Animation Guild | We are 839 Digital Magazine
Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1313527
WINTER 2020 25 D E PA R T M E N T The tone is darker and the stakes higher in Warner Brothers' Batman: Death in the Family. Writer-Director Brandon Vietti was anxious to jump into the interactive format and he found a natural match when it was decided that Death in the Family would take its inspiration from a 1988 comic book story that had left the fate of Jason Todd—the second Robin—in the hands of readers. Shortly after the character was introduced, comic book creators gave out a toll-free number and invited readers to call in and vote whether Todd should live or die. Spoiler alert: They voted that Robin should bite the dust which, three decades later, became a sequence in Death in the Family as well. But that wasn't the end of the story. "Different writers come along as time passes and people imagine new ways to bring a character back," says Vietti, who has also been a storyboard artist on multiple DC Universe series. "It made this particular problem so interesting to go back into because you don't know what is going to happen after you make a choice. The interesting part of interactivity is creating stories that play out in ways that may not follow what you think will happen." Death in the Family gives the viewer six decisions which lead to seven different endings. The death of Robin storyline may have a certain familiarity to viewers who have been following the animated adventures of the Caped Crusader. Vietti was able to repurpose and reuse extensive footage from his own 2010 film Batman: Under the Red Hood within Death in the Family. The original film needed editing to allow it to sync up. Mouth movements had to be recalibrated for new dialog. The two films didn't share the same animation team so character and background looks had to be consistent. "From the writing phase, I had to have the old movie open on my desktop and be writing down time code and editing the movie while I was writing it," Vietti says. WINTER 2020 25 D E PA R T M E N T above: Dirk fights a dragon to save Princess Daphne. WINTER 2020 25 Image courtesy of John Pomeroy