Animation Guild | We are 839 Digital Magazine
Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1521473
Panels from Cassey Kuo's storyboards for Episode 5 incorporate children playing to create a sense of safety in the sequence. Spacing Out "The things I love to draw are slice of life, really potent interactions of characters," says Kuo. "The way I board, it's about getting into the psychology of the characters in the space." One of her favorite opportunities to do this was a sequence of storyboards she was given from Episode 5. The characters Rogue and Gambit are visiting Genosha for the first time, "but there was something missing where we wanted to fall in love with it," Kuo says. The scene needed to introduce the mutant's sanctuary country as a safe space, "a celebration of mutant joy," she says. "How do we really showcase that in just a quick beat montage?" Kuo proposed a sequence that showed kids moving freely through the space: "There's just something about kids … playing without worry." By using context clues that didn't drive the action, but rather contributed to the tone of the scene, she was able to do double duty: allow a dialogue interaction with Rogue and Gambit to play out and "showcase a lot of the city, quickly, as the kids interacted with it," Kuo says. "Being able to interweave that into the whole setup of Genosha was really exciting," as it established what the country meant to the mutants, allowing for an even bigger emotional impact later in the series when the country is destroyed. Images courtesy of Marvel Animation. SUMMER 2024 33