Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/398245
18 cgw s e p t e m b e r . o c t o b e r 2 0 1 4 A N I M A T I O N ized and not necessarily photo- real. The biggest challenge for us is that we're both." As do visual eff ects artists working with plates fi lmed on sets for live-action features, the CG artists on The Boxtrolls needed to add photoreal eff ects to plates fi lmed on live-action sets. But, the photographed real worlds the Boxtrolls artists had to match were as stylized as the digital worlds in an animated fi lm. T I N Y B U I L D I N G S In a stop-motion fi lm, all the lo- cations are miniatures, designed to scale for the approximately foot-tall puppets. To expand the puppets' world beyond the stages, the visual eff ects team extended the sets using CG buildings, streets, and props. "We build to the same scale," Wachtman says. "It's a little weird to get used to. You have to retrain your brain to not build life-sized things. But once you start working on the buildings in context, it works itself out in your brain. At the end of the day, we try to make everything feel like it's the same-world scale." As with the characters, CG modelers working on envi- ronments "fi ll in the gaps" in the scenes. "We build the next layer back, the horizon, and the sky," Emerson says. "It's the same as everything else. If we can get something in camera, we will. If they have the resources to build the sets, they will. But, when they run out of set, we step in." When sets built in the art department are ready for the stage, the crew photographs the environments on turntables to keep as reference. The CG modelers use those photo- graphs as reference for the digital set extensions. In one sequence, for example, the Red Hats chase a er Eggs, who leaps off a wall, lands on the red-tiled roo ops, and rides the roo ops down like a roller-coaster. "In a scene like that, we look at how much we can build digitally," Emerson says. "We start with anything the puppets touch and anything in the immediate environment. Beyond that, it's up for grabs. The roo ops where the tiles get knocked off are physical buildings, but beyond that fi rst layer, it's a CG world." CG buildings and props also expanded the market square, particularly in the climax when a giant, complex, and fantastical machine – a "mechadrill" – stars. "We built lots of barrels and boxes," Wachtman says. "Random stuff . We'd scan the practical props on the sets, clean up the scans, and use that data. We didn't have to do much hand modeling. But, we built a digital mechadrill, and couldn't use scans for that. It was a beast with a lot of moving parts. We shot a ton of reference in con- trolled lighting. Then we built and textured it piece by piece." And, the CG extras were put to work for the climax, as well. "We have a lot of Boxtrolls and puppet extras in the market square," Emerson says, "more CG buildings, as well. A lot of CG work. Hopefully, people can't tell." O P E N I N G T H E W O R L D All told, approximately 60 artists worked in the CG department, many of whom repaired plates and touched up the puppets' faces to remove the lines between the mouth and brow parts, work that visual eff ects artists have done on each of the three fi lms. But, with this fi lm, because the CG artists can create digital extras and environments that blend into the stop-motion world, they helped move that world into new dimensions. "We give [the directors] breathing room," Emerson says. "They get to pull the camera back and widen the shots. It comes down to telling the story they want to tell without restric- tions. They have the freedom to open up the world and tell a bigger story if that's their choice. So, one of the wonderful things is that we can enable them to do more than they can practically. Beyond that, we're trying to do distinctive and diff erent work from anything anyone has seen before. For me, that's the most exciting thing about Laika." ¢ (TOP) HERE, A STAGE SET IS ENHANCED WITH CG PROPS, EXTEN- SIONS, AND ATMOSPHERE. (BOTTOM) MODELERS AND TEXTURE ARTISTS CREATE HERO BUILDINGS TO ENLARGE THE STOP-MO- TION WORLD. MATTE PAINTERS ADD SKY AND ANIMATED CLOUDS. CG ARTISTS EXTENDED PRACTICAL SETS SHOT ON STOP-MOTION GREENSCREEN STAGES. Barbara Robertson is an award-winning writer and a contributing editor for CGW. She can be reached at BarbaraRR@comcast.net. VIDEO: GO TO EXTRAS IN THE SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2014 ISSUE BOX C G W. C O M C M Y CM MY CY CMY K