Animation Guild | We are 839 Digital Magazine
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Trolls Band Together images courtesy of DreamWorks Animation. 38 KEYFRAME Leo and Trolls Band Together may not seem like they have a lot in common. One is about a grouchy elderly lizard, the other an exuberantly youthful boy band. In fact, both films showcase artful approaches to the importance of movement in creating realistic characters. By Karen Briner BUST A MOVE Getting the band back together takes on new meaning in DreamWorks Animation's latest Trolls movie, Trolls Band Together. Branch, protagonist of the previous films, must reunite with his family band, BroZone, in order to rescue their brother Floyd from an evil popstar duo. Only the perfect harmony sung by the brothers can shatter the diamond prison and set Floyd free. What follows is a musical road-trip adventure. With the film's focus on boy bands, Head of Character Animation Ben Willis says he realized that the animation team needed to do a deep dive into dance, with dance moves that should be a true homage to the genre. He didn't want to do just big poses, but rather wanted the poses to feel authentic to the style of dance they were trying to recreate. F E AT U R E this page (top): Creating realistic dance movements with the limitations of the Trolls' bodies required in-depth knowledge of dance theory; ( bottom) and following page: Visual development art explores various aspects of character movement. The film's animators participated in "Road Trip Week," an intensive learning experience for which Animation Supervisor Brooke Shay Bradford introduced music theory and dance, while another supervisor created lessons on singing. Bradford had studied dance and choreography back before animation was even on her radar, and she now realizes how much her background and passions have influenced 38 KEYFRAME