Behind the Scenes of a Yo Gabba Gabba! Episode

I got a nice note from Joel Fox last week. Who is Joel Fox, you might ask? Well, he creates visual effects for a little show you may have heard of... called Yo Gabba Gabba!. Yeah, that show.

In any case, he thought I (and by extension, you) might be interested in his recent behind-the-scenes look at the creation of a YGG episode, in particular, the recently-premiered episode "Nature." Fox not only created the visual effects for the episode, he also co-directed it.
What I was struck by in reading Fox's detailed description (and seeing his many annotated pictures, including the one above, used here with Fox's permission), is just how much work making a TV show is. I mean, I know that intellectually, and I've even interviewed folks who've said the same. But I didn't quite appreciate it before in the way Fox's entry makes clear. Seeing the amount of work that goes into making even 10 seconds of a show makes me kind of amazed that some major corporation is willing to spend the kind of money that Nick/Viacom does in order to allow someone to put a huge styrofoam mountain on a potting wheel and then green-screen the thing. Amazed in a "that's-pretty-cool" sort of way.

Also cool: Fox went out of his way to create a video for a kid whose appearance on the show was cut for time reasons.

Oak Sky, Glitter Vision from joel department on Vimeo.