A good animation pitch includes an animation bible, a vital part of the process of developing an animation film or TV series. Even if you never reveal these aspects of your character to the wider world, doing these exercises will better inform you of your character and the world it inhabits, and in the long-term, help you to create a more personal and rewarding final project.

Producers and executives won't invest in your idea unless you can show its value over the long term. They want to know that your idea is a strong one, that is has a strong premise, that it has "legs" - meaning that your story is big enough to span a full series and, further potential series. Some common questions I’ve heard are: What should I put in my pitch document? How long should it be? Where can I get a shirt like that? Since one of my favourite art styles is that of Dreamworks Ice Age, I’ll show you what an art bible could look like using this movie as an example. I just love how they designed the environment. I made these examples myself by studying the trees in the movie: Let’s envisage our animated protagonist at a public swimming pool about to jump off the high-dive, having never done it before. Chances are, he is going to be feeling nervous and needs to prepare first emotionally. We often don’t consider just how much all of these anticipatory considerations contribute a distinct richness to the animated world.

Jan 2018 Animal & Creature Reel

In Dream Farm Studios’ archive of the forgotten treasures, we came across a mysterious document! We dust it off, and VIOLA! Secondly, you must time the actions of your on-screen elements well. Characters should react naturally, in time with any stimulus. For example, an insulted character shouldn’t wait too long to show a reaction; else, it leads an audience to become disconnected from the events unfolding on the screen. An art bible is a document in which an art director establishes the visual style of a project (usually an animation movie/series or a video game). Art bibles, also known as style guides or design guides, are especially useful for stylized art. It contains key aspects that fit the visual style of the project.

If you are acquainted with the French term mise-en-scene, you’ll already have a good understanding of this principle. It refers to the orchestration of on-screen elements and how the director uses this space to get specific messages across and accent the main action as it takes place. The same consideration can be applied to animation.Now that you know what a pitch bible is for (one of the visual tools used in a pitch meeting), let’s look into the essential elements inside a pitch bible: 1. Logline A good series bible, will include a brief synopsis for a number of episodes, as well as outlines of future episodes to come. Hollywood screenplays have to follow rigid formatting rules, but a TV series bible is different. You can use cool fonts, lots of artwork and cool imagery. Your bible should be visually memorable. Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston, two of Disney’s nine old men, worked at Disney since the earliest days and contributed to films such as Snow White, Pinocchio and The Jungle book. A clear, tight description of your show. 4-5 sentences tops. Remember to show off your creative voice and tone!