Asking LBT production crew members for information

[Hypno]

I searched for Sosnowski myself but apparently I should have looked harder. Those hyphens seemed to have ruined the search. In any case, these are great finds Hypno. I'll certainly do the messages for some of these people in the coming days but should we ask anything else in addition to potential deleted scenes? I guess I could also add the normal question about the overall production of the films and if there was something memorable they'd want to share with us. Thanks a lot for these suggestions!

Frankly, I'm not done searching lol. I only looked through LBT 2-6 and 14, and almost exclusively the storyboard artists. Haven't even done the TV series though I remember finding a few sites for storyboard artists that worked on it too
So really, there could be a lot more contact sites than we think. All we've gotta do is find them

Also yes, I'd like to know about production and notable stuff as well for sure, so be sure to include that question too

[Sovereign]

Well, here's proposition for our message to Sosnowski. This time I'll make sure to wait for all of your comments.

Greetings Mr. Sosnowski! My name is ... and I’m writing on behalf of several members of Land Before Time-themed website Gang of Five. We’re really grateful for the job you did for the second film, the Great Valley Adventure, as it paved
the way for the continuation of this great franchise and served as a worthy sequel to the original masterpiece. However, we’ve been wondering, in the light of the editing fiasco of the first film in the series (more than 10 minutes of finished animation were reportedly cut and lost before the release), if there were any major cut scenes in the Great Valley Adventure?

Very little is known about the production of the sequels but we feel it’s highly possible that not everything went smoothly with the second film either and that’s what we’d be willing to learn more about. We’d like to ask if there were any major sequences cut from the film of that were planned to be included in the initial draft of the film that didn’t make it into the final version. You, as one of the film’s storyboard artists, were probably included in planning the film from its early stages and because of this, we’d like to ask what you remember from the film’s production and especially its editing and, if you only wish to, whether there’s any concept arts or something else you might have from the film you’d like to share with us? Any other stories about the film’s production you’d like to relay are heartily welcomed too! We would be incredibly thankful if you were able to answer these questions.

Best regards

....

Edit: I corrected the typo Hypno mentioned and added this small addition to the text: something else you might have from the film.

[Hypno]

Looking good. I hope he answers for sure

EDIT: I spotted a small error. "My name ----" should have "is" in it.

[Ducky123]

Any answers yet?

[Sovereign]

In fact, I haven't sent the message yet but I'll do it later today.

[Ducky123]

Oh, I see Fingers crossed!

[Sovereign]

Considering that Sosnowski never answered, I think it's time for us to contact the next person. I'll do a message to Conover tomorrow but I wonder if toonwonder@gmail.com is his actual personal email or is it some kind of common address on Animation Training Academy? :unsure:

[Sovereign]

Well, here's my message. It's largely the same as last time with the only changes made to the first part of the post. The two had similar roles in the films after all and we're asking the same question again so I thought that'd be okay.

Greetings Mr. Conover! My name is... and I’m writing on behalf of several members of Land Before Time-themed website Gang of Five. We’re really grateful for the job you did for the sixth film in the series, the Secret of the Saurus Rock. I truly believe it is one of stronger entries to the franchise, not least because of the new intriguing layouts and places designed for the film. However, we’ve been wondering, in the light of the editing fiasco of the first movie in the series (more than 10 minutes of finished animation were reportedly cut and lost before the release), if there were any major cut scenes in the Secret of the Saurus Rock?

Very little is known about the production of the sequels but we feel it’s highly possible that not everything went smoothly with the rest of the films film either and that’s what we’d be willing to learn more about. We’d like to ask if there were any major sequences cut from the film of that were planned to be included in the initial draft of the film that didn’t make it into the final version. You, as one of the film’s storyboard artists, were probably included in planning the film from its early stages and because of this, we’d like to ask what you remember from the film’s production and especially its editing and, if you only wish to, whether there’s any concept arts or something else you might have from the film you’d like to share with us? Any other stories about the film’s production you’d like to relay are heartily welcomed too! We would be incredibly thankful if you were able to answer these questions.

Best regards

...

[Hypno]

Looks good as always, hope that we get a good answer from Conover

[Sovereign]

Well, after a few weeks Conover finally answered and as you can see, his answer was a thorough one. Now we know there weren't major cuts in the film and a bit more about how the production was arranged. Without further words, here's the message.

Hello ...,

I apologize for not getting back to you sooner. It is a busy time of the year for me.

I appreciate your interest in the properties of Land Before Time and was glad to hear from you. It is so nice to know that there are fans of the

In regards to major cut scenes of "The Secret of Saurus Rock and the other sequels, the big differences between the first film and the sequels comes down to money and time. As such, our budgets and deadlines were significantly smaller and tighter. Our productions consisted of a combination of US and overseas productions.  Here in the US, our studio was on the Universal Studios lot (at first) and then into the Universal Building (next to the lot and below Universal City Walk). China was the location of the overseas production (I don't remember the name of the company off the top of my head).  Our Universal studio concentrated on pre-production (scripts, storyboards, voice-over, character and prop designs, layouts, background keys, animation guides, animatics, etc...) and Post Production (editing, sound, soundtrack, distribution).
With this in mind and with the best of my recollection, we didn't have situations where major edits cut out interesting footage. In fact, any edits were done at the storyboard level during the storyboard phase and after watching animatics of sequences. Our Director/Producer, Charles Grosvenor directed the storyboard creation as well as created many of the storyboards himself.  A very talent man and wonderful leader. The changes were relatively small because Charlie would meet with the storyboard artists often. He was terrific in allowing the artists room for their vision for their assignments but also guided everyone to his vision of the story as a whole.

You should know that I started as a storyboard artist in making changes to storyboards and putting characters on model (storyboard cleanup). I was allowed to do some storyboard along the way but my position changed to that of a "jack of all trades" in that I also did props and characters designs, animation samples/guides, and CG animation. The union didn't have a specific title for my position so the production manager chose "Key Assistant" for credits and scale.

 The history of the sequels contains a history of change in technology as well.  In the span of time that I worked on the sequels and tv series, the technology went from traditional animation to CG animation.  Although the characters and backgrounds remained traditional, the beginning sequences went into CG.  I had the privilege of being a part of that change.  It was a true pleasure to work with the talent crew.  For me, Universal was the best kept secret in the industry. There were no damaging politics due to character and kindness of the whole studio. Unlike many studios of its time, there was a lack of back stabbing, mid management politics, ruthless directors, etc...

I hope this has been worth your time reading.  Thank you again, for reaching out!

Kindest regards,

Robin Conover

P.S.

I have some LBT artwork around but most of it is storage. I have attached a photo of a copy of a background key done by Flammarion Ferriera, our amazing Art Director.

Edit: The drive-linked image doesn't seem to work. :unsure: I could use the link from the e-mail but the picture was far too big in that case.

[Littlefoot505]

Fixed:

[Sneak]

It's a wonderful answer!
Thank you both to mr. Conover and you who decided to ask!

[Sovereign]

Thanks, Littlefoot505, for fixing it. I wonder if we should ask Conover to share the other storyboards he mentioned with us?

[Littlefoot505]

You're welcome. And yes, let's definitely ask him about the other storyboards.

[Flathead770]

Hmm the image still doesn't come up for me?

Anyways, this is a great reply! It's cool to hear about some of the inner workings and he certainly seemed like he has enjoyed his time working on the films.

[Sovereign]

Here's my answer to Conover in case you are interested.

Thank you a lot for your detailed and insightful answer! It’s great to hear more of the technical aspects of the films’ production as well as of Grosvenor himself. He certainly sounds like an inspiring person to work with! Generally very little has been told about the production of the sequels and for example, the exact ways in how the Chinese companies were involved in the making of the films was really nice to hear. So thanks a lot for your answer as it was already more insightful than I had hoped for!

However, I’d still like to ask whether the production was as simple and easy with all the Land Before Time sequels you worked on? As far as I’ve understood, you worked on movies 5, 6, 9, 13 as well as on the TV series so were each one of them as simple and problem-free as the Secret of Saurus Rock? Also, thanks a lot for the screenshot you shared with us. We’ve seen art from Ferreira before and his works really bring the prehistoric world to life. I wonder if it were possible for you to share some of the other artwork you mentioned with us?

I haven't sent it yet so if you have anything else you'd like to add, please inform me about it .

[Littlefoot505]

Sounds pretty good to me.

[Ducky123]

This is quite amazing

[Hypno]

Oh my god, how did I miss this?

That was an interesting answer, because we barely know anything about the sequels' production unlike the original movie. So I suppose there aren't any major cut scenes, as said by Conover, because of the lower budget given.

Also, by the way, I still cannot see that image that was posted.

[Hypno]

Did you ever get an answer to Conover after sending the reply? It's been quite a hiatus since we've last been contacting people.