Process
The color script comes first
Process · · 1 min
A strip of ten swatches, made before a single frame moves, saves more time than any render setting.
Animation films have used color scripts for decades: a strip of small paintings that shows the color of every scene. I make one for every job over thirty seconds, before any motion at all.
Ten swatches, one page
I split the music into beats and give each beat one color. The strip goes to the client as a single image. It is the cheapest thing I make, and the one clients remember best.
Why it saves time
Every color argument happens on the strip, when a change costs a minute. Without it, the same argument happens on the final render, when a change costs a day.
Agree on the color before you agree on anything else.
Noa Calder