A Conversation with Postworks
Mike Lovse, Bill Bergen and the team at Postworks in Grand Rapids, Michigan, work on a new weekly children's television show called 'Come on Over', which is getting a lot of buzz. Come on Over inspires imagination and creativity as it takes the viewer on a playful trip into the world of Joel and a cast of eccentric characters. The show brims with humor, music and learning... and whimsical graphics.
Postworks edits and creates the graphics for the show, as well as the website.
The show makes it television debut on Saturday, October 21, 2006, on WOTV-4 in Grand Rapids.
iChat transcripts
Toolfarm: Hi Mike and Bill.
Mike Lovse: Howdy ho, neighbor.
Bill Bergen: Hello.
TF: What is "Come on Over"?
ML: It's a live action children's show,targeting kids between the ages 5 and 9.
BB: It's a fun show with puppets, crazy human characters, cartoons, and all kinds of silly music.
TF: You know I attended the Premiere with my 3 year old this week and I had a great time. 'Come on Over' is better than a lot of kids shows we watch on tv now. The graphics are so fun, perfect for that age group, but the jokes are for adults too.
TF: How did Postworks get involved with the project?
ML: There was a RFP (request for proposal) sent out to three post houses in the West Michigan area.
BB: Postworks is one of the most well known productions house in West Michigan.
ML: The deciding factor was that we have a twister mat on the ceiling...no kidding!
BB: They told us that it showed we were young at heart.
TF: And what was your role in the production?
ML: Steve Taber does all the editing via Avid and creates the final episodes. Bill and Alicia VanHeulen provide the motion graphic support for both the editor and me. I design and program the web site and help with art direction.
TF: Can you talk a bit about the process and workflow of putting together the show?
BB: We were given quite a few production photos that I brought into Photoshop. I wanted to make them really fun, with lots of energy and color, so the kids would respond well to them.
BB: In Photoshop we applied a couple overlays to give them a gritty collage look, and built sequence that could be brought into After Effects.
ML: All of our design elements are organic. We wanted to avoid sharp corners as much as possible. The client is a painter, so his vision was a moving collage.
BB: Using the 3D Camera in After Effects, we were able to bring the 2D stills to life in a fun, unique way.
ML: The stuff Bill did using the 3D Camera in AE inspired me to recreate that look using Flash for the web site.
BB: As I was building the elements for the promos and character introductions, we planned the entire time to reuse the same elements in the website, so it was like killing to birds with one stone.
ML: We took the animation sequences directly from AE.
ML: The motion graphics can be seen in the videos at www.comeonover.com.
ML: The web site will continue to grow and more characters will be added, and entire episodes will stream, too.
BB: We would take frame grabs from actually video of a character walking or something.
BB: We also used these images when making the trading cards that were given out at the Premiere.
TF: Was there a lot of experimentation while working? Did you have a lot of freedom?
BB: I had way too much freedom. I had an idea for putting some animations in the promos for television and I just made a mock up of what one could look like.
BB: The 'Come on Over' people loved it and told me to make more without wanting to see anymore comps or anything.
ML: We'd come up with crazy crap and then figure out a way to do it.
ML: The creative pushed the technology.
TF: Did you learn any good tricks while working on the project? Our readers are always looking for tips and tricks.
BB: I feel like I mastered the 3D camera in After Effects while doing this project.
BB: I never really understood the point of interest function. I read a lot about it and did some experiments and figured out that controlling the point of interest and understanding is the key to making things look good in AE.
TF: What sort of challenges came at you during the post production process?
BB: Most of the problems we had were pretty much just problems you will have with the industry, it just seems like... You can never have a computer or network that will run as fast as you need it to
ML: The concept for the web site started with navigating the whole set the TV show was filmed on... but when we started to make the site... the set was torn down.
ML: We had to recreate it from broken photos. Rubber stamp out the characters.
TF: That sounds like a challenge.
BB: it was really time consuming. Some of the elements of the set had to be made from scratch as well.
BB: There is a fence in the show that is pretty much in every scene that I made from scratch so it could be very U, that way it would not get blurry in AE when I did a close up of it.
TF: Are the producers of Come on Over trying to get it syndicated?
BB: I think they are just looking to get this thing off the ground, but of course we would love to have it get syndicated!
TF: I wish you the best and I really hope that it's successful. It's a really terrific show and one that even adults can enjoy.
BB: Everyone has been so kind and has nothing but good things to say about the show! Thanks!
BB: The entire time we worked on this... I can't believe I'm getting paid for this. It's so much fun.
BB: So, go to college, kids, get a job you like...
TF: Thanks so much for your time.
BB: of course, thank you, Michele. It was tons of fun.
ML: Thanks, Michele!