Wrockstock the Third is happening November 6-9, 2009. The primary goal of the event is to “raise funds for the needy as we also raise awareness through music,” while at the same time celebrating the friendships that have been made through a shared love of Harry Potter. This year, it will be housed once again at the YMCA Trout Lodge in Potosi, MO. The lodge shares many characteristics with Hogwarts itself, such as a lake, large dining hall, and surrounding mountains. In addition to incredible performances from a multitude of Wizard Rock bands, there are many other activities to partake in at Wrockstock, including hiking, crafting, flying on a broom (with lots of ropes and harnesses, we are assured) and even Quidditch!

This year, there are 15 amazing bands participating, including Draco and the Malfoys, Ministry of Magic, Tonks and the Aurors, and a special, final performance from The Mudbloods. You can see the full list of bands here on the ‘pedia, or at the Wrockstock website.

To begin the process of “advertising” for the event, Abby Hupp turned to Jace MacDonald, of Catchlove (who is also performing at the event!) with an idea to create a cartoon featuring the bands that would be performing. The entire process of creating the cartoon took around 5 months. Abby approached Jace in December with the idea, and the cartoon debuted on Wrockstock TV’s YouTube channel in the beginning of May. The first 2 months of the process revolved around getting people on board with the idea, creating the script, and collecting voice overs from the wrockers to be included in the cartoon. The two also worked on development of the characters, and working on backgrounds for the eventual green screen shots.

In March, after collecting the necessary audio parts, Jace set out to start animating. Since he had some character files left over from his “Covah Yr Junk” music video, he had an advantage. For the first step of animation, Jace used a program called ToonBoom, which he was introduced to in a Multimedia class. Jace says that, when animating, he starts his process “with the characters, animating their mouths to match their voice overs, animate their eyes if they look to something,” and then imports the files into another program to add more effects and put the finishing touches on cartoon.

Jace was kind enough to send along some screenshots, so that we can all get a glimpse of his animating process.

This is the first shot that Jace sent to Abby, just to make sure she liked his interpretation of the bus.

Here is the outline of Nina of The Moaning Myrtles in ToonBoom.

Jarrod, of Gred and Forge, eating a taco in ToonBoom. In this screenshot, you can also see the timeline and the different layers Jace used.

After processing most of the animations in ToonBoom, Jace then placed them on green screen backgrounds and imported the files into After Effects, which also allows him to add any special effects that are needed, like the color-changing bus.

Here’s Nina and Lauren in a bathroom, after being edited in After Effects.

Here is a group shot on the green screen.

Here is roughly the same shot as above after being edited in After Effects.

Jace says that even though this particular cartoon did not demand many special effects, other than the color-changing bus, “the possibilities are endless with After Effects.”

After months of planning and preparation, “Get on the Bus to Wrockstock!!!” debuted on YouTube on May 10, 2009, and currently has over 1,000 views.

Wrockstock tickets are currently available, but you must purchase your ticket and reserve your room at the Trout Lodge by October 31st in order to attend this year’s event!