From my networking at Manchester Animation Festival I met up with a couple of freelancers and producers who made up Gas Tank Productions, a London based animation studio which was in the process of preparing to pitch a new IP to producers at the MIA (Miami Film Festival) festival in Miami. They were impressed by my showreel and asked me to help them produce the animated pilot they were developing alongside a pitch bible for a television show aimed at children aged 5 and above titled 'The Inspectigator'.
Show synopsis taken from Gas Tank Productions Official Website (May 2018)
The deadline was for early February 2018, with work beginning in early December working over Xmas break.
The company had previously collaborated with Gateshead-based studio Arcus Animation on an original IP pitch for childrens television 'Soupa'. Their brand sensibility of slick cartoons with an emphasis on clean linework, for older children around the ages of 7-12 appeals to me greatly and I feel is a great opportunity to establish my own brand in tangent with them as our house styles are very similar.
Before undertaking the work I was briefed on what my role would entail in a Skype hangout with director Greg and producer Seb. After signing an NDA I was tasked with converting Greg's storyboards into a usable animatic for voice actors Marc Silk (veteran voice actor and the voice of Johnny Bravo on Cartoon Network UK) and Kate Harbour (another veteran of children's television voice acting) to use as reference when recording the voices. Helping me would be two other freelance animators Gemma and Jack who would be assisting in key-framing and the final compositing process. Our first Skype meeting was an introductory welcome from the team followed by a going over of technical specifications (such as frame rate) and deadline goals.
The work pipeline was that Greg would transfer his finished storyboards PSD files via Wetransfer to me to animate and add keyframes in Photoshop using his drawings as a model reference. He also provided me with a temporary audio track before Mark and Kate recorded the final voices for their parts. Once I'd created the animatic I would then hand it off to Jack and Gemma who would composite my animated characters into the scenes they were drawing. Creating this animatic served as a sort of trial run for the workflow I would apply to my Extended Practice, creating storyboards which could later be expanded upon and refined in the animatic phase. Being a part of a larger team instead of the overseeing role allowed me to refocus my attention more on character animation and animated performance, to hone my ability at drawing and remain on model, which I feel proved to be a useful experience going forward.
Over the course of the month I was working on 'The Inspectigator' we had weekly group Skype meetings to discuss amends to the script, to the animatic as well as any ideas of our own we had to contribute. Overall I created an animatic for up to 38 of Greg's storyboards and the total animation produced at the end ranged from around 2 minutes. Not bad for a month's work I'd say.
The team pitched Inspectigator at Miami Film Festival in February and I have been in correspondence ever since, with him offering to provide more freelance work in the future. Since then I have also been featured on Gas Tank Productions Instagram feed as well as listed as a member of their team on their website.
Name featured on Gas Tank Productions' website
Work featured on Gas Tank Productions' Instagram Feed
In summary, my experience with Gas Tank has been a pleasant one and they are definitely a studio I am going to stay in close contact with in the future as much of their output falls very much under the brand I am trying to establish. They also provide a solid starting point for me going freelance in the industry, with their connections to Arcus Studios and voice actors such as Mark Silk.
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