Animation Guild | We are 839 Digital Magazine
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Creative Balancing Acts Justin K. Thompson reported similar difficulties in 2009 when he worked as the Production Designer on Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs. While looking to create a hand- drawn, graphic aesthetic, Thompson said, filmmakers had to essentially trick a computer that was trying to actualize everything. Thus, new software was needed for Cloudy and its sequel, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2. Thompson notes the ginormous Jell-O mold in the original Cloudy that Flint Lockwood and Sam Sparks—characters invented for the movie—penetrate and bounce around. "That was the hardest thing to render in the whole movie," he says. "Instead of building it as component parts, we built it as one continuous piece of double-sided geometry that included all the set, the statues, and all of the furniture. So all of the reflections in it are real. All of the ripples when they bounce on it are real." Devotees of Cloudy the book, written by Judi Barrett and illustrated by her husband Ron, won't find many similarities between the book and its adaptation. That was deliberate. The filmmakers studied children's books for inspiration, but not so much the original source material, according to Thompson. In creating Flint, Sam, and the residents of Swallow Falls, the aim was characters with a distinctly cartoony look with big heads and gangly bodies. Plot-wise, Writers-Directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller also upped the wackiness/mayhem quotient. Lovers of the Barrett story still got to witness an enormous pancake draped over the school and a spaghetti tornado, but Lord and Miller steered away from the cautionary tale spun by the Barretts. F E AT U R E this page: Character Designer Carey Yost created poses for Flint Lockwood (above), just one of the characters created from scratch for the movie version of Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs. (below) Production Designer Justin K. Thompson also conceived entirely new images for locations. Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs images courtesy of Sony Pictures Animation 24 KEYFRAME