Repurposed Animation

From time to time I'm asked to take an existing scene from a cartoon and re-edit the lip flap and action to match a new script. This is often a faster and cheaper way produce animated content than having new animation created from scratch. The process involves blocking the scene to a scratch track, re-voicing the characters, and retiming the animation to match the audio. This first clip is the original scene taken from an episode of The Looney Tunes Show.

And here is the repurposed scene once I've replaced the audio and retimed the animation. This particular application was used to promote Cartoon Network's annual "June Bugs" stunt.

This next scene is the original scene from an episode of Scooby Doo Mystery Incorporated.

And here is the scene after I've replaced the audio and retimed the animation.

This particular bump was 1 of 12 pieces in lengths from 5 to 20 seconds. They were used as interstitial programming during a back to school weekend of Scooby Doo programming. The challenges of this kind of work have changed over the years I've been doing it. Many years ago, animation was shot on film just like movies. The difficulties back then were often associated with the imperfections of the medium. Gate weave, film grain, and exposure fluctuations often made it hard to achieve a clean and convincing final product. As technology changed, animation moved to digital production. Now using After Effects and Photoshop, I can replace background images, stabilize scenes that wiggle, and remap mouth shapes to characters where they didn't exist before. All of this, and I can't draw!