MAX & THE MIDKNIGHTS
LIVE ACTION EDITING
IN AN ANIMATED WORLD
The expansive landscapes of Max & the Midknights are built within Unreal Engine, where our Directors and Vis Artists can location scout and film as if they were navigating an open world video game with handheld cameras. They provide the Editors with full coverage of every scene, which we multi-group and use to cut together each episode’s first form, the CINEMATIC. There is no character acting yet at this phase, so once we’ve selected our shots, we rely heavily on sound design & music to establish the pacing and begin shaping the emotional, comedic & high-action beats.
Here is an example of a multi-group,
with the final editing choices highlighted in the center:
Once the episode runs through the review pipeline as a Cinematic, we move on to the ANIMATIC phase. The Storyboard Artists draw on top of the footage, with a focus on character acting & visual effects, and do so much to bring the scenes to life.
Use the sliders below to add the
storyboarded layers to the CG footage:
As the board artists add their drawings to the mix, the editors work in tandem with them, adjusting the pacing & sound design to better support the storyboarded beats. The slider image below demonstrates how many new characters, props & elements can be introduced in this phase, so you can imagine the additional sound effects & timing adjustments that were needed as we laid these in.
AND JUST LIKE THAT…
THE EPISODE IS LOCKED!
Once the cinematography, editing & storyboards are all approved, the episode is ready to send off to FINAL ANIMATION where a whole lot of love, artistry & magic gets poured in. The final result is a stop-motion inspired, handheld, multi-cam, animated show that is truly the perfect merging of technology & storytelling.
Thank you for following along with this inside look at our unique pipeline!
Dana Coen Thompson 