Changing the fight scene week 3 and 4

During class in week 3 and 4 Ed and Steve have decided they would like to change a major section in the story. They would like to change the fight scene, a scene I made in the animatic to a scene which involves the family using the platform as a counter wait to defeat the transformed alien. This is a major change to hear from my group when we are in week 4 and they want to change about 30% of the film half way through the production.

I spent time working on the fight scene in the animatic and if they didn’t like it they could have told me (I am not upset) before waiting till this late for a change. Now something I have always believed in and am now quoting from the best animators of all time, Chuck jones, Richard Williams and so on. "Never get attached to your drawings".

Never get attached to your drawings.

What does "never get attached to your drawings" mean to me? It means that if I draw something and it looks bad I start over and stop wasting time polishing a turd.

 If I spend hours drawing a turd it’s still a turd. It also means that when I have an employer and I animate something and my employer doesn't like it, I don’t cause a fuss and don’t get all defensive. I just start again and make changes as requested. If you are sitting there saying ‘I disagree with Stuart's opinion about not getting attached to my work’, then watch the DVD with the Animators Survival Guide. If you still disagree, then you also disagree with people from Pixar and Disney who deal with change every day and this guy who probably has more experience than you, Rick O’Connor.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-3Phk-78SWo&feature=c4-overview-vl&list=PL2AE100D729D4068E

I think my fight scene I made in the animatic looks great. Nevertheless, I am not getting attached to my work and am fine with  a major change to the film. There is only one thing that is not allowed by me. It is expanding the scope of the project/film. If they want a change that makes the film longer and give the film more work than I have to say NO, but if it makes the film shorter and easier and more achievable then that would be fine.

Some people would think negatively if their work is removed from a film. I am looking at this as an opportunity to make the scope smaller which is probably necessary. I am turning what people would see as a negative into an opportunity to improve the film. As long as they don’t expand the scope of the project/film.

PS. "Scope", yes, I said it. And I’ll keep saying it.