Sequence, an animation and design house with a strong focus on motion comics, has been working on a series of "Batman: Black & White" short form digital motion comics. The team there runs productions using Basecamp for project management and internal reviews of quicktimes/audio asset sharing/shot animation assignment. Sequence's Ian Kirby tells us more below.
When your company consists of just a few people, a daily chat is all that's needed to keep everyone up to speed. However, when a company grows to 10 or so people in a very short time, keeping everyone on the same page is easier said than done (especially when the workload is heavy). Enter Basecamp.
The Batman Black and White motion comics started with flat artwork scans – we literally received scanned comic books. That's it. Our artists take these pages and break them apart, separating characters from backgrounds, redrawing scenery, extending frames to fit a 16x9 aspect ratio for HD delivery, etc.
Preproduction, flattened artwork is brought into Avid and timed with dialogue. We do a locked timing pass so that music can be scored and each shot (panel) can be given animation direction and duration – this is where we really rely on Basecamp.
Each shot's page and panel number is entered in the Basecamp to-do list along with, again, a frame count and direction. Depending on workload of other projects, shots might be assigned to 'Sequence' or to specific animators. If a shot needs 3D, or has heavy facial animation, they'll be assigned to the animator most fit for the job. We all have our strengths.
Sequence doesn't have any 'managers' per se. We all do our part, with Caleb and Ian running the show. That being said, if 5 shots just aren't done, the animators will just jump on Basecamp, check the shot that needs animating, assign it to themselves, and boom, you're done. Basecamp saves us the need for a full-time production manager by assisting with shot assignment(s). This also makes it easy to finish client meetings and have designers/animators post milestones, client notes, and anything else that needs to be shared for everyone.
And that, of course, is just scratching the surface. Calendar subscriptions, file sharing, Writeboards – everything you'd ever need, really. We love Basecamp and Basecamp loves us.
Do you use a 37signals product in an interesting or noteworthy way? Let us know.
