Box Peek June Update (Patreon)

Hey everyone!
  I'm back for another monthly Box Peek report. June, as expected, did not allow for a lot of Box Peek time. The good news is that Episode 3 is complete and Episode 4's initial audio edit is done. The third episode was a ton of work but I think it's an improvement over the first two. The series has an established style and sense of humor at this point, so it feels pretty nice to see that one complete.
  There's not much else to report, but last month many of you said it would be cool to hear more in-depth insight into the process so I figured I could tell you about the first audio layout I just did for Episode 4. 

In this rough stage, a two-and-a-half minute scene with two people looks like this:

While I've applied a couple of important audio effects at this point (which is my least favorite part of the process, much respect to Sweet Justice), by the end I'll add compression and a little gain here too. A3 is used for a third character, A4 for sound effects, and A5 for music. I am not consistent about this.

I'm pretty sure common practice is to keep all dialog on the same line, but a weird and interesting part of editing Box Peek is learning how to make it sound like people who were recording alone in a booth are having a conversation. I have to tinker with timing a lot so I like to stagger the audio in a way that lets me slide them forward or backward as needed. It's a lot of trial and error, feeling out the conversation and going with what feels natural. It never feels perfect and this is something I change constantly up until the end of an edit.

If you look closely, you'll see there will sometimes be several cuts in the throughout one person's line. This is a gift and a curse of editing an animated series--I get to choose not only the best line deliveries I like but also the best parts from several deliveries. A lot of that is just cutting out extra pauses and breaths too. These are things you're a lot less flexible with when editing live action, but I guess the drawback is that it's up to you alone to create the illusion of human interaction. 

This part of the process is far from final, but I really just need to roughly hear the story. I use this audio cut to make a list of all the characters, expressions, backgrounds, and props I'll have to make. Because it's all in my head anyway, these lists are actually more helpful than storyboards, which I really just use to try to figure out how to compose a unique shot. Typically we're at 45-50 character drawings per episode, though I keep telling myself that will decrease as I go on. Jordy can only make so many faces right? Also this early stage is a good time to identify if I need any pickups due to audio quality or something not working story-wise. While Episode 2 needed a bunch of pickups, 3 was just one joke swap and it looks like 4 needs one extra line just to clarify an inconsistent (and tiny) story thing that I realized doesn't make sense.

Onto the business side, last month I talked about some sort of compromise I'll have to make to get Box Peek done in a reasonable time. Before I do anything I'm going to see how July goes. So far it looks pretty clear. If Episode 4 isn't wrapped with 5 underway by the end of this month, it will probably be time to enact one of the alternate plans. Currently I'm thinking about a Plan B and a Plan F. Plan B is to start rolling out episodes monthly. I think this is a bad idea for the show's momentum and assures its unpopularity, but at the same time this is a Patreon-funded program and I would at least be delivering Box Peek consistently. Plan F is adopting a new, simpler animation style. It's my worst nightmare and I don't want to talk to about it (but I am thinking about it). Let's all hope it doesn't come to that. I understand the virtues of Let It Cook but also Box Peek frankly isn't a good enough show to take two years to make. If this is high art, yeah, take all the time in the world. Paint a chapel. But you know, I'm making Yu-Gi-Oh with paper.

That said, after genuinely enjoying how Episode 3 turned out, Yu-Gi-Oh with paper is pretty cool. I'll be back here to give you a new Box Peek update at the end of July! Until then, thanks again for your patience and support.

Love & Respect,
Kyle