Animation Guild | We are 839 Digital Magazine
Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1434261
ne o the reasons or this is that in oloia usic is always on, and people are always dancing—even if a person is just crossing the kitchen to get an ingredient, says Head of Animation Kira Lehtomaki. "We wanted that rhythm to be in the bones of these characters." In order to make sure it was done authentically, Jamal Sims was brought in. A prolific live-action choreographer with animation credits also under his belt, he and a key member of his team, Kai Martinez, a dancer of Colombian descent who would serve as the film's long-term reference consultant, were introduced to initial storyboards and layout. "We hadn't done a whole lot of animation by that point," says Lehtomaki, "so we got to explain who these characters were [and the choreographers] could start designing the dances that felt appropriate for each of them." This gave the choreographers "a lot of context for us to dive into [the Madrigal] world," says Martinez, and helped them use dance to make the most of the body shapes that the artists had desined ne eaple is uisa, the iddle adrial sister, whose magical ability is super strength. "Luisa leans heavily on reggaeton dance moves because she has great mass that we can really throw around and show the effect of the power of that," says Woodside, referring to a mix of several genres, including reggae, hip hop, and other Caribbean and Latin American influences. Mirabel, on the other hand, is prone to mistakes, making salsa cali (a kind of double-time salsa) a per- fect tool to play with her awkward nature. GAME ON Before the animators could get deep into their work, though, they needed choreography references. Armed with their intro- duction to the story and characters, Sims and his team had to bring a great deal of imagination to the big, empty studio space where they began to map out the sequences. According to Martinez, there was plenty of creative improvising, as when some of the dancers moved shoe boxes in and out to the beat of the music to simulate drawers opening and closing. The rough draft choreography references were given to pro- duction, accompanied by Martinez who served as a guide. At first she was hesitant about what the animators could accom- plish. Woodside recalls talking to her early on, and her surprise when she realized that the characters weren't going to be too cartoony. "I was like, oh, you guys can really do this," Martinez says. "I knew it was game on." "We got to fine-tune each character and their movement. Really find the particularities of their footfalls or weight transfers." —Kai Martinez F E AT U R E 32 KEYFRAME 32 KEYFRAME