CREATING AN
ANIMATED MOVIE
1. Personal Note
There is no “correct” or
“unique” way to animate and
the steps explained below
aren't always followed in the
same order.
2. Character Introduction
Hello everyone, my name is________.
I’m the director of one of the most
successful animation studios in the
world, the _______ Pictures Studio. You
might have heard of it.
3. Finding Inspiration
To come up with a good story
you need to find inspiration.
4. Developing the Idea
This is always a long process
with lots of changes.
5. Writing the Script
Which is the text where all the
dialogues of the movie are
written.
6. The production Plan
this step consists on planning
everything before starting the
production process.
6.1 Delivery date
6.2 Preliminary schedule
6.3 Crew plan
6.4 Budget
Detailed and summary budget
Above and below the line budget
6.5 Recruiting
7. Research
When the production plan is
over, research begins.
8. Designing
Once all the research is done,
we start designing the
characters and backgrounds
for the movie
8.1 Character designing
When it comes to designing characters,
everyone contributes with their ideas.
8.2 Main location designing
Animators also have to design the
backgrounds of the movie.
9. Composing
This step is only applicable
when talking about a musical
film, not every animated
movies have singing in it.
10. Storyboarding
Storyboards are sketches
similar to comic books that
follow the action of the script
and shows how the characters
will move in every scene.
11. Concept art
It is the visual development
department who takes charge
of this step.
12. Recording the dialogues
When the concept art is
already finished, it is time to
record the voices of the 12.1 Casting
characters.
12.2 Character presentation
12.3 Recording
13. Animating
This is when animation truly
begins. All the storyboards and
the planning is done so now it’s
time to let the animators do
magic.
13.1 Key animators
13.2 nbetweeners
14. Inking and coloring
When all the scenes have been
animated, they are taken to the
inking department. That is where
they pass the pencil sketches into
celluloid. Celluloid is a thin, clear
sheet of transparent plastic
15. Backgrounds
The backgrounds are the sets
where the action of each animated
sequence takes place. As well as
the previous step, they can be
done by computer or by hand.
16. Photography process
After the background and the
characters are finished, it’s time to put
them together. They are both laid
together on top of each other with a
piece of glass on the top to stop any
irregularities the cels might have
17. Computer effects
Sometimes, a sequence requires
some type of animation that would
be very difficult to do by hand and
that is when we use computer
effects. They are used for many
different things
18. Sound
This is the last part of the
animation process
19. Release day
Once all the previous steps are
finished, our movie is ready to be
shown to the world. We distribute
the film worldwide and, depending
on the country, it will come out
sooner or later.
