Animation Guild | We are 839 Digital Magazine
Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1505195
Images courtesy of DreamWorks Animation On the younger end of the spectrum, DreamWorks is leaping into the horror pool with its new tween series Fright Krewe. One of the show's creators and Executive Producers is live-action horror master Eli Roth, whose first film work—it turns out— was animation. When he was around nine, he started shooting stop-frame animation with a Super 8 movie camera, and before he made his first live-action feature, Cabin Fever, he directed a series of animated shorts called Chowdaheads. "I could get lost in animation," he says, so it's no surprise that when his friend, Executive Producer James Frey, approached him to do a scary animated show like a new Scooby-Doo, Roth jumped at the chance. But Fright Krewe isn't a bunch of meddling kids with another mystery on their hands. Rather, it's an example of how the industry is redefining the boundaries of how much is too much when it comes to scare tactics. When it comes to scaring up believable horror, suspension of disbelief can be more of a challenge for animators than it is for their live-action counterparts. Rather than shying away, they're rising to meet that challenge. Horror animation is finally coming into its own in the U.S. for audiences of nearly all ages. opposite page: Visual development drawings of Fright Krewe's Maybe (left), horror buff Soleil, and Pat explore levels of fear in facial expressions; this page: Character Designer Jose Garibaldi helped develop the character of mean girl Missy who transforms into a Rougarou, New Orleans' version of a werewolf. FALL 2023 25