AnimWatch - The Potter- feature

In early 2005, a group of students at Savannah College of Art and Design completed production on a remarkable animated short film called "The Potter". The film is an excellent example of a new breed of animated student film, one marked by strong design, story and execution.

"'The Potter' started as a simple concept from a verse in the Book of Jeremiah," says the film's director, Josh Burton. "He was talking about people being clay in the hands of God. My thought was that if the clay is alive, it may not necessarily be very cooperative with its Maker." The seeds of that idea grew into a story. Over the course of the short, the clay does indeed prove to have a mind of its own, even as the apprentice himself comes to be molded by The Potter. This thread running through the film is a charming metaphor whose message is clear, yet not heavy-handed.

The character sketches came early in the process, as they were a product of a larger story Burton has had dancing around in the back of his head for a few years, but he says the apprentice and his master are different species for a specific reason: "I didn't want them to be mistaken for a father and son. The Potter was always turtle-like in my sketches. He was to be ancient, wise, and infinitely patient and for whatever reason that always said turtle to my pencil."

One secret of the short's success is that it's told through pantomime. "Originally I had a good bit of dialogue, but the professor in my concept development class, Jeremy Moorshead, kept pushing me to tell the story without words. I'm grateful that he did because it makes for a stronger story." And in fact, the pantomime keeps a light touch, whereas dialog could have turned the film into something much more didactic and less interesting.

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HAIL, HAIL, THE GANG'S ALL HERE

Of course, it took quite a team to bring this ambitious project to life. Burton began assembling the team with a brief meeting at the local coffee shop, with Benjamin Willis, who would quickly become one of the project's animators. Burton pitched Willis the story and showed him the character designs.

Burton had his story, his characters, and his team lined up. But he knew that before he could proceed, he needed to figure out just how they could get the job done. "The project was a major growth experience for me. I have worked on group projects before as a team member and have led small teams in freelance jobs. However, this was a completely new arena for me."

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Burton spent a lot of time asking advice of the professionals he knew in the field, and reading anything he could find that discussed the production process. Then, he distilled all that advice down into his own process. "In the beginning, I spent a huge amount of time just on organizational matters - naming conventions, file referencing, and production documents with detailed notes for the different project members. I wanted to make this as professional a pipeline as we could manage with our limited experience, and I think doing that made a huge difference."

"I spent a huge amount of time on organization. I wanted to make this as professional a pipeline as we could."
-- Josh Burton

The team broke naturally into areas of specialisation. For instance, one member of the team was devoted solely to visual effects. It was an important post to fill, as there are a number of key scenes in the film that depend on the effects. Luckily, Burton had a specific person in mind. "Jon [Campbell] took weeks of asking; I think it was because he had no idea whatsoever how he was going to do what I wanted. In the end he agreed and I think he did an outstanding job." Even so, one of the remarkable things about the film is that despite the fact that it features effects so prominently, it still manages to be about the characters, and not the effects themselves.

Beyond simply getting the work done, managing the team became its own task. Since the project's members were working both at home and at school, Burton set up a private forum where they could discuss the project and give each other feedback as the short developed. This method worked very successfully right up to post production. "During post-production, it was mainly Will Atkin and I going back and forth on tweaks in the composites, and instant messaging was much more practical."

OK, now everybody… PUSH!

Towards the end, there were renders going at Burton's home and in the homes of various team members, as well as at ResPower, a web-based render farm to whom Burton is extremely grateful. "They have my deepest thanks. They gave us the last push of rendering power that enabled us to finish in time for a SIGGRAPH submission deadline, which was the project deadline we were trying to meet."

The organizational skills Burton developed through the project served him well as it matured. "We got to the end of the project and had 20,000+ frames to organise and set up for compositing. Knowing where things were, and at what stage, was vital to finishing the project on time - at all for that matter."

-- Steve Ogden, Editor | AnimWatch