: When making any animated show episode, is the voice acting done earlier or the animation?

Question

If the animation is done first, do the actors have to remain strictly to script leaving no room for improv and also have to nail their timing?
And if the acting is done first, how do they time it? Do they have to do it blindly, only by imagination?

In: Other

Answer 1

Typically voice work is done at the animatic stage. Basically, the storyboard is crudely animated to give the production a sense of timing and what everything will look like.

[Robot Hell Animatic](https://youtu.be/d7h6rdrCP-I)

[Robot Hell Finished](https://youtu.be/DR7rurcamNo)

As far as sticking to the script, it really depends on the director. If the actor comes up with something better, the animatic can be easily updated before major work is done, but is is about the director’s “vision.”