Dominic Bianchi and Mark Hentemann at CCAD, photo by Katlin McNally

Dominic Bianchi and Mark Hentemann visited CCAD on April 29 and gave students a rare peek behind the curtain, showing what goes into creating a weekly, half-hour, prime-time network television program. The fact that they were hilarious while doing it shouldn’t be a surprise; they are, respectively, the supervising director and head writer/executive producer for Family Guy.

Like any good comedic act, the duo knew how to warm up their audience, opening with a montage of clips from the popular series. They then went on to detail the creative efforts that go into producing each episode—a process that  takes approximately 13 months, which means that multiple episodes are in varying stages of development at any given time.

Hentemann shows the writers’ room, photo by Katlin McNally

It all starts in the writers’ room, where Hentemann and his team collaborate on a script that must be ready for the first table read at the end of the week.

“That’s when the first version of the script is finalized and all the actors come in,” said Hentemann.  “We get about 60 people in a room at the table read, and we hear a script on its feet. (We call it hearing it on its feet—it’s performed.) We hear how it sounds, get a good sense of what’s working and what’s not.”

From there the writers will go back and rewrite jokes (aka gags) that didn’t quite work. Hentemann went on to share a few gags that were proposed in the writers’ room but didn’t make the final script—they may not have made it into the show, but they still got laughs from the CCAD audience.

Bianchi talks about the storyboarding process at “Family Guy,” photo by Katlin McNally

“Family Guy is storyboard-based show,” Bianchi said as he began to explain the process for dealing with the artwork on the show, which begins as soon as the audio track of the script is recorded.

“A director and assistant director will have two to three storyboard artists per episode,” said Bianchi. “They’ll take the audio file and listen to it, and go over the script and break it down into different scenes.” The team uses Cintiqs with Toom Boom Storyboard Pro software to begin creating thumbnails of shots for the show, which are then pitched to the supervising director, who makes edits. Bianchi and Hentemann used the episode “Back to the Pilot” (S10, Ep 5) to illustrate this process.

After more editing and rewriting, the team moves to animatics, which (at their most basic) are animated drafts that include sound. There are more rounds of editing and rewrites. At some point color is introduced, and even after that there are rewrites. During this process they also have to work with standards and practices, the network entity responsible for ensuring that a program’s content doesn’t cross legal, ethical, or moral lines that might result in anything from FCC fines to lawsuits or lost sponsors.

Bianchi shared examples of animatics from “Back to the Pilot” (S10, Ep5), photo by Katlin McNally

Anyone who has watched Family Guy can imagine the conversations between the show’a producers and the network. Hentemann read some particularly funny notes they received from standards, including one that involved the word “kleeman”—a word the writers made up to see if the standards office would tag it. They did. However, when producers noted that the word was not in any dictionary and did not actually exist, the standards office had to concede. Unfortunately, after the episode aired “kleeman” became a popular Google search term. When the writers tried to use it again four months later, they were denied, because several online dictionaries had come up with a definition.

The last stage of the production process includes final animation, which is done in Korea and can take as long as four months.

Bianchi and Hentemann ended their presentation with a Q & A that naturally generated questions about how to get a job in their industry. Both men noted that everyone has a different story for how they landed their careers, but Bianchi still offered some advice:

“No matter where you go, what job you are targeting, if you are at a job that you think will lead to that storyboard job (or whatever it is that you want), if you are PA [production assistant] somewhere, be the best PA, have a good attitude, ask questions, be indispensable at that job.”

Poster for Gwenaëlle Gobé’s film “This Space Available”

On May 2, the CCAD MindMarket will welcome Gwenaëlle Gobé as she screens the documentary she directed, This Space Available, which is about the efforts of activists, artists, and communities to take those spaces back.

The idea for the film began with a discussion between Gwenaëlle Gobé and her father, Marc Gobé, the internationally renowned creator of the concept of emotional branding.

“Well, I come from a very opinionated family. Marketing and the international promotion of brands were definitively a hot topic at the dinner table, since my dad, Marc, has developed the branding for huge companies around the world,” she said in an article in The Atlantic.

Gwenaelle Gobé shooting “hoardings,” the name for billboards in India.

“He still sees corporations with a ‘Helvetica’ innocence of neutrality and righteousness. He would say, ‘Look at the all the colors, the emotions, and social change they are involved in.’ Obviously I strongly disagree; I feel brands infiltrate our space, our privacy and our health without asking permission. Everywhere we go we are treated as potential consumers,” she says in the article.

After pulling together 240 hours of film, 160 interviews, and visits to 11 countries on five continents, the film, which was produced by Marc Gobé, premiered in November 2011 and has since been shown at numerous international festivals.

Check out the details for the May 2 event, sponsored by the Easton Community Foundation, on the event page and watch the trailer for the film here.

Stefan Sagmeister will kick off the Visiting Artists & Scholars series on Aug. 30

Artists, designers, and authors OH MY—CCAD is bringing big names to campus this fall through the Visiting Artists & Scholars series. Speakers range from fine artists and designers to nationally renowned authors.

The college has made a few changes for fall 2012, the most noticeable being the presentations’ starting time. The lectures are now offered in the evening and most are free and open to the public.

“The college has brought some great creative minds to Columbus in the past, but the afternoon time slot for the lectures made it difficult for our alumni and members of the community to take advantage of these programs,” said Kevin Conlon, CCAD’s vice president for academic affairs. “Changing to evening hours means more accessibility for a larger audience, and thanks to wonderful sponsors and grants we are able to bring in a very exciting and eclectic group of artists and scholars this year.”

The series kicks off Aug. 30 with Stefan Sagmeister. A renowned graphic designer, Sagmeister studied in Vienna and New York. After working with Leo Burnett’s Hong Kong Design Group, he returned to New York to work with Tibor Kalman. He then proceeded to form the New York-based Sagmeister, Inc.

Following Sagmeister, multimedia artist Aurora Robson will present Sept. 12. Robson is known for her use of plastic debris, excess packaging, and junk mail as art making material. Her presentation coincides with her exhibition Sacrifice + Bliss at Franklin Park Conservatory and Botanical Gardens from Sept. 9–April 28.

The CCAD MindMarket will bring Roger Martin to campus Sept. 28. Martin is best known in design circles for his book The Design of Business: Why Design Thinking is the Next Competitive Advantage. He has been named one of the 27 most influential designers and the sixth top management thinker in the world.

Martin’s presentation officially launches the CCAD MindMarket, a new creative business incubator on campus. In addition, after the presentation there is an open house to tour the MindMarket and an opening night party with idUS—Columbus’ citywide celebration of innovation and design. Tickets for Roger Martin’s talk are $100 and go on sale Aug. 3. The post-lecture open house and idUS events are free and open to the public. 

On Oct. 19, author Benjamin Anastas will join the list of presenters. Anastas has written two highly regarded novels, and his memoir, Too Good to Be True, will be released in fall 2012. His short fiction has been published in The Paris Review, The Yale Review, and GQ. His criticism and essays have also appeared regularly in Bookforum, The New York Times Sunday Book Review, and The New York Observer.

Artists Donald Moffet and Byron Kim will speak on Nov. 16, coinciding with the opening of concurrent exhibitions of their work in the Canzani Center Gallery. Moffett and Kim will lead an informal conversation about the ideas, catalysts, and context for their art making.

Wrapping up the fall lecture series will be a panel of artists speaking in conjunction with the Canzani Center Gallery exhibition Simulacrum. The panel, Remaking the World, includes Tom Burkhardt, Chris Hanson, Hendrika Sonnenberg, Tony Matelli, and Kaz Oshiro. Eleanor Heartney, an award-winning, internationally recognized art critic who writes extensively on contemporary art, will be the moderator.

Ongoing support for CCAD Visiting Artists & Scholars is received from the Greater Columbus Arts Council, the Ohio Arts Council, Renaissance Columbus Downtown Hotel, and the Skestos Endowment Fund for Visiting Artists & Lectures.

To keep up on all CCAD events and programs, check our online calendar.

Presentations take place on Mondays from 11 a.m.–12:30 p.m. in CCAD’s Canzani Center Auditorium, downtown at Cleveland Ave. & E. Gay St (unless otherwise noted)

Spring 2011 Schedule:

• Jan. 31: Eric Homan (CCAD ’98), videographer, more …

• Feb. 7: Bevil Conway, artist and neuroscientist, more …

• Feb. 21: Anthony S. Baker (CCAD ’86), medical illustrator, more …

• Feb. 28: Christopher Cole (CCAD ’89) creative director, art director, more …

• March 14: Gabriel Esquivel, architect, assistant professor, more …

• March 28: Nora Sturges, associate professor of art, more …

• April 4: Erika Meitner, author, poet, more …

• April 11: Arthur Liou, associate professor of digital art, more …

• May 2: Stephen Fellner, poet, author, more …

Check the full schedule for updates and additions as well as other CCAD lectures.

Ongoing support for CCAD’s Visiting Artists Series is received from the Skestos Endowment Fund for Visiting Artists & Lectures, Renaissance Columbus Downtown Hotel, and the Ohio Arts Council, which helped fund this program with state tax dollars to encourage economic growth, educational excellence and cultural enrichment for all Ohioans.

Baker majored in Illustration, Cole majored in Advertising & Graphic Design, and Homan was a Media Studies-Time Based major at CCAD.

Venerable Geshe Kalsang Damdul

CCAD is honored to welcome the Venerable Geshe Kalsang Damdul to campus to dedicate its new Master of Fine Art studio space. The Tibetan and Buddhist scholar will be joined by 11 students in the college’s inaugural MFA class for the private ceremony on Tuesday, Oct. 26, during which he will dedicate the new MFA space and discuss the goals and direction of the graduate program.

Gesha la also will offer a public lecture as part of CCAD’s visiting artists series on Monday, Oct. 25 from 11 a.m.–12:30 p.m. in the Canzani Center auditorium. His presentation, Enjoying the Path, will touch on his own journey from Tibet to Northern India, but will focus on the importance of the journey in the creative process. It is free and open to the public and all audience members will be invited to place their art-making tools on the stage for a blessing.

More information about Geshe la and his campus visit are available in the Events section of www.ccad.edu.

To read the full press release about the MFA dedication ceremony go to www.ccad.edu.

David Yurman

Internationally renown artist and jeweler David Yurman visited CCAD, Monday, Oct. 26, to share his expertise in both the classroom and lecture hall.

The founder of the jewelry company that bears his name, Yurman is a phenomenon in the world of fine jewelry and timepieces. Best known for his iconic cable design, Yurman’s work fuses art, fashion, and fine jewelry into a signature design concept that was nothing short of revolutionary within the jewelry industry when it was introduced in the early 1980s.

During his visiting artist presentation, which was open to all CCAD students and the public, Yurman discussed his eclectic five-decade journey as an artist, designer, and entrepreneur. He discussed everything from influences (including his wife and muse Sybil) to his dedication to “following his bliss.” He showed early sculpture works and the progression of his jewelry designs. Yurman noted that when he began making and selling jewelry he would ask himself “Would Sybil want to wear this?”

Following the presentation and a lunch on campus with CCAD students, Yurman conducted a workshop with advanced jewelry design students.

The Visiting Artist Series is open to the public and offered free of charge.