Adventures In The Third Duh-mension

(I’ve been hired by a film studio that wants to start making animated shorts. No one working there has any idea how animation works, so I have to be very patient.)

Me: “Alright, so here’s what the animation looks like right now; we’ll be adding color next week.”

(I play a black-and-white animation of the main character running down a hallway, away from the camera.)

Manager: “Hmm, I don’t know. I can’t really recognize the character like this. Can you turn him around?”

Me: “Turn him… around?”

(Note: The character has been running away from camera since the storyboard phase. This is the first I’ve heard of this problem, and I’ve already finished most of the actual animating.)

Manager: “Yeah, because we can’t see his face. Just turn him around.”

Me: “You want him to run towards the camera?”

Manager: “No! I want to see his face. Just turn the drawing around so we can see his face while he runs.”

Me: “This is 2D animation; if you want to see his face, I’ll have to re-draw—”

Manager: “You’re not listening to me. Just take the drawing and turn it around so we can see his face. You don’t have to redraw it! You just have to turn him around! What is so hard about that?! Just get it done, already. Jesus! You animators are too picky.”