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Summer Animation Jams

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The other night I was at dinner with @CatFat and @DuDuL when the topic came up of the uncertainty of NATA happening this year. We decided that if NATA didn't happen, we should instead try a series of "summer jams."

I just got confirmation that NATA will indeed be taking a hiatus this year, so the jams are a go!

The idea is that each week (two weeks?) we announce a theme. Anyone interested can animate something based on that theme. At the end of the round, a new theme will be announced and there will be one week for voting before winners of the previous theme are announced.

Rather than tournament brackets, scoring will be more like Mario Kart - 10 points for 1st, down to 1 point for 10th. You never get kicked out but also don't have to participate every round; at the end of the summer, whoever has accumulated the most points will be crowned the champion.

QUESTIONS

1) If you plan on participating and are in school, what dates work best around your summer break? Let me know if you intend to participate, regardless!

2) We should allow teams, for a better chance at quality animations being produced. However, it would be less complicated if only one person claims the points for each round. In addition, we could rank support categories, such as Voice Acting, Music, Backgrounds and In-Betweens. The important thing here is to know whether you are the lead animator or a support role in a project. Thoughts in general are welcome on this topic.

3) Prizes. Big question. We haven't hit our Pico Day prize goal so I'm squeamish about how big of a commitment we can make. If anyone works for a company that may want to be a sponsor, reach out to me and we can discuss! Would be especially cool if we could get some interest from Cartoon Network.

4) Feel welcome to suggest potential themes.

5) One week per jam theme? Two weeks?


Working on Nightmare Cops!

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Response to Summer Animation Jams 2016-05-25 12:08:51


Wow, this sounds awesome, hope I can participate.

Response to Summer Animation Jams 2016-05-25 12:15:30


Color me interested :D


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Response to Summer Animation Jams 2016-05-25 12:15:50


This sounds like a crazy awesome idea, and I'm all for it. I'd also like to toss my vote in for 2 weeks per theme. Quality over quantity and all that. We could also set up a system where there's a new theme every week, but everyone gets 2 weeks to complete whatever theme the initially go with? That might just turn into people making a thing a week though.

Response to Summer Animation Jams 2016-05-25 12:17:26


@Tomfulp sounds fun but still really busy getting The Hiding done! Thinking maybe Kill Da Guy 2 and THe Hiding could come out in the same week or something.


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Response to Summer Animation Jams 2016-05-25 12:23:24


This sounds amazing. I think that one topic every week would be great, but might get more participation if there's a new theme every two weeks?

Response to Summer Animation Jams 2016-05-25 12:24:41


Two weeks, more time to participate

Response to Summer Animation Jams 2016-05-25 13:07:09


School ended a little early this year so I'm definitively joining!


till we overdose

Response to Summer Animation Jams 2016-05-25 13:23:03 (edited 2016-05-25 13:27:41)


At 5/25/16 12:01 PM, TomFulp wrote: In addition, we could rank support categories, such as Voice Acting, Music, Backgrounds and In-Betweens. The important thing here is to know whether you are the lead animator or a support role in a project. Thoughts in general are welcome on this topic.

sounds interesting, i was thinking about doing another sarcastic jam later in the year so i'll get in touch with you about that at some point down the road.

but the technical stuff is no fun, i don't know if butzbo would have ever gotten as far as he did if in-betweens were a category of judgement. i know that boiling animations down to technical stuff makes it easier and more transparent to judge, but you lose a lot of good content when people have to focus on making something technically pleasing. keeping it simple, like 'yeah this one is better than that one,' really does work better a lot of the time

though i do like the idea that voice and music could get a little bit of contest love, those guys and girls have really come through for a lot of us on tight deadlines

Response to Summer Animation Jams 2016-05-25 13:31:06


@K7vin Let's team up for one. Lol.


It's a Wooley World, but someones got to shave it...

Response to Summer Animation Jams 2016-05-25 13:38:07


This sounds pretty nice, maybe the themes could revolve around sentences or phrases like NATA had, or maybe it could be something like "Space", "Classic Cartoons", and "Spooky". I like that there's no pressure to participate in each one, but I wonder if that will affect the output. The team system gets me charged up though, I wish I could've done one of those weekend Jams that used to happen, I like the idea of everyone working together over Skype and keeping each other motivated. I like working under pressure so I think a week should work for these jams, and I'm just about done with school so I'd be able to participate.

Response to Summer Animation Jams 2016-05-25 13:38:09


At 5/25/16 01:31 PM, WooleyWorld wrote: @K7vin Let's team up for one. Lol.

Hells yeah!

Response to Summer Animation Jams 2016-05-25 13:56:08


When will this be starting?

Response to Summer Animation Jams 2016-05-25 13:56:38


@tomfulp

Ever thought about running another big collab like these?


BBS Signature

Response to Summer Animation Jams 2016-05-25 14:17:13


This sounds like a good idea.

Response to Summer Animation Jams 2016-05-25 14:25:11


ggggggg

Summer Animation Jams

Response to Summer Animation Jams 2016-05-25 14:36:00


At 5/25/16 01:23 PM, dylan wrote: but the technical stuff is no fun, i don't know if butzbo would have ever gotten as far as he did if in-betweens were a category of judgement. i know that boiling animations down to technical stuff makes it easier and more transparent to judge, but you lose a lot of good content when people have to focus on making something technically pleasing. keeping it simple, like 'yeah this one is better than that one,' really does work better a lot of the time

Do you think the rule should one ONE person does all the art and animation, with additional slots for voice / music / writing / sound? Or maybe we could leave out in-betweens (kinda unlikely anyway) but have a "backgrounds" category, since there are some great background artists who can help take the load off, leaving the single animator more time to draw and animate the characters.


Working on Nightmare Cops!

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Response to Summer Animation Jams 2016-05-25 14:36:51


I'd love to participate, regardless of any prize. But in order to come up with a quality product that I can only work on my spare time I think two weeks work better.

Response to Summer Animation Jams 2016-05-25 14:38:56


At 5/25/16 01:56 PM, Blounty wrote: @tomfulp

Ever thought about running another big collab like these?

The big collabs come up a lot... One big chance is that it would be unlikely to ever do a giant SWF collab again, partly because the Street Fighter Collab took MONTHS to optimize everyone's work and even then it could only compile on one of the office computers... But also because the general public just wants video now... So some of that old charm may be forever gone. Still, as a big flowing video we could still make something really fun. It's EVEN POSSIBLE that one of the themes this summer could be to make something that becomes part of a giant collab pieces.


Working on Nightmare Cops!

BBS Signature

Response to Summer Animation Jams 2016-05-25 14:44:00


I think i'd be more for two weeks, it would kinda get a little exhausting after a while rushing to get a cartoon out everyweek.


Hello I'm draw art and art acessories

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Response to Summer Animation Jams 2016-05-25 15:19:01


At 5/25/16 02:38 PM, TomFulp wrote: Tthe Street Fighter Collab took MONTHS to optimize everyone's work and even then it could only compile on one of the office computers...

But Tom, there's an ActionScript 2.0 function named "loadMovie" which allows you to dynamically load SWFs into a main SWF that are hosted on a site, you could compile a different SWF for each movie and then load them in a preloader SWF dynamically.

Response to Summer Animation Jams 2016-05-25 15:45:28


At 5/25/16 02:38 PM, TomFulp wrote:
At 5/25/16 01:56 PM, Blounty wrote: @tomfulp

Ever thought about running another big collab like these?
The big collabs come up a lot... One big chance is that it would be unlikely to ever do a giant SWF collab again, partly because the Street Fighter Collab took MONTHS to optimize everyone's work and even then it could only compile on one of the office computers... But also because the general public just wants video now... So some of that old charm may be forever gone. Still, as a big flowing video we could still make something really fun. It's EVEN POSSIBLE that one of the themes this summer could be to make something that becomes part of a giant collab pieces.

I don't think it would have to be .swf and bringing these giant collabs back would really put some community spirit back into Newgrounds in my opinion. Especially with all the new really great animators that have come around in recent years.

*cough* Dark souls Collab *cough*


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Response to Summer Animation Jams 2016-05-25 16:15:00


Sounds neato! I'll participate!

Response to Summer Animation Jams 2016-05-25 16:25:42


This sounds great, I think two weeks would be better simply because the animations would have a higher quality. Also it makes sense to give just one point prize per animation, otherwise people might just put their friends names on it for extra points.

Response to Summer Animation Jams 2016-05-25 16:54:40


At 5/25/16 12:01 PM, TomFulp wrote: The other night I was at dinner with @CatFat and @DuDuL

I picture a posh dinner party.

Response to Summer Animation Jams 2016-05-25 17:05:53


Voice actor right here, ready to rock any script you give me!


A journey of a thousand miles begins with complaining

Response to Summer Animation Jams 2016-05-25 17:25:27


I'm down to do this. Anything to help out Newgrounds!

Also two weeks per theme would be best.

Response to Summer Animation Jams 2016-05-25 17:54:00


I'm down if it's a two week thing.

Though I won't be free for the next few weeks, I think I can definitely catch up with the rest of the competitors in the rest of summer.

Response to Summer Animation Jams 2016-05-25 17:59:26


Hey guys, long time lurker, first time caller:
I have a list of ideas to throw out there, because I don't know anything about the technical stuff, but I want to help.

1) Summer blockbusters as a theme could be cool, because someone could animate either their experiences with the movies themselves, theatres, or something like that

2)Theme idea: summer and jam, seperately or together in any context

2) A song could be chosen, and everyone participating could animate 1 peice of the song, and compile it together ( I don't know if that's the same thing as a flash collab, but it's out there now )

3) The prize could be a physical thing, like a small trophy, or a poster, that way if funds are low there's still something to celebrate or show for it.

As far as judging separate categories:
when a movie is submitted, would it be like, submitted only in that category, so people know what to judge for it?
or would every movie fall into a blanket of judgement on all categories?

ALSO I am an animator, and if someone wants to collaborate with their background skills, I am down like James Brown.