Hey Noah. This is gonna be fun.
I hope it is gonna be fun. It's a pleasure to be talking to you, Joel. I, I really
enjoyed the film, but I, I'd like to use this as an opportunity to explore the
process of making an animated film because I think personally, we kind of, we
glamourise the film set, on live-action but animation I think is often treated as
an underdog, and I think we need to
show it the detail and respect it deserves.
When you, you know, you first came on to this big animated film, particularly one
that, you know, was first announced back in 2013, what's the first job that you
have as a director.
As a director, e-, every project's, you know, its own unique thing, and-, and in
this case, I approached the movie as a fan of the first movie, because I-, I had the
awesome opportunity to work side by side with Chris Sanders and Kirk DeMicco while
they were making Croods, I was working on Kung Fu Panda and Shrek, and other things
and so, when I watched the first movie, I loved it. It was about family, it was set
in this fantastical Croodaceous period, with all these crazy creatures, and for it
was like, what's the next big story, and families change and evolve and it felt
like the perfect next story is expanding the pack, expanding the Croods to meeting
another family, and having their world views challenged and so that-, that's
where we-, we kicked off from.
(Advert played 01.26 'Look Phil, they sleep in a pile.' 'Ooh, fun.' 'Actually,
everyone gets their own rooms.' 'We get separate rooms.' 'What's a room?' 'What's
separate?' 'We Betterman's believe that privacy promotes individuality, unofficial
motto.') So, you, you've worked for the majority of your career as a storyboard
artist, has that experience changed your approach to direction? Are there any
things you've learnt, working the day-to-day on animated films that you've
managed to, kind of, put in place when you're the leader of this community?
Storyboarding and animation, is kind of being like a jack of all trades, master of
none, where you're looking at a scene in a movie, and you're looking at the-, the
dialogue and going, 'What-, what's the character trying to do? What's the point
of the scene?' And so you-, you kind of have the screenwriter's hat on in order to
understand what you're visually trying to convey, and then you're looking at
performance and acting and going, 'What's the tone of the scene?' And-, and
visualising, you're picturing what it will look like when it's finished, even though
they're just in these kind of comic book drawings, and so, it's a fantastic
training ground for directing, because every scene is like a short, and here's
the-, here's you're-, you're in and you're out, and slowly over doing that, you start
to take on more and then into directing when you're putting your arms around the
whole movie. So, it's like a very natural progression in animation. Not that, that's
the only way,
to come into directing in animation.
You mentioned the sense of making each scene a-, a story, which I think is the-,
the perfect opportunity to focus on a particular scene where two characters
are-, are jumping over a wall. How do you start to, kind of, come up with a visual
look of a scene like this?
We have Dawn and Eep, who are two teenage girls who meet for the first time and they
come from totally different worlds, and we knew we wanted a scene where Eep, who's
this wild child, brings Dawn outside her wall, she's lived in this, kind of, gilded
cage for so long and so, Eep feels for her and wants to show her how beautiful the
unknown world can be, and so, I almost go to, like, who, what, where, right? It's
like, so who's scene is this, and we wanted it to be Eep's point of view, where
she knows the world but then we're going to like transition into Dawn's point of
view, to see something new. Then, it's like in terms of the concept, you go,
'Okay, well how do we show something new, not only to Dawn but also to the audience,
who've seen Croods 1, who's seen a fantastical world?' We needed a location
that would look like one thing, and then become something totally unexpected. Once
we have that kind of guideline of like, 'Okay this is what the scene's about,'
then we go like, 'How do we visualise this,' and then the storyboard artist
really brings so much to, what's-, what's the feeling, how-, how much are you seeing
of the characters expressions, and so every step of the process
really, kind of, adds
to the end feeling that you get.
(Advert played 04.37 'Oh man, is this your ride?' 'Nah, it's my Dad's.
Listen to this baby
purr. See that pig gator over there?' 'Yeah.' 'Wanna jump it?' 'Yeah.' 'Whoo.
See that chicken seal over there?' 'Yeah.' 'Wanna jump it?' 'Yeah.' 'You see that
wall?' 'Yeah.' 'Wanna jump it?' 'Yeah. No, Eep, I'm not allowed to go outside the
wall.' 'Don't worry, we'll be back before anyone knows.' 'Are you okay?' 'Wahoo, oh
my gosh, my heart is pounding, I feel so, alive. Let's jump more stuff.') So-, so as
you're on this process, are you editing it as you go? At what point do you start to-,
to assemble the-, the sequence, is that right at the end of the process as it
would be for a live-action film, or are you editing the scenes are you start to
animate them?
We're talking about editing that's like looking at, how-, how long is the
sequence, how does it fit in the movie, where-, where does it, you know, what's
the last scene cut from and-, and so, we have the script which we go, 'Okay, that
scene feels the right length,' and then the storyboard process allows you to see
how that might flow and get a sense of it, but then by putting it in at editorial,
you-, you start to really get the feeling of it, and every few months, we actually
put the whole movie up, in storyboards or whatever stage it's in, it's pretty-, it's
really rough to look at but it gives you an idea of like, how everything-, how all
the pieces fit together. That's the fun part about animation, it's not just a
straight, 'Okay we finished it.' It's always kind of reworking, reworking,
so-,
As a-, as a final quick question, what advice would you give to young people that
are starting to make animation themselves? Evidently, they can't make it at this
scale, but are there any tricks that you can use to start animating your very own
film?
It's awesome how many resources are out there. How much is online, that people
can-, can look at, draw from be inspired by, and definitely technology has made it
easier to-, to make your own work. I think the key advice that I would, kind of, give
is, finding your voice,
and that comes from trial and error, of just trying stuff, but also just like
living and-, you know, it's great to be into animation, but also, you know, have
hobbies things like that because they-, they kind of come into forming your world
view, and that's what makes someone stand out over someone else. Which is like,
'Wow, they really bring a voice to their work.'
Thank you very much, that's a-, a lovely point to end on, it's been a pleasure to
talk to you, Joel.
Aw, likewise Noah, thank you.