Reasons for Using Leica Reels

• Storyboards are a series of individually drawn frames from an animation used to plan scenes in the early stages of production. Although viewing storyboards gives you a good idea of how the animation will run, it is much more valuable to see those drawings in the context they will ultimately have on screen, along with the planned soundtrack. This method allows producers and executives to see the storyboard with the animation's ultimate pace and structure.
  
  

The Process

• First, artists record both the script and the soundtrack (songs and sound effects). Then animators draw storyboard panels to fit in with the script. They then put these panels into the Leica reel to show the reel to executives for approval. Approval is necessary to continue production of the animation, and some projects can require up to three separate stages of approval, with editing and revising the Leica reel as per the executives' requests each time.
  
  

Benefits

• After full animation has begun, it becomes more difficult and expensive to make changes. Using Leica reels avoids animators painstakingly creating scenes or characters only to have them cut out of the story.
  
  Production teams and executives can see whether the characters are saying the right things at the right time and whether the animations fit with the script and soundtrack.
  
  Seeing the Leica reel will also show which frames of the story should be on screen for longer or shorter times to allow audiences to see and react to them appropriately. This will help audiences understand the flow of the story.