Animation Guild | We are 839 Digital Magazine
Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1399900
18 KEYFRAME S T O R Y & V I S I O N IN CONCLUSION Typically, a grand finale evokes visions of a mind-blowing, climactic scene. Filmmaker Guillermo del Toro is anything but typical. The conclusion of his episodic, three-series Tales of Arcadia takes an unconventional approach. "We did originally consider extending the third series for a few episodes to bring the entire trilogy to a close," says Executive Producer Marc Guggenheim, "but the scope and scale of the climax we were envisioning really demanded the larger canvas of a feature film." While this might sound like a big leap, it was actually an organic move, growing naturally out of a project that progressed over the years with the same main team of directors and storyboard artists. "Working for so long and so closely together, we learned our strengths and weaknesses, so we could manage ourselves in a way where we balanced each other out," says Yingjue Linda Chen, who advanced from texture artist to visual development artist to her final role of art director on the third series and the movie. "I also think we ourselves as artists vastly improved throughout that time. So all of our knowledge from [all three series] was put into the movie, and that's what I really love about it." First conceived as a live-action film and then an animated feature, Trollhunters eventually evolved into a TV show, and from the beginning, del Toro had a plan for three distinct series. Trollhunters (2016, 52 episodes), would be about a teen named Jim, in the suburban town of Arcadia Oaks, who is chosen to be the first human Trollhunter. 3 Below (2018, 26 episodes), was conceived as a tale of royal alien siblings who escape their planet and crash land in Arcadia. And Wizards (2020, 10 episodes), would follow a secret apprentice to Merlin whose job is twofold: recruit the Guardians of Arcadia and take them back in time to Camelot and confront the Arcane Order that wants to destroy humanity. Complex? Yes. But del Toro "made this whole thing step by step for us," says Alfonso Blaas, whose journey from the first series to the movie began as a visual development artist, expanding into art director and then production designer on A DEDICATED TEAM AND FREEDOM TO EXPLORE CARRIED TALES OF ARCADIA FROM THREE INTERWOVEN SERIES TO AN EPIC FEATURE FILM CONCLUSION IN TROLLHUNTERS: RISE OF THE TITANS. above and opposite page: Advances in technology and expertise led to more realistic skin, fabrics, and other surfaces in the movie. All images courtesy of DreamWorks Animation.