2. DreamWorks Animation
Studio
Established Grossed 1st animated
in 2000 over $4 studio to
billion at use
box office stereoscopic
3D
3. DreamWorks Animation
• Released 25 Animated Movies
• Mission Statement: Create movies for Kids
and Adults
• Shrek 2 largest grossing CG animation
film at 441 million
• 2nd largest Franchise in the World
4. Perks of DreamWorks Animation
Ranked 14th on
Fortune Magazine’s Classes: Storytelling,
100 Best Companies to Figure Drawing, Sculpture
Work For
Free Breakfasts and Halloween Costume
Lunches Contests
Film Release Day
5. How to Train Your Dragon
• Completed in 5 years
• Nearly 2,000 employees helped produce
• Domestic Gross: 217 million
• Budget: 165 million
• How to Train Your Dragon Sequel (June 2014)
7. Development
DreamWorks Animation
Bonnie Arnold become Directors hired: Dean
discovers Cressida
producer (producer of DeBlois and Chris
Cowell’s book, How to
Over the Hedge) Sanders
Train Your Dragon
26. Sound
Sound last step of an animated film
Sound created by the Skywalker Sound
company
Three Main Soundtracks of the Movie:
• Dialogue
• Sound Effect
• Background Music
32. John Powell: Music Composer
• Academy Award Winner for Best Music in an
Animated Feature Production
• From London, England
• Composer, Conductor, Producer
Annual Poker GamesAnnual Ping-pong tournamentshttp://www.dreamworksanimation.com/insidedwa/ourculture
First animated movie with dragons as focus Number 14 for largest grossing 3D movie Top 20 for CG animation films Ratio from animated films to non-animated films (how long it take a film to be created)http://boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=howtotrainyourdragon.htmhttp://seekingalpha.com/article/1100521-don-t-bet-against-dreamworks-animation
--talk about how the author of the book Cressida Cowell complimented their work in their “imaginative versions” of her dragons Author, Cressida Cowell, Head of Character Effects Supervision: take the book a next step by creating the dragons more imaginative, example: have a dragon burst into flamesBased on book “How to Train You Dragon”- Author praises DreamWorks for bringing her dragons to life in a more imaginative way then she pictured - She enjoyed that they gave each dragon a specific and unique set of characteristics
Modeling (part of 3D): Matt Paulson, Modeling SupervisorVikings horn helmets: mythological, we want to be historically correct, but at the same time want to follow people’s perseptions of Vikings Tools/Weapons: a lot of research to make sure the weapons were authentic for Viking timeGood place to talk about toothless size of small dog to this massive most feared character of the movie
-draw out each scene by hand, every movement is drawn out-start this process after script is done -drawings are digitally photographed then strung together to make a story reel (digital book)-worked on this process for 18 months
Animators concentrate on expression of characters – sets DreamWorks apart from other studios”Developing Hiccup was a balancing act. He had to be appealing, but he also had to be enough of an individual to frustrate his father at the same time.” - Chris Sanders, co-directorHiccupChris Sanders (co-drector): “balancing act”, had to design a character who was different from a normal Viking, but also appealingAlessandro Carloni: humble protagonist, but learns the value of himself and is finally accepted for who he is
Toothless: the most common bread of dragon, movie he is the dragon they know the least about, the most feared, “legend” Astrid: added her to give romance because audience love the romance
Jeff Light, Supervisor of Character TDs (puppet makers): take a model (stiff statue) and add the bones and muscles of the character and put in controls for the character, then give it to the animatorsStoicks Beard: most difficult beard they ever worked with because of the layers with mustache, hair and beardWorked on rigging for months BEARD IS IMPORTANT because it is a symbol of his authority Rigging Nathan Loofbourrow, Supervisor of Character TDs: Rigging is like giving a toy the control to move, but then when you give the dragon (character) to the animator (after rigging) the animator makes the dragon come to life (he is the dragon, the character becomes alive)
Famous people like AmericaFerrera, Jonah Hill, Kristen Wiig and Gerard Butler were hired to be the voices to the characters The voices are recorded before the animation, KristofSerrand, Supervising Animator: incharge of animating Stoick, uses a lot of Gerard Bulters actions and movements when saying the lines to animate the character Stoick
Layout/Scenery:Burke Sabrina Riegel (Head of Surfacing): Wanted the cove to be a “safe-haven” for toothless and Hiccup so they used “softer colors, moss along trees and calm water” Bonnie Arnold, producer: create an environment bleak and tough so Vikings so brave would live there, but also a place you would want to visit Dragon IslandKathy Alteri: “twister, off-kilter, abstract, unwelcoming, pointy and volcanic environment”Crowds: Sean Fennel, Crowds Supervisor: plusing every sequence Overall Layout: hardest challenge- scale and detail: environment HUGE with lots of fire, smoke and oceans Lots of shading Inspired by Iceland, rugged coastline of Oregon (black cobblestone beaches and seastacks, Anacapa Island (off the coast of California), gave us rich and exotic textures for Dragon island (Kathy Altieri, Production Designer)
Dragon Animation/Look:Gronckle: inspired from walruses and rhinoceroses movement and combined those movements with the speed of a hummingbird Deadly Nadder: 82 spokes that cover its body as a defense mechanismMixture of a parrot, ostrich and a T-RexMonstrous Nightmare: 69 feet tall, wingspan of 62 feetMother dragon: inspired by two dragons in the book, but with visual development and a more threatening view (Bonnie Arnold, producer)Cressida Cowell: Wanted to get away from the tradition view of dragon (big green things: how they are depicted in story books), transform them in all different shapes and sizes, adapt to environment similar to birds and other animals Shaggy Hornsby, Supervising Animator: all have different as a species, all have different flames; different movementsSean Fennell, Crowds Supervisor: studied different animals to animate the dragons: alligators, walruses, eagles, large cranesGet them a different personalityHard part that all of these animals do not exist cohesively in the world Overall Design: animators had never worked with animating a mythical creature like a dragon, mixing and matching different types of animals like “a bulldog-crocodile that hovers like a helicopter”, break the stereotype of what dragons should look like Fire effects: collaboration between directors, Craig Ring, Art and fx department, fire to be unique for each dragon, let fx put their own spin on the look (Matt Baer, Head of Effects)Ocean Surface: created by a displacement shader that R&D wrote create calm to stormy ocean
Toothless had over 300 controls added to him While hiccup had only around 100 controls Toothless skin texture inspired by a combo of bat skin, shark skin and reptile skinAudience to connect to the dragon, think of them as pet: combination of the animators pet (find the right balance)Cat people thought it reminded them of their cat, dog people thought it reminded them of their dog
DreamWorks does not do sound by the selves, they hire another company to do the sound -sync the dialog
Hundreds of Sound Tracks: wind sounds, water splashing, wing flapping, fire spitting sound More than 1000 wind recordings – everyone is different depending on the environment Toothless’ wings at first made harsh clangy sounds, but Randy (direct of the sound) realized that it was important to use wind sounds to make the scene romantic because it is important moment for the characters devleoping their relationship****sound is so important because it adds to the emotions****Sounds shouldn’t be a decoration, you add to an otherwise finished movie. It should have an influence on all the other crafts while there is still time for them to be affect by it
Worked on dragons voices for 3 years A difficult project for them to work on because do not know what dragons sound like so they could expirement and try out different sound combinations to make it sound real Focused on giving a dragons its own personality, so each dragon had to have a different sound or “voice” Randy Thom, director of sound, sound designer, supervising sound editor/mixer works for Skywalker Sound
It is not meant to be the main focus of an audience, but rather to supplement that which is meant to be focused upon.Background music refers to various styles of music or soundscapes primarily intended to be passively listened to. It is not meant to be the main focus of an audience, but rather to supplement that which is meant to be focused upon.Define what soundscapes are? Combination of sounds that forms or arises from an immersive environment the music tells about the environment Example of background music in the film Gets your emotionsScary movies wouldn’t be as scary without the hype, dramatics in the background Use music to connect people to the film Sets the stage: Hiccup and Toothless are flying together they use scootish and english songs to make people understand where they are/history, the time of the movie- Viking time Music shows the characters emotions as well
Academy Award:Nominated for best original score for How to Train Your Dragon-not only animates for DreamWorks animation on How to Train Your Dragon and Kung Fu Panda, but has also done the score for famous movies like Mr. and Mrs. Smith, The Bourne Identity, The Italian Job (all of these movies were top box office films)
