Welcome to Part 2 of our Remote Production Guide. In Part 1 (which you can read here), we covered some of the tools we use to keep the studio running on a larger operational level, but here, we’ll be talking about the creative collaboration tools we use to tackle individual projects, from discovery to delivery. We’ve even got a real-life case study to use for example — our newly released Christmas in July project for Shriners Hospitals for Children. Let’s dive in!

Step 1: Discovery

As our Creative Director, it’s Josh who meets with the Client (via Google Hangout or over the phone) to go over what they hope accomplish: messaging takeaways, audience, total run-time, live-action components, project timeline, budget etc. The client is the expert on the subject matter, and we want to ask smart questions so that we can educate ourselves and use our creativity most effectively to make something great together.

Step 2: Scheduling

Fearless producer Sam dons his noise-cancelling headphones and boots up Asana and Instagantt. He lays out the schedule for each phase based on the project’s total run-time, and then works with the team to schedule freelancers as needed. These two programs work in tandem, so what is inputted into Instagantt connects to Asana, which ultimately gives each team member their individual list of tasks and due dates.

Step 3: Script

We leave Josh alone for a couple of days so can synthesize the information he gathered during his Discovery meeting and turn it into a Planet Nutshell-worthy script aka one that is succinct, clear, and fun. Depending on the project and the required voice, he may also work with a freelance writer. Both Josh and our freelance writers use Google Docs for quick collaboration.

Step 4: Storyboard

Once the script is finalized and approved by the client, we have a storyboard meeting and put the script into Boords, an online storyboarding software platform. We draw out each frame and include description of each shot as well as arrows to illustrate camera movement. We love that Boords is client-friendly; we can send the storyboard directly through their platform to the client for feedback and approval.

Step 5: Style Frames

Using the client’s brand guideline as well as our learnings from the Discovery meeting, we create an illustration style and provide client with 2-3 style frames. This gives the client an opportunity to make any tweaks before we dive into the full design.

Our in-house team and our freelancers use Adobe Illustrator, and for seamless remote communication, we rely on Dropbox and Slack.

Step 6: Design

Once the style frames are approved, it’s full steam ahead for our designer to tackle the rest of the frames with the approved design style, including characters, backgrounds, props etc.

Step 7: Voiceover

While everything is being designed, Josh and Sam cast a voiceover actor and direct the recording session via phone patch, directly into the talent’s home recording booth. The talent sends over the recorded files, Sam throws the raw files into Adobe Premiere, we choose the best takes, then edit and export via DropBox to the larger team.

Step 8: Animation

Phew! We finally made it to animation!

Our animators both in-house and out take the design files and, using the voiceover for timing, dive into animation using Adobe AfterEffects (for motion graphics) and Animate (for character animation). We use DropBox and Slack to share the work internally, then assemble the pieces together into one file.

Step 9: Client Review

We send the rough cut off to the Client for approval using Vimeo Review, where the Client is able to make timecode specific comments, streamlining the process immensely!

Step 10: Sound Design

We also send the rough cut off to our sound design freelancers (shout out to Taiko Sound!) who create the audio landscape, making the animation truly come to life. For music, we choose a song that fits the tone of the animation, and download a preview file for client approvals. After approval, we purchase the full track. We’re fans of Premium Beat!

Step 11: Sharing our Work

Once the sound design is final and the animation has been approved, we edit them together in Adobe Premiere and export the shiny new video.

We send the video to the client, and it is ready for them to share on their website, social media and anywhere they want, for all the world to see! Then we upload to our Vimeo page and website, schedule it for Instagram and Facebook, and cheer “HOORAY!” for a few minutes before diving back into the other animations we’re working on.

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This July 4th, we need each other more than ever. The fights for public health and racial, social and economic equality can’t be won alone. So instead of Independence Day, this year, let’s celebrate Interdependence Day, and take a moment to acknowledge the ways we can further support each other and work to improve not just individual lives, but entire societies.

We have compiled a list of groups and organizations we believe are promoting a positive, interconnected and just world. We will continue to update this page in the coming weeks and months. So please, if there are resources we missed that you think should be included, let us know.

Black Lives Matter

These groups provide tangible ways to help advance the movement, including amplifying the demands of the movement, letter writing, talking to your loved ones about racism, boycotts/being smarter with your wallet, joining an organization, signing petitions, educating yourself and taking political action.

Black Lives Matter – “#BlackLivesMatter was founded in 2013 in response to the acquittal of Trayvon Martin’s murderer. Black Lives Matter Foundation, Inc is a global organization in the US, UK, and Canada, whose mission is to eradicate white supremacy and build local power to intervene in violence inflicted on Black communities by the state and vigilantes. By combating and countering acts of violence, creating space for Black imagination and innovation, and centering Black joy, we are winning immediate improvements in our lives.”

Black Lives Matter – A guide to Allyship.

Poor People’s Campaign – “In 1968, Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and many others called for a “revolution of values” in America. They sought to build a broad, fusion movement that could unite poor and impacted communities across the country. Their name was a direct cry from the underside of history: The Poor People’s Campaign. Today, the Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival has picked up this unfinished work. From Alaska to Arkansas, the Bronx to the border, people are coming together to confront the interlocking evils of systemic racism, poverty, ecological devastation, militarism and the war economy, and the distorted moral narrative of religious nationalism. We understand that as a nation we are at a critical juncture — that we need a movement that will shift the moral narrative, impact policies and elections at every level of government, and build lasting power for poor and impacted people.”

Demanding Justice List – A list of petitions and places to donate, call and email to demand justice.

Anti-Racism Resource List – “This document is intended to serve as a resource to white people and parents to deepen our anti-racism work. If you haven’t engaged in anti-racism work in the past, start now. Feel free to circulate this document on social media and with your friends, family, and colleagues.”

New York Times – Anti-Racism Reading List – “Ibram X. Kendi on books to help America transcend its racist heritage.”

GLAD – Racial justice resources from the Legal Advocates and Defenders for LGBTQ+ rights.

Letters For Black Lives – “Letters for Black Lives is a set of crowdsourced, multilingual, and culturally-aware resources aimed at creating a space for open and honest conversations about racial justice, police violence, and anti-Blackness in our families and communities. We began as a group of Asian Americans and Canadians writing an intergenerational letter to voice our concerns and support for the Black community. We have since grown to include other immigrant groups and communities of color. Our goal is to listen, support, and amplify the message of Black Lives Matter within our communities. We encourage people from all communities to adapt and build off of these resources.”

Protest Safety Guide – Tips for protesting safely by Black Lives Matter Seattle-King County including COVID-19 precautions and other physical and emotional safety, privacy, filming tips, police interaction, community support and group dynamics.

Protest Resources – “As a protester participating in direct action during COVID-19, how can you help to ensure that you don’t spread the virus to vulnerable communities? And mutually, how can the chronically ill/disabled community aid you from home? COVID-19 has forced us all to face the systems that were designed to fail us. Now we must protect each other from not only the virus, but the system as well. In this document we have attempted to collect resources that will help not only those participating in direct action, but also those who cannot participate in direct action, including the disabled and chronically ill community, as well as those who are unable to for any other reason.”

Mapping Police Violence – A dynamic and powerful map showing locations of police violence in the USA in 2019 and updates for 2020, as well as some staggering statistics and ways to get involved.

National Lawyer’s Guild – “For 80 years, the National Lawyers Guild has led the fight to protect the people’s rights. By helping [donating to] the Guild, you directly aid our legal support in labor struggles, international rights monitoring, mass defense of political speech, rebuffing attacks on immigrants, women, people of color, LGBTQ persons, prisoners, and others facing government and institutional oppression.”

COVID-19

Doctors Without Borders – “An independent, global movement providing lifesaving medical humanitarian care where it’s needed most– independent, neutral, impartial.”

Charity Navigator – “Highly-rated nonprofits providing relief and recovery to communities impacted by the pandemic.”

New York Times – How You Can Help Victims of the Coronavirus Pandemic – “From charities that support children to organizations that feed families, there is no shortage of ways to get involved.”

Oxfam – “Oxfam is working with partners in nearly 50 countries and here in the US to meet the needs of those who are suffering the worst impacts from the Coronavirus crisis.”

Mutual Aid – “Across the country Americans are organizing Mutual Aid Networks to support their neighbors in need. Find community support efforts near you.”

World Health Organization – When and how to use masks.

Direct Relief – “Direct Relief is working in overdrive to get protective gear and critical care medications to as many health workers as possible, as quickly as possible, with emergency deliveries leaving daily for medical facilities across the U.S. Since January, Direct Relief has delivered more than 6 million N95 and surgical masks, more than 2 million gloves, and tens of thousands of protective suits and other items to help safeguard health workers. Direct Relief is coordinating with public health authorities, nonprofit organizations and businesses in the U.S. and globally to provide personal protective equipment and essential medical items to health workers responding to coronavirus (COVID-19).”

Voting

For this category, AltaMed.org says it best: “Help make a difference in your community, our country, and the world. Elections have consequences and voting is your chance to stand up for the issues you care about. Not voting is giving up your voice. Voting is your chance to choose how your tax dollars are spent. Some in our communities may not know how important voting is, while others don’t have the privilege. Make the decision to vote for yourself and those around you. Make your voice heard in these elections.”

Register to vote here, or here, or here!

Volunteer as a Poll Worker

Team Blue – “Take action. The way we win is by organizing. The place we start is right here. Explore our centralized hub for grassroots volunteer opportunities to take action on your own time.”

Indivisible – “We’re a grassroots movement of thousands of local Indivisible groups with a mission to elect progressive leaders, rebuild our democracy, and defeat the Trump agenda.”

Swing Left – “Find effective ways to help defeat Trump and the GOP in 2020.”

When We All Vote – “When We All Vote is a non-profit, nonpartisan organization that is on a mission to increase participation in every election and close the race and age voting gap by changing the culture around voting, harnessing grassroots energy, and through strategic partnerships to reach every American. Launched in 2018 by co-chairs Michelle Obama, Tom Hanks, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Janelle Monae, Chris Paul, Faith Hill and Tim McGraw, When We All Vote is changing the culture around voting using a data-driven and multifaceted approach to increase participation in elections.”

Fair Fight – “Fair Fight Action engages in voter mobilization and education activities [especially among voters of color and young voters] and advocates for progressive issues; in addition Fair Fight Action has mounted significant programs to combat voter suppression in Georgia and nationally.”

All On The Line – “All On The Line is a national campaign to restore fairness to our democracy and ensure every American has an equal say in our government. Whether you care about making sure everyone has access to quality, affordable health care, achieving equal pay, reducing the gun violence that plagues our schools and communities, protecting voting rights, or dealing with the urgent threat of climate change, there is a fundamental structural barrier that prevents progress: manipulated electoral maps drawn with surgical precision by politicians to preserve their party’s political power and silence the will of the people. This practice—gerrymandering—is when politicians pick their voters instead of voters picking their elected officials and it impacts communities across the nation. The All On The Line campaign will fight against gerrymandering and push for fair maps in the next round of redistricting.”

LGBTQ

GLAD – “Through strategic litigation, public policy advocacy, and education, GLBTQ Legal Advocates & Defenders works in New England and nationally to create a just society free of discrimination based on gender identity and expression, HIV status, and sexual orientation.”

Out & Equal – “Out & Equal is the premier organization working exclusively on LGBTQ workplace equality. Through our worldwide programs, Fortune 500 partnerships and our annual Workplace Summit conference, we help LGBTQ people thrive and support organizations creating a culture of belonging for all.”

Lambda Legal – “Founded in 1973, Lambda Legal is the oldest and largest national legal organization whose mission is to achieve full recognition of the civil rights of lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, transgender people and everyone living with HIV through impact litigation, education and public policy work. As a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization, we do not charge our clients for legal representation or advocacy, and we receive no government funding. We depend on contributions from supporters around the country.”

Transgender Law Center – “Transgender Law Center changes law, policy, and attitudes so that all people can live safely, authentically, and free from discrimination regardless of their gender identity or expression. Transgender Law Center (TLC) is the largest national trans-led organization advocating for a world in which all people are free to define themselves and their futures. Grounded in legal expertise and committed to racial justice, TLC employs a variety of community-driven strategies to keep transgender and gender nonconforming people alive, thriving, and fighting for liberation.”

The Trevor Project – “Founded in 1998 by the creators of the Academy Award®-winning short film TREVOR, The Trevor Project is the leading national organization providing crisis intervention and suicide prevention services to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer & questioning (LGBTQ) young people under 25.”

Trans Lifeline – “Trans Lifeline is a trans-led grassroots hotline organization that connects trans people to the community, support, and resources they need to survive and thrive by offering direct emotional and financial support to trans people in crisis. Trans Lifeline is the only service in the country in which all operators are transgender.”

GLSEN – “GLSEN works to ensure that LGBTQ students are able to learn and grow in a school environment free from bullying and harassment. Together, we can transform our nation’s K-12 schools into the safe and affirming environment all youth deserve.”

Over the past month, it feels like the world has changed yet again. This time, though, rather than hunkering down, the team at Planet Nutshell wanted to take action. We’ve been doing a lot of thinking about how we can make a difference, have a positive impact, and make improvements where necessary. And we settled on three key positions that we felt were important to share.

1. Planet Nutshell remains committed to producing high-quality media that serves a cause higher than ourselves. As a team, we have all made a choice to make media that matters, media that is meaningful, that supports nonprofits and social causes, and that helps our audiences learn and grow.
2. Planet Nutshell will continue to emphasize and prioritize diversity and inclusivity. It makes us stronger, better, and more aligned with the world we live in. We believe that we can do better in this regard, and we will be launching a new initiative in the coming months that allows us to nurture talent from disadvantaged communities.
3. Planet Nutshell is working to embody the change we want to see in the world. We can’t share too much now, but we are excited to unveil a major new project soon that amplifies voices that are underrepresented in America. Meanwhile, we are in the process of donating a production to a social nonprofit. 

I want you to know this is not a one-and-done post. We are holding ourselves accountable to these statements and will be checking in with you all — our audience, loved-ones, and clients — about our progress. I remain hopeful and optimistic that we are all moving towards a better place, one that is more just, more equitable, and healthier for all. Change is hard. But it must come and we’re excited to be a part of it.

As social distancing and remote work have become the norm in many places, how can teams still create media and tell stories collaboratively and safely? Animation is one obvious solution, as it can be produced entirely remotely. That is, it can be, so long as you have the right systems in place and the right tools available.

I wanted to share some of the tools and processes that have set up our team for success as we all work remotely, and allowed us to go from client brief to final cut, all from the comfort of our house slippers. In part one (which you’re reading now — hi!), I’ll go over project management, communication, and productivity/file sharing, and in part two (stay tuned!), we’ll have a look at our creative collaboration tools for storyboarding, design, and animation.

Project Management

A couple of years ago, I spent months searching for the right project management tools, ones that allowed us to work the way we wanted to work, but even more efficiently.

Finally, we settled on a combination of Asana and Instagantt. Asana is great because we can easily assign tasks to both our internal staff and freelancers, and everything appears on a calendar. When tasks are complete, assignees can check them off and get that wonderful feeling of satisfaction (who doesn’t love crossing items off their to-do list?). Plus, there’s even a unicorn that flies across the screen (seriously!) when a task is completed.

Meanwhile, Instagantt, which can be purchased as an extension for Asana, lets us chart out projects on a timeline, allocate our resources, and see how projects are overlapping. Sam, our producer, lives in Instagantt, keeping track of the status of every detail. Without Instagantt, I’m pretty sure we wouldn’t be nearly as efficient as we are, as it helps us schedule and allocate precious resources with a ton of precision across multiple concurrent projects.

Communication

Slack is our most important remote communication tool, by far. We create a “channel” for each project so that everything for that project lives in one place. We also have channels for artwork, animation, and ideas that inspire us; potential freelancers; upcoming events; and more.

We recently added a little app to Slack that allows us to take polls to get consensus on creative decisions. Here’s a recent one Mollie made to help us decide which music track to use for our upcoming reel:

When we need to talk one-on-one or as a team to go over an issue, discuss a design, or share our screens to go over a sequence we’re working on in After Effects, we hop on a video chat. We also meet more formally three times a week to hang out and do a show and tell. There are, of course, many solutions for this, but we prefer Google Meet, because it’s part of G Suite, which we use for email, as well as sharing docs, calendars, and spreadsheets in the cloud.

File Sharing

This is a biggie, as the lifeblood of our work is the creative files we’re creating and sharing, and many of those files are quite large in size. After Effects projects, Illustrator files, Photoshop files, audio and video files.. the list goes on and on.

For about a decade, we have relied on one solution that is essential to our operations and has almost never let us down: Dropbox for Business.

Why is it the best, in my view? It gets out of the way, and it just works. Create or update a file on your computer’s hard drive just like you would any other file, and it’s instantly available to your team members on their hard drive. It’s as simple as that. Need to send a file to a client for review? Right clink on the file in the Finder or Directory, and you’ve got a link to share with them. Everything is backed up effortlessly, too. There’s a great feature, called Smart Sync, that lets you decide which files actually live on your desktop vs. being stored in the cloud. This lets you download files when you need them, so you don’t fill up your hard drive with files you’re not working on, or use infrequently.

Stay tuned for part two, when I’ll show these tools in action as part of our remote production process.