Computer Graphics World

T he characters, settings, and plot of the computer-animated feature fi lm 9 are certainly atypical of what we are used to seeing in all-CG fi lms such as Up, Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs, and Monsters vs. Aliens. In fact, the fi lm diverges from the usual computer-generated fi lm genre in a number of ways, with the director extending the breadth of the medium to digitally achieve his storytelling vi- sion, which he does with great success. In 9, the protagonists are little burlap-covered dolls, fused with artifi cial intelli- gence, whose chief occupation is scavenging as they struggle to stay alive in a dingy, dark post-apocalyptic world. e characters are known by the number stitched into their fabric, each displaying unique qualities. For instance, 1 is a domineering war veteran, and 2, an aged inventor. It is 9, though, who displays leadership qualities that may help the group survive. e antagonists are frightening predator-machines that roam the junkyard world with the intention of annihilating the ragdoll beings. ey are equally scary in appear- ance as they are in their physical prowess: a feared cat-skulled creature, a bat/manta ray-like character that takes fl ight, and an insectoid hunter with jointed legs and a pod-like body. e setting in which the movie takes place is dark, dingy, grimy—a world away from the bright, colorful backdrops in most CG fi lms. But that is the advantage of using the medium: It can take audiences to unique places conceived inside the director's mind. In this case, the unusual universe of 9 was born from a concept and short fi lm from Shane Acker (see "Short and Sweet," February 2006). For the past few years, Acker, along with producer Tim Burton, have been transforming the short-fi lm concept—a combination of animation/science fi ction/adventure/fantasy—for the big screen. 9's action takes place in the near future, at a time when machines have turned on humans. Survival is in the hands of a small band of so-called "stitchpunk" creations, who must draw upon their brains more so than their brawn as they fi ght for survival. Working the Numbers Acker has been working on 9, in one form or another, for nearly the same number of years as the moniker of his project and the project's hero. He spent four and a half years working on the short-fi lm version of 9, which was his thesis project at UCLA's Animation Workshop. e nine-minute short proved more diffi cult than he had an- ticipated, so Acker took breaks from the work while taking on paying jobs, including e Lord of the Rings: e Return of the King. During that time, his artistic and techni- cal skills expanded, and he applied lessons learned to his short, which when fi nished, won numerous awards, including the Best in Show at SIGGRAPH 2005's Electronic eater. It also captured the attention of Burton and others, and plans were soon under way to develop the property into a feature. While Acker tackled the short fi lm himself, for the feature, he had a team of mod- elers and animators behind him, fi rst at Attitude Studio in Luxembourg, and then at Starz Animation in Toronto. ere, a total of 215 people (45 animators and 12 modelers/riggers) worked on 9 for approximately 16 months before the fi lm was re- leased by Focus Features on September 9. Even with the help, the project clearly remained Acker's passion. According to Jeff Bell, VFX supervisor, Acker himself did a substantial amount of work toward the look of the fi lm, going so far as to gather artistic references for the weathered, rusty, September 2009 37 Computer Animation ■ ■ ■ ■ ©2009 Focus Features LLC.

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