plan. If something makes you feel out of control, make a plan. I know I have started to set two goals for the year. Even if its just ONE goal. When you achieve it you will feel really really good. And it could be something small like "I will meditate for five minutes everyday".

Remember this is just MY opinion I am not a professional in anyway. I have been in this creative industry for many years now and as a producer I meet a lot of artists. Some listen to advice they hear and some don't. 

Remember don't put your energy into others that won't listen or you will be just spinning your wheels. I am a helper....I am very empathic. But I have learned I can't save everyone. 

You are responsible to save yourself and no one else. 

This industry can be incredibly rewarding. But also very very exhausting. You are constantly putting yourself out for public consumption.

If you believe anything, believe this. Someone DOES care. Someone would miss you. 

As a reminder I have a phrase with a semi colon tattoo. A semicolon is used when an author could've chosen to end their sentence, but chose not to. The author is you and the sentence is your life."

Gene really captured and artist's inner turmoil

Pre-Production Part 4 Setting up trackers The intro

So, after a two week hiatus I am BACK from vacation. Anyone out there feel like going on vacation is just as stressful then going back to your job? Someday I will figure out the perfect vacation. But, hey, my pictures look great and we all know how to fake the perfect life on social media.

Here I am with my family at the very start of my vacation. The important thing is that I made it back!

This is just going to be an update to what will be talking about next in a longer post. 

In that post we will get REALLY into it next week since I should be caught up on my work by then (cross your fingers)

We will be talking about some ways you can create a tracker for your production processes. There are so many ways this can be achieved as long as you know what you want to achieve and for me the most important aspect is that the artists be able to use it easily.

One methodolgy for managing internal deadlines is the SCRUM. If you want more info on this way of hitting deadlines. SCRUM is an agile framework for managing work, with an emphasis on software development. It is designed for teams of three to nine members, who break their work into actions that can be completed within timed tasks, called "sprints", no longer than one month and most commonly two weeks, then track progress and re-plan in 15-minute stand-up meetings, called daily scrums

For our trackers we let our artists achieve the work they can in the time allowed. No one slacks off here and I keep an eye on the schedule and I know on the trackers what work might be late.

I LOVE google docs. Because multiple people can change on the go. And if something gets messed up 0-0 you can revert your history to a previous version.

Here is just a taste of what some of our trackers look like Very tiny taste.

ANIMATION TRACKER

 CHARACTER AND PROPS

BACKGROUNDS

Now you all know what we will be going over next. trackers Trackers and TRACKERS....

Look, Gene Fowler's doodle brings it back to connections! If one plane can't take off it would throw off the whole airport and flight connections.

When the office explodes

Sometimes in the life of a producer everything just explodes. Well, that was this week. Deadlines looming, emergencies arising. So, I don't have time or the mental fortitude to give you an in depth post. BUT, next week I will finally be taking my yearly vacation so no post next week either! Don't worry when I come back I will have a doozy of a post. Don't miss me too much.

 Instead how about you look at Gene's rendering of my week.

Don't feel sorry for me. I know what I signed up for.

Short Q&A Break

The last few posts has been a lot of info just coming at you. Some of it might have felt like it was dry saltine cracker going down.

As a side note, this blog will be somethings I get asked alot so its easy for me to talk about. This week at the studio has been non-stop busy. More so than usual ( I haven't killed anyone yet is my usual joke)
I thought I would try to lighten the mood a bit by doing a mini Q&A.  Below are questions I get asked over and over. And so I will put my answers to those questions on the blog today.

If you could ask a producer anything, what would you ask them? Would you really take advantage of the opportunity or would you let it pass you by out of fear. If you have a question just leave a comment at the bottom of this post.

First, let's go over some student questions that I get asked

Q: How did you get into the industry. You are old so it must have been way back in the paleolithic age when you started? Ok, no they didn't word it quite that way.

A: I graduated in 2001 and had my first full time studio job in 2007. The gap for me was so I could have my family. I got pregnant and had my son in 2004. So when he was three I saw a local (same province) Studio was hiring. I had happened to graduate with someone who worked there. I did an animation test. Was it super good...nope. Was I determined to get better and put the work in? Absolutely.

This image is pretty close to how I felt starting at a studio as a mom in a long term relationship amongst all the young fresh out of college artists.

Q: What is the best way in 2018 to get into the industry?

A: Always keep an eye on studios. Follow their Facebook, their blogs, their websites. If they are posting about upcoming projects, maybe they will need some help ;) Even if they are not actively posting for artists they might still be hiring. Or they will come to you when they do need an artist. The best way to get into a studio is to be well informed. What have they done in the past? What kind of programs do they use? Knowledge is power.

Fresh young artists looking for work.

Q: How should you approach a studio?

A: Well, now that you have done your research what do you do next? Best way is to look on their website and see if they have a contact us page. If not usually its fairly easy to find a Human resource person. Or if its a small studio reach out to the owner or director. What do you have to lose. Well, that all depends on how you approach them. PLEASE, start off with an introduction. Hello, my name is Princess Consuala banana hammock. Then you can drop off a fact you learned about the company. You could say " First, I want to say congratulations on your recent project, I really like insert what you liked" Mentioned because you love what the company is up to you that you could see yourself working for them. Make sure you list your skills and experience. Clearly list links to your artwork or demo reel. I really prefer to have links directly in the email. Makes it very fast for me to see if you are a fit.
SIDE NOTE: Its probably not wise to reach out to a studio and say "I always wanted to work in animation" But have no practical knowledge, or have gone to school. Its not a studio's job to train you from scratch. Learn on your own then apply. Don't waste a person's time. They will remember that. Also true story PLEASE don't share your personal problems with a potential boss. I have learned too much about too many people. And I don't know what to do with you if you cry.

This is my computer for real with I get emails that don't make any sense. 

Q: What skills should I have?

A: Now every studio will be different. This is really based off what programs they use, how much training they will give. For us it all depends on the project. Loogaroo likes to says "Hire for attitude train for skill" I think if you are driven and KNOW you will have to put the time in to learn then you will go far. Research what studios are using and watch tutorials and get familiar with the tools. The basics of animation are far more important than the tools you will be using. Study the old classics. Draw...draw everyday.

Look how amazing you can get. Just practice practice practice. 

Q:What advice would I give new artists?

A: Approach everything with the best attitude that you can. I think out of everything, attitude is the most important. Second comes drive and passion to improve. Study everything! Be helpful. Be open to criticism. Criticism isn't personal, its all growth.

Artists with ego and bad attitude's have given me all the gray hair...yes that is my real hair.

Q:Big no no's

A: Lose the ego. Doesn't matter who you are, there is always going to be someone better than you. But, you can bring the best attitude. Learn to be organized. I know artists like to go with the wind. But plan out your artistic/life goals. Learn how to budget. Learn how to schedule your time.


I hope you have learned at least one thing from this post. And if you have any questions comment below!

I put on headphones so people won't bother me. OR sometimes I have them on with the intention of listening to some jams and then I get so busy and forget.

#thisismylife

Pre-Production Part 3 - Schedules

I wish I could write a book all about schedules. If only the days had 35 hours in it. This post is just going to touch on the subject. I might do another post so you can watch me create a schedule from start to finish. 

Without further ado, here are some ways you can create a project schedule. Now I need to get something off my chest. I LOVE google docs. Why do I love it? Because multiple people can edit and view easily. And, if something gets messed up (oh no) you can revert your history to a previous version.

 Now, there are lots of programs out their to help you create a schedule. Just find something you feel comfortable with.  

If you want to watch the video in a larger more glorious size click the youtube button to watch on their website. Trust me seeing is believing. And the quality is MUCH better.

Some points to take from my video. 

You might be saying "It's only 10 minutes you taught me nothing!" Well my good sir or madam, creating schedules is a lengthy process. I hope I gave you the bare bones to go out and start thinking about how you want your schedule to run.

1. It is important to know "why" you are choosing the deadlines that you are.
2. Calculate how much work one person or a team can complete so you can probably budget out their time.
3. You can have your budget below your schedule to make sure you can afford to have the project running for the amount of time you have scheduled. They are something that should be planned in tandem. So you need to take into account:

Work per day

Pay per day

Can you make them balance so they are not overloaded with work and still earn a fair wage?

 If its a short schedule you can break it down by day. Longer you might be able to do a per week schedule or even monthly. Monthly is hard to work with but it really depends on the project. I like to have more internal schedule items. But you should still break down your daily cost in your budget to make sure it will all work.

Here are a few samples of schedules that have been created in google docs.

Monthly Schedule

Weekly Schedule

Daily Schedule

I hope that this quick little schedule overview helped you get the juices flowing. Now, remember this is just HOW I do my schedules. No one way is wrong if you account for deadlines and your budget.

BUDGETS=SCHEDULES

Its all connected. 

Pre-Production Part 2.5 - Tips for Freelancers

I know, I know. I was going to jump to the next step. But I had so much to talk about with Client contracts that I feel I should touch a little bit from the freelancer point of view. A lot of the points about contracts from producer/client point of view will be the same, so I hope you don't get bored.

 I have been on the freelancer side, and I know the things that I like to have in my contracts with a client. So lets get real here. If as a freelancer you get a project, and they don't have a contract for you. You will have to make your own. That can sound daunting. Don't worry it doesn't have to be.

You might say "Oh I don't need a contract I know this client" OR " Its such a small project no point to having a contract" OR " It will make the client mad to give them a contract if they don't have one"

No, no, no You might just want to jump right in and skip the "formalities" and get to work. Or you know the person, or the client says they are busy.

Do not skip this step even though you might want to. There are so many quick and easy contract templates out there for a nice small contract. Not having a contract with your client can have long reaching consequences. A contract sets expectations for both of you and helps steer clear of any potential misunderstandings. And this way no one can say "well I didn't know" And it can help you get paid. You like being paid right?

So sit back...grab that coffee and lets talk about being a freelance artist.

YUM

Some important points are:

Now, lets talk about important things if you are a freelancer to think about:

• Outline of the project, the terms, conditions and contract price. These are your basic project details. Whether they're tasks you're expected to do, or items you expect to receive from the client (that help you accomplish your job).
• Start and end date is important, make sure you start date is the date you can start. Having a delay after you made the agreement will look bad on you. Don't over commit on projects, biting off more than you can chew will end up with a disappointed client. Your client may have a schedule they can share with you. Make sure you can hit their schedule. If they don't you will need to create a schedule to attach to the client. I will have a post on creating schedules coming up soon if you are looking for help.
• Deliverable items, you need to outline exactly the product you will be giving to the client. Format, footage etc. All of it. This section needs to be your most clear section. You can also put the appendix to see the schedule on a specific page so you can tie your deliverable's into that schedule. 
• Make sure you rate or project amount is clearly listed. If its a per second rate make sure its clear WHEN you get that rate paid out. Do you invoice upon End Client approval? Or upon internal approval? Because they can drag out your payment. So make it very clear. 
• List the amount of changes and revisions your clients will receive and your turnaround on them.
• In your termination clause make sure you do note you will get paid for all approved work up to your termination date. 
• Copyright. You can make sure to mention about delivering all source files during milestones or upon full payment. Also clarify if you can share you work. To other clients or on your demo reel.
• Taxes, they have to be paid. Now if you have a GST# (in Canada) you can charge GST to your project. If not you have to make sure during any contract to account for whatever your tax rate per province is. BUT, if you have an American client you cannot charge them tax. But you will still have to pay taxes. So keep that in mind.
• This is the same as my other post. There needs to be mutual respect on both sides in order to make a successful project.

Clients will get wary if you give them a 30 page contract. Make everything clear and simple. The more you try to put legalese the more confusing a contract can get. 

Keep it simple

Pre-Production Part 2 - Contracts

Well if you made it through to Part 2, congrats! If you thought quotes were boring, well then, I don't have better news for you. We talk about CONTRACTS today. I know you are thinking "oh, contracts, I get them and I sign them" Oh honey, no. Don't ever just sign a contract without reading it.

 So lets talk about both sides of the contract. So this is going to be a lot of info just coming at you. I wish I could make this funny or light-hearted. But, its going to be a lot of my opinion. If you know me...you know I am full of opinions.

First: Drafting a contract for someone, like a client or freelancer.

So, if you are in charge of drafting the contract you have a few things to consider. I make a template that always has the most important things to the company I am working for. Then I tweak to match the project and client needs.

What I consider the most important issues to consider in any contract you share with a client or even one they share with you.

• Very clearly lay out the tasks you will complete and what the client will complete. I make sure to lay out each process Loogaroo will be doing. And then what task I expect from the client could be things like "Client will provide by this date: Final audio, Any logos etc etc" This way everyone is crystal on what everyone is responsible for. 
• A clear milestone schedule: Make sure its agreed upon by all so they don't get surprised seeing it in the schedule. You never want to surprise a client. Always ease them into a situation. 
• A clear payment schedule. Now you both want to talk about what works best for both of you. Sometimes a client will want you to base payments on delivery of milestones. That is usually ok with me. Make sure the smallest amount owing is on final delivery. That way you don't get into an awkward situation of being owed %75 of money.
• That being said. If its a small quick project you may want to suggest %50 up front and %50 upon delivery. Especially if you have good word of mouth they will trust you. Now they may balk at %50 up front. But to make them feel better about it....check the next bullet point. Go ahead...do it.
• SO, you think they might not want to pay %50 up front for a smaller project. Make sure you both feel good about this. Explain the %50 will be the payment to pay for labor until project completion so no one works for free.  
• Put in a termination clause "If this contract requires termination by either party it must be requested in writing. Any work completed and approved will be paid pro-rated to the completed work. Upon agreement by both parties" Its really important that you note how you both will handle project termination. Its sad. But it happens. Sometimes its beyond either parties control. But let the client leave feeling as good as they can. You can make them feel even better by added a clause that states "Upon termination and pro-rated fee is agreed and paid no other fee's will be required now or in the future by the CLIENT" so they feel safe you won't come back randomly and try to enforce something different than what was agreed upon.
• You can put wording in your contract to limit revisions this protects your team. And also protects the client. They may not see it at the moment as protecting them. But keeping the schedule to two revision passes per process will keep the schedule on track and you explain it just like that. 
• Reviews, I like to ask for 48 hour turn around. But sometimes they need to have at least 5 business days for some broadcasters. Make sure you have all review days in your schedule and you agree and have these days noted in the contract. 
• Make sure you limit the scope with the revision passes. But also make sure you its clear what happens AFTER all revision passes are complete. I think this wording is fair: PAYMENT: Loogaroo agrees to complete the project by September 1, 2018 within the estimated budget of $XXXX.XX, Project name. Unless CLIENT requires additional work or services, or if CLIENT requires multiple drafts or changes/edits which would significantly increase the work required of Loogaroo. Then an agreed upon overage will be discussed and agreed upon before proceeding. 

Ok so this looks like ALOT. But believe me contracts can be pages and pages and pages. This is what I consider to be very important things to consider. 

Now if you are getting a contract from a client. Make sure you really read it over. If lawyer speak is too much for you to understand. Just google meanings. If its a large project or you maybe have a bit of reservation about that client. Then it might be worth it to just pay a lawyer to have a look at that particular contract. 

Also, if something makes you uncomfortable ask that client about it. It might be in there for a good reason. But if the wording makes you uncomfortable ask to tweak or change it. A good client will be willing to negotiate meeting in the middle. Open communication is very important.

Skeptical women says "Just read the contract"

Pre-Production Part 1 - Is the project a fit?

Now we are starting to get to the meat of it all. Before we even get into production there are several steps that come first. So I will have to break this into several posts. This one is: So, a client has said "I have some money, let's do this"

Being offered work is fantastic! But you have to know when a project is just not a fit. Several factors can come into play on the road to saying "yay or nay".

Sometimes, you and the client really want to work together but you just can't make your budget, schedule or labor balance out. If you leave that client with a good feeling. That you really tried to make that project work. They will probably reach out to you in the future with terms that will fit you better. I have seen, and had this happen. Remember the post on "connections"? It all leads back to making connections, keeping connections. So this part of the Pre-production journey is the "Will it fit?" (teehee) part. The upcoming parts will be:

• Part 2 - Contracts
• Part 3 - Schedules
• Part 4 - Setting up Trackers
• Part 5 - Finding the right artist for the right job

Some things to consider before you say YES to that project.

More explained thoughts to ponder while deciding if that project is a good fit.

1. The budget. Usually it will be the client telling you what they have to spend. Now, after you have broken down:Schedule, labor, overhead and profit you know if you have to go back to the client to negotiate. If you have broken down the project you really know the in's and out's and can defend your position of raising the budget. Every year that passes the budget's seem to get smaller and smaller.

2. How long will the project take to complete? A rough schedule will help you decide if this is a "regular job" or "rush job" How many hours will each process take. Which will tell you how many people it will take. Hours(X)People=Final output. The schedule is what I always use to figure out my rates, overhead and profit.

3. Once I know how many hours this job will take. That helps me calculate how many people I will need for the project. Then I can take the budget and calculate a fair rate. Since I have actually worked in most departments I am pretty good at calculating how long each process will take. If I don't know...I ask. Better to be more informed and to treat your workers fairly. So once I know how many hours each process will take. I then can figure out how much a person can earn "per hour" on this project. Then I know its a fair livable wage. You don't have to pay hourly. I just like to have that at my base. Each project is different you could have employees, freelance, contract. Then you can decide how to break down payment dates for the contract. I like to do it per Milestone delivery in my schedule. That way each worker is motivated to hit that Milestone.

4. Now calculate what your overhead will be(overhead would be calculating the bills you need to pay out during the duration of the project - Power, phone, taxes and then the all important profit). Now flesh out the schedule to make sure you and the client can come to an agreement.

In regards to the problems we have all seen in the industry. I can't even say "recent problems" as a story like Telltale seems to pop up every six months or so. Studio's letting artists go with no notice. Studio's closing and more focused on getting that last show/game out. Burning artists out.

Now sometimes a project will be a tough one. Due to client demands, scheduling errors etc. If you find you work at a studio where "OMG WE NEED TO GET THIS DONE ASAP" is a constant theme. You will find yourself no longer loving what you do. Becoming numb. That is called burnout. Believe it or not. Not every studio is like that and you need to find out what studio fits your lifestyle. There are all kinds out there. Listen to word of mouth from other artists. They will tell you the real deal. But make sure you talk to more than one person. As an artist myself I can tell you sometimes we love to blow up a story. That's what we are at our heart...storytellers. Don't forget that...and do NOT forget your worth.