Exposure Sheets - What are they?

An exposure sheet aka dope sheet is a typical tool as of which an animator would use to organize his/her thinking and it gives clear instructions to the camera operator as to how the animation is going to be shot. Its usual layout consists of five sections and its usually A4 paper sized, every eight line of a exposure sheet is marked thicker than the others because it shows half a foot of film. One second of animation would take three of these sections. Sound for the animation was often shown on a different sheet named Bar sheets, which were made by the editor and then given to the animator who would transfer these to his exposure sheet.


Below are some examples of dope sheets: