Pixar and Disney scored a major coup in 2006 with the animated film “Cars”. The film won awards, including an Oscar nomination, and at the same time opened up a lucrative merchandising world. It was therefore not surprising that “Cars 2” followed in 2011.

A certain scepticism crept in with “Planes”, which was produced by DisneyToon Studios in 2013. For a long time, the studio was primarily responsible for direct-to-video (DTV) productions within the Disney group. Cheap sequels were produced based on Disney film successes. These “cheap sequels” were increasingly criticised, especially by John Lasseter, who became Chief Creative Officer at both studios after the takeover of Pixar in 2006. Following a fundamental reorganisation by Lasseter, the aim is now to produce independent spin-offs rather than sequels. As a result, the independent film “Planes” (2013) was developed from the “Cars” universe, although it was initially planned as a DVD/BD-only production. With the reorientation, Lasseter also took the production process apart and under his wing. For “Planes 2” in particular, the employees invested Disney- and Pixar-like months in extensive research. The team also researched the first part – all the aeroplanes are true to scale, as are the sets, and the planes fly at their original speed. Nevertheless, the film, which was perceived as a “Cars” spin-off, received rather subdued reviews. These are likely to be more positive for part two, as the studio has produced a solid film. Although “Planes 2” will not make animation history, the film is a step in the right direction for the history of the DisneyToon studios.

Research

The research took the Toon team to the L.A. County Fire Department, to the U.S. Forestry Service training camp where the team met a graduating class of fire jumpers, and most importantly to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection’s Hemet-Ryan Air Attack Base in California. Most of what is seen in the film is based on conversations with the firefighters there, who were also involved in the storytelling and development of the dialogue. Helicopter aerobatic pilot Chuck Aaron was brought into the team to ensure the correct depiction of the flight manoeuvres, who had to approve the storyboards and finished shots in the film. For the finishing touches, the artists were also allowed to practise themselves with remote-controlled model helicopters in order to determine the correct flight angle for a credible crash. Naturally, visits to the national parks, especially Yosemite and Yellowstone, were also on the programme.

Effects in Houdini

In “Planes 2”, released on 14 August, the toon team plunges the little racing plane Dusty into a serious crisis shortly after the film opens. Due to gearbox damage, the racing career seems to be over, whereupon the main character goes crazy and ruins his friends’ airport. The only way out of the dilemma is to train as a fire-fighting aeroplane. From this point onwards, the focus is on fighting forest fires, for which the studio had to increase the FX team alone to 75 artists. More than half of the 1,224 shots in the film are about fire, smoke and water. The wheel was not constantly reinvented: In addition to the elaborate design of individual fires, the team made use of a specially created effects library for the remaining fire shots. Important shots that were realised with Houdini were the white water rapids and the flight into the canyon, which is completely engulfed in flames. There were 571 shots for this showdown in the film alone. Another tough effect and animation nut to crack was the collapse of a large suspension bridge along with the figures to be animated on it. We spoke to director Roberts “Bobs” Gannaway and producer Ferrell Barron about effects, historical research and why, as a director, you sometimes have to make a monkey of yourself or a helicopter.

DP: How do you manage to keep a brand alive?

Roberts Gannaway: You have to be able to tell different stories within one world. That’s why we changed the genre and instead of a racing film, as in the first part, we told an action comedy. We also invested a lot of time in research – the basis for the storytelling. With Dusty, we found out that his type of aircraft was also used to fight forest fires – as a SEAT, Single Engine Air Tanker. That gave us the idea of fighting fires from the air, so we met with firefighters. The stories developed from the research. There was also a change of director with me. That makes a difference because our stories bear the signature of the director – they are also nurtured and cared for by him.

However, you mustn’t forget that DisneyToon Studios works together with Pixar and Disney Animation Studios in relation to the Story Trust and the Brain Trust system. This means that all directors work together anyway. I supported Klay Hall on the first Planes film and now it’s the other way round.

DP: Why was the subject of forest fires worthy of film content?

Roberts Gannaway: One of the reasons people go to the cinema is to see something they don’t see every day. Even though there are over 50,000 wildfires in the US every year and there are firefighting operations all over the country, it’s not as much of an issue in the public eye. But the only reason you don’t hear about it is because most fires are fought before they can cause serious damage. We give a little insight into this world and that’s great.

DP: You hid a reference to Ed Pulaski in the film, right? In the shot when the two main characters are taking shelter in a mine.

Roberts Gannaway: That’s a thing, that you recognised that reference! Right, this U.S. Forest Service ranger saved himself and his team that way in the Great Idaho Fire of 1910. That was part of our historical research and we reproduced this incident in the scene with Dusty and Blade in the film. No one in any press conference has come up with it yet – I’m really proud of you! This scene is also a good example of our research work. After all, we’re dealing with talking vehicles. That’s why we have to be as close to the truth as possible and invest in characters and plot so that viewers forget that.

DP: How much time did you invest in the effects scenes?

Ferrell Barron: In the four years of production, we spent two and a half years working on the fire. We usually create effects in Maya. For this project, however, we also had to use Houdini, as there were simply too many problems to solve. The software was used for the fire, but also for scenes with water. The white water rapids in particular caused us some difficulties. A lot changes on the technical side over such a long period of time. We really grabbed everything that was new to make the fire look real and at the same time keep the whole thing producible. There are a total of 662 effects shots with fire, smoke and water – that’s over half of the whole film! For us, this was the most challenging film we have ever produced. We had to call in external expertise. The effects team consisted of 75 people and was the biggest we’ve ever had.

DP: Do you have any tips on how best to animate helicopters?

Roberts Gannaway: Well, I rely on the animators, they’re the experts. As a director, you need to gather great people around you – people who are much more talented than you are – and then guide them through the production. But my tip as a director is: stand up and act out the scene. Just don’t be shy. So, I act out a scene, walk around, make faces and so on. The animator, and that’s the challenge, has to apply what they’ve seen to a character, and in the case of vehicles we are indeed very limited. But our guiding principle is “truth and materials”. The aeroplanes are very real, but the eyes are quite large due to the windscreens – and these are a key element. Posture is just as important. I look at what I can work with for each figure. Dipper, for example, has two propellers. When she meets Dusty for the first time, she’s quite excited, so we make her propellers spin.

But this aeroplane model can also lower the tanks. It looks like she’s got her arm round someone’s shoulder.

Ferrell Barron: The voice actors are also a big help. We do the voice recordings first. We take the opportunity to record the actors’ faces at the same time and send this to the animators. This gives them a direct reference.

DP: What specific references did you use for Blade?

Roberts Gannaway: The characters are based on real models, but not necessarily on a single one. We combine them depending on what we need. For the helicopter Blade, we needed a model with wheels – it’s hard to run on skids. So we had to find a suitable model. As it is a rescue helicopter, we also needed a reference for a winch. So we travelled a lot in Los Angeles County and in the city itself to look at the rescue helicopters.

DP: How long did the storyboard and layout phase take?

Ferrell Barron: It took over a year. There were many iterations until it was just right and we could start with the animation.

Roberts Gannaway: We attach great importance to visualising the script as a storyboard as quickly as possible so that we can see what we have to work with. The script is just a kind of guide for the film. With the storyboard, you immediately recognise the first inconsistencies. But the most important thing is that you see the film for the first time. The cinematography is then done in the layout. But let’s move on to the iterations: In a live-action film, you shoot your film and take the material to the editing room. When you see an animated film in the cinema, you can assume that it’s the eighth, ninth or tenth version. Depending on the budget, a live-action film might be two? But I see this way of working as an advantage. You have the film in front of you and then it starts: “We can’t show it like this”, “This has to be fixed”, “Stamp it out, redo it” and then start all over again.

The post Flight of fancy | Retro article first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by Patrick Poti.

In nuce: Adobe has released Character Animator version 23.0. Character Animator is a real-time tool for motion capturing and character animation. For example, the comedy series Our Cartoon President was realised with Character Animator. A mocap library has now been added (see below for details). Character Animator 23.0 was announced at the Adobe Max creative conference (Digital Production reported on 19 October this year). The software is available for Windows and Mac operating systems.

Motion Library (Adobe Character Animator Tutorial)

In toto: For the new version, a library with over 350 full-body mocap movements (including combat, dance and sports movements) has been installed. These movements can be customised using the timeline within the software. How the so-called motion library works is explained at helpx.adobe.com .

Click further: The corresponding release note provides information about Character Animator 23.0. A free trial version of the software is offered, the full version costs 61.95 euros per month – included in the Creative Cloud subscription. Further information can be found at adobe.com/en . In a video lasting almost half an hour, Adobe’s Senior Experience Designer Lead, Dave Werner (aka Okay Samurai), explains what the new Motion Library has to offer (see above).

The post Adobe’s Character Animator now includes a Motion Library! first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by Patrick Poti.

In nuce: Adobe releases its Character Animator in version 22.5. The Character Animator is a real-time tool for motion capturing and character animation. We last reported on the Character Animator on 9 November 2021 , when it was released in version 22.0.

New functions: At the heart of the new features is the Starter Mode, which is available to all users free of charge. Starter Mode primarily offers functionalities relating to the presentation, recording and exporting of characters. However, the free version of Starter Mode is limited in its range of functions compared to the paid version. Nevertheless, the following functions are also available to users of the free Starter Mode.

• Contains sample puppets: It is also possible to import puppets.
• The settings for the behaviour of your characters: Simply drag and drop from the behaviour panel, which you can find at the top right of the user interface.
• You can customise the backgrounds using the background button.
• Adjust aspect ratios: So that your character fits into the film image.
• Triggerable poses, emotions and backgrounds: Can now also be displayed in the preview.
• Quick export function: Export animations directly as an H264 file.

Click further: You can get an overview of the features in Character Animator 22.5 at helpx.adobe.com. The following video uses application examples to illustrate the advantages of Starter Mode.

FREE Adobe Character Animator: Starter Mode

The post Adobe releases Character Animator 22.5! first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by Patrick Poti.

In nuce: Under the title “Greater commitment and new funding initiatives for German animated film for adults and artistic talent!”, the managing directors of the Film and Media Festival and the managing directors and chairwomen of the AG Animationsfilm have issued a press release which – in the form of a commentary – takes a critical look at the status of animated film in Germany and argues in favour of funding for animated short films. The four signatories are Prof Ulrich Wegenast (Artistic Director of the Film and Media Festival), Dieter Krauß (Commercial Director of the Stuttgart International Festival of Animated Film), Annegret Richter (Managing Director of the Stuttgart International Festival of Animated Film) and Fabian Driehorst (Chairman of the Board of AG Animationsfilm e. V.). Below is the text in full length. For better readability, we have added subtitles to the text.

The unabridged press release follows.

So why are there no feature-length films in the adult section from Germany? The way the Best Animated Film category was announced at the Academy Awards this year showed that animation for adults is still not taken seriously. And this despite the fact that “Flee”, a film explicitly aimed at an adult audience, was nominated at the 2022 Oscars! It is true that most animated films are made in the children’s film and family entertainment sector and are very successful. German animated films also regularly achieve box office success abroad, both in the cinema and on VOD platforms. But animation can do so much more. It enables innovative, artistic and creative design, different perspectives and forms of presentation that cannot be realised in real film. We believe that Germany has the potential for exciting stories in the adult sector. This is demonstrated by the international success of German short films, which are generally not children’s films. AG Animationsfilm and ITFS ask themselves: So why are there no feature-length films in the adult sector from Germany?

Animated films with adult themes – also from Germany? Animated films for adults have been celebrating great success with audiences and critics abroad for years. Films such as “Waltz with Bashir”, “Persepolis”, “Isle of Dogs”, “The Breadwinner” or “Flee”, which was recently nominated for three Oscars, show that animation can also tackle more serious themes and tell complex stories for an adult audience. Above all, the hybrid form of animated documentary film is gaining more and more audiences, as it allows socially relevant and political topics, such as war, persecution, flight or homosexuality in a homophobic environment, to be presented in an abstract, anonymised and yet captivating way. Unfortunately, German production companies only play a minor role in these productions – if at all! However, this is not due to a lack of interest or a lack of material from German production companies, as the annual submissions to the German Animation Screenplay Award of the Stuttgart International Festival of Animated Film (ITFS) and the Animation Production Days show.

Film funding for Germany as a centre for animation? What is needed is a much greater willingness on the part of television broadcasters and film funding organisations to support animated material for an adult audience. For example, not placing animation exclusively in the children’s sector, but rather in the entertainment sector of public broadcasters, would open up other budgets, themes and opportunities. And German distributors would also have to show more courage for ambitious animated films. These changes would also sustainably enrich the production landscape for animation in Germany, as the portfolio of many production companies, which is usually limited to children’s series and cinema films, would be significantly diversified by other themes. This form of diversification would not only be an economic one, but of course also a cultural one in terms of content, as the variety of themes of the films mentioned above makes clear. Greater support for animated films for adults would strengthen the important social relevance of animation and would therefore also be a stabilising factor for democracy, as animated films, unlike documentaries, often reach a new audience through their unique narrative style, aesthetics and visual language and can often be used over a longer period of time. Series such as the Amazon production “Undone” by Dutch animator Hisko Hülsing – an animation artist who is a regular guest at the ITFS with his short films – show that animation for adults does not have to be a niche product, even in series. The second season of “Undone” was released on Amazon Prime in 240 countries and territories on 29 April 2022.

Is German animated film (for adults a niche existence)? Overall, it is striking that it is not only on the major platforms such as Amazon Video or Netflix, e.g. with the stop motion project “The House”, which will be presented at this year’s ITFS, that European but not German animated film for adults is very successful! At this year’s ITFS, not only the above-mentioned Danish production “Flee” will be shown in the feature film competition, but also the Czech-Slovak-French production “My Sunny Maad”. The film “The Odyssey” can also be seen at this year’s ITFS. Although there is German production involvement here, the wonderfully picturesque story about flight and displacement bears the clear signature of French director and animator Florence Miaihle in terms of content and aesthetics.

The European Film Awards – A summary: The strong presence of adult material and themes in European animated film is also reflected in the European Film Awards, which have been presented since 2009: of the 13 awards presented to date, ten prizes have gone to animated films for adults – including “L’Illusioniste”, “Chico & Rita”, “Alois Nebel”, “The Congress”, “Loving Vincent” and most recently “Josep” (2020) and “Flee” (2021). None of these were explicitly German animation productions, but only in the case of “Alois Nebel” productions with a small co-production share from Germany! How can that be?

Funding tools, initiatives & promotion of young talent – is it enough? It would be too easy to blame this disastrous result solely on the German TV stations and film funding organisations. Changes need to be made to the overall structure of the German animation production landscape and new funding tools and initiatives need to be developed. This absolutely starts with the promotion of young talent! For example, the AG Animationsfilm has been calling for years for the creation of newcomer formats on German television with adapted conditions for animated films in terms of budget and length. This also includes, for example, the establishment of medium-length formats, specials or mini-series. However, funding and broadcasters need to break new ground for this. Although festivals such as the ITFS support up-and-coming animators with the Lotte Reiniger Award – endowed with 10,000 euros – this is not nearly enough. Initiatives such as Ani:Dox from Denmark, which was involved in the development of the material for “Flee”, show that promoting young talent through prize money and programmes can certainly be successful.

German short film funding – a model for the future: This once again clearly shows that the promotion of animated films for adults begins with support for short films. For example, 90% of the animated short films produced at German film schools are aimed at an adult audience. However, this ratio is completely reversed after graduation, as – in contrast to France and other European countries – there is simply no comprehensive funding programme for (animated) short films. Such short film funding would be cost-effective and sustainable! If every German regional film funding programme were to provide an amount of one million euros per year for around ten short films, the animation landscape in Germany, as far as animated films for adults are concerned, could flourish and grow permanently in a short space of time. A significant increase in short film funding from the federal government, which currently provides a maximum of 30,000 euros per film, would also have an effect on the German animation landscape.

Artists in residence – funding for artists: In addition to quick and easy short film funding in the field of animation, “animators in residence” programmes, as we know them from the visual arts, would also be particularly helpful. Such programmes exist in France at the production company Folimage or at the Animation Workshop Viborg in Denmark and are extremely successful! Such programmes would also be a great opportunity to create stronger links between art foundations and film funding organisations, which usually operate completely separately, and to create new synergies.

An outlook: These examples alone show that, with just a few changes, it would be possible to establish an internationally relevant animation scene that grows sustainably. The talent and the material for a new animation awakening are available, as the programme of this year’s ITFS impressively demonstrates.

Click further: We last reported on the Stuttgart International Festival of Animated Film (ITFS) on 8 April 2022, when it was advertised with film and workshop offers for the little ones (and their adult followers) – including film premieres, open-air cinema and other offers at the “Tricks for Kids”.

The post ITFS decision-makers comment on Germany as a centre for animation first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by Patrick Poti.

In nuce: In this short VFX breakdown, the girls and boys from Imageworks VFX explain how the classic 2D animation style inspired the work on “Vivo – Full of Life”, how the film’s slapstick-like humour was created thanks to VFXs, and why perhaps the film’s most elaborate scene required gallons of virtual water.

What is “Vivi – Full of Life” about? At the centre of the film are street musician Andrés Hernández and his swaddling bear Vivo. One day, Andrés receives a letter from star singer Marta Sandoval, which evokes Andrés’ sentimental side, as he and Marta once performed as a duo until Marta accepted an offer from Miami while Andrés stayed behind in Cuba. Andrés concealed the fact that he had (and still has) feelings for Marta from the now star singer. Now it’s up to the swaddling bear Vivo to deliver the score to Marta that expresses Andrés’ seriously intense feelings for Marta. Can Vivo the swaddling bear shine in his role as fluffy Cupid?

Click to continue: If you want to get an impression of whether it’s worth filling a film evening with “Vivi – Full of Life”, we’ve also linked the trailer for the animated Netflix film. We last reported on 16 December 2019 about the superhero-like effects that Imageworks VFX pulled out of the pipeline for “Spider-Man: Far from Home”. It’s worth a click!

Vivo | FX Breakdown

Vivo | Official Trailer | Netflix

The post Vivi – Full of life | VFX Breakdown first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by Patrick Poti.