How Pony is Formed: Production and Business Thread

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Re: How Pony is Formed: Production and Business Thread

Postby Mr. Big (?) » Mon Feb 04, 2013 5:39 am

I always said that it's like they're trying to imitate the traditional animation style with Flash. This is especially true in later episodes, when they're going wild with the faces, many of which have to be custom created since they're not in the Flash assets otherwise.
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Postby Lorce (?) » Mon Feb 04, 2013 6:46 am

EquestriaGuy wrote:I don't think they'd be writing S5 yet. Animation for S4 hasn't even started yet, or perhaps is just now getting off the ground. This is definitely a good sign she is writing on S4.


I dunno, i interpreted the reduced fees (or budget i guess, since this was published in november) for Q1 2013 as S4 being closer to complete or maybe just in latter stages of development
(For Q1 2013, the breakdown for major projects over $0.10 million for DHX Vancouver was $0.91 million for My Little Pony Seasons 2-4) Source: http://www.dhxmedia.com/press-room/317- ... -kids.html
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Postby EquestriaGuy (?) » Mon Feb 04, 2013 11:15 am

Lorce wrote:
I dunno, i interpreted the reduced fees (or budget i guess, since this was published in november) for Q1 2013 as S4 being closer to complete or maybe just in latter stages of development
(For Q1 2013, the breakdown for major projects over $0.10 million for DHX Vancouver was $0.91 million for My Little Pony Seasons 2-4) Source: http://www.dhxmedia.com/press-room/317- ... -kids.html


I'm not even going to begin to understand how that works, but we do know they're just starting since the animators DHX were hiring had to be in place for Jan-Feb, and voice recording recently started after the contracts were signed.
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Postby Corpy (?) » Mon Feb 04, 2013 7:52 pm

EquestriaGuy wrote:
I'm not even going to begin to understand how that works, but we do know they're just starting since the animators DHX were hiring had to be in place for Jan-Feb, and voice recording recently started after the contracts were signed.

Maybe the bulk of payment is upon delivery? I do not know how TV contracts work.
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Postby Perpetual Lurker (?) » Tue Feb 05, 2013 8:54 pm

This seems to be the correct thread to post this, so here's some good news!

These are the music credits on Daniel Ingram's website. It lists Seasons 1-4 of MLP as 91x22, meaning Season 4 is getting the full 26 episodes! :party:
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Postby EquestriaGuy (?) » Tue Feb 05, 2013 9:12 pm

Perpetual Lurker wrote:This seems to be the correct thread to post this, so here's some good news!

These are the music credits on Daniel Ingram's website. It lists Seasons 1-4 of MLP as 91x22, meaning Season 4 is getting the full 26 episodes! :party:



Looks like Will Anderson's cryptic message is finally coming true. Image
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Postby Wayoshi (?) » Tue Feb 05, 2013 9:17 pm

Good shit man

Now, is 66x1 DVD really gone and was meant as a series finale if no S4 after all?
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Postby EquestriaGuy (?) » Tue Feb 05, 2013 9:26 pm

Wayoshi wrote:Good shit man

Now, is 66x1 DVD really gone and was meant as a series finale if no S4 after all?


If they were supposed to be creating it between August and Dec, and Tim Stuby said the pony floor was a ghost town during that period, then I'd wager it probably was scrapped. The 1x66 was probably meant only in case they were forced to end S3 with a one parter, so they could end the series with a 90 minute special on The Hub, which they could then sell on DVD.
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Postby Mr. Big (?) » Tue Feb 05, 2013 10:26 pm

EquestriaGuy wrote:
If they were supposed to be creating it between August and Dec, and Tim Stuby said the pony floor was a ghost town during that period, then I'd wager it probably was scrapped. The 1x66 was probably meant only in case they were forced to end S3 with a one parter, so they could end the series with a 90 minute special on The Hub, which they could then sell on DVD.

The August-December date was when Top Draw in the Phillippines was working on it. DHX Media would have done pre-production work (designs, storyboards, etc.) before August. In animation, when everything gets sent to overseas studio most of the pre-production crew would either be laid off or work on something else; only the key crew, like supervising directors, would stick around for any troubleshooting or whatnot.
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Postby EquestriaGuy (?) » Wed Feb 06, 2013 12:12 am

Mr. Big wrote:The August-December date was when Top Draw in the Phillippines was working on it. DHX Media would have done pre-production work (designs, storyboards, etc.) before August. In animation, when everything gets sent to overseas studio most of the pre-production crew would either be laid off or work on something else; only the key crew, like supervising directors, would stick around for any troubleshooting or whatnot.


After storyboarding, animation goes through key layout before it's sent to animation, and even then it's subject to revisions. It obviously meant something to him if there was nobody on the pony floor as recent as late September. I really don't know if we're gonna get the 1x66.
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Postby Mr. Big (?) » Wed Feb 06, 2013 12:46 am

EquestriaGuy wrote:
After storyboarding, animation goes through key layout before it's sent to animation, and even then it's subject to revisions. It obviously meant something to him if there was nobody on the pony floor as recent as late September. I really don't know if we're gonna get the 1x66.

Layouts is part of pre-production.
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Postby Killing Vector (?) » Wed Feb 06, 2013 3:41 am

Someone mentioned in the general discussion thread (edit: and the thread in the spoiler forum, but it should be mentioned here anyway), but:

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AKR has since made explicit that, yes, this means she's writing for pony S4. :party: And further confirmation that Powell is back is nice, too.
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Postby EquestriaGuy (?) » Wed Feb 06, 2013 5:27 am

Mr. Big wrote:Layouts is part of pre-production.


Is there anything you don't consider pre or post production?
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Postby Mr. Big (?) » Wed Feb 06, 2013 5:31 am

EquestriaGuy wrote:
Is there anything you don't consider pre or post production?


In animation, it typically works like this:

PRE-PRODUCTION (Domestic Studio):
Writing
Storyboarding
Designing
Layouts (if done in-house)
Voice Recording
Sheet Timing

PRODUCTION (Overseas Studio)
Layouts (if outsourced)
Backgrounds
Animation
Clean-Up
Coloring
Compositing

POST-PRODUCTION (When footage returns to Domestic Studio)
Re-Takes (done Overseas with notes on what needs to be corrected)
Music
Sound Editing
Editing
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Postby EquestriaGuy (?) » Wed Feb 06, 2013 5:51 am

Mr. Big wrote:
In animation, it typically works like this:

PRE-PRODUCTI
ON (Domestic Studio):
Writing
Storyboarding
Designing
Layouts (if done in-house)
Voice Recording
Sheet Timing

PRODUCTION (Overseas Studio)
Layouts (if outsourced)
Backgrounds
Animation
Clean-Up
Coloring
Compositing

POST-PRODUCTION (When footage returns to Domestic Studio)
Re-Takes (done Overseas with notes on what needs to be corrected)
Music
Sound Editing
Editing


Well we know with this show that voice recording comes before storyboarding, and obviously after writing. From Dart's tweets we also know designing comes between the two.
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Postby Wayoshi (?) » Wed Feb 06, 2013 5:57 am

I think a good bulk of the writing is done, if not all, and pre-production is in full swing / maybe close to ending for the beginning eps. It looks like it will at least be until September until S4 really starts however (where, maybe, we can have another nice 7 month run of a full 26).

Basically, we still have to pay some dues for the half-season that is season 3. :gonkity:
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Postby Mr. Big (?) » Wed Feb 06, 2013 6:00 am

EquestriaGuy wrote:Well we know with this show that voice recording comes before storyboarding, and obviously after writing. From Dart's tweets we also know designing comes between the two.

Note that I wasn't exactly strict on ordering.

I should add, my list was for TV animation in general. For example, since FiM is animated in Flash it doesn't do "sheet timing" (aka "exposure sheets") at all; it's something only done in traditionally animated shows like "Gravity Falls".

But the point being, animation layouts for Ponies is pre-production (or very early part of actual "production") since it's done before it gets sent to Asia.
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Postby Nissl (?) » Wed Feb 06, 2013 5:24 pm

Does the timing of this strike anyone else as kind of odd? She's currently writing on the show, because she posted that she was watching the internet controversy last week from a story meeting with McCarthy. What were they doing for March-August 2012 of last year if not writing a long S4?

Anyway, I appear to be re-entering pony burnout and I'm suddenly very busy, which is probably going to mean slow updates on the OP moving forward. If someone wants to take over for me, feel free.
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Postby Wayoshi (?) » Wed Feb 06, 2013 10:09 pm

Hub perhaps had not yet committed to beyond 65 eps, so perhaps much of 2012 was a dead time period in terms of getting started on S4. The comic book series in part was a hedge-risk move in that it will now will become the lifeblood of new material for a long stretch of time - hopefully we can make it.
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Postby InC (?) » Wed Feb 06, 2013 10:22 pm

They did hire a new writer around a year ago, though. Unless she wrote this week's episode (I guess it's a bit suspicious that we still don't know who wrote it, maybe?), the most likely explanation would be the DVD.
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Postby Wayoshi (?) » Wed Feb 06, 2013 10:47 pm

That is true... yet the DVD seems to be in doubt, and why hire a new writer for a major 3-parter?
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Postby Nissl (?) » Wed Feb 06, 2013 11:00 pm

Wayoshi wrote:Hub perhaps had not yet committed to beyond 65 eps, so perhaps much of 2012 was a dead time period in terms of getting started on S4. The comic book series in part was a hedge-risk move in that it will now will become the lifeblood of new material for a long stretch of time - hopefully we can make it.


Well, maybe, but as mentioned Levinger was hired in March, and Fullerton was back for at least an episode in the summer, and McCarthy tweeted about how busy she was working full time as a story editor sometime last year while Larson was tweeting about meeting with Levinger I think in May (please don't make me go find it)... it just doesn't quite add up to me. Maybe they started later than March and just did half the S4 episodes or something, but still, what was McCarthy doing between Nov. 2011 and the start of S4 writing? I also would have expected them to start writing S5 - if it exists - perhaps next month, but this is awfully early.
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Postby Wayoshi (?) » Thu Feb 07, 2013 2:12 am

Here's another possibility... S4 is 13 eps and S5 is 13 eps, in accordance with the new iTunes organizing?
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Postby EquestriaGuy (?) » Thu Feb 07, 2013 2:42 am

Wayoshi wrote:Here's another possibility... S4 is 13 eps and S5 is 13 eps, in accordance with the new iTunes organizing?


I doubt S5 would be included in Ingram's 2013 credits.
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Postby Jyu (?) » Thu Feb 07, 2013 3:06 am

https://twitter.com/TheCFullerton/status/299312253268795392

Looks like Charlotte only co-wrote one episode in season 4. Sorry don't know how to embed tweets.
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Postby Wayoshi (?) » Thu Feb 07, 2013 3:13 am

Watch it be with Williams again. :iamapony:

Alright, so everyone's probably still around. It will be nice to have everyone around anyways :allears:
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Postby Mr. Big (?) » Thu Feb 07, 2013 3:20 am

Jyu wrote:https://twitter.com/TheCFullerton/status/299312253268795392

Looks like Charlotte only co-wrote one episode in season 4. Sorry don't know how to embed tweets.

I guess that Fullerton's involvement with Pony is officially over, having switched to Ben 10 full-time. Still, it's nice to have more episodes with two (or more) writers collaborating. We could use more of that.

And, am I correct in assuming that Fullerton wrote on Angela Anaconda? Ouch. Things you do for paychecks.
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Postby The Ghost Of Ember (?) » Thu Feb 07, 2013 3:27 am

Mr. Big wrote:And, am I correct in assuming that Fullerton wrote on Angela Anaconda? Ouch. Things you do for paychecks.


Auuugh, the flash backs! The flash backs! :sweetielarm:
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Postby Mr. Big (?) » Thu Feb 07, 2013 3:29 am

I remember it back when it was part of KaBlam!

Personally, I would have preferred Sniz and Fondue getting its own show.
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Postby Discord (?) » Thu Feb 07, 2013 3:32 am

Honestly I never really minded Angela Anaconda even if it was pretty darn weird.
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Postby The Ghost Of Ember (?) » Thu Feb 07, 2013 3:33 am

Didn't action league now! Get a spinoff? I liked that one best as a kid.
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Postby Nissl (?) » Thu Feb 07, 2013 3:33 am

I don't see why Fullerton couldn't come back for an episode between the next seasons of Ben 10 as well.

I'm thinking that maybe the first several months of 2012 were a few writers working on the special (which might or might not just be the S4 opener now), then Levinger came on board a few months after getting hired (perhaps with initial planning meetings in May) and they did a good chunk of S4 in summer/fall 2012, and they're just finishing up now with Rogers contributing a few late season episodes... I guess? That's still the longest writing cycle we've had yet. Maybe several people were back for just a couple of episodes in between working on other shows (or a book/screenplay in Larson's case).

I'd be pretty damn suspicious this was already S5 work if Rogers didn't outright say it's S4.
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Postby Timber72 (?) » Thu Feb 07, 2013 4:14 am

The Ghost Of Ember wrote:Didn't action league now! Get a spinoff? I liked that one best as a kid.


It was a part of All That and Kablam (not sure on order). Finally, I believe it became its own show for a while and then was cancelled.
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Postby Nissl (?) » Thu Feb 07, 2013 10:18 pm

Hasbro's fourth quarter & full year business reports are out, and their investor webcast is going on right now.

Hasbro as a whole saw a slight decline in revenues for 2012 on weakness in international sales and their boys and preschool lines, and cut a number of positions to increase profitability. Fortunately, MLP posted strong growth for the year, leading the girls' category to 7% growth. In the fourth quarter, the girls' category saw 17% growth, suggesting sales may be accelerating somewhat.

The Hub was the most rapidly growing kids cable station during 2012, and the fourth quarter was Hub's strongest quarter yet. Revenue from licensing television programs also rose substantially in 2012, more than offsetting a decline of movie revenues for a 12% total growth in the entertainment and licensing division. The television spend for 2012 was $59 million, down from a launch spend of roughly $70 million and in line with expectations. Hub posted an operating loss of $12 million.

Update: not much else directly newsworthy in the investor comments (I corrected a few points slightly), but there will be a big announcement of 2013 plans for MLP tomorrow at the Toy Fair. People who have been following the spoilers can probably surmise what will be announced.
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Postby EquestriaGuy (?) » Fri Feb 08, 2013 12:30 am

^

"with the support of global television, product innovation, inventive licensing, a new digital app game, online experiences, and a strong retail execution, MLP continued to post very strong double digit growth year over year.In 2013 we have exciting plans for the brand, which we'll begin to share with you tomorrow."

also there's "we grew revenue in our girls category, driven by furby and MLP's brand innovation and immersive experiences"
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Postby Wayoshi (?) » Fri Feb 08, 2013 1:25 am

Potential big news tomorrow? :twonk:
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Postby Robotzor (?) » Fri Feb 08, 2013 3:27 am

Wayoshi wrote:Potential big news tomorrow? :twonk:


Maybe we'll figure out CEO Buzz Hasbro's favorite pony once and for all!
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Postby agradify (?) » Fri Feb 08, 2013 3:34 am

Wayoshi wrote:Potential big news tomorrow? :twonk:

They're cancelling the show. :gotcha:
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Postby Pocket (?) » Fri Feb 08, 2013 7:18 am

EquestriaGuy wrote:also there's "we grew revenue in our girls category, driven by furby and MLP's brand innovation and immersive experiences"

Thing I learned today: Furby still exists. :starity:
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Postby Grue (?) » Fri Feb 08, 2013 7:57 am

Pocket wrote:Thing I learned today: Furby still exists. :starity:


You should've paid attention to ads on the Hub. These things are terrifying.
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