D E PA R T M E N T
31 KEYFRAME
this page: Raya and her sidekick Tuk Tuk.
IN EPIC STORIES, HEROINES NEVER TAKE
A STRAIGHT PATH FROM BEGINNING
TO END. RAYA AND THE LAST DRAGON
IS A CLASSIC EXAMPLE. RAYA HAS A
CLEAR OBJECTIVE—FIND THE WORLD'S
LAST DRAGON AND SAVE HUMANITY
FROM THE EVIL DRUUN. SHE ALSO
HAS OBSTACLES TO OVERCOME.
Because life has an uncanny way of imitating art, the
production of Raya and the Last Dragon followed a parallel path.
According to Director of Cinematography Lighting Adolph
Lusinsky, there was a concrete goal from the start: "Latching
the cinematography ideas, in particular with the lighting and
camera, with the story arcs and the story thematics."
Straightforward enough, except for this hurdle. What
were those arcs and thematics? Originally, the theme circled
around a broad concept. Head of Story Fawn Veerasunthorn
says, "Over the course of the film, we were trying to find our
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