\b\c04Legal adventures, or "Figure it out for yourself, kid!" \b\c00
I was also using that free AOL time to gather info on the animation business and production, but info for that was even scarcer than for the Amiga. Neither of us had any knowledge of the actual methods of production, and we had to figure out most of the process ourselves. A few books, notably \bAnimation From Script to Screen\b by Shamus Culhane and a few others were helpful in this area. Using their examples as guides, I created exposure sheets, production charts, and a few other forms. Jerry was familiar with storyboards from his work at AR Design, and he created our original designs, as well as the original WR logo.
I wrote to Scott Frazier (whom I knew through Robert Simmons, a member of my APA) with questions about actual studio processes, such as their preferred type of materials and filing systems, but he never got back to me. (He apologised later.)
Becoming an actual business was another matter. A mutual friend, Brian Currel, who had formed a partnership as well, provided most of the information we needed for that, and with the help of a Nolo Press partnership book, we composed a formal partnership agreement. By February, we were finally a licensed business.
\b\c04The demo tape\b\c00
Around this time, Jerry began clipping together the demo tape, using footage from his various work (including the Annie May sequence), my animation of Jadie and the \bAlchemistÆs Daughter,\b and some experimental morph work by Jess Drake, a mutual friend. The tape went through several drafts, one of which had a voice-over describing us and our intentions.
While Jerry clipped together the demo, I processed selected images from the video for release on the Net. We had not yet subscribed to an ISP, so we had to rely on others with Usenet access to post them for us. Whether there was any response to them, or even whether they got out \bat all\b is unknown. There were about a dozen in all.
By current WR standards, the demo tape is horribly outdated, and for that reason it is no longer distributed, nor are the demo JPEGs.
\b\c04JerryÆs personal version\b\c00
But the demo tape had a dual purpose. Around March, Jerry made a second demo tape, this time tailored to promote \bhimself.\b It consisted of much of the same stuff, but removing the work by Jess and myself. It still had \bFast Food Freedom Fighters\b in it, causing me to protest the caption that claimed that all clips were produced "solely or primarily" by Jerry Cheadle. He made no secret about the purpose of the tape, and promised that if any animation or video studios accepted him (Skywalker Ranch, for instance), there would be no more White Radish.
\b\c04Equipment acquisitions\b\c00
By April, it looked like we had gathered all the information we needed about the Toaster, and found an ad for a used Toaster 4000 system on a BBSÆs regional Amiga conference. It took two trips to the Bay Area and about $1,500 each, but we now had our first piece of company equipment (this also helped solidify JerryÆs commitment to the partnership). We set to work familiarising ourselves with the interfaces and software, and I delved into learning LightWave.
\b\c04Apprentices\b\c00
How we first found an apprentice is a lost memory, but we somehow found a guy named Mike who wanted to learn animation with us. We began teaching him what we knew, and he worked on test animation of his own. Our training methods consisted of a short video course wherein we would show a few select examples of bad animation (I wonÆt name names), followed by examples of good animation. I would then point out what was good and bad in each. Afterward, there were a few books to recommend, and a chance for them to do their own test animation.
At some point, Mike introduced us to Louie Ambriz, who originally came aboard to animate, and produced several test pieces. Louie, in turn, brought in his cousin Ray Long and Ken Sholar, both of whom did work on \bAnnie May\b (but that comes later).
