The live-action entertainment industry is quite literally clapping the slate as filming sites for movies, premiers, and even auditions have had to be shut down or be put on hold indefinitely, due to the increase in COVID-19 cases. However, it is a little different for the animation entertainment industry, which is actually thriving due to the stay-at-home order issued by many states in America.
As most animators have lived by sitting at their desk and drawing, Prime Time Animation, a group of animated TV shows that premiers normally on Sunday nights, has quickly and easily adapted to the new environment of working at home. Michael Narren, a Prime Time Animation storyboarder, says that “…with the technology here, it’s really just talking to a screen [at home], as opposed to sitting there [in the office] with somebody.” And because of this new working environment, a huge contrast is shown between the job of live-action actors and directors compared to animators, especially during this pandemic.
Nonetheless, the road as an animator amidst COVID-19 has not been as smooth as assumed by the general public. Joseph Lee, a Prime Time Animation director, discussed how nowadays, directors and producers rely on each individual animator to upload their work on time through a Cloud server, while simultaneously trying their best to ignore the lingering fear of losing work due to possible computer or internet glitches.
Furthermore, when zooming into the minute details of the remote animation process, animators such as Lee and Narren have seen a small lag in the process of drawing, uploading, and editing work. Lee says that after the animators upload their work, it takes longer to set up editing meetings, causing the remote working process to be slower at home than in the office. Lee mentions how nonetheless, he and many other animators have quickly accepted these small lags and this new process of working at home as “…[Prime Time Animation is] making sure health is first.”
Lee and Narren both claim that despite the loss of physical teamwork in the studio and the longer hours it takes to process work, the animators are still fully satisfied with the drawings that they do at home. When Narren was asked about his satisfaction with his work that had been done remotely, he replied, “Yes! It is exactly the same; here is my Cintiq, here is a file, here is a script, I do my scenes, [and] I get them back.”
For animators working at home, their equipment stays the same. For example, Lee and Narren have taken their supplies from their office to their homes. Lee says that to work remotely, he uses his Cintiq, desktop computer, various animating programs, styluses, pens, and paper. On the more technical side, animators at home also listen to audio tracks and read scripts to help them draw their artwork.
Through it all, the animators of Prime Time Animation, much like workers in other industries in the nation, have been affected in multiple different ways due to COVID-19. However, behind the scenes, animators of Prime Time Animation, such as Lee and Narren, continue to help make sure that the animation entertainment industry never claps its slate.
