Animation Magazine - January 2021 - #306

Stir Your Imagination. Change Your Perspective.

Learn to give life and motion to ideas and characters in a program that blends the practical, the theoretical and the creative. Digital composition, storyboarding, character creation and environmental modeling are some of the courses offered this semester.

US AT SVA.EDU/CE/ANIMATION.

Frame-By-Frame

4 Our Annual Animation Lover’s Holiday Gift Guide Features 10 Back to the Croodaceous Period

The team behind DreamWorks’ delightful Croods sequel talk about bringing the eccentric prehistoric family to a new world.

By Ramin Zahed

14 Indian Rhapsody

Gitanjali Rao, the writer/director/designer of the acclaimed new feature Bombay Rose, shares some of the details of her creative journey.

16 Thief of Hearts

In a rare interview, writer-director Takashi Yamazaki talks about his well-received CG-animated Lupin III: The First movie with us.

Television/Streaming

14

2010

32 A One-Stop Creative Destination

20 The Extra-Terrestrial War Against Christmas Stop-motion wizards the Chiodo Brothers take us behind the scenes of their charming Netflix special, Alien Xmas

22 This Mouse Will Never Stop Working!

Exec producer Paul Rudish discusses his new Dis ney+ series The Wonderful World of Mickey Mouse

24 Carpe Diem Cartoons

Apple TV+ goes zen with Doug Unplugs and Stillwa ter, two hot new shows about exploring the world and living in the now.

By Ramin Zahed

28 Hilda’s Second Act!

Find out everything you needed to know about the second season of Netflix’s acclaimed animated show!

Milestones

30 Virtual World of Wonders

Cover: DreamWorks Animation’s The Croods: A New Age arrives on VOD in December.

The team behind the acclaimed VR powerhouse Baobab Studios looks back at five years of creating cutting-edge, industry-defining projects.

Brain Zoo founder Mo Davoudian talks about his innovative Chatsworth-based studio, which is celebrating its 25th anniversary.

Events

36 A Celebration of Excellence: Animation Magazine’s 2020 Awards

Opportunities

38 Autonomous Animator

How to get your animation idea produced.

By Martin Grebing

VFX

40 Tech Reviews

Immersive filmmaking solutions: Insta360 Titan and SGO’s Mistika VR.

By Todd Sheridan Perry

Day in the Life

44 Doug Unplugs exec producer Aliki Theofilopoulos plugs us into her typical day!

As we get ready for the final weeks of 2020, there are things that many of us will never forget about the year of COVID, stayat-home anxieties and election nightmares. How will we ever explain to future generations how everyone suddenly felt the need to hoard toilet paper and flour? The good news is that an effective vac cine is coming and we see signs of change and hope on the distant horizon. So, congratulations to all of us for surviving this turbulent, maddening and unpredictable annus horribilis

We have prepared a jam-packed issue for you as our final offering of 2020. There are fun interviews with the creative folks behind three very different movies — DreamWorks’ colorful and fun sequel The Croods: A New Age, Takashi Yamazaki’s fast-moving Lupin III: The First, which is being released by our good friends at GKIDS, and Bombay Rose, a lovely indie film by Gitanjali Rao, which debuts on Netflix.

In addition to these three movies, audiences will finally get a chance to catch up with two of the most-anticipated titles of the year: Cartoon Saloon’s Wolfwalkers (premieres Dec. 11 on Apple TV+) and Pixar’s Soul (premieres Dec. 25 Disney+). Make sure you pick up last month’s issue for comprehensive features on two of the best-reviewed movies of the year.

The end of the year also means it’s time for many of our animated holiday favorites to return to the small screen. By now, you have probably had a chance to catch the Chiodo brothers’ wonderful new stop-motion special Alien Xmas on Netflix. We had the privilege to chat with these legendary VFX and stop-motion icons in this issue. It’s also a very busy time of the year for new animated content as Disney+ unveiled The Wonderful World of Mickey Mouse and Apple TV+ introduced us to Doug Unplugs and Stillwater; three fantastic, beautifully mounted shows that are perfect reflections of the streaming renaissance we are all enjoying.

We are planning a really special, tabloid-size award-season kick-off issue next month, which will give you a front-row seat to the animation and VFX contenders of this year’s unusual Oscar, Annie and Golden Globe races. But, we are making a splash this month with our own Animation Magazine Hall of Fame Awards. These awards were usually handed out during a fun gala event, which kick-started our World Animation & VFX summit each year. But fortunately, thanks to our generous sponsors, we were able to do a taped version of the ceremony, which will debut online on our website and Facebook page on December 7. Make sure you read all about this year’s special honorees on page 28.

Since the holidays are just around the corner, your friends at Animation Magazine would like to wish all of you animation fans and professionals out there a peaceful and joyous season. We know that these are challenging and stressful times, but we hope 2021 will be a much better year for all of us — one full of happiness and unity and many, many more wonderful and inspiring animated projects that brighten our lives and help us envision a better world.

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Our Annual Animation Lover’s Holiday Gift Guide

Bugs Bunny 80th Anniversary Collection

Collector’s Gift Set

Three-disc collection features 60 theatrical shorts, 10 episodes of Looney Tunes Cartoons, new What’s Up Documentary and collectible Bugs Bunny glitter Funko figure. [Warner Bros., $75]

Weathering with You 4K Collector’s Edition

Makoto Shinkai’s latest magnificent feature gets the deluxe treatment! In addition to an exclusive feature-length making of documentary, this ray of sunshine set includes soundtrack CD, 104-page book, mini poster and decal. [GKIDS/Shout!, $80]

My Hero Academia Movie Bundle + Garden Gnomes

Your garden has never been safer, with gnomified Deku and Bakugo here to protect your perimeter while you enjoy the smash-hit movies Two Heroes and Heroes Rising on Blu-ray + DVD + Digital! [Funimation, $100]

PAW Patrol: Pup-Tastic! Limited Edition

Kiddos will love this collection of eight puptacular rescue adventures in a LE box shaped like Marshall’s fire truck! Includes first-time DVD release Robo Dog Rescues. [Nickelodeon, $50]

LEGO Trolls World Tour Volcano Rock City Concert

Recreate the DreamWorks movie’s musical melting pot finale with this radical set, including Queen Barb, Poppy and Branch minifigs. LEGO released several new TWT sets for the holidays, so get shoppin’! [Target/ mass, $40]

The Orange Years: The Nickelodeon Story

This crowdfunded documentary chronicles the rise of Nickelodeon, with the actors, writers and creators from all the golden age Nick shows that shaped your lives: It’s wild. It’s crazy. It changed the world! [Gravitas Ventures, $20 BD / $12 DVD]

Our Annual Animation Lover’s Holiday Gift Guide cont.

The Disney Princess: A Celebration of Art & Creativity

From film historian

Charles Solomon, discover how each princess from Snow White to Moana came to be through behind-the-scenes stories, photos and stunning art from the Disney archive. Features 200+ images and never-before-seen concept art!

Brown; $25 hardcover / $15 paperback]

Mr. Magoo’s Christmas Carol: The Making of the First Animated Christmas Special Veteran animation director/producer Darrell Van Citters delivers a meticulously researched, delightfully engaging story about the 1962 classic with dozens of artworks, rare photographs and the insights of artists who brought it to screen. [Darrell Van Citters, $50]

The Legend of ZeldaLegendary Edition Box Set

Five best-selling volumes of Link’s adventures to save Hyrule in exclusive hardcover editions, plus an exclusive, new poster drawn by manga artist Akira Himekawa — all in a charming treasure chest with opening sound effects!

Doc McStuffins ‘Wash Your Hands’ Singing Doll

Nominated for the 2021 Toy of the Year Awards, the 11.5” Doc comes with an interactive stethoscope, doctor’s bag, thermometer, otoscope and facemask, and sings the popular hygiene tune from the Peabody-winning series. Disney and Just Play marked the doll’s launch with a donation to Feeding America. Suitable for ages 3+. [Just Play, $25]

[Chronicle Books, $50]

Wolfwalkers: The Graphic Novel

An enchanting adaptation of the critically acclaimed movie by Samuel Sattin, featuring intro and exclusive art from co-creator Tomm Moore and co-art director Maria Pareja. Reading level 8-12 y.o. [Little,

[VIZ, $125]

Soul, a Little Golden Book

A sweetly illustrated retelling of Pixar’s animated journey from jazzy New York City to the cosmic realms. Perfect for readers 2-5 and collectors of all ages! [Golden/Disney, $5]

Kemp Powers on being honored with the

Voice

Animation 2020” award.

Our Annual

The Child Chia Pet

For anyone on your list who hasn’t canceled The Mandalorian’s adorable little puppet for his egg-eating crimes, this handmade decorative planter is a great way to celebrate their inner geek and bring some easy to maintain greenery into their life. [EntertainmentEarth.com, $20]

not. [BoxLunch.com, $60]

Capacitive 4-in-1 Stylus

Rick and Morty Butter Robot

Adult Swim and Digital Dream Labs have brought everyone’s favorite existential kitchen gadget to life, with a complex “emotion engine,” selectable control modes, motion, interactions and text-to-voice. Join the club, pal. [TheButterRobot. com, $147]

HipDot X SpongeBob Best Friends Mask

Animators have been busier than ever this year with the high demand for WFHcompatible content. Treat your BFFs to some much needed self-care and/or hysterical laughter with these skin-soothing SpongeBob and Patrick sheet masks. Cruelty free & vegan! [HipDot, $20 per 4-pack]

Praxinoscope Animation

Spinner

The ultimate desktop toy for animation history buffs, this mini motion-picture machine is modeled on Émile Reynaud’s 1877 invention and comes with 19 different strips. (You can also make your own). [Uncommon Goods, $95]

Designed to be compatible with any capacitive touch screen device, the adjustable-length stylus comes with four interchangeable tips — Precision Disc, Microfiber, Ballpoint and Brush — which store in the pen body. Great for jotting notes, doodling or letting off some creative steam on a small screen on those days when your desk is just … so far from your bed. [The Friendly Swede, $27]

Funko POP! AWESOM-O

There may be more Funko vinyl figures, keychains, plushies and other toys than there are stars in the sky at this point, repping a plethora of brands and fandoms! We’re partial to this sweet South Park memory, but you’ll find

My Neighbor Totoro Holiday Sweater

Keep your loved ones cozy and protected by Studio Ghibli’s beloved forest troll in this Nordic-influenced neutral perfect for any wardrobe, whether you can leave the house or

Back to the Croodaceous Period

The team behind DreamWorks’ delightful Croods sequel talk about bringing the eccentric prehistoric family to a new world.

By Ramin Zahed

When DreamWorks Animation’s The Croods was released in spring of 2013, audiences around the world embraced the film’s lovable prehistoric family and their wacky world. Directed by Chris Sand ers and Kirk DeMicco, the colorful film went on to make over $587.2 million worldwide and received both Oscar and Golden Globe nominations. This holiday season, audiences can catch up with Grug, Ugga, Eep, Thunk, Guy and Gran in a new sequel, in which the family sets out to find a safer place to live and come face to face with another human family.

The Croods: A New Age is directed by Joel Crawford, a DreamWorks veteran who worked on Trolls and the Kung Fu Panda franchise, and is produced by Mark Swift (Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie,  Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted). During a recent phone inter view, Crawford talked about the rewards of helming a new chapter in the lives of charac ters he fell in love with about seven years ago.

“I was a huge fan of Chris Sanders and loved the characters and the world that Chris and Kirk DeMicco had created in the first mov ie,” says Crawford. “When I was given the op portunity to direct the sequel, I felt it was my duty to approach the movie as a fan, knowing which things I wanted to see more of — to

treat it as a big celebration that this family is back. Something that was very helpful to me was that Chris Sanders was kind enough to give me notes on the early version of the script. He gave me the handoff, and I was able to retain his sensibility while adding my own take on his vision.”

Growth Patterns

Among the many things that excited Craw ford about the movie was that it picks up where the audience left the characters at the end of the original outing. “We see how the relation ship between Eep and Guy grows from puppy love into a real one,” he notes. “The world around them is changing and the family dynamics is also evolving, and we all know that Grug doesn’t deal with change very easily. It’s hard for him as a father to see his little girl grow up, but he has accepted Guy as part of his pack.”

Crawford says in the past few years, many elements of the scripts changed and evolved, but the heart of it all stayed the same. “The

fact that the Croods were going to meet an other family that was more evolved than they were was part of the script in one of the earli er drafts of the script,” he says. “But the rela tionship between Eek and Dawn, the daughter of the other family, changed. There was actu ally jealous and catty, and had a love triangle with Guy — but that seemed very formulaic. And when you come think of it, Eep has this wide-eyed curiosity, so we felt that she wouldn’t be jealous of another girl her age. She would celebrate her and see their differ ences as a great thing. So, we had a lot of fun emphasizing the girls’ friendship instead of having it be about Guy.”

The director mentions that he also loves that the film is set in such a crazy and fantas tical era, which is dubbed the Croodaceous pe riod. “The background and the whole set piece which is the Earth during this time between time — is so fantastic and epic,” says Crawford.

“This is a period when the world was trying to figure itself out, like an awkward teenager! So

‘The movie is ultimately about two different families who realize that their future is brightest when it’s shared together. I think that’s a very sweet and timely message about embracing each other despite our differences.’

— Director Joel Crawford

we have all these offbeat, hybrid animals to play with once again.”

Like the first feature, the movie offers a memorable collection of animals that are goofy combinations of familiar creatures, like a wolf-spider that looks a huge, ferocious arach nid but is actually sweet and endearing like a dog. “The theme of the movie is about not passing judgment on people who are different from you, as the Crood family see one thing ini tially, but soon realize that there is more to it than meets the eye,” explains Crawford. “For ex ample, they come across this beautiful forest that looks like it’s full of trees with the chang ing colors of the fall, but then it turns out that the colorful leaves are actually a swarm of gi ant prehistoric butterflies that take flight. There are a lot of fun surprises like that for the audience, and they all echo the message of the movie which is to ‘Look deeper!’”

Since it has been seven years since the first

movie came out, the visuals for the sequel have also advanced, allowing the animators and the technical team to fine-tune many aspects of the first outing. “Everything looks better across the board, and I was constantly amazed at what our production designer Nate Wragg and visual effect supervisors Betsy Nofsinger were able to achieve,” notes Crawford. “Our animators have so much better control posing the characters and hitting these iconic silhouettes, including the shapes of the mouths, and so many other details. They were able to add so much more subtlety and stylization that made everything much more appealing. The film’s lighting really blew me away as well. It’s incredible how rich their world can look without it being photoreal and overpowering the senses. Betsy and Nate are an amazing creative duo, and were always able to offer solutions that would help us achieve the desired looks. They constantly ex ceeded my expectations.”

Wragg, who attended CalArts with Crawford, says he welcomed the chance to work with his old friend from college. “Joel and I had known each other for years, but we’d never worked on a feature together, so this was a fun opportu nity,” says Wragg, who has worked on a wide range of movies, including Puss in Boots, Rata touille, Toy Story 3, Mr. Peabody & Sherman and Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie “We were able to approach the design in a fresh way and cherry-pick everything that we loved about the first movie. We also wanted to ad vance the story and build upon the world that was established in the original feature. The goal was to maximize the opportunity to up the appeal and the style of this prehistoric, ac tion-adventure fantasy, and we got to check all those boxes.”

Wragg points out that in a sequel, you have to offer something that the audience or the characters haven’t seen before. “That’s why audiences can look forward to unpredictable, surprising animal mash-ups like a cross be tween a mouse and an elephant, or a chicken and a seal! He adds, “Since the family is living on the road, their mobile unit could go any where, so we began to think about some envi

Keeping Up with the Bettermans: The Croods: A New Age introduces a new family that seems to be more advanced and civilized then our familiar clan.

‘For this movie, our goal was never to simply mimic reality. We want the audience to feel that the world and these environments were tactile enough that you could just step into the screen.’

— Production designer Nate Wragg

Love Among the Primates: The romance between Eep and Guy (voiced by Emma Stone and Ryan Reynolds) continues against the surreal new backdrops of the sequel.

ronments that the family had never encoun tered before, like that butterfly forest that at first glance looks like a New England in the fall, but then it lifts up and flies away. We de scribed their world as National Geographic magazine on steroids. For example, we were inspired by the giant thermal pools in Yellow stone park, which display a wide range of col ors. But in the Croods world, we have rivers and canals with the same color palette as we suggest that maybe millions of years ago, there were many more examples of that. We were trying to create a certain amount of nat ural logic and rules for their world.”

According to Wragg, DreamWorks’ new, state-of-the-art renderer allowed for the film’s impressive attention to detail in terms of tac tile surfacing and rigging. “Animators are able to achieve a lot more and the characters end up being more brilliant and spectacular,” he notes. “We are also able to maintain this high quality of lighting in every shot. For this mov ie, our goal was never to simply mimic reality. You want the audience to feel the world and these environments were tactile enough that you could just step into the screen. Our big gest challenge was to continue to maximize the appeal of the designs without reinventing the wheel. We wanted to have the best ver

sions of Grug or Eep or Gran, but we didn’t want them to look like new characters.”

Hilarious Reaction Shots

Januel Mercado, the sequel’s head of story, was also a huge fan of the first Croods feature and its directors. “Of course, the fact that the movie is set in a cool prehistoric world was a big draw for me as well,” he notes. “We all love Grug, although he can be quite an idiot some times, but he has a big heart, and I also like the great dynamic he has with his daughter.”

Mercado, who directed the Nickelodeon show Harvey Beaks and was story artist on movies such as The LEGO Movie 2, Trolls, Pen guins of Madagascar and Turbo, says he is quite pleased with the way the creative team were able to really push the comedy in the sequel. “We took a page from comedies like Arrested Development, which are quite character-driv en,” he says. “You can have a big cast of char acters, and you know their points of view, and what they want or are thinking about. Often times, great comedy comes from the charac ters’ reaction shots to things that happen to them or others. Of course, there are serious dramatic elements woven in as well.”

Mercado says it was really important for him and the rest of the team to make sure the

movie was ultimately a really fun ride. “Not only do we want the audience to be emotion ally engaged with the characters and their plights and relationships, but we want them to relate to the film on the simplest levels — to just kick back and enjoy the colorful, whim sical prehistoric landscape, all the animals and the fun family adventure.”

Crawford also credits DreamWorks for be ing one of the last animation studios that has its whole design and production pipeline in house. “Nothing really compares to having a meeting with the animators and throwing out ideas and acting and joking together,” says Crawford. “I love that collaborative experi ence. Even when we had to switch to the work-from-home model because of the pan demic, everybody worked through the chal lenges and we were able to finish the movie and use technology and communicate re motely. It’s really impressive to witness how animation has been less affected than other parts of the entertainment field in terms of production. People can now move and live in other parts of the country or the world and still work remotely on the same project.”

The helmer wraps the interview by summa rizing the heart of the story: “Our movie is about two different families who realize that their future is brightest when it’s shared to gether,” Crawford concludes. “I think that’s a very sweet and timely message about embrac ing each other despite our differences. I also hope everyone laughs a bunch when they watch it with their family and friends. Finding and embracing joy is something that we all definitely need right now.”

DreamWorks Animation’s The Croods: A New Age premiered on November 25.

Indian Rhapsody

Gitanjali Rao, the writer/director/designer of the acclaimed new feature Bombay Rose, shares some of the details of her creative journey.

Gitanjali Rao’s exquisitely crafted debut feature Bombay Rose is hailed as one of the year’s most inspired, original and colorful animated offer ings. The hand-painted feature, which reported ly took about six years to complete, is infused with the sights and sounds of Mumbai and chronicles three very different tales of the heart. After making a splash at the Cannes, Venice and Toronto festivals earlier this year, Bombay Rose will premiere on Netflix this month. We had the chance to speak with Rao, who wrote, designed, edited and directed this feature. Here is an edit ed transcript of our conversation:

Animag: First of all, big congratulations on the release of your wonderful feature. Can you tell us a little about the development history of Bombay Rose?

Gitanjali Rao: I had an idea for a film six years ago. It was a different one, and I didn’t find the finances for it.  Girgit was about three migrants to Mumbai, and was six months into production before being abandoned. I took one idea from that to make the short film, TrueLoveStory, which was shown at Cannes in 2014. I also took some ideas from another unfinished film, Shadows of the Mahabharata, especially the folk art style. In 2016, I found the French producers Les Films d’Ici and they decided to support the film. By 2017, Cinestaan, an Indian film company based

out of the U.K., had also come on board. The pre-production process took 18 months. Pre-production in animation is very specific, and is about making a dummy film, really — bringing together the screenplay, the animatic (the ani mated storyboard), the design and look and feel of the characters, the colors and concepts, the scratch voices. The rough cut of the film be comes its blueprint. This blueprint can often take longer than the production itself. Once this was done, I approached Mumbai-based Paper boat Animation Studios to make the entire pro duction of this frame-by-frame painted film!

How did you come up with the folkloric, distinc tive and highly original animation style and de signs of the movie?

In  Bombay Rose, since I had the luxury of a long format, my characters move seamlessly into their dream worlds from reality. I use different art styles that I have been drawn to and inspired by, but essentially belong to the character’s place of origin and culture, to enable them to escape into their dream or what might have been a reality ages ago. The film has four styles that seamlessly merge into each other. The real ity is constructed in an impressionistic style, characteristic of my earlier short film TrueLoveS tory But within that, I go into the mindscape of my protagonist Kamala, who hails from Madhya

Pradesh, using the Kangra miniature painting style. For Salim, the hero of the film who hails from Kashmir and is a truck driver’s son, I used the truck-art style of Pakistan. The other import ant character in the film is an Anglo-Indian woman who used to be an ‘extra’ dancer in Hindi films from the 1950s, so for her my style chang es into the black and white vintage style of an older Bombay.

What were your biggest sources of inspiration for the movie?

I have often traveled across Bombay as a stu dent, then when working at different studios … in buses, trains, autos and taxis. Traffic conges tion would ensure one spent hours and hours in these travels. In those days before smartphones, one looked out of the windows to see life spill ing out of the streets. Even today, I feel Bombay is a city that (as a dweller) passes you by more than you live in it. I would see young girls and boys selling flowers and flirting and wonder how they express their love coming from differ ent states, speaking different languages with only Bollywood as their reference to express love. Somewhere in these travels within Bom bay and outside in the rest of India, I found the story of my protagonists Kamala and Salim. In a city which they literally build, clean and con struct, they have no citizenship and are vulnera

Trilogy of the Heart: Gitanjali Rao’s Bombay Rose centers on three stories of impossible loves: between a Hindu girl and a Muslim boy, love between two women, and the love of an entire city for its Bollywood stars.

Gitanjali Rao

ble to the dan gers of poverty and exclusion yet they cannot leave or go back. Their life and their spir it of survival drew me to their sto ries.

Why do you think animation was the perfect medi um to tell your heroine’s story?

In all my films, reality proceeds into the imagi nary world of the characters. Be it Orange, where the woman’s spirit takes on the form of a butter fly, or Printed Rainbow, where the matchbox is the trigger for the old woman’s fantasy — even in Chai, where I transit from live action into ani mation to bring alive the lost world of the char acters. Similarly, in  TrueLoveStory the fantasy world of Bollywood is the protagonist’s escape from reality. The audience is wont to expect something beyond reality when they watch ani mation. However, unlike conventional animation films, my dream worlds are fantastical in the psychological way, not just in space and time. I do not make fantasy creatures or an unreal world: I simply recreate the time and world as it must have been in times of peace and beauty, more like an inner world of the mind and soul.

Did you face a lot of challenges as a woman au teur working in animation?

Animation, the kind I do, is very niche in India and there isn’t yet money or power enough for

the gender parity to be evident. Most of my challenges are common to filmmakers of both genders, such as financing, etc. Apart from that, since not even men have ventured to make the films that I have, I have nothing to compare to.

But another fact is that more than 37 percent of the team of  Bombay Rose  is composed of wom en, specifically in lead roles like direction, exec utive production, production design, etc.

Where was the animation produced and which animation tools did you use?

In a studio in Mumbai called Paperboat Anima tion Studios. The entire film was made in Adobe Photoshop, Flash and Adobe After Effects. Noth ing very complicated.

How many people worked on the movie?

We started with 20 artists and then expanded to about 80 in the final six months.

Was it disappointing to have the movie come out in 2020, a year where many people cannot enjoy the film’s vibrant colors and beautiful im ages on the big screen? I hope we can all enjoy it on the big screen next year!

It is far less disappointing what has happened to my colleague’s films that have been complet ed this year! With a year like 2020, it would be foolhardy to not feel positive about a release — any kind of release. I am not greedy!

What is your take on the Indian animation in dustry?

It is tough being a non-commercial filmmaker in India. There is no state support. The big players in the industry and markets are not interested in us — unless we make children’s films. Not just

India, this conception is prevalent even in the West when it comes to commerce. It is the re lease strategy that has proven that children make the largest audience for animated films, therefore, the market is uninterested in other types of animation. Bombay Rose works perfectly for children, young adults as well as old people. Contemporary themes are interesting to every one if told in a way that engages them as well as entertaining them.

When did you know you wanted to work in ani mation?

Sometime during the end of my time at art school, I watched European animation in film festivals and especially fell in love with Polish and Eastern European styles of animation back in the ‘90s. Jerzy Kucia’s films actually made me decide to take up animation as a powerful me dium of emoting through movement. I have al ways wanted to paint as well as tell stories, so, since the two come together in animation, that became my voice.

Do you have any advice for other women who want to break barriers in the animation indus try?

The fact that a woman, any woman, wants to break barriers in any industry itself means she needs no generic advice from other women. Ge neric advice is a bore — but yes, give me a bunch of women from the industry over a drink and we’d all have lots of advice to give to each other in a mutual, not exclusive, way!

Bombay Rose premieres on Netflix on December 4. For more info on the director, please visit gitanjalirao.com.

Thief of Hearts

In a rare interview, writer-director Takashi Yamazaki talks about his well-received CG-animated Lupin III: The First movie with us.

There is often a certain amount of trepi dation whenever a beloved comic-book character makes the jump from 2D to 3D CG. That was certainly the case when fans learned that Japanese artist Monkey Punch’s Lupin III, who has been stealing treasures and entertaining fans since 1967, was getting the CG movie treatment. The fictional gentleman thief has been the star of numerous TV series, films, video specials and videogames for more than five decades. Anime fans will also recog nize the character from Hayao Miyazaki’s ac claimed 1979 feature The Castle of Cagliostro. So, it’s an understatement to say that expecta tions were high for writer-director Takashi Ya mazaki’s CG-animated 2019 Lupin III: The First.

The good news is that the movie is every thing audiences would expect from a Lupin III adventure, and it manages to deliver a fun, car toony version of the character and all his friends in CG, which is definitely not an easy task. The film, which was released in Japan last December, and made over $7.3 million worldwide, gets a

limited release stateside and will be available on disc and digital download in January.

The plot of the movie finds Lupin (voiced by Tony Oliver in the English-language version) in search of a mysterious Bresson diary, an item that was also sought by his famous grandfather. He teams up with an aspiring ar cheology student named Laetitia (Laurie C. Hymes) to stop the Nazis from obtaining this mysterious diary which can help them gain power to rule the world.

Yamazaki, who has been going back and forth between the worlds of live-action and CG animation, also directed 2014’s box-office hit Stand by Me Doraemon — another successful CG translation of a 2D character. He says he joined the project in 2015, after TMS Entertainment

and Marza Animation Planet had been working on development for a couple of years. “I have been a big fan of Lupin, so it was a great fulfill ment of a dream for me to direct this movie,” says the helmer. “Originally, I met the producers as they wanted my opinion about the project, and then we talked and soon, they asked me to direct the movie. The first draft of the script took about a year to complete, and then we went through many versions.”

A Thief with a Heart of Gold

The director, who has also cited James Bond and Indiana Jones movies as influences for the movie, says he was a big fan of Miyazaki’s ver sion of the character long before he got the

continued on page 18

‘It was important to include all the beloved and typical Lupin elements, like how this cool character so was good at disguises or how Zenigata would chase him to the end of the world.’

— Writer-director Takashi Yamazaki

Grand Escapades: Created by the late manga artist Monkey Punch, Lupin the Third was first introduced in 1967. The gentleman thief was also the star of Hayao Miyazaki’s debut feature The Castle of Cagliostro in 1979. The new CG-animated adventure starring the character will be available on Blu-ray in January.

from page 16

assignment. “Lupin is a memorable character, because he is a thief, a bad guy, but he is also very charming,” he notes. “He is a multi-dimen sional character, which is quite appealing. His relationship with his squad is also interesting, because they’re not too touchy-feely, but they are always there to help each other out.”

One of the main challenges facing him and his animation team was how to translate the charac ter designs of Lupin and the franchise’s other key characters from 2D to CG. “We didn’t want to ruin the general impression that fans have of the character. We didn’t want them to say, ‘Wait, he looks weird or not at all like Lupin that we know,’ so we had many, many trials. After we put the sto ryboard together, we did many previews. We had a lot of experts watch the reels and we got their feedback and their criticisms. It’s not easy to lis ten to a lot of critiques, but it was a very neces sary process. I believe they do the same thing at studios like Pixar, where everyone pitches in and offers their reviews. It’s a very important process of creating an animated movie, because it’s a very collaborative process.”

According to the filmmaker, the animation team used Maya and ZBrush to create the CG models, Maya for the animation and Arnold for rendering. The number of animators and art ists working on the feature fluctuated at Mar za, but about a hundred people worked on it during the busiest times. The actual produc tion of the movie took about three years.

Looking back at the movie, Yamazaki says

he’s proud of the finale’s exciting airplane se quence. “I am happy with the way it turned out,” he says. “When people tell me that it reminded them of Miyazaki’s Castle of Cagliostro, I consid er it a very high compliment. I think our movie’s new character Laetitia turned out very cute, too. I wanted to make her a person whose eyes would sparkle when she talks about her pas sion. When she starts to talk about archeology, her face lights up, and you can tell that she re ally loves it. But she has to hold it in, and Lupin releases it. That’s the story I wanted to tell. Ac tually, in the first draft, Laetitia was stronger and she did martial arts as well!”

Yamazaki says he regrets that he never got to meet Monkey Punch during the production, since the manga creator passed away last year. “I thought I could meet him when he got to watch the finished film. However, at certain points during production, he saw the charac ters or read the story, and every time he would give me messages like, ‘Thank you for this’ or ‘I’m looking forward to it,’ and gave me a lot of freedom. I’m honored to have been able to be a part of the masterpiece-filled Lupin III world with this new format known as 3D CG.”

Inspired by Miyazaki

When asked about his favorite animated movies, Yamazaki mentions Miyazaki’s Castle in the Sky, Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind and My Neighbor Totoro He also says 2020 has been the year of Demon Slayer: The Movie - In finity Train. “That movie was such a huge hit in

Japan,” he explains. “Strangely enough, every one associates it with the year of the pandem ic, because everyone was at home and watched the anime series. It’s a very interest ing and mysterious phenomenon.”

He says he is also very curious to see Earwig and the Witch, the new CG-animated feature directed by Miyazaki’s son, Gorō, which will premiere on Japanese TV channel NHK on De cember 30. “I’m very curious to see if it will have the Ghibli spirit since Gorō doesn’t fol low the studio’s usual style.”

As our interview comes to a close, the good-humored director says he learned sever al important lessons during the making of Lu pin III “Because I got to work with an outside studio, l learned that it was always a good idea to collaborate and discuss various ap proaches with many different people,” he notes. “It’s always important to get a lot of opinions and strive to listen to other perspec tives because you want the final film to be entertaining to a lot of people, both young and older audiences.”

“Finally, I want everyone who sees the movie to value the importance of chasing their dreams, just like Laetetia does in our story. Go forward with your dream and cherish the things that make you different. Most of all, I hope that they will be entertained by our movie.” ◆

GKIDS releases Lupin III: The First on digital on Dec. 15 and on Blu-Ray and Steelbook on January 12.

Santé

The Extra-Terrestrial War Against Christmas

Stop-motion wizards the Chiodo Brothers take us behind the scenes of their charming Netflix special, Alien Xmas.

We can’t think of a better way to end this crazy year than taking in the zany charms of the Chiodo Brothers’ new holiday special Alien Xmas. The 40-minute stop-motion special, which pre miered on Netflix in November, centers on a special alien who decides to help protect San ta Claus and Christmas from some trouble making extra-terrestrials. Based on a book of the same name by the Chiodos, the special is directed by Stephen Chiodo and produced by Edward Chiodo, who also exec produced with Charles Chiodo, Jon Favreau and others.

The L.A.-based Chiodos, who are well known for their stop-motion and puppetry work for a wide range of features and TV shows, includ ing Tim Burton’s Vincent, Critters, Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure, Theodore Rex, Team America: World Police, The Thundermans and the 1988 sci-fi horror comedy classic Killer Klowns From Out er Space, were perfectly suited for this offbeat adventure.

“We always wanted to create a holiday-

themed special,” recalls Stephen Chiodo dur ing a recent interview. “We were big fans of the classic stop-motion Rankin/Bass holiday specials like Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and Santa Claus Is Comin’ to Town. We were working on some interstitial spots for ABC Family/Freeform’s 25 Days of Christmas pro grams, and thought it would be great if we could come up with something of our own that mixes Christmas with sci-fi elements. We

able to publish Alien Xmas as a book about five years ago.”

From Book to Stream

Chiodo points out that having Alien Xmas published as a book first gave it more bank ability. Of course, when his friend actor/direc tor Jon Favreau (who worked with the Chiodos on Elf) found out about the project, he knew he had to champion it and took it to Netflix.

weren’t able to set up the project at the time, although there was a lot of interest. But we had all the characters designed and the art work was ready, so thanks to our friend Mark Van Eaton who introduced us to Bob Self and his publishing company Baby Tattoo, we were

Finally in October of 2018, things really be gin to move forward. The script by Kealan O’Rourke, Dan Clark and Noah Kloor was in place, and directors of photography Helder K. Sun and Aaron Wise, production designer Ean McNamara, art director Jeff Bartlett White, VFX

‘When Santa gets this idea of having a super sleigh, you know that someone is going to be out of a job. That’s why the reindeer have this undercurrent of animosity.’

— Director Stephen Chiodo

Christmas Is Saved —

supervisor Cameron Carson and animation di rector Cameron Baity all joined the produc tion’s stellar creative team soon after.

“We started animating in early June of 2019 and finished before Christmas of 2010 and finished the post this year,” says Ed Chiodo. “Including everyone who worked in post, we had about 300 people working on the show.”

About 150 silicone-based puppets were used to bring to life the special’s eclectic cast of aliens, elves, arctic critters, robots and Santa Claus! “Our head of puppets, Becky Van Cleve, did such a beautiful job of creating these puppets which ranged from five-inches to 10-inches tall,” says Stephen Chiodo. “The characters’ mouths were 2D-animated and added later in post. The more sophisticated alien ‘Swiss Army’ robot named Sam 2 that could transform to different apparatuses re quired more sophisticated replacement ani mation, involving lights and appendages.”

The challenging project involved a lot of different moving parts. Twelve animators worked on 16 stages and 20 physical sets throughout the production. Each animator was tasked with producing about eight sec onds of animation each day. “We had to make sure our puppets weren’t any bigger than 12- to 13-inches tall because we wanted to maintain the size of the sets,” says Stephen. “Anything bigger than that would be unwieldy for the animators. Our main character X was only five inches tall, and we also had puppies that were about an inch long!”

As Ed Chiodo further explains, “From the

get-go we wanted to embrace the tradition al stop-motion animation that we grew up with, those Rankin/Bass holiday specials. We did use digital technology for sculpting and digital printing of puppets, but our goal was to have puppets on miniature sets. We didn’t want to lose the handprints of the makers by refining it too much. That was the kind of throw-back charm we were going for.”

Dragonframe to the Rescue

“We started hand-sculpting with clay, but we realized that all the changes and tweaks we needed to do could be done much faster using [the digital sculpting tool] ZBrush,” says Edward. “So, we created the models and made molds and cranked out quite a lot of puppets. We also relied on the 3D printers and Dragon frame software to bring the puppets to life.”

Stephen admits that it was challenging to have to produce so much footage quickly.

“About 95 percent of the shots are the first takes,” he notes. “The direction had to be very specific and our first efforts had to be success ful. Our talented animators really hit it out of the park and were able to deliver such nu anced performances. We owe a lot to our fan tastic production manager Eileen Kohlhepp, who stepped in and organized everything.”

For the director, it was quite important to make sure Alien Xmas would not be your typi cal run-of-the-mill holiday special. “I mean, this is about mean aliens trying to steal grav ity and then dealing with Santa and his elves, so we wanted to put a unique spin on the

annual holiday fare,” says Stephen. “The story is about aliens battling Santa Claus, but we also wanted the message to be about the im portance of giving and sharing at Christmas. We also tried to incorporate a little bit of that Chiodo subversive humor. For example, when Santa gets this idea of having a super sleigh which travels at the speed of light, you know that someone is going to be out of a job. So, that’s why the reindeer have this undercurrent of animosity about the whole thing! But in the end they come together to save Christmas and planet Earth!”

Thanks to Favreau’s participation in the production, eagle-eyed viewers will also get a fun throwback to another holiday favorite: Elf. “We wanted to pay homage to the arctic critter friends from the movie. So, we included a fun little bit of a wink by including a scene with Jon’s baby walrus and arctic puffin. It’s a little clip to make people smile and remember that movie. In addition to that, Jon was such a wonderful creative sounding board. He is a natural storyteller and he knew exactly what the charm of the book was and how to trans late it to a longer stop-motion project. He helped me a lot as a director and kept us all on track with the heart of the story.”

“We associate stop-motion animation with those classic holiday specials, so we hope that Alien Xmas will also find a place in people’s hearts along those favorites,” concludes Ed ward Chiodo. His brother chimes in, “We hope audiences will enjoy X’s discovery of the real spirit of Christmas, which is about giving, and that they will revive their warm memories of holidays past when they were younger and more innocent.”

Alien Xmas is currently available for streaming on Netflix around the world.

‘We associate stop-motion animation with holiday specials, so we hope that Alien Xmas will also find a place in people’s hearts alongside those favorites.’ — Producer Edward Chiodo

Again: The Chiodo brothers pay homage to their favorite Rankin/Bass holiday specials in their new Netflix special.

This Mouse Will Never Stop Working!

Exec producer Paul Rudish discusses his new Disney+ series The Wonderful World of Mickey Mouse.

Last month, a certain world-famous ro dent celebrated a big birthday. That’s right, Disney’s resourceful, optimistic and ageless Mickey Mouse celebrated his 92nd birthday on November 18 (that’s the date he made his cinematic debut in Steamboat Willie in 1928). Disney marked this impressive anni versary by introducing a new series of shorts under the Wonderful World of Mickey Mouse banner, led by the creative vision of multiple Emmy and Annie-winning writer/producer/ director Paul Rudish, who was also behind the cabler’s hugely successful and acclaimed Mickey Mouse series (2013-2019).

The new show finds Minnie, Donald, Dai sy, Goofy and Pluto continue their wild and zany adventures in each of the seven-minute shorts. These new timeless tales are inspired by various lands at Disney parks, and feature cameos by classic Disney characters. Two new shorts roll out on Disney+ each Friday, and 10 shorts overall will premiere this season. Then, 10 more shorts are scheduled to debut this summer. Christopher Willis, the Emmy-nomi nated composer of the Mickey Mouse shorts, also provides the music for this series.

Rudish and his gifted team began working

on the new series about a year ago, right on the heels of Disney Channel’s Mickey Mouse se ries, which ran for five seasons and won seven Emmys and 21 Annie Awards. “We’ve retooled the format a bit as these shorts are longer,” he tells us. “But they are very much in line with the Mickey shorts as far as humor and style.

Inspired by Parks and Heritage

For this new enterprise, Rudish and his team found inspiration in Disney history and many of the studio’s beloved films and theme parks. “We decided to look at doing various stories that could possibly take place in differ ent lands of Disneyland so we could do more genre pieces,” he says. “For instance, there’s one that could take place in Frontierland, pos sibly in Fantasyland and Tomorrowland. We have a short called ‘House of Tomorrow’ that’s based on an old Disneyland attraction called House of the Future. We thought that was a

really neat set piece. There’s a loose associa tion with some of the lands and an occasional cameo from other Disney characters will pop in here and there along the way.”

The production team included about 30 people at the Disney Television Animation studio in Glendale and another 30 or so at Mercury Filmworks in Canada. “Mercury is our animation production partner in Ottawa, and they’re great,” he notes. “This series is actually a smaller team compared to a lot of productions.

Like many animation professionals around the world, Rudish and his crew had to quickly adjust to the new realities of working from home, due to this past year’s COVID pandemic restrictions. “Working from home has defi nitely had an impact on production, but we’ve managed to keep everything moving,” says the exec producer. “It’s not as great as being at the studio where you can hang out with every body and talk to everybody on the spot. We’ve

‘Use curiosity to feed you and drive you to learn more things … Take advantage of opportunities that come your direction and learn as much about the process as you can along the way.’

— Writer, designer, director & exec producer Paul Rudish

been very fortunate that we’ve been able to continue production though.”

Rudish says working with his talented team on the show has been a wonderful experience.

“There are so many fantastic artists on board and our relationship with our animation studio is great,” he admits. “We’re doing seven-minute episodes instead of the three-and-a-half min utes that we used to do, so we have more room for a bigger cast of characters. We get to play with characters’ relationships a little bit more because we have more time. In addition, there haven’t been a lot of big challenges other than adjusting to the lockdown and having to shift our whole business to do things remotely.”

The Mickey Mouse veteran began his career doing character design and storyboards for shows such as Batman: The Animated Series, and writing, designing and directing episodes of Dexter’s Laboratory, The Powerpuff Girls and Samurai Jack, directing Star Wars: Clone Wars

and creating Sym-Bionic Titan with Genndy Tar takovsky. We asked him when was the first time he realized he wanted to work in animation.

“Well, I’ve always loved cartoons,” Rudish responds. “From the minute my eyes opened, I can always remember liking drawings. My fa ther was an illustrator, so drawing was encour aged.” Paul’s dad was Rich Rudish, who created the Rainbow Brite character for Hallmark and was art director for the 1985 animated feature Rainbow Brite and the Star Stealer and char acter designer for the show The Real Ghost busters. “I loved comic books and cartoons and illustration. I thought, ‘Do I want to grow up and be an animator or do I want to learn how to paint like Frank Frazetta?’ When it came time to look at art schools, the animation program at CalArts looked really fun to me. The idea of using all the multiple mediums that you can employ in filmmaking helped me make my decision to go there.”

We ask him to offer some helpful tips for having a successful career in animation. Rudish offers, “I think number one is curiosity. I’ve al ways been curious about all the different tech nical processes. Curious about life, how people interact, how things work in the world and be ing aware of what’s going on. Look at the situ ations in the world and how you can translate that into your own artwork. Use curiosity to feed you and drive you to learn more things. Let it feed your design aesthetic. Then practice. Get those draftsman skills down. Be studious of animation in general and how filmmaking works. Take advantage of opportunities that come your direction and learn as much about the process as you can along the way.”

Now, that is what we call great advice that even Mickey and Donald would agree with! ◆

The Wonderful World of Mickey streams Fridays on Disney+.

The Three Amigos: Mickey, Goofy and Donald enjoy wild new adventures in the new Disney+ series. The show’s terrific voice cast includes Chris Diamantopoulos (Mickey), Kaitlyn Robrock (Minnie), Bill Farmer (Goofy), Tony Anselmo (Donald) and Tress MacNeille (Daisy).

Carpe Diem Cartoons

Apple TV+ goes zen with Doug Unplugs and Stillwater, two hot new shows about exploring the world and living in the now.

By Ramin Zahed

Since its launch in late 2019, Apple TV+ has quickly become a great spot to find excel lent animated fare aiming at family au diences and fans of top-notch animation. After delivering the acclaimed animated special Here We Are: Notes for Living on Planet Earth and the charming musical comedy Central Park earlier this year, it is continuing to raise the bar with two new offerings: Doug Unplugs, which pre miered in November, and Stillwater, which will premiere this month. The streamer will also of fer Cartoon Saloon’s feature Wolfwalkers, which is one of the best-reviewed movies of the year, period. Since we covered that movie in our last issue, we thought it would be nice to catch up with the talented team behind the streamer’s two new children’s series, both of which have important messages about our lives today.

Doug Unplugs is a bright, shiny and instantly lovable show based on the popular Doug Un plugged book series by acclaimed children’s author and illustrator Dan Yaccarino, which follows the adventures of a young robot who learns to enjoy life with his best human friend, Emma. It is exec produced by Jim Nolan (Esme

& Roy), Aliki Theofilopoulos (Phineas and Ferb, Hercules) and Yaccarino (Oswald, Willa’s Wild Life), and features the voices of Brandon James Cienfuegos (Doug), Kyrie McAlpin (Emma), Eric Bauza (Bob Bot) and Mae Whitman (Becky Bot).

Yaccarino tells us that the origins of Doug Unplugs go back to the days his own children were making their way to elementary school. “I noticed that they were using online resources more and more, so I started thinking about the sheer wealth of information they had at their fingertips, which was amazing, but what about the other ways we discover and learn about the world?” he asks. Then, about 10 years ago, Yacca rino decided to hang his ideas on a character. “I have an affection for robots, so I tried that. I then

decided that a book would be the best initial medium to explore the subject and after about a year, I came up with the concept for Doug Un plugged, which was published a few years after I initially came up with the basic idea.”

Soon after, Yacarinno was approached by DreamWorks Animation Chief Creative Officer Peter Gal, who was interested in developing a show about kids and technology. “Once the brilliantly talented Jim Nolan and Aliki Theo filopoulos were brought on to further develop the idea, things clicked,” says the creator. “The project really kicked into high gear as we met with potential broadcast and streaming partners. Once we formed a partnership with Apple TV+, we went into production.”

‘I hope that audiences will love getting to know Doug and Emma and how wonderful their friendship is. And that they will find delight in silly robots, big and small adventures, great music and, of course, the benefit of plugging in to learn information and stay connected with those we care about.’

— Doug Unplugs exec producer Aliki Theofilopoulos

A Bot with Joie de Vivre: Doug Unplugs centers on a young robot who realizes there is more to life than just the plain, cold facts.

All the Right People

Both Nolan and Theofilopoulos instantly connected with the show’s message and char acters. “We pitched it to Apple who, to their in finite credit, didn’t flee the room as Dan and I literally acted out sections of our pilot script,” recalls Nolan. “Once we officially partnered with them we worked together to continue to develop and fine tune the series. And, of course, Aliki jumped in around then with her boatload of talent and leadership skills in tow.”

Theofilopoulous adds, “By the time I came onto the project, Jim had developed a wonder ful take on Dan’s awesome book series build ing out the world with a slew of fun robots, creating the concept of ‘Rebots,’ and of course adding a best friend for Doug, a spirited human named Emma. I fell in love with the concept and jumped at the opportunity to help develop the project further in partnership with Jim and Dan, also bringing on a great art director, Matt Doering, whom I had worked with on a previ ous DreamWorks series,  Harvey Girls Forever. Matt was instrumental in the creation of the design theory of the robot vs. human world. With this team in place, the Doug Unplugs uni verse expanded to where it is now!”

The three creatives are quite pleased with the final results of their labor. Theofilopoulos explains, “I absolutely love this idea that we have a show that says, ‘Technology is great, we embrace and love technology. But then, there comes a time where we need to unplug and

have an actual experience. Technology can help inform that experience, but it is by actu ally doing where one really gets to have a per sonal take away from any given situation.’ This messaging is so appropriate and much needed not only for children, but for us adults, too!”

Nolan adds, “I love that we emphasize bal ancing technology and experience, that both play an important role and that you need each to get the full picture of a topic. Given my two-year-old son knows how to find vid eos of himself on my phone, I can’t imagine a more timely takeaway! But more than that, I love our characters; our robots and our hu mans. I like their big personalities and that, even for a young show, they have foibles and make mistakes, they’re not perfect, they learn. I love their voices, the different ways they move and how they’re designed.

Loving an Innocent Robot

Yaccarino admits that he started to tear up the first time he watched the show’s trailer. “It was so beautiful,” he says. “I suddenly realized it took 10 years to get Doug to the screen! It truly captured the spirit of this innocent robot discovering the human world for the first time. It really touched my heart. The other thing I love about the show is all the talented people who worked together to bring it to life. There are so many wonderfully dedicated people who shared their gifts and passion to realize the characters and their unique world.”

Terrific Tips from Mr. Yaccarino

B ring the best people avail able into the proj ect and allow them to do their best work. On my series Oswald and Willa’s Wild Life, I made sure the absolute best people I could find were working on it and I trusted them. I’m not a micro-manager, but if I find myself giving a lot of direction or constantly revising someone’s work, then I didn’t do my number one job, which was to bring the best people in. I wanted everyone who worked on the series to put their own fingerprints on them in order to have ownership. Be cause of this, everyone involved felt a part of it and worked harder and took more pride in what they did.

The same is true for Doug Unplugs Everyone involved gave their best and it really shows on screen. I’m so proud and happy to be a part of it. Although I’ve been creating and producing ani mated series for 20 years, there’s al ways so much more to learn. There’s always something new to discover, so many talented people to work with and so much joy to be experienced. I am grateful to be able to do what I do.

Surviving a Challenging Year: In addi tion to producing and writing and illus trating books, I travel quite a bit visiting schools to talk about what I do, but of course, all of my visits were cancelled, so in addition to giving virtual presentations, I decided to take the time to develop some book ideas I’d been meaning to get to that could potentially be source mate rial for animated series and features. Part of my being is somewhat hermit-like – I might have been a monk in a past life, liv ing in a monastery, spending my life creat ing an illuminated manuscript – so I was fine with spending time alone for days at a time, working into the wee hours, talk ing to myself, occasionally seeing my son and daughter, but also practicing TM and doing some yoga. I’ve also rediscovered my love of cooking – which is dangerous because, being Italian, I not only love to cook, but love to eat.

‘I love that we emphasize balancing technology and experi ence, that both play an important role, and that you need each to get the full picture of a topic. Given my two-year old son knows how to find videos of himself on my phone, I can’t imagine a more timely takeaway!’

— Doug Unplugs exec producer Rob Nolan

start of the great interest in mindfulness we’re seeing today.”

Hoegee says when Gaumont optioned the books from Scholastic, there wasn’t a single show that emphasized mindfulness. “When Terry Kalagian at Gaumont approached me, I very nearly begged to be given an opportu nity to be involved,” he says. “This should have been a hard sell considering my background is in adventure-style shows, but along with Terry, Gaumont Television’s President Nicolas Atlan saw my passion and enthusiasm for the books. They put a lot of trust in me, as did Tara Sorensen at Apple.”

According to the exec producer, the writing stage of development was surprisingly quick. “I think all of us were surprised at how dialedin we were with the scripts from the very start,” he notes. “This continued throughout the entire writing process – every one of my writers just seemed to ‘get it.’”

Hoegee points out that visual development was more of a challenge. “It was essential that we get the look right, and translating Jon J. Muth’s beautiful watercolors to a CG animated world took some doing. It was a tricky balance to evoke the style and feelings of the originals while cre ating our own visual language. We found that we could do this with a blend of cinematic composi tions and refined character acting.”

Since Stillwater is a giant furry panda, the CG character was going to be the biggest hurdle. “There was really only one studio we even con sidered, and that was Japan’s Polygon Pictures,” says Hoegee. “Given the Zen foundation and subtle Japanese elements, it also made a lot of sense to have a Tokyo-based studio involved. Excepting some of their proprietary rigging software, most of the show is done in Maya.”

According to exec producer, Stillwater is a show that the audience needs to connect with in a deep and meaningful way. “It needs to feel ‘real,’ but at the same time, we didn’t want it to look entirely photo-realistic – that would be too far of a departure from Jon’s books,” he adds. “A lot of this we would do in the scripts by crafting relatable stories, but we rely just as much on subtle, genuine performances from our animated char acters. It’s all about finding the truth of each moment.”

Another interest

‘We wanted Stillwater to be a useful show that gives children and parents actual tools they can reach for. At the same time, we didn’t want it to be pedantic, preachy or a how-to. Instead, we do this by telling stories that form connections.’

— Stillwater exec producer Rob Hoegee

ing aspect of the show is that the creators had to figure out how to blend two different story levels in each episode. “Stillwater tells stories, known as koans, in every episode, which are metaphors for the lessons and wisdom he shares,” says Hoegee. “In the original books, Jon J. Muth did these largely in a stylized ink brush technique. Our approach would be to use traditional animation to capture these moments. We are using the French studio Fo livari for this part of the show, and they are doing some truly beautiful work. Toon Boom Harmony is their main platform, supplement ed with hand-drawn animation and After Ef fects. We feel completely transported when we transition to the koans – and in a way, it even helps to make our still-stylized CG part of the show feel even more ‘real’ in contrast.”

‘I Need This Show!’

Hoegee says Gaumont Animation was com mitted to doing as much work locally as they could, so in addition to episodic directors and storyboard revisionists, most of the art depart ment was in-house. “It was a huge advantage having everyone under the same roof as we got started,” he explains. “There was a genu ine ‘we’re all in this together’ feel. Everyone involved loved the show and what we were trying to accomplish. I can’t tell you how many times we would hear people on the crew say

ing, ‘I need this show.’ Not just to have out in the world, but to be a part of making it.”

Like many of today’s animation profession als, the Stillwater team had to deal with the limitations of working in a pandemic-chal lenged world. “One of the challenges we had was that just when we were really starting to find our groove, COVID hit and we shifted to work from home,” says Hoegee. “As many folks in animation quickly figured out, this wasn’t as big a challenge as we had anticipated, and it turned out to be a completely viable way to work. We made that transition ourselves rather seamlessly.”

Hoegee says that when he and the team started developing Stillwater over two years ago, they knew it would be something the world needed. “Little would we know our pre mier would happen in the midst of a global pandemic,” he says. “We hear the word ‘mind fulness’ used a lot nowadays — perhaps as a reflection of a genuine need we have in these uncertain times. We wanted Stillwater to be a useful show that gives children and parents actual tools they can reach for. At the same time, we didn’t want it to be pedantic, preachy or a how-to. Instead, we do this by telling sto ries that form connections. In a way, that’s the oldest form of healing there is.” ◆

Stillwater premieres on Apple TV+ on December 4.

Message of Mindfulness: Based on the book by Jon J. Muth, Stillwater follows the adventures of three siblings who learn about the quiet wonders of the world from the wise panda next door.

Hilda’s Second Act!

Find out everything you needed to know about the second season of Netflix’s acclaimed animated show!

When Silvergate Media and Mercury Filmworks’ animated series Hilda premiered on Netflix back in Sep tember of 2018, audiences quickly fell In love with its fearless, blue-haired protagonist, her deerfox Twig and the strange and fantastic char acters that inhabit creator Luke Pearson’s wonder ful universe. The Annie and Emmy-winning show is coming back for its second season this month, so we thought it would be a great time to catch up with some of its talented creative team to find out what’s in store for our favorite heroine. Here is what creator/co-exec producer Luke Pearson, headwriter/co-exec producer Stephanie Simpson, series producer Bryan Korn, director Andy Coyle and Netflix director of original animation Dominique Bazay told us in a recent email roundtable!

Animag: We are all very excited about the second season of Hilda. Can you tell us a little bit about what we can expect to see this time around?

Stephanie Simpson: Hilda is going to deal with a real antagonist for the first time, someone who’s so pompous that he’s ridiculous, but so powerhungry that he’s more dangerous than your aver age angry troll! And if you’re a deerfox fan — and who isn’t? — then prepare to see Twig in a whole new light!

Bryan Korn: In this season, we delve deeper into the magic of Hilda’s world, exploring ghost ships, witches’ mazes and islands that are actually sea monsters. You can also expect to hear an all-new soundtrack of licensed songs featuring Orville Peck, Stereolab and Frankie Cosmos.

Second seasons of hugely popular shows can be tough. What were your biggest challenges?

Simpson: Staying fearless like Hilda in our sto rytelling and being willing to take the charac ters to new places while remaining true to their

strengths and their flaws. But, such is the life of a writer-adventurer!

Luke Pearson: There was less of an immediate road map. Season one adapted and expanded four comic stories, but season two only had one existing comic to adapt. So, we had to come up with a lot more original stuff. And because we be gan writing before season one launched, I think another challenge was figuring out the best way forward before we had any feedback on the first season.

What do you think it is about Hilda and her uni verse that has struck such a chord with audiences worldwide?

Simpson: There’s so much to love about Hilda and her universe, but for me, I think it’s the unique balance of the epic adventure moments and the quiet, authentic character moments. And there are no throwaway characters in Hilda’s universe. Every single being — human, elf, troll or otherwise — is treated with respect and with the goal of under standing their point of view, even if that point of view is different from yours — especially if it’s dif ferent from yours!

Pearson: People seem to really respond to the cozy feel. And I think there is something to the fact that when you take out the creatures, Hilda’s world is quite easy to bring to life with a bit of imagination. I often see kids doing Hilda-inspired activities, going into the woods and so on. Korn: Hilda’s lovingly drawn animation and lim ited color palette cut a striking figure in today’s animation landscape.

Did you have any idea the show was going to be such a huge critical and commercial hit?

Pearson: No, but then I didn’t really know what to expect and generally I try to keep my expectations pretty grounded. I felt that it was good and that

it should be a hit! I think the show skews a bit younger than some of the shows people were preemptively comparing it to, so I was worried there might be some disappointment there, but I never really saw any of that.

Korn: We knew that Hilda would find a strong au dience in viewers who were hungry for fierce fe male heroes leading adventure stories, which was rare at the time we were developing the series. But we could not have anticipated that the enthu siasm would come from such a broad spectrum: kids and parents, animation lovers, fantasy fans, troll enthusiasts.

Bazay: The pitch for Hilda was unique. Kurt Muel ler [EVP Creative Content at Silvergate Media] and his team always put a special touch on the ma terials they share. This time the pitch came with a vinyl record, pressed especially, with reference music for the show. It was pretty effective, we could immediately imagine how Luke Pearson’s incredibly rich art would translate to animation. Stephanie Simpson as a head writer just made it even more exciting. We engage with every project we make in hopes that our members will find joy in it. This was a great start!

How many people work on the series?

Korn: The Hilda creative team spans many time zones; we were “Zooming” before it was cool. There’s writing in L.A., animation in Ottawa, the producing team in New York, the cast in London and Luke powering everything from his home in Nottingham. The series benefits from diverse points of view across each stage, making Trolberg feel true and vibrant without being fixed in a real time and place.

Andy Coyle: There’s a lot of moving parts at all times when in production, over 130 artists in dif ferent phases put the show together.

No Sophomore Slump: Hilda returns to Netflix with a second season packed with magical creatures, adven tures and gentle humor.

Where is the animation produced and which ani mation tools do you use to produce it?

Coyle: The show is produced at Mercury Film works in Ottawa, Canada. We use a combination of a whole bunch of tools to make Hilda. Our primary pipeline is built around Toon Boom’s production software, like Storyboard Pro and Harmony, and Adobe’s CS package. We still do some roughing and sketching on good old paper, and I cannot overstate the importance of yellow sticky notes!

How did you all deal with the restrictions caused by the pandemic?

Coyle: It was such a strange adjustment. I’m so used to being very hands-on with all the artists, and once the pandemic happened, we all felt a bit distanced and isolated. Luckily, the team is a bunch of professionals who know how to do their job, so we just got everybody up and running at home and did a lot of video calling! I record myself going through material for launches, rather than doing it in person. For the second season we were able to complete our pre-production before the pandemic happened, which was helpful, so it was just finish ing production and post-production, but for the Hilda movie we’re doing it all in this more virtual environment. Ironically, I think maybe it’s our great est piece of work despite the challenges.

What is your take on the state of animation in 2020-2021? Do you think there is such a thing as too much animated content out there?

Korn: Never. We desperately need more animation from underrepresented creators. There’s an insane wealth of storytelling talent that is just on the other side of our industry’s institutional barriers. There will never be enough animation until those stories are told.

Coyle: I don’t believe there’s such a thing as too much animated content, though I am disappoint ed in the lack of variety. Animation is simply a medium, not a genre. There couldn’t be too much of it any more than there could be too much liveaction content. For some reason, you overwhelm ingly get the same kind of things produced over and over though, and I’d like to see more variety in the types of animation being made. Obviously, it’s better than it’s ever been, so I would like to think this higher demand for more material sets the stage for some different points of view to get some success. You’ve got things like Genndy Tarta kovsky’s Primal and Cartoon Saloon’s Wolfwalkers being made, which gives me great hope.

Who are your biggest animation heroes/influences?

Pearson: I really like classic British animation by the likes of Oliver Postgate, Ivor Wood, etc. I also really like the Russian animator Yuri Norstein. And I’m a big Miyazaki/Ghibli fan, which is probably obvious.

Coyle: I get asked this question a lot and it’s so hard to answer! Most of my influences come from American live action, the stuff I was drawn to as a kid that developed my sense of storytelling and cinema. There are lots of people in modern anima tion whose work I admire and respect, but they don’t necessarily influence my work. There’s so much great stuff out today. In a technical sense, Tomm Moore’s Secret of Kells and Song of the Sea, Benjamin Renner’s Ernest & Celestine and Big Bad Fox. Those are amazing pieces of work. The very first film I ever watched in a theater was The Land Before Time, so that had a profound effect on how I developed as a storyteller. With Hilda, I obviously made a conscious effort to take influence from Hayao Miyazaki’s films, and Astro Boy was another touchstone.

What are some of the responses to the show that have really moved you over the past cou ple of years?

Pearson: It always warms my heart any time I see a kid on World Book Day or Halloween, looking really proud in their Hilda costume.

Simpson: Most recently, it’s been hearing from kids — and grown-ups — that watching Hilda has been a comfort to them during these anxious times. One little girl said to me that she likes the show because “things can get scary and you can mess up, but it will be okay.” I just love that.

And I believe it, too.

Korn: We premiered the first two episodes of season one at the Brooklyn Public Library to an auditorium full of kids. When the first epi sode cut to black, the projectionist accidently put the house lights up… the kids went wild thinking it was over. Then when another epi sode started, they almost rioted. It was the best audience anyone could ask for.

Coyle: The most common thing I get is generally, “My kid put this show on, and 30 minutes later I found myself sucked into it, too.” The idea that parents and their kids can experience it together and share that is pretty beautiful. Stuff like that gives all of this work purpose.

Bazay: It’s hard to describe how it feels to meet super fans of an original show. It happened for us at New York Comic Con a few years ago. Fans dressed up as Hilda, complete with Twigs and Al furs. It was very moving to hear about the impact the series was having on people. It meant a lot to see Luke meet them in person. As a creator, I’m sure that’s the best form of success. ◆

The second season of Hilda premieres on Netflix in December.

Andy Coyle

Luke

Pearson

Bryan

Korn

Stephanie Simpson

Reaching Out: In five short years, Baobab has introduced six memorable animated VR outings: Invasion! (2016), Asteroids! (2017), Jack: Part One (2018), Crow: The Legend (2018), Bonfire (2019) and Baba Yaga (2020).

Virtual World of Wonders

The team behind the acclaimed VR powerhouse Baobab Studios looks back at five years of creating cutting-edge, industry-defining projects.

Virtual reality startup Baobab Studios has achieved so much since its incep tion that it’s hard to grasp that it has only been five years since it was founded by Maureen Fan, Eric Darnell and Larry Cutler in Redwood City, Calif. One of the clear front runners in the evolving animated VR content creation field, Baobab has managed to deliver a series of innovative, imaginative and high ly involving projects each year. The outfit’s six major titles — Invasion! (2016), Asteroids! (2017), Jack: Part One (2018), Crow: The Leg end (2019), Bonfire (2019) and this year’s buzzy Baba Yaga — are some of the most accessible and entertaining VR titles we’ve seen to date, and were showered with all kinds of awards worldwide. We recently caught up with the studio’s creative leaders to get a close-up look at how the company is faring during this very challenging year.

Looking back at the studio’s beginnings, Bao bab’s co-founder and chief creative officer Eric Darnell (best known for directing blockbuster features such as Antz and the Madagascar fran chise at DreamWorks), says he was looking for

something new to put his creative energies into after focusing on animated features for two decades. “I left DreamWorks to go figure out what that ‘something’ was going to be. An old friend and former employer, Glenn Entis, told me that Maureen Fan, a VP of content at Zynga, was interested in starting a VR anima tion company and he introduced us. When Maureen and I got together she brought an early headset. I’d never tried VR before and I was blown away by what it could do and by the possibility of what it could become.”

Fan says one of the key creative challenges was to create a culture that blended narrative with interactivity. “Our mission is to make the audience matter,” she explains. “That meant we needed our projects to have both narra

tive and interactivity. Film and game industries have vastly different cultures, and people from each industry may come with preconceived no tions of the other industry. They can come en trenched with their traditional ways of doing things. We tore these norms apart, encouraged the team to leave behind their old processes and the definitions of ‘game’ or ‘film.’ Instead, we invented our own new language to describe what we are doing and new processes.”

Learning from Bunnies

One of the main goalposts was to make sure the team pushed the limits of interactivi ty a little more and experimented to make the audience matter. “I’m really proud of how the team has tackled ambitious problems with

Baba Yaga

Baobab principles, from left, Larry Cutler, Eric Darnell and Maureen Fan.

each project, learned, iterated and come up with new problems to solve — from the Inva sion! bunny, Chloe’s eye contact and digging into cognitive psychology to figure out people show and develop connection to each other,” says Fan. “I’m proud of what we’ve achieved in such a short time.”

The CEO says it has also been quite reward ing to see how both she and Darnell have changed their creative views over the last five years. “Eric started firmly in the traditional narrative camp, having had 25 years of feature film success, yet over the last five years he’s come to believe that your choices need to re ally matter rather than be a gimmick to get you to engage more,” says Fan. “I come more from the interactive side, having made games (the FarmVille franchise at Zynga) and have learned so much from Eric about what gets you to truly bond with a character. Merging the two together, we will be unstoppable!”

Darnell says he tries to find a way for ev erything he gets involved with to be fulfill ing. “Otherwise, what’s the point?” he asks. “I started my career making short experimental animated films that hardly anyone saw, and I found that fulfilling. Making feature films that millions will see is very rewarding, too, but in different ways. Making VR content is exciting because no one knows what they are doing. We are all explorers in an undiscovered country. So while VR today won’t find the audience that something like a Madagascar film found 10 years ago, it is pretty invigorating to be on the tip of the spear in this brand-new medium.”

Building Emotional Stories

The studio’s head of content Kane Lee says

the magic of the studio’s interactive story telling is the way audiences can believe that their presence, feelings, thoughts and actions are part of the story that is unfolding in real time. “We invite you into our story, but it’s your story at the end of the day,” he points out.

Lee mentions that with their debut proj ect Invasion!, Baobab had to deviate from the ways of traditional cinema to break the fourth wall in unexpected ways. “Because there were no narrative experiences in VR yet that we had seen where you were not only acknowledged but played a role through the entire story, we saw people respond in ways we hadn’t imagined,” he recalls. “They would try to pet Chloe, the bunny rabbit, make little noises at her, even mimic her — which we learned from psychology is an unconscious way of relation ship-building called ‘mirroring.’”

Hand controllers were introduced in the market during the production of Asteroids!, so audiences could play fetch with a robot dog (which used AI to “mirror” the audience) and help save the life of an alien. “There was no negative outcome, but you would be rewarded with a more personal, emotional outcome — as you probably would in real life, if you de cided to rise to the occasion,” says Lee.

Native Joys

He says with Crow: The Legend, the studio opted to offer something like pure unadulter ated joy in key interactive moments. “You are the Spirit of the Seasons and you can literally bring winter to the planet for the first time with the nudging from a legendary Native tribal elder, make the constellations and the planets sing with John Legend, and even cre

ate fire for the first time with Oprah,” notes Lee Baobab was able to push the boundar ies of real-time graphics as they created its first 2D program, rendering in real time at 11 frames per second in each eye. “We were able to make animation look beautiful both inside the headset and on a flat screen,” Lee says. “With Bonfire, we finally learned enough in our storytelling toolset to make the audience not just a sidekick but the main character in the narrative. We accomplished something similar with a VR immersive theater piece called Jack, where live mo-cap actors interacted with you live on a stage and could improvise according to our script. But with Bonfire, we could use AI to give our characters emotional ‘brains.’”

Lee says the latest offering from the studio, Baba Yaga, combines everything the Baobab magicians have learned from past projects to build a narrative climax around a choice the VR user will make to determine how their per sonal fairytale may culminate.

“Baba Yaga really represents that next step forward for us on a number of different fronts,” says Chief Technology Officer Larry Cutler. “It’s this amazing set of fairy tales that comes from Eastern European or Russian mythology and centers on this witch who lives in a house that’s on top of chicken legs and she rides around on a mortar and pestle. In many of the cases, she’s this kind of evil villain, while in others, she’s ambiguous.”

Although this year’s pandemic restric tions made it impossible for Baobab to have live presentations at popular VR venues like Tribeca and SIGGRAPH, the studio was able to participate in online, virtual events and, in a way, made their projects accessible to a wider audience around the world.

Fan and her partners all believe that young er audiences are hungry for more interactive content. “It’s what they do,” she says. “They love games and immersing themselves in animated worlds for hours on end. For VR, the market is accelerating massively with Quest sales and COVID. In addition, people are stuck at home and VR offers them an excellent es cape. For animation in any form (2D or oth erwise) there’s incredible demand because it doesn’t require in-person filming the way live action does. Baobab is driving even deeper into the 2D animation space given the incom ing demand from TV, film and book distribu tors for our stories and characters. We’ve been asked to adapt many of our VR IP into these more traditional mediums. We’re honored that there’s so much interest.”

Crow: The Legend

‘When we won the Emmys, it felt like a culmination of all our efforts over the last three years of working our butts off as a start-up, raising money, building our own desks, squatting in friends’ offices, and putting all of our passion into this little engine that could.’

— Maureen Fan, Baobab co-founder & CEO

A One-Stop Creative Destination

One of the L.A. area’s most innova tive indie animation studios recently celebrated 25 years in the business. Founded in 1995 by Mo Davoudian, Brain Zoo has worked on a very impressive list of projects, including the studio’s own real-time animated series Nora, Disney/Marvel’s Guard ians of Galaxy series, Mortal Kombat 11, Call of Duty: Black Ops 4, the Ultimate Spider-Man series, the award-winning short Pepe & Lucas and two Marvel animated features — Iron Man & Captain America: Heroes United and Iron Man & The Hulk: Heroes United.

“The number one quality of Brain Zoo is our flexibility,” says Davoudian. “Creatively and technologically, keyframe or mocap ani mation, offline rendering or real-time. There are studios around the world in which you can look at their work, and they have a style of their own. Brain Zoo is style-agnostic or, as we like to say, ‘We are your style!’”

He adds, “When you see our work, it goes across the spectrum. From realism to stylized to cartoony, it’s a wide range of capabilities. Second is our hunger for new technologies and techniques. Real-time is relatively new to most animation studios and clients outside of the gaming business. Brain Zoo has been at the forefront of real-time animated produc tions for the past 20 years. We were the first to use the Unreal Engine 4 on Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy series and Disney’s Doorables web series. Our proprietary tools and pipeline are built for production speed while maintain ing high levels of quality. This workflow has given us the ability to produce two full-length animated feature films for Marvel in a sevenmonth production schedule.”

“Brain Zoo is a creative studio which is not solely focused on animation production,” notes Davoudian. “The company is actively

involved in development, design, technology, look dev and production management in mul tiple industries. We are also in the business of creating original IPs such Pepe & Lucas, Nora and the upcoming D.Y.K. The company is also developing some popular comic-book titles into series and films. We consider ourselves a one-stop creative partner that brings a lot of expertise to the table.”

The artists at the studio use a variety of CG tools and effects software to produce their work. Davoudian says Brain Zoo has been us ing Unreal Engine for about 20 years, as well as Maya, After Effects, Unity 3D and, most recently, Blender, which is showing a lot of promise overall. With the COVID pandemic restrictions, the studio has an infrastructure which is built for about 80 employees. Brain Zoo has partnerships with overseas shops that scale its capabilities to about 400.

Early Days

Davoudian began his CG career during an internship semester away from the ArtCen ter College of Design, working on game titles such as Phantasmagoria, Wing Commander 3 and TV’s Spider-Man: The Animated Series. This experience gave him solid CG production ex perience and a great introduction to the busi ness. When he returned to ArtCenter to finish his studies, he decided to start Brain Zoo to create two of his animated projects for school.

“With the help of a couple of partners, we

launched the company during the first E3 game conference,” he recalls. “The company started with two divisions; one was the 3D animation department, and the other was at the beginning of a little industry known as the world wide web, where we created websites for companies and entertainment clients. The animation division of the company was in volved in music videos, game cinematics, trail ers and film VFX. Films like Mighty Joe Young, Armageddon and Meet the Deedles were some of the projects we worked on. Our long-term goal has always been original content and storytelling. Those early years, game cinemat ics gave us the best outlet to tell stories and establish an effective pipeline that garnered excellence in quality and the shortest time possible on narrative projects.”

As a young boy, Davoudian was hugely in fluenced by Ray Harryhausen movies such as The 7th Voyage of Sinbad and Jason and the Ar gonauts at an early age. “They awakened my curiosity, and so began my interest in fantasy films and stop-motion,” he recalls. “Later it was Land of the Lost and the Gumby series. Another big influence, like most people of my genera tion in this industry, was The Empire Strikes Back. That opening scene with tauntaun run ning across the snow and leaving footprints and the following AT-AT snow battle scene in spired a lifelong obsession for me. And during my career, I’ve been fortunate to have worked with both Doug Beswick and Harry Walton,

‘Brain Zoo is a creative studio. We are not solely focused on animation production: The company is actively involved in development, design, technology, look dev and production management in multiple industries.’

— Exec Creative Director and CEO Mo Davoudian

Brain Zoo founder Mo Davoudian talks about his innovative Chatsworth-based studio which is celebrating its 25th anniversary.

Iron Man and Captain America: Heroes United

who were stop-motion and VFX masters that worked on those early influences at Brain Zoo.”

We ask the Emmy-winning executive cre ative director to tell us a little bit about what Brain Zoo is working on these days. “I can talk about a couple of projects,” he says. “Wasteland 3 for Microsoft, which is similar to most of the projects we work on from start to finish through the studio. The only thing that we did not do is the audio. We usually design, story board, pre-viz, direct, produce assets, animate, light, render, composite and edit on all the projects we produce, with few exceptions. The other project is our next original series titled D.Y.K. (Dangerous Young Killers).”

Reflections on Real Time

Davoudian admits that outsourcing of ani mation work is always a challenge, but he

believes that it’s a good force for innovation when it comes to production. “The more significant challenge is educating clients on the viability of real-time production,” he notes. “It’s not entirely the same pipeline service providers and distribu tion clients are used to working with. Large stu dios have a pipeline that has worked for them for many years.  Real-time changes that process quite a bit, and it’s not a proven pipeline or process for them.”

He says many of the animation vendors don’t have a real-time pipeline or the experi ence to work with it. “Real-time  has its work flow, and it’s not just ‘push the button and it renders,’” Davoudian explains. “The entire pipeline from assets to animation to lighting and rendering is affected. This scares produc ers and executives. But what they don’t under stand is that the benefits are astronomically greater if you have the right partner.”

Like most of the professionals working in the animation biz today, Brain Zoo has piv oted towards a flexible, virtual studio model. “A company can now get all its productions and clients serviced without having a loca tion,” Davoudian says. “All the tools are there

to make this happen. This is huge! Animation is also moving away from just being stylized cartoons for kids. What I see in the anima tion marketplace, which includes gaming, is a growth in demographics. The 50-year-old generation and younger have all grown up on video games and animation. From Atari to Xbox and PlayStation. We are now glob ally and generationally gamers and animation consumers. That is a bigger market space!”

He also believes that the industry is ready for major creative changes. “There is so much we can do with new look development and vi sual styles with today’s technologies,” he offers. “But what I see is the same shapes, styles, light ing and rendering on TV and animated films. The visual effects industry suffers from this as well. You used to be able to tell which studio did the VFX for a movie. As an industry, VFX hit true photorealism in the mid-2000s. Nowadays, everyone uses the same tools, software, tech niques and renderers, so the work looks even across the board. You can’t tell which studio did what. So, if the little studio is doing the same quality-level work as a big studio, why do you need the big studio? And with AI and machine learning coming on board, you can be sure any gaps between animation/VFX/gaming studios will eventually evaporate!”

For more info about the studio, visit brainzoostudios.com.

Guardians of the Galaxy (series)

Skylanders

Latin American Animation Shines in the Spotlight

Sublime Jalisco offers an impressive selection of panels and animation talks during its virtual event in December.

Since 2017, Jalisco-based Sublime event has emerged as a growing meeting point for the leading inno vators in animation, film and videogames. The well-attended event continues to at tract the region’s movers and shakers and a nice selection of the world’s most respect ed animation professionals this year with a solid virtual edition (at www.sublime2020. mx) from Dec. 8 to 10.

“This year, even when the unusual cir cumstances have led other projects to be canceled or postponed, we have decided to take advantage of the digital resources. that have surfaced along the crisis to reach more people than ever,” says Carlos Gaxi ola, Jalisco Creative Industries Association Secretary. “We are offering a program that may not allow direct interaction, but is built to orient and build a wider awareness about the movie, animation, vfx and video games industry, right from the core of its business in Jalisco, Latin America’s anima tion capital. Our program will feature vari ous conferences, talks and masterclasses with topics that range from creative/pro duction themes to the outlook and future of the animation industry. This will allow the creation of an integral vision that al lows artists and producers to generate new ideas and realize them.”

Among the world-famous animation stars and execs scheduled for the event are Jorge Gutiérrez (Book of Life, Maya and the Three), Jérémy Clapin (I Lost My Body), Ro drigo Blass (Tales of Arcadia trilogy, Alma), Adam Elliot (Harvie Krumpet, Mary and Max), Lizzie Easterday (manager of devel

opment at DreamWorks Animation TV) and Alison Mann (VP of cre ative and strategy, Sony Pictures Animation). Also on tap are topnotch panels designed to generate discussion and create a better un derstanding about the present and future of the region’s animation business.

As Gaxiola points out, “Sublime celebrates talent and creative industries in the best way possible by making it stronger. Our program seeks to explore film, animation, videogames and vfx from an artistic and aesthetic point of view while bringing at tention to its growth as a business and as an industry that is already transforming the national panorama. Our program has a place for everyone in the scene, and it en sures the acquisition of new tools that will allow our audience to grow and position it self in this thriving and expanding business.

With a big infusion of financial support form the government, Jalisco is considered to be the animation capital in Latin Amer ica. “Throughout the years, and thanks to our artists, creators, executives’ visionary strength and talent, our city has become an example of how the animation, film, video game and vfx industries in Mexico are al ready consolidated and growing,” says Gax iola. “This can be seen in the partnerships that many top studios such as Warner Bros.

Animation, Disney, Mattel, Apple, Bardel and Bento Box have formed in Jalisco.”

He adds, “The next step for us to keep growing is the consolidation of a market that generates more and stronger alliances, but also the creative process that will allow us to produce our own original projects and be the driving force behind f new stories that can reflect all of Mexico’s voices. We are pleased to say that that this is already happening. In short, we would like Sublime 2020 to be remembered as a space that transcends not only as a content oriented event, but as a starting point that widens the perspective of the animation, film, vfx and video game industries, offering the tools that will consolidate new projects and finding a place for them in the market.”

Sublime 2020 is organized by Ciudad Cre ative Digital, Jalisco’s Creative Industries Association (AJIC, Jalisco State). You can register and learn more about this event at sublime2020.mx

Main Attraction: Previous editions of Sublime drew many animation and vfx professionals to the region.

A Celebration of Excellence: Animation Magazine’s 2020 Awards

Over the past decade, it has become an annual Animation Magazine tradition to recognize and celebrate some of the amazing women and men who have contributed to our industry. Our annual awards celebration gala kicked off the popular World Animation & VFX Summit in Los Angeles each November. Sadly, like many other events this year, we had to postpone the Summit until 2021, when we hope to gather in person once again and offer timely and important panels and keynotes that benefit those who work in the animation and VFX industry around the world.

However, we didn’t want to miss the opportunity to spotlight some of the brilliant creatives who continued to provide us with stand-out animated shows and features that entertained and inspired us during this very challenging year. Our awards ceremony will be virtual this year, and we’ll have the presentation available to watch online at animationmagazine.net after December 7. We want to thank all our sponsors and the generous awards presenters and recipients who helped make this virtual celebration possible from the bottom of our hearts. It’s our honor to hold up a mirror to the wonderful, diverse, thoughtful and entertaining work produced by our eight award recipients this year. We are forever grateful for the laughs, the tears, the wonder and the inspiration you provide us with your art. Here’s to you and the brighter future you envision for our world!

The 2020 Honor Roll:

Sofía Alexander

Creator, Onyx Equinox [Crunchyroll]

New Voice of the Year Award

Sofía Alexander is the executive producer and creator of Crunchyroll’s original series Onyx Equinox, which follows a young boy through his epic journey across Mesoamerica to save humanity from the gods. Alexander got her start in the animation industry by freelancing for Cartoon Network’s reboot of The Powerpuff Girls. She has since worked as a storyboard artist for Hasbro’s Stretch Armstrong and the Flex Fighters, Nickelodeon’s Invader Zim: Enter the Florpus and Cartoon Network’s Infinity Train. She has provided concept art for Disney Imagineering.

Kemp Powers

Writer and Co-director, Soul [Pixar]

New Voice of the Year Award

Kemp Powers is the writer and co-director of the studio’s eagerly anticipated feature Soul, which premieres on Disney+ on Dec. 25. Powers grew up in Brooklyn, NY. He attended both Howard University and the University of Michigan. Prior to Pixar, Pow ers was an award-winning playwright, tele vision and film screenwriter, and journalist. His play One Night in Miami… re ceived three LA Drama Critics Circle Awards and four NAACP Theatre Awards, and was nominated for the 2017 Laurence Olivier Award for Best New Play. He adapted it into a feature film, which is being directed by Oscar-winning actress Regina King. He was also a writer for the TV series Star Trek: Discovery and has toured nationally as a storyteller for the Peabody Award-winning series The Moth

Noelle Stevenson

Exec producer,  She-Ra and the Princesses of Power [DreamWorks Animation/Netflix] Creative Vision Award Noelle Stevenson is an Eisner Award-win ning and bestselling writer and cartoonist who has worked in both animation and comics. A graduate of the Maryland Insti tute College of Art, she is the author of National Book Award-nominated graphic novel  Nimona, currently in production at 20th Century Animation and slated for release in 2022. She is also the co-creator of the GLAAD-award winning comic series  Lumberjanes, currently in development at HBO Max, and has written and illustrated for Marvel and DC Comics. In animation, she wrote for series including  Wander Over Yonder,  Bravest Warriors,  DuckTales and  Big Hero Six before becoming the executive producer of DreamWorks Animation’s critically acclaimed and Emmy, Critics Choice and GLAAD Media Award-nom inated series She-Ra and the Princesses of Power for Netflix.

Marc du Pontavice

Founder and President, Xilam Animation Game-Changer Award Marc du Pontavice began his career at Gaumont, where he co-founded Gaumont Television and supervised the production of a hundred hours of prime time fiction, including the series  Highlander. He also created Gaumont Multimedia, whose as sets he acquired in 1999 to found Xilam Animation. The studio has established itself as one of the world’s lead ers in animation production, with several worldwide successes, including award-winning series such as Oggy and the Cockroaches, Zig & Sharko and Mr. Magoo, which are all exec produced by du Pontavice. He has also produced dozens of live-action and animated features, the most recent one being di rector Jeremy Clapin’s acclaimed feature I Lost My Body, which was nominated for an Academy Award and received three Césars.

Peilin Chou

Producer, Over the Moon [Pearl Studios/ Netflix]

Producer of the Year Award

Peilin Chou is an animation film producer with an overall deal at Netflix Animation. Her most notable producing credits in clude Over the Moon, an animated musical feature film directed by Glen Keane which premiered on Netflix in October 2020, and last year’s Abominable, an animated feature directed by Jill Culton. Prior to joining Netflix, Chou was the Chief Creative Officer of Pearl Studio (formerly Oriental DreamWorks) where she oversaw the overall mission and creative direction of the studio. Her 20-plus-year career in content creation also en compasses numerous creative leadership roles: She developed a robust slate of series in her roles as director of development at Nickelodeon, VP of origi nal series at Spike TV and senior VP of programming and production at AZN TV. Peilin started her career in features at the Walt Disney Studios, where she was a creative exec at Disney Feature Animation and Touchstone Pictures, developing and overseeing dozens of features, of which two of her favorites are Mulan and Romy & Michele’s High School Reunion

Cartoon Saloon

Studio of the Year Award

Founded by Tomm Moore, Paul Young and Nora Twomey in 1999 in Kilkenny, Ireland, Cartoon Saloon is a world-re nowned animation studio best known for Oscar-nominated features The Secret of Kells, Song of the Sea, The Breadwinner and this year’s magical epic Wolfwalkers

The studio’s 2017 short Late Afternoon by Louise Bagnall also received a Best Animated Short Oscar. The studio, which currently employs about 300 animators, is also an active producer of TV and stream ing content, offering award-winning shows such as Skunk Fu!, Puffin Rock, Dorg Van Dan go and  Vikingskool throughout the years. The studio is currently working on Twom ey’s new feature My Father’s Dragon, which will debut on Netflix in 2021.

Karen Toliver

Executive VP of Creative, Sony Pictures Animation Game-Changer Award

As executive vice president of creative for Sony Pictures Animation, Karen Toliver is responsible for the creative supervision of a number of upcoming features for the studio, and is also in charge of recruiting key storytelling talent and discovering and acquiring new creative material and intel lectual property. Toliver is also the producer of the Oscar-winning animated short Hair Love, directed by Matthew A. Cherry. The story of the Young family will continue in the upcoming HBO Max series, Young Love Toliver has ex tensive experience in production and development, including 10 years at Fox Animation where she supervised the production of the Rio film franchise and the latest three films in the Ice Age series. She also spearheaded the Oscar-nominated original feature Ferdinand. Toliver also served as a produc tion exec at Disney on films such as Brother Bear, Chicken Little and Meet the Robinsons

Aardman Animations

Game-Changer Award

Since its launch in 1972 by Peter Lord and David Sproxton, the Bristol-based an imation studio has been a major force in pop culture, movies, TV, games and online media. The first two decades of the studio saw the release of iconic stop-motion short projects such as Morph, the Peter Gabriel music video Sledgehammer and Channel 4’s Lip Synch series, which was followed by Nick Park’s Oscar-win ning Creature Comforts. Park also introduced the world to Wallace and Gro mit in a series of Oscar-winning shorts, who took the world by storm and eventually starred in their own feature The Curse of the Were-Rab bit in 2005. Other major feature releases include Chicken Run (2000), Flushed Away (2006), Ar thur Christmas (2011), The Pirates! Band of Misfits (2012), Shaun the Sheep Movie (2015), Early Man (2018) and A Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon (2019). The studio is currently working on a holiday special for Netflix (Robin Robin) and the Chicken Run sequel.

The Presenters

Marisa Balkus Producer, Onyx Equinox

Kristine Belson President, Sony Pictures Animation, Features and Series

Aimee Carrero Actress, She-Ra and the Princesses of Power, Elena of Avalor

Sean Clarke Managing Director, Aardman Animations

Marge Dean

Head of Studio, Crunchyroll

Pete Doctor Chief Creative Officer, Pixar Animation Studios; director of Soul, Inside Out, Up, Monsters, Inc.

Michaël Dudok de Wit Director, The Red Turtle, Father and Daughter

Glen Keane Director, Over the Moon, Dear Basketball

Autonomous Animator

By Martin Grebing

Making It Happen: Dan Hertzfeldt’s World of Tomorrow trilogy is the perfect example of completely original, indie animated fea tures made outside the studio system.

How to Get Your Animation Idea Produced

So, you think you have the next great ani mated feature film idea and want to play in the big leagues?

To get your idea produced by a major studio, you’ll need to come up with your own recipe that includes at least two of the following in gredients: 1. Lots of connections, 2. Lots of money and 3. Lots of luck!

Truth be told, no major studio wants to make your movie for you.

That may feel like a punch in the gut, but it’s the cold, hard truth. Major studios and distribu tors have not accepted unsolicited scripts, ideas or pitches for many decades, and proba bly never will. In other words, they don’t want to hear from you and are not interested in spending multi-millions of dollars of their money to produce your idea, distribute the movie and market merchandise on your behalf.

However, they may, in some cases, be open to hearing from an agent or an experienced pro ducer (see ingredient No. 1), for a pitch session.

As can be expected, agents and experienced producers are not free. In fact, they can be downright expensive (see ingredient No. 2). While most things in life are negotiable, if you are an unknown asking an agent to represent you and your idea in an attempt to get an op portunity to pitch to a studio, chances are you’re going to have to pay up front, pay along the way and pay well — with no guarantee of

success of any kind. Additionally, you’ll need a pretty big break just to get an agent’s atten tion in the first place (see ingredient No. 3).

Why are experienced agents and producers so expensive and often hard to acquire on your behalf? Because they have connections (see in gredient No. 1), and could potentially be a step ping stone solution between you and a major studio. Without representation, you’ll need to refer to the original recipe listed above.

Exclusive Clubs Are Always Members Only

If you’ve been in the entertainment industry long enough, these things are probably al ready apparent to you. I recall seeing a bumper sticker while in California decades ago which is very applicable to the topic at hand, “If you don’t surf, don’t start.” Which is to say, this is cultural. You have to be born into it or invited by a current member. You can’t just show up at the beach with a surfboard and sunscreen and call yourself a surfer.

Silver Lining to This Cloud

Question: Does dealing with all of this sound like fun? Why on Earth would you want to en dure untold amounts of frustration while trying to overcome such insurmountable odds in the first place? If your answer is, “Because I am de termined to see my movie made,” then you’re

on the right track. And since you’re already on the right track, why not stay there? Why not forge your own path and do it the indie way? It’s a whole lot more fun, you don’t have to deal with the standard red tape of the entertain ment industry, and you get to be in control. Isn’t that, after all, what this is all about?

Make a trailer. Produce a look book. Do your demographic research. Create your business plan with generous ROI. Raise funding through your own work efforts and by making gratuitous ownership offers to your friends, family and col leagues. Once your movie is complete, market and promote it through social media and online resources. With pay-per-click ads, you can es sentially drive as many viewers to your movie site as you like — or at least as many as your budget allows. From there, you can have your movie available for rent or purchase along with a host of accompanying merchandise.

After all is said and done, if your investors receive even a small amount of profit from their investment in your movie, their only question at that point will be, “When are you making another one?”

Mission: accomplished! ◆

Martin Grebing is the president of Funnybone Animation Studios. He can be reached at www.funnyboneanimation.com.

Tech

Insta360 Titan

As virtual reality and experiential cinema tography become more and more ubiqui tous, the hardware to capture these images is following suit. Insta360 has already estab lished a toehold in the industry with consum er (ONE and Nano lines) and prosumer/profes sional (Pro/Pro 2) cameras, each one coming with support software to aid in stitching and stabilization. But it’s the Insta360 Titan that leads the crowd in quality, size and price.

Twenty-two centimeters across with a healthy weight of 12 lbs, the Titan looks like the droid who's about to torture the location of the rebel base out of Princess Leia. But you need that heft to carry the eight micro fourthirds sensors and 200° lenses, the 10,000 mAh battery, and the four mics to support am bisonic spatial audio. So, you are going to want to mount this to a camera head with a lot of support. And you probably won't be cap turing footage as you longboard down a 20 degree grade (that's what the ONE or the ONE

X2 is designed for). No, this is for some grandi ose imagery with the highest quality for the most discerning filmmakers.

The camera can output up to 11K video in a post-stitching situation — meaning, taking the files from the nine SD cards and running them through Insta360’s stitcher or a third party

by Todd Sheridan Perry

stitcher of your choice. This 11K is at a lower color bit, but for the 10-bit color you can still output 8K. And this can be either mono or ste reo. You can also take 11K mono or stereo stills, which can stitch in real time or post. And if that weren’t enough, the Insta360 Titan can stream real-time stitches in 4K (both 2D and 3D), or even in 8K with an additional license and a workstation to assist.

A live stitch can be broadcast over wifi, but it’s recommended to use the Insta360 Farsight method, which has a dedicated transmitter and receiver; the latter is designed to hold a small phone or tablet so you can monitor what the camera is seeing. The Farsight trans mitter has a range of 300 meters ground-toground, and 1,000 meters ground-to-air — which frankly is a disconcerting idea, this 12lb camera flying on a drone a kilometer away.

If you are serious about 360 cinematogra phy, then this is probably the rig you should be looking at. At a $15K price tag, it’s, without a doubt, a healthy investment. But price it out

against a couple of RED Monstros and cor relating Entaniya HAL 220 fisheyes and it’s a bargain. #context Website: insta360.com Price: $14,999-$15,767

SGO’s Mistika VR

After you’ve captured the 360 video using your camera configuration of choice (per haps six GoPros in an Omni or RIZE setup, a Nokia Ozo, a couple of back-to-back REDs or the Insta360 Pro, or even the Titan), you need to take that footage and stitch it all together into an image that can be viewed in a VR headset. You can also project it in something like the Holodome, or to be viewed in YouTube VR. Mis tika VR by SGO is geared for just this purpose.

For well-shot footage, I found that Mistika VR gets a pretty darn good stitch right out of the box. With a slew of camera rig presets, you can dial everything in immediately to get a rough stitch to make sure things are feeling right, or to get a client to sign off on things before you really start digging into the fine stitch.

Mistika VR utilizes its own optical flow al gorithms to analyze patterns between the dif ferent camera angles and will warp and adjust the imagery to resolve doubling up and mis alignments along the stitch lines. But on top of that, you have tons of parameters to work with to refine even further: Dials for tweaking the yaw, roll and tilt of each camera or even the resulting stitch give you control for fixing wavy horizon lines, or recomposing so your main actor is in the right viewing space.

But the tool that kind of blew my mind is the edge controls. As each lens has distortion

as the image approaches the edges, if some thing of interest (like an actor) is on the stitch line between lenses, it can get mushy and muddy. And no one wants that. So, Mistika VR gives you tools to add points along the stitch line, kind of like a rotospline. With this, you can shape the stitchline around the talent to utilize more of one particular lens that may have more fidelity. The actor, and you, don’t have to worry about artifacts occurring across their face.

The software, which is accelerated by Nvid ia GPUs, is fast and supports tons of 360 rigs, and recently added the Blackmagic codec to its supported file formats. The only quibble would be that the UX needs a bit of love. It’s a little clunky to get around and feels like a Quantel Domino (if anyone remembers that). But outside of that, the math underneath the hood is solid and wholly impressive.

United States Postal Service

You can get a personal or professional li cense through a monthly or yearly subscrip tion. Or you can buy it for 30 days or a year without renewal. The pro version gives you keyframing (absolutely critical), stabilization (pretty darn critical), stereo 3D workflow and render farm support. There may be other solu tions, but in my time working with it — the time I spent stitching versus the time I spent troubleshooting — Mistika VR is well worth the investment for your 360 project.

Website: sgo.es/mistika-vr

Prices: Varies, from $58 per month to $831 per year

Todd Sheridan Perry is an award-winning VFX supervisor and digital artist whose credits include  Black Panther, Avengers: Age of Ultron  and The Christmas Chronicles. You can reach him at todd@teaspoonvfx.com.

of Ownership, Management and Circulation

1. Publication Title: Animation Magazine

Number: 1041617X

3. Filing Date: 10-16-20

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Publisher: Jean Thoren, same Editor: Ramin Zahed, same 10. Owner: Jean Thoren, same

Known Bondholders, Mortages and Other Security Holders: X NONE

12. Tax Status: The Purpose, function and nonprofit status of this organization and the exempt status for federal income tax purposes: X Has Not Changed During Preced ing 12 Months

13. Publication Title: Anima tion Magazine

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Extent and Nature of Circulation Average # Copies Each Issue During Preceding 12 Months: # Copies of Single Issue Pub

lished Nearest to Filing Date:

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Publication of Statement of Ownership: Will be printed in the January 2021 issue. Jan Bayouth, Bus. Mgr, 10.16.20

Managed

Who has time for lunch when there’s a great virtual gesture drawing class to take?

Enjoying

The kids love to camp out in the backyard and meet all our possum and raccoon