Animation Guild | We are 839 Digital Magazine
Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1276583
D E PA R T M E N T 27 KEYFRAME FALL 2020 27 above: A storyboard of a musical sequencing with Fei Fei and Bungee by Story Artist Minkyu Lee main character—a spunky, motivated dreamer who is grappling with the loss of her mother. Fortunately, Keane already felt very connected to the character, and together he and Myers worked quickly to establish Fei Fei's design, leaving some of the details to be tweaked. "Little things like hair, details on the clothing," says Myers, like "how her sleeves are often covering her palms, almost like a security blanket." The entire production team quickly fell in love with the character. "Fei Fei goes through this journey of loss and grief," says Steven MacLeod, Head of Story. "That was what was special to me. I felt like it was a very universal message of healing and learning to love." This genuine connection to the charac- ter helped the board artists in their journey to discover the story. "What would Fei Fei do? What would Fei Fei feel? It was interesting to see that chemistry happen- ing. In the beginning of the production, it's hard to tell who she really is until you live with the character 24/7 for two years. To this day, Fei Fei feels very personal to me," says Story Artist Hikari Toriumi. "The journey she goes through in the film was something that I can relate to." This magical tale follows a 13-year-old girl as she seeks to prove that the impos- sible is possible, building a rocket to travel to the moon in search of Chang'e, the mythological Chinese moon goddess. Depicting Chang'e, a ubiquitous char- acter in the Chinese culture (one that Keane likens to the popularity of Santa Claus), proved more challenging and fodder for lively conversation amongst the Chinese artists working at partner studio, Pearl, in Shanghai. "There was a debate about the Chang'e story because there's variations in the details," says MacLeod. "You do your homework, research online and in books but then [also] make our own modern interpretation." "You have this character that is still in their evolution stage, they're still that chrysalis about to emerge as a butter- fly—that's always really exciting," says Story Artist Minkyu Lee. Fashion Designer Guo Pei inspired and eventually designed Chang'e's clothes. "It was a huge reference and inspiration of the goddess-like quality that she brings." Lee says the production team wanted to honor how meaningful this character was to so many people. "There are so many different interpre- tations to be had so I kind of researched every avenue, what options there were," says Myers of the character design pro- cess for Chang'e. "How we felt Fei Fei would interpret her for this story. How it relates to her losing her mother and how she may have remembered those stories "Fei Fei goes through this journey of loss and grief. I felt like it was a very universal message of healing and learning to love." – STEVEN MACLEOD