Editor's Note: Susan Ishida and Joe Clasen are a husband-and-wife team that helped bring "Jimmy Neutron" to the screen.

Their latest project, "Wonderlens: Aquarium of the Aliens," is a DVD tour of an otherworldly undersea environment. "Wonderlens" is not your average interactive DVD fare. The animated characters you watch on the screen are watching you right back.

The concept isn't the only aspect of "Wonderlens" that's pretty amazing. Consider this. Ishida and Clasen were the only two animators for the whole project. As a two-person crew, they averaged one minute of completed animation per week for 22 weeks. That's a lot of animating. Boy, are their arms tired.

Ishida and Clasen visit "The Screen Savers" today to talk about how they developed the characters for "Wonderlens," as well as what it took for them to complete the project with just the two of them.

"Wonderlens: Aquarium of the Aliens"

"Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius"


Fun facts about 'Wonderlens' from Susan and Joe

• Total length of production was roughly eight months.
  
  
• Total crew consisted of two people (although several friends and pets contributed sound effects).
  
  
• Joe used an unusual musical instrument called a theremin to create many of the sound effects. It worked great, but our two cats hated the sound. Every time Joe played the theremin, the cats would go crazy and run over and try to bite him.
  
  
• We knew we couldn't afford to use real caustics, the cool patterns generated by light passing through rippling water, so we had to make salt water the old-fashioned way. To simulate the effect cheaply, Susan drizzled watered-down black ink onto plastic, then sprinkled table salt on top. As the watery ink and salt dried, the wavy, bubbly patterns emerged. We scanned those and made a looping sequence which, when animated, looked like light passing through water.
  
  
• Total cash outlay was less than $10,000. Largest expenses were $2,000 for a DVD burner and additional software and $3,300 for DVD-replication service.
  
  
• We bought passes to the San Diego Zoo and Wild Animal Park hoping to sample animal sounds, which Joe would later combine and modify to generate alien voices. Unfortunately, both parks were doing so much construction, all we got were samples of jackhammers and bulldozers. Joe ended up using mostly samples from the Web and recordings of friends making alien noises and tweaked the sound clips with Cool Edit Pro.
  

The Wonderlens project timeline

You've probably guessed that animating a DVD is a heck of a lot of work for two people. But the animation work is just the tip of the iceberg. There are websites to be built, domains to register, music and sound effects to record, marketing research to be done, and much, much more.

For a glimpse into the hectic world of independent animation production, here's an itemized list of the work that went into "Wonderlens" from concept to finished product.

April 2002

Work begins on Wonderlens.

• Budget and schedule are developed.
• Character concepts are developed.
• 2D drawings for characters are created.
• DVD content is outlined.
• Trademark is granted.
• Wonderlens.com domain is secured.

May 2002

• Animation sequences are scripted as 24 short segments.
• CG modeling begins on characters and sets.
• A short animation test is developed as Proof of Concept.
• Animation work begins.
• Music and sound-effects work begins.
• Marketing research begins.

End of June, 2002

• All characters are modeled and rigged.
• Roughly one-third of the animation is complete.
• Sneak Preview website is almost completed.

July 4th, 2002

• Sneak Preview website is complete and goes online.
• Sneak Preview "tickets" are distributed at Anime Expo in Long Beach.

End of August, 2002

• All characters are built and rigged.
• Roughly half the animation is completed.
• Roughly one-third of the music and sound effects are completed.
• Work begins on DVD bonus features.
• Some online marketing continues, but a decision is made to focus on completing the DVD content and delaying marketing.

By end of September 2002

• Almost all animation, music, sound effects, and bonus features are completed.

November 4, 2002

• DVD master and package art is sent to Disc Makers for duplication.

December 5, 2002

• Printed, packaged DVDs are received back from Disc Makers.
• Two review copies are sent to Amazon.com for consideration for Amazon Advantage program.
• "Wonderlens" page goes live on Amazon.com within 48 hours. DVD is now available for sale at amazon.com.
• "Wonderlens" Official website goes live at same time.
• "Wonderlens" storefront is opened on Cafe Press for T-shirts, mugs, etc.

Ongoing

• "Wonderlens" PolyBlog, an ongoing mystery with a new set of clues added each weekday, is running on Lycos.
  

Upcoming

• A "Wonderlens" booth at Anime Expo at the Anaheim/Disneyland Convention Center over the weekend of July 4.