Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/1260764
9 4 P E R S P E C T I V E | J U L Y / A U G U S T 2 0 2 0 Favreau's approach to using storyboards to emulate the feature animation process was begun by Walt Disney in the 1930s. Separate from the animators, Disney created a story team that would roughly draw and map out the entire movie before it went into production. In addition, alt would fi lm the storyboards, adding dialogue and music. nown as a story reel (now called a 2D animatic), the entire show could be seen in rough form, allowing changes in rhythm, action and dialogue. Jon began using that tradition on Iron Man and we perfected it on The Jungle Book and The Lion King. For The Mandalorian, this meant the department would be responsible for storyboarding and "animatic-ing" every episode. Continuing my role as Head of Story from The Jungle Book and The Lion King, I gathered a small, select team to storyboard and create 2D animatics for the upcoming season. With Favreau as creator, writer, executive producer and showrunner, the team couldn't wait to read the eight episodes to come. Jon was soon joined by Lucasfi lm's Dave Filoni as executive producer. Filoni, as George Lucas' protégé, achieved tremendous acclaim and fan fame as creator, producer, writer and director of Star Wars: The Clone Wars, Star Wars Rebels and other animated Star Wars shows. Filoni was indispensable in elucidating and refi ning all aspects of the show's design within the Star Wars canon, as he is the authority on all things Star Wars. Filoni explained, "George Lucas was very interested in previsualization and virtual storytelling tools. I had a 2D animation background, but George wanted me to develop these previs tools and systems on the animated series Clone Wars so that he could eventually use that technology for his own live- action Star Wars TV series. When Jon Favreau explained his process on fi lms like The Jungle Book and The Lion King, I immediately saw a correlation to the work I had been doing with George Lucas on The Clone Wars, but this was the leap to live action I had never seen before. It was as if the storytelling that George had envisioned many years ago was fi nally possible and we would be bringing it to life on The Mandalorian. The esteemed illustrator Phill Norwood was enlisted to the storyboard crew. Phill's Lucasfi lm A B