ANIMATION
NEW ADVENTURES IN THE EXPANDING REALM OF ANYTHING’S POSSIBLE By TREVOR HOGG
TOP: Initially, Peter Jackson and Steven Spielberg were going to produce an animated trilogy starting with The Adventures of Tintin, but the sequel has yet to be released. (Image courtesy of Weta Digital and Paramount Pictures) OPPOSITE TOP: An illustrative animation style was adopted by Sony Pictures Imageworks for The Mitchells vs. the Machines. (Image courtesy of Netflix) OPPOSITE BOTTOM: The short Beans was the first foray of Cinesite into the world of animation. (Image courtesy of Cinesite)
During the coronavirus pandemic it was announced that Weta Digital and RISE VFX will be making animated features. Combining visual effects with animation has become more attractive with the growing demand for animated content driven by streamers such as Netflix. From a talent and technology perspective, there is already an infrastructure to build upon which helps to mitigate the expenses usually associated with a start-up venture. There is also the advantage of not being so heavily reliant on live-action projects that are susceptible to delays and shrinking post-production schedules. The business model is sustainable as Sony Pictures Imageworks, Animal Logic and Cinesite have multiple animated features in various stages of production. DNEG Animation is following these animation innovators and creating its co-production debut, Ron’s Gone Wrong. At the forefront has been Sony Pictures Imageworks, which partnered with filmmaker Robert Zemeckis on The Polar Express (2004) and went on to win the Oscar for Best Animated Feature with Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018). “There are lots of great things and overlap in doing CG and live-action features, but they are different,” states Michelle Grady, Executive Vice President and General Manager at Sony Pictures Imageworks. “You have to understand the strengths and challenges of each to do both well. In live-action you need a lot of parameters on character rigs to get them to perform in a way that is photoreal. You want to remove
92 • VFXVOICE.COM WINTER 2022
PG 92-96 ANIMATION.indd 92
12/5/21 4:40 PM
