Fernanda Veloso:
I read a post from Bobby in the forums right before Class 5 started, saying that our short films should be about something we are really passionate about, and a good way to start would be to list the top 5 things we love the most and would like to animate. One of the things on my list was chocolate, hehe. Then, in the beginning of Class 5, I learned that we should determine first what did we want to get out of this short? What is the main thing we want to focus on? A story? Acting? A gag? I was looking for something that would be fun to watch, simple, clear and hopefully have a nice little message in the end too. So I thought something involving kids could have all those aspects, since they usually behave in fun, simple and clear ways. I also learned in Class 5 that one of the best ways of coming up with stories is drawing from personal experience-- events in our lives that we learned something from, or something funny, interesting or meaningful that happened to us. Cause if it's not interesting, funny or meaningful to us, chances are, it won't be for anyone else to watch either. So I looked into my childhood, trying to draw from personal experience and find stories involving kids at the same time. And looking back, I had a lot of experiences involving chocolate and lessons to be learned, hehe, like not wanting to share any of my chocolates with my brothers and getting a bad tummy ache in a vacation trip.

Fernanda Veloso:
1) Planning, planning, planning. Planning on story, on characters, on cameras, on style, on animation, on acting, and planning a schedule, which takes me to...
2) Keeping on schedule. If you want to finish on time, stick to your schedule.
3) Getting feedback as much and as often as possible and
4) Knowing what to listen to and what not to listen to, which takes me to...
5) Keeping true to your key story point. A lot of times I got feedback that would lead to fun animation, but that didn't add or even took away from my main point with the short. So, very important, before getting wooed by great suggestions into making changes, stop and think, how will this help me tell my story in a more clear, or entertainning way? Will this actually help to enforce my points?
6) Keeping my chin up, regardless on how things may seem. Keep going. Enjoy it. If you don't, it will show on your animation.

Fernanda Veloso:
3 months on Class 5 from coming up with story to final 3d animatic; 3 months on Class 6 from first blocking to first polish; and around 2 months of more polish on animation after I graduated, when I took some time off away from it, and then looked at it again with fresh eyes. So total, so far, 8 months.

Fernanda Veloso:
A lot, definitely. And even now, looking back, it could have used some more of it...the more planning done before, and the more detailed (and realistic, haha), the easier it is going to be to finish, that's for sure!
Class 5 was planning time, essentially. So I planned for 3 months, which has been 40% of all the time I worked on this. I planned and experimented a lot with the story, the point I wanted to make and what kind of situations I could have happen that would show this point more clearly (and more entertaining). And then the characters-- what interaction were they going to have and how would they react to each other...and then camera angles, cuts, composition, editing...how many shots would I use to convey each idea, what's the best visual way of conveying each beat...all that was very important and I did as much experimenting and planning I could in the time I had.
Later on, when I was deep into production, a lot of times I would start drifting into ideas or acting that didn't relate to the decisions on my final planning, so having that final plan was essential.  Without it, there would be no blue print to follow and the point could have been so easily lost.  Sometimes, new ideas would come up with feedback that were better and I could use, but I always had to stop and ask myself “Is this really going to help to make the point more clear in an entertaining way?” Having a plan in the first place is the key to answering that question.
One area that I now wish I had put a lot more planning into was the characters’ movement. Because they are kids (and the dog!), they should have that very particular pattern of motion, which is very difficult to capture in animation.  When Class 6 came, it was already time to be knees deep into blocking and I had barely looked into how I would make their motion and acting read as young kids (7 and 5).  I looked at a lot of reference and tried to nail the main things I could identify (and my mentor was priceless with the advice he gave me for that) but I really think I should have put more time planning that, for a better result in the end.

Fernanda Veloso:

Fernanda Veloso:
From the first pitch to the final animatic, things changed, and one of the main struggles I had was keeping true to the main point of the film while making changes and improvements. I was constantly going after feedback and many times I heard ideas I really liked or criticism I found very compelling, but that wouldn't really help in conveying the point of the film as clearly as it should’ve been.
Another struggle I had was dealing with subjectivity, which I find very tricky...this is where I think animation gets the hardest, when it's beyond the challenge of clarity, you ask yourself and others, is it any good? Is it enjoyable to watch? How can I make this better? The thing is, people have different tastes, so what one person would find good, funny or touching, another would find boring, irritating or wrong.  So I had a lot of conflicting subjective feedback, and that was what I had the hardest time with, the fact that you can't please everyone. A lot of times I found myself questioning what I was doing, if it was not good enough, if I should just change it all...it was a constant battle to keep confidence and focus. My mentor was extremely helpful (and patient!) in guiding me through that. I learned a lot about keeping a motivated attitude and how that is essential to doing animation.

Fernanda Veloso:
I certainly could not have done this short film without Animation Mentor. It provided me with the knowledge and training I needed to pull it off, in all the lectures and mentors (in all 4 classes that came before and class 5 and 6 as well), the energy, enthusiasm, feedback and encouragement from my classmates, and my mentor for Class 5 and 6, Chris Derochie, who was key in guiding me through this.  I seriously couldn't have done this without his wisdom and patience. Just reading this interview you can have an idea of how many times I would have gotten lost in this process without Animation Mentor, starting at the very beginning with coming up with the concept to very end with staying motivated and finishing!