How to Make Animated Films

Appendix 6: Exposure Sheets and Production Folders¹

Exposure (Dope) Sheets and Production Folders

Although the digital age of animation has well and truly arrived and the traditional processes are pretty much long gone now, except, of course, the importance of pencils and paper, I still find two elements of the past worth clinging to: dope sheets (known as exposure sheets or x-sheets in some quarters) and production folders. It is a popular belief that animators just sit and draw funny cartoons all day long. Well, of course, animation is a lot of that, but it is so much more about time and project management too. A good animator needs a good organized mind as well as an ability to draw. Now that animation scenes can run at a variety of different ...