Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/1081203
48 CINEMONTAGE / Q1 2019 This is where Odjakjian comes in. "I work on color rather than animatics," she says, noting how much she loves working on a 2D show with legacy characters. "When the final animation comes back in color months later, I assemble the show and sync it up. Then the editor and director cut it down to time. When that's locked, the director goes through it again, and he calls for hundreds of retakes. One two-episode show had almost 1,000 retakes." Retakes for a single episode can take up to six weeks, as the overseas animators and local technical directors redo them, according to the assistant editor. (Here, technical directors refer to in-house artists who revise scenes after they have returned from the animation studios; these are not to be confused with the Guild classification of technical directors, who work in live TV.) "When they arrive, I cut them in, match the cut and then review them," Odjakjian says. "If there are enough changes, I send another locked version to the dialogue, music and sound effects editors." Hundreds of retakes for a single 22-minute episode seems excessive, but, says the editorial team, there are many reasons for it. "Every time Donald Duck is drawn, he has to stay on model," Odjakjian explains. Because so many animators are drawing Donald and his nephews, inevitably many frames show them DuckTales. ©Disney Enterprises, Inc. Susan Odjakjian.