The Perennial Pictures Blog

"My Clean Hands" Ebook

2010-08-29T05:37:00.008-05:00

Welcome back to school! Fall is right around the corner and so is the cold and flu season. Helping children remember to was their hands often and thoroughly is always a challenge. Hopefully the "My Clean Hands" ebook featuring Crawford the Cat will be of help. This short, online book at Crawfordthecat.com is aimed specifically at Pre-K through 1st Grade. The pages turn just like a real book when clicked.

We made this ebook last year for the Crawford website, and it's experienced many pageloads at schools across the country. Teachers have written to us saying they like to use this ebook as a fun way to reinforce an important health lesson while practicing Early Literacy.

So, if you have a little one in your household, or if you're just young at heart, click this link to see and to read: "My Clean Hands"

Enjoy!

"100 Word Search Game" on Website

2009-01-16T21:55:00.011-05:00

Crawford the Cat’s 100 Word Search Game features many of the first 100 sight words young readers are required to master. We hope our version of this popular game will be a fun, helpful reinforcement for young students .

If you think you're as sharp as a 1st Grader, give it a try here!

CrawfordTheCat.com is a free website designed specifically for Pre-K, Kindergarten and 1st Grade. CrawfordTheCat.com features fun and entertaining animated videos that promote positive values while implementing simple lessons on personal, practical and social skills. Also age-appropriate games and on-line books are included, as well as down-loadable printables!

"CrawfordTheCat" linked by Teachers!

2008-03-14T22:07:00.013-05:00

CrawfordtheCat.com - featuring our favorite cartoon cat and his five-minute animated shorts - has been on the internet since the beginning of the year. In that time, many educators have linked the site to the their classroom website pages.

That is such as honor, and we are very proud! Thank you teachers!

Our site is still new, and there is so much more in the works to be included, but for now we are happy with its humble beginnings.

It you get a chance, click here to check it out, especially if you have a Preschool to 1st Grader in your life.

CRAWFORD THE CAT Website

2008-01-19T19:13:00.003-05:00

Lately we’ve been busy at the studio digitizing the "CRAWFORD'S CORNER" shorts and now they are all set to go on Crawford the Cat's new website CrawfordTheCat.com

At this point, 13 “Crawford’s Corner” five-minute videos are now available to watch online. The shorts are educational in nature and are aimed at young audiences, so….. if you have a preschooler , kindergartener or older, or know someone who does, check ‘em out here!

Enjoy.

"O.Ratz in Rat in a Hot Tin Can"

2007-11-09T18:05:00.001-05:00

Click here to see VIDEO

I found out that “O.Ratz in Rat in a Hot Tin Can” was no longer available on YouTube, so I decided to put the 7 minute cartoon on our own website for a short time. We made the cartoon with Hanna-Barbera in 1995 for Cartoon Network’s “What A Cartoon Show.” Of course, it didn’t go to series, but it was still a lot of fun to make, and we made some long lasting showbiz friends along the way. ..See the video here and our info page on it here.

Enjoy.

Know a Preschool to 1st Grader? Free online cartoons and games - just for them! Visit “CrawfordTheCat.com”

Catching up with Mary Anne Barothy

2007-11-03T21:12:00.002-05:00

Click pic for larger image

Last night I had the fun experience of catching up with former Perennial Pictures staffer and author Mary Anne Barothy at the signing of her new book “Day at a Time.” Before becoming Director of Publicity for Perennial Pictures (1986-1990), Mary Anne was personal secretary to movie star Doris Day. “Day at a Time” is Mary Anne’s recounting of her time with one of the biggest stars in motion picture history.

It was great seeing Mary Anne and a fun surprise to see our studio mentioned in her book and on the jacket. The book is a fun, informative read! Check it out.

One of the shows Ms Barothy worked with us on was “A Mirthworm Masquerade.” It was the second TV Special we made, and after its initial US broadcasts, it continued to play well for many years overseas.

To see a couple of minutes from it, Click here.

Enjoy

On The Business End

2007-10-28T21:42:00.002-05:00

G. Brian Reynolds ......................Russ Harris

This past Tuesday Brian and I were in New York pounding the pavement. We stopped by the Cartoon Network offices, the MTV Networks offices, and Frederator Studios in NY. It’s always nice to “get outta Dodge” for a day, and “talk turkey” with some new and some old friends. Of course, every time we do, we come back to the studio with a bunch of exciting new ideas we want to pursue - along with all the existing ideas we want to accelerate. But there’s only so many hours in a day, and the current work load keeps us hopping too.

We continue to animate scenes for “The Mr. Men Show” (which is going to be a really fun show for the Cartoon Network that is being produced by Renegade Animation) and we’re producing /developing for our own “Crawford the Cat” property as well as a couple of other projects that we have in the works..

Next week we’re in Chicago for a day. It’s a busy time, and a good time!

"Crawford The Cat" and "Mr. Men"

2007-09-29T22:09:00.004-05:00

We’ve been pretty busy at Perennial Pictures over the last month working on our own “Crawford the Cat “ property as well as picking up some animation for “The Mr. Men Show” from our friends at Renegade Animation. Mr. Men looks like it’s going to be a really fun show, and we’re happy to be working on it. Look for the show on Cartoon Network in the US and on Channel 5 in the UK beginning in February 2008!

For “Crawford the Cat,” we’ve been putting together model packs for the characters, and this week, Crawford’s walk cycles were being honed.

To see some on the walk cycle animation, Click Here.

To visit Crawford the Cat's website, Click Here.

Enjoy!

HANDYCAT Clips

Makin' It Rain

2007-09-08T06:14:00.001-05:00

Click to see image larger.

Here’s a couple of backgrounds from yet another CRAWFORD THE CAT –related product we’re developing. The product is a proposed series of one-minute interstitials for the Internet and/or TV. These would fall into the EI (Educational and Informative) category of programming and content. Our challenge with these is to make them rich with personality, fun and still be EI.

The pilot is called “Rainy Day.” We’ll post it as soon as it’s finished.

These backgrounds were rendered by G. Brian Reynolds. Nice job!

“Crawford the Cat – Interstitials: Rainy Day” is the pilot for a proposed series of 60 second interstitials featuring the characters from “Crawford’s Corner”

Color Styling Sets the Mood

2007-08-25T21:03:00.002-05:00

Click here to see larger image.

Another screenshot from “Crawford the Cat Classics: Cinderella.”

For this background, G. Brian Reynolds chose dark reds and magentas for the walls and floors to help underscore the feeling of this scene. It’s interesting how color can affect one’s emotional response, and color styling is one of the few tools we have to help indicate the starker plot points in this version of the Cinderella material. Since the show is geared toward younger audiences, the antagonists can’t be too harsh or too mean. I think the color styling works great to accent what is NOT being said or done by some of the characters.

Nice styling G. Brian Reynolds!

To see some MOS frames of the scene, Click Here!
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“Crawford the Cat Classics – Cinderella” is the pilot for a proposed new series of hour-long TV Specials featuring the characters from “Crawford’s Corner”

CRAWFORD THE CAT in Latin America

2007-08-19T07:39:00.003-05:00

Crawford the Cat’s been brushing up on his Spanish and Portuguese ever since he found out he's going to be part of The National Geographic Channel's new kid block called “Nat Geo & Me.”

Click to see larger image.

It’s always fun to see one of our shows on the TV schedule – even if we can’t see the actual telecasts from here in the USA. American audiences, however, can soon see all the shorts online at CrawfordTheCat.com

Thanks NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC CHANNEL for making the “Crawford’s Corner” shorts part of your new Latin American kid block!

The STEPFAMILY

2007-08-14T20:28:00.002-05:00

Click here to see larger image.

What’s a re-telling of Cinderella without the not-so-nice stepfamily? In our version, a fox, a pig and a stork “fill the bills.” Hopefully the characters will be menacing enough – and at the same time fun enough- for the intended younger audiences.

The character designs are by G. Brian Reynolds. Nice work, G. Brian.

This week at the studio, we had an additional recording session for this show. Actor Will Gould was in recording some Narrator parts. I’ll do a post on that soon.

In the meantime, to enjoy 70 frames of silent animation from this scene, Click Here.

“Crawford the Cat Classics – Cinderella” is the pilot for a proposed new series of hour-long TV Specials featuring the characters from “Crawford’s Corner”

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The CRAWFORD THE CAT Theatre

2007-08-01T21:17:00.001-05:00

Click here to see larger image.

Here’s another fun background from G. Brian Reynolds. It’s the theatre from "Crawford the Cat Classics - Cinderella" where Crawford the Cat and his friends perform the “classics” – Fairy Tales Classics, that is.

We’re hoping that these gentler retellings of the stories will mesh well with the pre-school audience. From a creative standpoint, it’s not easy to write a softer adaptation of this oft’ times harsh material, and still remain close in flavor to the original, and keep the show upbeat and energetic. We also have to make sure the characters of Harriet and Crawford remain true to their own personalities while “playing roles” in these other shows. No lines can be written for them that they couldn’t have said in the 13 “How To” shorts that are already made and are telecasting in international markets.
While hard, I must say the challenges have also made the process very exciting. There’s no relying on what's been seen before – most of it won’t work – it has to be all brand new!

Hopefully, our adaptations for these shows will be a nice as the art is!

To see a few seconds of animation on G. Brian’s awesome background, Click Here.

“Crawford the Cat Classics – Cinderella” is the pilot for a proposed new series of hour-long TV Specials featuring the characters from “Crawford’s Corner”
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A Voice for HARRIET THE HARE

2007-07-22T20:32:00.001-05:00

Voice Over Actress, LISA L. BUETOW was in last week to record some additional Harriet the Hare /Cinderella lines for “Crawford’s Classics – Cinderella.” Lisa has worked with the studio on several productions over the years, including her role as the Mother Swan in “The Ugly Duckling’s Christmas Wish” - a TV movie Perennial Pictures made in 1996. Lisa also performed multiple voices in a couple of half-hour TV specials we produced earlier called “Jolly Old St. Nicholas” and "Jingle Bell Rap."
When we developed the character of Harriet The Hare for the "Crawford's Corner" shorts, we knew Lisa would be perfect for the part due to that special brand of gentleness she can bring to a performance. Thanks Lisa! It's always a pleasure working with you!

To hear a few seconds of Lisa as “Harriet The Hare,” Click here.

“Crawford the Cat Classics – Cinderella” is the pilot for a proposed new series of hour-long TV Specials featuring the characters from “Crawford’s Corner”

A Cottage for the Heroine

2007-07-14T19:51:00.000-05:00

Click here to see image larger.

Here’s another background from “Crawford’s Classics – Cinderella.” This is the abode of our Cinderella. The background was generated by G. Brian Reynolds.

The line art was hand-drawn, scanned into the Flash Program and then further rendered and colored.

To see a few seconds from a scene on this background, Click here.

Enjoy

“Crawford the Cat Classics – Cinderella” is the pilot for a proposed new series of hour-long TV Specials featuring the characters from “Crawford’s Corner”

The Balloon Cycle

2007-07-08T21:06:00.001-05:00

Scenes completed at Perennial Pictures this week on the CRAWFORD THE CAT special included “bunches of buoyant, bouncy balloons” complete with individual strings that track to each one. The animation on the balloon cycle was a little time-consuming when originally done, but because the cycle was going to be used in many scenes, the time was worth it. The balloon cycle has become an “Asset” in our “Library,” and is very easy to add - and scale to size - in the scenes where it’s needed. FLASH is very handy for this kind of reuse.

To see a sequence of scenes with the balloon cycle, Click here.

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“Crawford the Cat Classics – Cinderella” is the pilot for a proposed new series of hour-long TV Specials featuring the characters from “Crawford’s Corner”

Scene Revisions

2007-07-01T11:29:00.001-05:00

When we first saw the original version of this scene cut into the promotional reel, we didn’t think the background and the staging looked fancy enough for the introduction of Prince Crawford (Crawford the Cat) at his birthday party. We decided to pull the camera back, add an overlay and dress up the background a bit. I think the scene works much better now.

To see a few seconds of the REVISED scene, Click here.
To see a few seconds of the ORIGINAL scene, Click here.

This clip is from “Crawford’s Classics: Cinderella" - an hour-long TV Special our studio is producing.

Nice animation G. Brian Reynolds!
Nice music Peter Schmutte!
Nice vocals Teresa Giles and Becky Martin Graham!

Background Art

2007-06-23T21:01:00.000-05:00

It’s interesting how totally different a background looks without the characters on it. With nothing obstructing the view, one can really appreciate the look and feel of the art – especially all the nuances that have been added. I particularly enjoy the shadows and the subtle wallpaper designs used in this art.

These backgrounds were designed and painted by G. Brian Reynolds for "Crawford's Classics: Cinderella" - a show currently in production at our studio. Nice work, Brian.

To see some animation on these backgrounds, Click here.

On Spec

2007-06-15T14:04:00.000-05:00

Occasionally, at Perennial Pictures we will produce a spec piece of animation to help sell a concept. While digging through the archives, I found a little piece of animation we made a couple of years ago. The image above is from a 10 second network ID we made as part of a pitch to Cartoon Network. The pitch was made during the time Cartoon Network was putting together their “Tickle U” morning cartoon programming block for preschoolers. They didn’t buy the idea, but we did make some new friends and contacts along the way.

To see the Cartoon Network spec ID, Click here.

Enjoy,

Russ Harris

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To see a "Crawford the Cat" clip, Click here.

To see a "Handycat" clip, Click here.

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Subtle Multiplane Camera

2007-06-09T06:01:00.002-05:00

What’s a retelling of Cinderella without a scene featuring the lead character arriving at the ball and the Prince taking notice? In this scene, we again use a multiplane camera technique to create a subtle, yet slightly 3D effect of the chandeliers passing by.

Another simple, yet effective technique used in the scene was the flipping of Crawford's animation over, re-coloring it, and letting it serve as a reflection on the floor. Both of these effects and the rest of the eye-candy was created by G. Brian Reynolds. Nice work, Brian.

To see a few seconds of the animation, Click here.

To see an over-scan of the animation, Click here.

To see our other post regarding the Multiplane Camera, Click here.

Enjoy!

~ Russ Harris

“Crawford the Cat Classics – Cinderella” is the pilot for a proposed new series of hour-long TV Specials featuring the characters from “Crawford"s Corner”

"Squash and Stretch"

2007-06-03T08:46:00.001-05:00

Animation for “Crawford’s Classics – Cinderella” comes along nicely this week. The image above is from a scene that introduces the Fairy Godmother character in this show. The background art and animation is by G. Brian Reynolds. Brian used a lot of “squash and stretch” in the animation to create the character’s clumsy entrance. “Squash and stretch” is a great old phrase that refers to a time-tested animation basic. Today, an animator can easily squash and stretch the art in programs like FLASH. What does not come easily is that animator’s knowledge of where and how much to use this and other animation techniques. That knowledge only comes as the result of a lot of hard work and experience.

Nice “squash and stretch” G. Brian Reynolds!

Click here to see the CLIP.

Enjoy.

~ Russ Harris

Alumni Artists of Perennial Pictures

2007-05-26T12:45:00.000-05:00

James Workman - 1994

Andy Kuhn - 1993

Michael J. Cole - 1997

Rackel L. Rutledge - 1986

The above studio photos feature a few of the Perennial Pictures "Alumni Artists." All of the Alumni Artists made invaluable contributions to the filmed productions and, whether they knew it or not, helped to shape the studio.

This week we heard from "Alumni Artist" Michael J. Cole. ..Michael worked in the Ink and Paint Department as an Artist and Supervisor at Perennial Pictures Film Corporation during the late 1990s. He, along with fellow I&P artists, personally hand-painted thousands of cels for studio productions. ..Today, however, there is no Ink and Paint Department at Perennial Pictures and nary a cel to be painted. All animation art is “painted” in the computers, and it is usually done by the animators. Happily, Michael remains very active in the creative arts field and keeps busy doing book illustrations and select design work.

Thanks for checking in, Michael J. Cole.

To see more Perennial Pictures Artists, Alumni Artists and Staff photos, Click here.

~ Russ Harris

Extra Details for Scene

2007-05-19T08:30:00.000-05:00

At Perennial Pictures the CRAWFORD THE CAT project rolls along. The scene above took some extra time to create as the background and character art is more detailed than some of the other art generated for this show The scene had a unique mood to expresses and does it quite nicely. The extra time was worth it.

All of the animation in the scene was generated in FLASH. Some initial hand drawn images were scanned into the program, but then each component was duplicated, manipulated, squashed, stretched and then put into its proper position.

In this particular show, we needed to replicate a style that was set previously in the “Crawford the Cat” shorts. I think the process has been most successful. While entirely generated in FLASH, I’d say it’s pretty hard to discern it from the traditionally animated art created earlier.

The below links are clips of the scene with and without the background. I particularly enjoy the animated walk of the stork character. This super work was generated by G. Brian Reynolds.

To see the clip, Click here.

To see the character animation WITHOUT the background, Click here.

To just see the background, Click here.

Enjoy.

~Russ Harris

Animation Continues

2007-05-12T06:51:00.000-05:00

This week at Perennial Pictures, animation continued on CRAWFORD’S CLASSICS - CINDERELLA as well as some advance work on the sound effects. The promotional trailer for the show will be done in a few weeks so other areas of production for it are starting to kick in.

The image above is a screenshot from another scene by animator Daryl D. Pyle.

Click here to see some of the ANIMATION.

Nice work Daryl!

Also this week, composer Peter Schmutte was in to discuss a song for a dance sequence in the show. The process usually goes like this: G. Brian Reynolds and he discuss, Peter makes notes, disappears for a week or so, and then come backs with some great demo of the song for us to listen to. It’s all pretty amazing to me.

More on Peter and the whole music process in an up coming post.

More "We're Floating Away" Song

2007-05-04T20:04:00.000-05:00

Click here to see the ANIMATION

See above IMAGE bigger

This week – more art generated and more scenes animated.

The above 30 second clip is more from the song sequence “We’re Floating Away.” I love the little “Mary Poppin-esque” touch G. Brian Reynolds added with Crawford atop the chimney stacks.

Enjoy.

~ Russ Harris

(Scenes from "Crawford's Classic" hour-long TV Special)

Multiplane Camera Effect

2007-04-28T05:34:00.000-05:00

More scenes animated on the "Crawford the Cat" project this week.

This 7 second clip features Crawford and Harriet floating on balloons toward a castle. I really like this scene because of the “multiplane” effect G. Brian Reynolds used. The multiplane process is a photographic technique that moves a number of pieces of artwork past the camera at various speeds and at various distances from one another to create a three-dimensional effect. We are able to create this effect fairly easily in the computer these days. In the past, this effect had to be accomplished on a special multiplane camera stand. The effect - however it's made - always makes the scene more fun.

Click here to see the ANIMATION.

Below is an over-scan of the scene that shows how the individual multiplane layers are moving.

Click here to see the unframed ANIMATION.

~Russ Harris

Storyboard to Screen

2007-04-21T05:40:00.000-05:00

It all starts with this – a storyboard drawing based on the script.

Next comes a layout drawing. Sometimes it comes directly from the storyboard or sometimes it’s just inspired by the storyboard and may look significantly different. In this case, the layout drawing is pretty much the same as the storyboard panel – just cleaned up and fleshed-out. After that, backgrounds and animation can begin.

This background was rendered by G. Brian Reynolds directly on the Flash stage. (Flash is the animation program we use.) The scene was then animated. Most all of the animation in the scene was generated on the Flash stage as well. The exception being the character’s dress – which was hand drawn on paper and then scanned into the program

Click here to see the ANIMATION.

The art is from "Crawford the Cat - Crawford's Classics" - a TV special the studio is producing.

Stop over to our HANDYCAT Production Blog at Frederator Studios and see some scenes from the HANDYCAT short we made for "Random! Cartoons." It's a show featuring 39 new shorts - coming later this year to Nickelodeon.

More next week.

~Russ Harris

A Song For Crawford

2007-04-14T07:12:00.000-05:00

“Crawford’s Classics” is an hour-long TV Special our studio is producing. This week several scenes were completed for the show. It features Crawford the Cat - a character we developed a few years ago for a series of “how-to” shorts.

At the time we produced the shorts, several songs were written for the series, but not all were used. When we needed a song for Crawford to sing in this show, we went to the “vault” and pulled out “We’re Floating Away.” It’s a whimsical song about being carried away on balloons. The song was written by G. Brian Reynolds and Pete Schmutte.

To see a few seconds of the song sequence, Click here.

The vocals are G. Brian Reynolds, Teresa Giles, and Becky Martin Graham. Music by Pete Schmutte. Nice work guys!

~Russ Harris

More Backgrounds

2007-04-07T06:15:00.000-05:00

Click to see bigger.

This week at the studio, animation continued on the trailer for Crawford the Cat - “Crawford’s Classics.” All the art is coming along nicely, and the few scenes that are already finished are being edited together in Final Cut – the editing software we use at the studio. Final Cut makes pulling all the scenes together pretty easy. The Flash scenes are converted to QuickTime movies and then imported into Final Cut for editing. We’re producing Crawford’s Classics in high-definition (HD), and it’s a first for us. The difference in the color and clarity promises to be dramatic. It’s really noticeable to me after watching a scene on the computer screen and then watching the same scene play back on the standard television (SD) monitors – quite a difference.

But no matter what the format - HDTV or SDTV, G. Brian Reynolds’ backgrounds are always looking good. Nice work, Brian!

There’s a fire going in the kitchen fireplace, Click to see the animation.

~Russ Harris

TV Trailer

2007-03-31T07:09:00.000-05:00

This week at the studio, the promotional trailer (basically a TV commercial) for “Crawford’s Classics” went into production. Animation has shifted from the straight-ahead production of the show’s sequence #5 to the non-straight-ahead production of the trailer. There will be approximately 17 scenes in the trailer that will feature short clips from different parts of the show. Several of the scenes will play on the backgrounds that have been previously posted in this space. Based on the animatic (the storyboard pictures playing back with a scratch audio track), I think the trailer will be as fun to watch as it will be to make.

Our colleague Daryl D. Pyle was in this week. He and G. Brian Reynolds will be animating the piece.

Above is a scene Daryl has in the works.

To see the first few frames of it, Click here.

Background Style

2007-03-24T07:35:00.000-05:00

Background for a “Crawford’s Corner” Short Click to see bigger

The above pan background was created for a “Crawford’s Corner” short and was rendered in Flash. It’s a replication of a hand-painted background that was used in an earlier “Crawford’s Corner” short. The earlier “Crawford’s Corner” shorts were shot on 35mm film, and anything new created for “Crawford the Cat” is created digitally in the computer. That, of course, makes a big difference for the way background art is handled.

We are currently working on “Crawford Classics,” a new long-form project featuring the same characters. Within the context of this show, the characters are found in new settings and are not “anchored” to their original location. That’s a good thing for us on the technical end of things. The above styled background makes for very large computer files. Each little “cat head” of the wall paper and each little speckle and dot on the floor requires lots of memory, and when working on these scenes, the computer has to work harder to play back the scene in real time. The background like the one below (and the ones from last week’s post) were designed and created in Flash and used only Flash friendly techniques. It’s much easier on the computer processors and takes up far less memory. The difference is pretty amazing and makes for much happier animators who don’t have to wait patiently for the computer to “catch up” to review their work.

A background from "Crawford's Classics" Click to see bigger.

To see a short scene on the background at the top of the this post, Click here.

Concept Art

2007-03-17T09:23:00.000-05:00

Happy St. Patrick’s Day! This week in Indiana, the weather has been all over the place. The temperature has fluctuated from the 30’s last Sunday to middle 70’s on Wednesday back to the 40’s on Friday. I guess that’s why they say, “If you don’t like the weather here – hang around for 15 minutes!” Fortunately, no big snow storms or the like are in the forecast to keep us from getting to work. Hopefully, we’re done with all that for this season.

This week at the studio, most of our work concentrated on the preparation of additional concept and publicity art for the Crawford the Cat project. Lots of hours are spent on the designs and settings for supporting characters and the backgrounds for any show, and of course, this one is no exception. The above pieces feature some of the buildings that will be inserted into exterior backgrounds for the city scenes. And below, a nighttime background from Harriet’s home, and also the background from the scene I posted last week.

The backgrounds and buildings are designed by G. Brian Reynolds. Nice work G. Brian!

To see the art bigger, Click here.

Screen Format

2007-03-11T10:42:00.000-05:00

Wide Screen - 16x9

Standard TV - 3x4

Several scenes were completed this week on our Crawford the Cat project. The project is an hour long, made-for-television special, aimed at younger audiences. This scene features Harriet the Hare and Crawford the Cat.
While working on a scene, the animator uses the red-line template as well as the black 3x4 TV safe overlay matte to make sure that all the pertinent animation is seen on the screen - no matter what format the show is released in.
The 3x4 format, however, may soon become a thing of the past as more and more producers prepare for HDTV. It won’t be long before all television in the US will be delivered in high-definition by way of digital signals. According to USA Today, Congress is poised to make Feb. 17, 2009, the hard-and-fast date for the national conversion to digital TV. As the 3x4 screen size starts to disappear from television sets and other entertainment platforms, so will the programs prepared exclusively in that format.

To see the above scene in the 16 x 9 format, Click Here.

Pencil Tests

2007-03-04T15:46:00.000-05:00

I was digging through the archives this week and found the above rough pencil test from HANDYCAT the seven-minute short we made for Frederator Studios and Nickelodeon. Animators sometimes like to test rough drawings to see how the movement is going. At the studio, we use a software program called FlipBook to test animation. Sometimes the drawings are then cleaned up by the animator his/herself or an assistant and then imported into Flash for manipulation. With this particular test, however, the drawings were not cleaned up, and the pencil test was simply imported into Flash to be used as a guide. Handycat head shapes, body shapes, leg shapes, and other shapes were then aligned with the pencil test guide to make the color version of the scene.

FlipBook and Flash Animation are terrific tools, but it takes a skilled animator to get the best out of them. G. Brian Reynolds is one such animator.

Click the link below to see Brian’s pencil test and the color version of the scene. Actor Rob Paulsen provides Handycat’s funny coughs.

Handycat Pencil Test and Finished scene

(Be patient - the Pencil Test takes longer to load.)

Storyboarding

2007-02-25T21:53:00.001-05:00

Click to see bigger.

This week work continued on the Crawford the Cat project. Above is a storyboard page from the show. The storyboard is generated from the script. On this particular show, however, the scripting is not entirely finished. Because of upcoming sales meetings, we are producing a sequence of the show in concurrence with the completion of the writing and storyboarding chores. This is not entirely unusual for us. On “The Ugly Duckling’s Christmas Wish,” a movie we made a few years back, our distributor on that film, Sunbow Entertainment, was able to do advance sales based on a few minutes of the show. That film did pretty well for itself, particularly in Germany. On its initial German broadcast, it won the TV ratings for its timeslot. They sent us a copy of the show with the German dub. Again, it was fun to hear how they had recast the show with the foreign actors. I’m always amazed at how close they can come to finding actors that sound like the English speaking actors.
Speaking of actors, we also recorded some more track for the show this week, so that direction and animation can continue for the promotional piece. I’ll try to post a clip from that recording session as soon as it’s edited.

Slightly Snowbound

2007-02-17T15:15:00.000-05:00

Harriet from the Crawford The Cat Special.

Well, development and preliminary production work did continue this week, despite the fact that Indianapolis was hit with a sizable snowfall on Monday night – about 14 inches - and it’s snowing again as I write this. I personally was unable to make it in to the studio for two days, and did what work I could from my home. My business partner Brian Reynolds, on the other hand, was able to do quite a bit of initial animation production work from his home on Tuesday. However by Wednesday afternoon, he had to brave the elements and get back to the studio. The city does a pretty good job plowing the streets; it just takes a little time, especially when it’s coming down as fast as they can clear it away. Regarding the production of this special, as soon as we get a little further into it, we’ll post some animation clips on our website for you to view.

My wife took the above picture of our youngest daughter, Olivia, playing in the backyard during the first day we were snowbound at home.

Ahh winter!

CRAWFORD THE CAT

2007-02-10T08:15:00.004-05:00

Currently our studio is in development on a new website CrawfordTheCat.com featuring our character CRAWFORD THE CAT. We're very proud of the site as it develops and hope that it will be well received by parents and the educational market. Being a parent of young children, the project is very close to my heart. The anchor to the website is "CRAWFORD’S CORNER" - a “how-to” series of 13 x 5 minute shorts designed for preschoolers, kindergarten and older. The shorts, completed in 2003, have not been seen in the US television market until now -and only at CrawfordTheCat.com.

Stop by the website and take a look. We hope you like it!

We’ll post more on CrawfordTheCat.com later, and more about the Crawford television special we're developing.

FAT TUEZDAY - LIVE

2007-02-04T08:20:00.000-05:00

We put the first :30 second FAT TUEZDAY on our website as well as on YouTube this week. It’s a new venture for us in that it is the first property we will be introducing exclusively on the internet. FAT TUEZDAY features Tuezday – a modern day hippo who interprets life in her own way. Weight loss and the pressures of society on women to keep rail-thin (and Tuezday’s take on it) will be the subject matter for the first ones. Hopefully, they’ll each be amusing and none too serious. They’re each slated to be less than a minute in length. My business partner Brian Reynolds likens these short episodes to comic strips – only with moving pictures. Eventually the shorts will be made available for downloading to ipod and etc.

Check out FAT TUEZDAY here or on YouTube.

Crazy About Numbers

2007-01-27T11:05:00.000-05:00

This week at the studio we finished a short piece of test animation for a proposed new television series – CRAZY ABOUT NUMBERS. The concept for the show was created by Phillip L. Prime, and it explores an innovative and fun way to introduce pre-school age children to basic mathematics. The test piece of animation demonstrates how three “ones” become a “three.” The proposed CRAZY ABOUT NUMBERS show calls for other segments of animation featuring non-number characters as well, and explores the possibility of utilizing several different types of animation in the same show. It sounds fresh and exciting. We wish Phillip good luck with the continued development of the show.

Click here to see the animation!

Russ Harris

From Shorts to "Longs"

2007-01-22T09:03:00.000-05:00

What with "Crawford's Corner," "Handycat" and other projects, the studio has been in development and/or production on a lot of shorts recently, so what I've been working on for the past couple of weeks, an hour-long script for a "Crawford" special, is a bit of an adjustment. More on the specific project itself later when things have been firmed up a bit more, but coming back to Crawford the Cat has been fun for me. The 13 preschool educational shorts we did with him are probably my proudest achievement at the studio. I don't get tired of looking at him or drawing him. In fact, I have said that Crawford is the one character I have designed, that had it been by some other studio, I would be jealous and want it. Yet, it didn't come easily. He changed a lot as he was developed.

Originally conceived for a direct-to-video Christmas movie that didn't happen, he started out black and white and rather old looking. The next incarnation was a half-hour birthday themed preschool title. That didn't happen either, though by then he was getting at least closer to what he looks like today. By then, he looked like this:

- still black and white but not quite so young.

We were getting ready to ink and paint our pilot Crawford short when we opened a Kidscreen magazine and saw an ad for a new show with a black and white cat. It was just too close for comfort, so we made a bunch of color model cels of different color cats... and we finally settled on the green because we hadn't seen any other little green cats.

Now, I can't imagine him being any other color of course, and his face and body underwent more transformation until we got to the image you see at the top of this post - perkier and more youthful.

We are convinced that the character has great appeal in form and personality and will continue to look for ways to get his "face" in front of the public. This hour script I'm working on right now may be a very good way to do that.

FAT TUEZDAY

2007-01-20T16:13:00.000-05:00

This week found us busy at the studio on several different projects. FAT TUEZDAY is our latest propriety property. This year, we are planning to produce multiple 30+ second episodes to be exhibited online and downloaded. The first one “Fat Tuezday’s: Walk The Dog” will be finished this week and will be uploaded to the Perennial Pictures Website soon after. Other projects in the works this week included a pilot piece of animation for a proposed PBS show, and scripting on an hour special for television. More information to come.

From the Horse's Mouth

2007-01-15T09:04:00.001-05:00

I am excited about the new website Russ has put together for us. I am excited because I think it is going to give us the opportunity to present things directly to the public that might not have been possible otherwise.

It's that direct link that the internet provides - and these blogs are a direct link, too. They make me feel very connected to the people I am reading posts from, even if I don't know them personally yet and I hope that will eventually be a two-way street.

One thing I know - these websites and blogs make it much easier to find someone and to communicate with them directly. I remember how much trouble I had as a kid in Bloomington, Indiana, trying to find a mailing addresss for Hanna-Barbera back in the mid-60's. Everyone in Hollywood was so mysterious and distant - not because the people themselves were mysterious and distant (it has been my experience that there is a no more friendly and down-to-earth bunch of people than animation people) but the only connection I would have was the occasional Saturday Evening Post article or something in TV Guide about a new cartoon called Jonny Quest (my mind told me that he would look like Elroy Jetson - boy was I off base on that one). Now, I can read about the production of a show - know what it's going to look like - know who's working on it... all from our little studio here in Indianapolis. For someone who's interested in all this, the communication we have now is nothing short of a miracle.

The Website

2007-01-14T13:15:00.000-05:00

This weekend we launched the “new and improved” Perennial Pictures website. There’s still a lot of work to do to get all the pages constructed, but so far it has been enjoyable experience for all concerned. Hopefully a new page or two will appear each week – at least that’s what we’re striving for. Currently under reconstruction is the filmography page. We’re adding images and production info on each of the shows. The first pass on it ought to be ready in a week or so. We hope you have a chance to stop by the site and check it out.

The First Post

2006-12-06T19:36:00.000-05:00

This is the first post of the Perennial Pictures Blog! We'll try to add interesting information and art regarding the staff and the cartoon productions of the studio.