Animal Logic: Part 1
This new series explores animation studio Animal Logic, starting with a behind-the-scenes look at the art and story departments
The first instalment in a new series delving into the inner workings of the famous studio
Animal Logic is one of those rare visual effects studios that made a successful jump into being an animation studio. It was behind the Oscar-winning Happy Feet, as well as Peter Rabbit, Legend Of The Guardians: The Owls Of Ga’hoole, The LEGO Movie and subsequent LEGO films. In the VFX world, Animal Logic has worked on countless projects, including The Matrix, Moulin Rouge, 300 and several Marvel productions.
Animal Logic’s development arm, Animal Logic Entertainment, has propelled the studio further into being directly involved as a producer or the developer of specific film properties – something often seen as the ultimate dream for studios wishing to work on their own intellectual property.
A significant player in the development, animation and visual effects activities of Animal Logic is its art and story departments. It’s in these teams where ideas get fleshed out into the visual medium, where characters and environments are developed and where continual iteration happens throughout the filmmaking process.
In this first part of our new series on Animal Logic, 3D World
receives a hands-on tour of the art and story worlds at the studio, including a look at what’s required to work in art direction and story, tales from recent productions and a peek at various tools of the trade.
This in-depth Animal Logic series will continue in 3D World
with behind-the-scenes access to the studio on their VFX and animation technology and pipeline, a look at the camera and animation teams, how lighting and FX are handled, and a special focus on Peter Rabbit 2.
WHAT HAPPENS IN ART AND STORY
At first, it might seem obvious what takes place in the art and story departments for an animation studio: this includes concept art, storyboarding and design work. But, as art director Felicity Coonan points out, there is a lot more involved. “I think of our role as interpreting the director’s vision into all the
different departments. We have an opportunity to craft the look of the film, to create environments, characters and cultures within the world. I sometimes refer to it as ‘digital anthropology.’ We then handhold that all the way through the process, from early concepts, storyboards, asset creation all the way through to marketing art.”
“We’re probably one of the only departments that would be involved from before a film is even green-lit working all the way through production and even onto the end credits,” adds art director Toby Grime. “For example, on the first Peter Rabbit film, we were there four years before delivery developing a visual pitch package to support the writer – creating concept art and so forth for presentations and creating a deck to support the producers to present to the studio. As a department it’s a great feeling to have a hand in the production from the very genesis to the final frame.”
In terms of story, that work is typically handled by story artists at Animal Logic. Scott Hurney, story lead on the upcoming Peter Rabbit 2, says that a “story artist has to visually depict a script, or if there is no script, visually depict ideas that help to create a story or script.
Story sketches or storyboards create a visual blueprint for a film.”
“Day by day,” continues Hurney, “a story artists’ duties are to apply their excellent drawing skills and knowledge of film language to draw scenes and sequences for a film. The storyboards need to convey acting, action, environment and mood. Story sketches and storyboards can be verbally presented and ‘pitched’ to a director or supervisor or edited together and presented in the form of an animatic. Storyboards are often re-iterated and re-drawn many times, as the film or project is continually developed and refined. Story artists often also need a thorough understanding of story structure and theory to help visually create and provide ideas for a story or film.”
“IT’S GREAT TO HAVE A HAND IN THE PRODUCTION FROM THE VERY GENESIS” Toby Grime, art director, Animal Logic
PROBLEM SOLVERS
It is within the art and story teams at Animal Logic where complex story or design issues need to be solved at the early stages – and even late stages – of a film’s formation. Here’s a look at some ways in which the teams have tackled story and design challenges over the years.
On The LEGO Batman Movie, production designer Grant Freckelton recalls that one of the biggest challenges was emphasising Batman’s loneliness through his environment and his reliance on technology. “Batman’s mansion and cave were vast and layered with technology, the biggest version of the Bat Cave yet seen on film,” Freckelton notes. “On one level this was meant to parody other superhero movies and our tendency to fetishise wealth and tech in modern blockbusters. But it also served as a vast backdrop to drive home how sad a figure Batman is when he’s not punching bad guys.”
Freckelton also flags the challenges the team had on
The LEGO Movie 2: The Second Part, where production designer Patrick Hanenberger and effects supervisor Mark Theriault and their teams in Vancouver needed to design a new inter-dimensional portal for the ‘stair gate’ sequence. “Rather than relying on sophisticated FX, they printed out sequenced frames of the layout and asked the wider crew to rotoscope whimsical doodles around the 3D layout using pencil and crayon. It was much more fun and creative and the results resembled the hand-drawn effects from the 1980s music video for Take On Me. I