behind the scenes | HEROmation

The Wrong Rock Release

December 6, 2019By Michael Cawoodanimated, animated film, animated filmmaker, animated short, animatic, Animation, animation studio, animator, Artist, award, behind the scenes, boardomatic, camera sequencer, cartoon, character, character design, Cinematic, collab, collaboration, collabs, coop studio, design, Direction, editing, Film, filmmaking, HEROmation, Layout, Layout Artist, Los Angeles, maya, michael cawood, movie, off-site, on-site, online, premiere, Previs, Previsualisation, producer, production, remote, remote collaboration, screenwriting, short film, short film animation, story, storyboard, storyboard artist, storyboarding, The Wrong Rock, YouTube No Comments

It’s been a three year journey, but The Wrong Rock is finally online for the world to see. For me it was year full time, a year part time and a year on the festival circuit. Along the way we won Best Animated Short at the Burbank film Festival and Best Short Animation at the … Read More

Picking up the torch from someone else

August 14, 2017By Michael Cawoodbehind the scenes, Direction, short film, The Wrong Rock No Comments

Artists working in Animation are a proud people. We all want to take ownership of our work, start it from as close to scratch as possible, then see it through to completion. That way when we show it as part of our portfolio we can say we did everything. Unfortunately production doesn’t make it that … Read More

5 Sanity Tips for Animation Directors

August 10, 2017By Michael Cawoodbehind the scenes, Direction, short film, The Wrong Rock No Comments

1) Scheduling time This sounds obvious but putting important tasks into your calendar and making your peers (and partner) aware of those commitments is important. I maintain a calendar for the project and it’s visible on my personal devices as well as the teams website. I put in there any meetings I have with team … Read More

Clash of the Workflows

August 8, 2017By Michael Cawoodbehind the scenes, Direction, short film, The Wrong Rock No Comments

It is fascinating seeing so many different workflows in animation production. There’s so many ways to do the same thing. Some better than others, but when you really get down to it many have very good reasons for being different. I’ve worked in a lot of different studio environments, and created a lot of films … Read More

5 Communication Tips for Production

August 3, 2017By Michael Cawoodbehind the scenes, Direction, short film, The Wrong Rock 1 Comment

1) Post Regularly This really is the number one tip. Think about it, if you join a project and you don’t see other people doing much on a regular basis you’ll lose motivation fast and then you’re not posting anything either. So think in reverse and make sure there’s a good amount of updates and … Read More

Inspiration for ‘The Wrong Rock’

August 1, 2017By Michael Cawoodbehind the scenes, Direction, Film, short film, The Wrong Rock No Comments

Last year I made a website for fun and it triggered a wonderful, and familiar, feeling of having made something from start to ﬁnish. I’ve worked in the animation industry for about 20 years and contributed to a lot of big projects but at the end of 2016 I decided it was time to make another … Read More