Hitler.

Just thought I’d help along the complete digression of this thread. We’d have eventually gotten there anyway…

Make that years.

And, yes, I’m sure the laughter and applause were deafening.

Don’t take it personally, David. If you knew the source, you probably wouldn’t even have bothered to respond.

No, you don’t go “looking though all the different talking heads, trying to find the right one”.

In the old days of cel animation we kept all the talking heads in boxed titled by character (DMR = “Dangermouse Facing Right”, for instance). Pre-animating them ahead of time (sometimes months) meant that more time could be put into making the animation smooth, and the head tilts, subtle twists, dips, extremes and settles were all coded so that the person writing the dope sheet simply used the code supplied via a model sheet – they didn’t even have to see the cels, they knew what each letter meant and could split off mouths and eyeblinks to order.
This became a specialist job given to someone who understood animation but perhaps couldn’t draw or animate. One person could do a whole half hour episode themselves in a couple of days to a week, depending on how many talking heads were storyboarded. These scenes were used not only on an episode but throughout a whole series.
The dope sheets (camera exposure charts) then went to rostrum camera and the cameraman did his stuff, shooting as required.

Nowadays with a totally digitized system such as Toonboom, Animo, USA, whatever, the process is infinitely more easy, the talking heads (or mid shots, or whatever) are archived on a drive, with hard copy reference for compositors to use. No new layouts, no storyboard pics needed – an animation director can cut 20% of animation and costs at a stroke by going through a board and redlining code names for scenes which the boarder had originally planned new animation.

Only if a character’s appearance is changed during one episode will he/she need to be animated from scratch

No-one wants to see a whole episode of talking heads, or even two characters standing face to face blathering, but South Park does fine even though it contains vast amounts of jiggling heads and acres of dialogue and virtually nothing else. The funny scripts and entertaining voicework carries TV animation, NOT the animation itself.
Pre-planning the talking heads frees the animators up for doing the broader animated, more enjoyable work.
The Chinese studios we used rejected the concept of pre-planned animation. They would insist on re-animating EVERY scene, no stock scenes or library work. Why? because they wanted to make sure their animators were WORKING for the pittance they were paid. They slept under their desks, they were working so many hours, and the next shift guy would slot into the seat above him to keep on working.

It doesn’t have to be that way, and you seriously question the minds that can’t, or won’t see a way round it.

Could it be that looking though all the different talking heads, trying to find the right one might take longer than just drawing it?

So now anyone who stands up and espouses an opinion is a “bully”? You’re living in a country that invaded and murdered hundreds of thousands of innocent people on the premise of a lie told by a President you voted in to office twice. I would venture to suggest you don’t know what a bully is.

To put it in layman’s terms, it’s the equivalent of not copy-pasting huge chunks of text, but instead choosing to type it all out again.

Gosh, I hope the URL of this thread doesn’t make its way mysteriously to Mr Murdoch’s Inbox.

Bravo, Mr. Silverman, you’re a true talent. And don’t pay any heed to Magookin’s comments. For the past several months, he’s been spitting venom at any tourist who walks by his cage with a better-looking snack bar than his. Petty is as petty does.

You deserve every award you get.

Wow…

There’s an old saying…”When you find yourself in a hole, stop digging.”