Schooling the youth

Last month, a high school group dropped by the CSE studio. I had the pleasure of explaining my role as Lead Artist and how we as a team contribute all of our amazing artistic talents to create a video game. It was a short tour - but for my part, I'm quite sure I left an everlasting impression ;)

StoryboardN'

Rummaging through my old files, I came across some NSTeens production files. I found storyboards for “Mike-tosis” a webisode depicting how social media accelerates information through social circles and beyond. I wanted to share these boards and show the creative process we had at NetSmartz.

It all started with an outline. The outline included the approved subject matter, the organization's branded messaging, and project timeline.

(Moleskin Storyboard Sketchbook - Yeah, that's how I rolled back then.)

Using the parameters set from the outline, we would then take the opportunity to explore our ideas in thumbnail storyboard form and present in a brainstorm meeting between the content team and animators. The content team would take the ideas from the group and would either refine, or rework the content to ensure the key elements of messaging and education were not lost to the comedic gags or visual tempo.

The content team would return with a script. We would then storyboard that script and make suggestions for changes if any were needed. We would then create a video of our storyboard panels and time them with voice over audio. This process is called an animatic. From there we would submit our animatic for approval from our department heads and client.

Once the animatic was approved, we would hit the ground running and knock out 3 minutes of animation, sound design, and video editing in three weeks. If you didn't know, I'm the voice of Mike Chang. And yes, that's me singing and playing a ukulele over the opening title sequence. We almost always resorted to filling our voice talent needs from co-workers or co-workers offspring.  We had a great production pipeline and always enjoyed making a new webisode for the teens and teachers visiting NSTeens.org