Development Stages:
+ Start with one line pitches for story lines for each episode - these are not always finished
+ Writers Room - Armed with the one line pitches, build up on idea generation to make the episodes. Josh Weinstein, writer for Futurama.
+ 1 page outline - 3 acts with a solid structure and the structure needed to be organic.
+ Scene by Scene - Can't talk about gags as its hard to think of on the spot, put a place holder there.
+ 1st draft script - Act what you're going to do, writing with another person to bounce off ideas and helps with gags.
+ Redrafts
+ Polish - rewriting it line by line in america - the more writers the more gags.
3 Act structure:
+ Act 1, Set up and inciting in a daft
+ Act 2 part 1, Playing with fire and midpoint
+ Act 2 part 2, Down Hill and lowest point
+ Act 3, Fight Back and fail, Out of the bag
Writing it!
+ Write what makes you laugh, kids like sophisticated humour such as geeky and comedy
+ Plot/comedy/character balance - every line has to work, learning to cut and make script neat
+ Big visual comedy - big set piece from films - movie references to big movies - no text based jokes as won't translate well in other countries
Puppets
Mackinnon and Saunders made the puppets for them and the creator of the show designed them. They watch the process in straight scan, the camera is recording the puppet, so the puppeteer has to act everything the wrong way round however it allows you to see what the audience would see. Body is made from wood and the fabrics are quite thin. When one of the characters Mitchell is going to talk they take off his mouth and dots are left to be able to align where the voice would go/movement. Rehearse the action and shoot carefully to storyboard - six puppeteers are normally needed to make the animation however sometimes when crowds are involved in the scene so they need a few helpers or interns, with the experienced puppeteers in the foreground. They use a mixture of CG, live action and stopmotion. "Animating something inanimate".
Writing visually how they move helps to get into character, such as creating an animatic of the show - line drawing with the voice actors, with room to add emphasis. Body language is important when there is no audio, so detail is everything. Inspiration from movies, life, anything - used films such as 'The Shining' and 'Snatchers', there was also an episode based on the horror movie 'Chuckie'. Breaking down the movement wit the sound, you're not animating the lip sync so you need to emphasise the movement to match the high pitch or low pitches of the acting.
Longevity of the characters - possibly an arc coming up, theories on why strange hill high is so strange. Character design, looking more into background characters - bringing more of these characters into the show.
I was really inspired by this talk through how I was able take a sneak peek into the process of the animation but also how they generate narrative. When trying to locate my practice, I felt that one of the processes that I wanted to take further were my skills for narrative and storyboarding, so this in depth approach to the script writing of each episode really influenced the way I know approach my storyboards. I was also honoured to be able to hold one of the puppets from the show, I didn't realise how heavy the puppet actually was, so I could imagine how difficult it must be to act with the puppet on set.
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