Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/10832
n n n n CGI/Stereo 3D People are afraid of ogres in the alternate reality that Shrek entered after signing Rumpelstiltskin’s magic contract. Technical directors created many of these background characters by using the rig to sculpt variations of a generic model. objects or assets into the scene to make it more interesting. But, we had to compose the scenes carefully so the audience wouldn’t be confused about where to look.” In addition, to help the audience know where to look, the layout art- ists sometimes used a slight depth of field. As in any film, focusing the audience’s atten- tion is important. In stereo 3D films, though, focus becomes a question of comfort as well as attention. Because people watching a stereo 3D film need time to adjust their eyes, the lay- out artists tried to compose shots that kept the same area of focus when the scene changed af- ter a cut. When the shots were short, the artists might add extra frames. When that was impos- sible, they used a special blending technique. “It’s very hard for an audience to adjust from far to close,” Jhun says. “In 2D, the audience doesn’t have to calculate the depth between an object and a character, but when you put depth into a scene, they do, and our brain takes a little longer to adjust. So, some shots got longer than they would have in regular 2D filmmaking. But, if that wasted storytelling time, we used something we called ‘blending.’ Even though an object is supposed to be far, we bring it closer and then let it slowly go deep, and the audience should not realize what we’re doing.” Te layout artists also used this ability to move characters subtly in depth to intensify an emotional story point. Jhun describes how this worked for a pivotal scene with Shrek and Rumpelstiltskin talking in Rumpelstiltskin’s carriage. “As the scene became really intense,” Jhun says, “we brought the characters close to the audience and pushed the background farther 10 May 2010 back even though the [carriage and characters] did not move. It created a slight uncomfort- able feeling in the audience. Without any dia- log, you can tell this is an intense scene, that something is not quite right. You can feel it.” Techniques such as that, which the layout artists used during shots and during cuts, helped create a depth rhythm to support the story. “We put a lot of energy into design- ing shots,” Jhun says. “Tis is the last movie, the final chapter, and it’s in 3D, so we put a lot of effort into making it more dramatic.” In addition to the 3D techniques, the layout artists used camera drift and longer shots to enhance character emotion and give the film a more sophisticated look. And handheld virtual cameras gave a traveling sequence a documentary realism. During a sad, serious sequence with Shrek and Fiona, for example, the camera drifts in and out as the characters connect and dis- connect, and for this sequence, the stereo is neutral. “Some directors with an animation background are genius directors, but they fall in love with a storyboard or image in their mind before it comes to layout,” Jhun says. “Mike [Mitchell], who was a live-action direc- tor, gave us the opportunity to explore scenes with a camera.” Animators started performing the charac- ters blocked into the scenes once the layout was about 70 percent close to final. When ani- mation was final, the layout artists did another stereo 3D pass and brought the scenes 95 per- cent close to final. “We give the animators the camera, but we know some shots should be driven by animation,” Jhun says, “so we redo the camera based on the acting.” Te layout artists tweaked the last five per- cent once lighting had finished. “Sometimes the scenes look really different with light and textures, and the stereo 3D becomes a little overwhelming,” Jhun says. “And other times, we ramp it up a tiny bit more to make the shots more sophisticated.” Personality Change Jason Reisig, who was an animator on the first Shrek, led a team of approximately 35 anima- tors who he organized into four teams, each with a supervisor, and then organized the work by sequences. “Te animators on Dragon used a traditional animation workflow, which made sense because they had a significant number of hero characters,” Reisig says. “We had fewer main characters and many sub-characters, so the supervisors cast teams of animators per sequence, and in those shots, the animators worked on all the characters. It kept us light and flexible.” For reference, the animators have Webcams at their desks and acting rooms where they can record themselves. In addition, for a battle be- tween the ogres and witches, they mocapped three people doing fighting moves. “Te cycle animators played with that motion-captured data and used it as reference,” Reisig says. In the early days of PDI/DreamWorks, and for the first Shrek film, the rigs for the charac- ters, which were mostly bipeds—if not human, then human-like—included restraints you would expect in a human character. Anima- tors could rotate a character’s shoulders, hips, and head in only very specific, anatomically correct ways. For the cartoony characters in Madagascar, the studio created a more flexible rig, which the animators have used since, even