Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/426320
n o v e m b e r . d e c e m b e r 2 0 1 4 c g w 3 5 Thus, rather than adding brushstrokes, they looked at the reasons why a painter makes particular decisions. "Jeff drew the focus by mak- ing edges fall away," Osborne says. "That gives you the feeling of a painting. Also, we looked at color values. Josh [Staub], Jeff, and I did rough value composi- tion sketches for each new shot in the film. We pinned all those up on the wall with the story- boards and Jeff's paintings." The technical challenge in making the film look like that art- work fell to Staub and his crew. "It isn't what we normally do," Staub says. "Oen, we get visual development work that's more for inspiration. For 'Feast,' one of the fun things was making the film look as much like the visual development as possible, but in motion. When I looked at the artwork, it was clear there wasn't a lot of shading and the flat, loose edges would be a chal- lenging, interesting component." Staub asked Turley to provide one piece of artwork that could be in the movie and, in that one frame, would have all the chal- lenges they thought they would face in that one frame. Turley provided an image with Winston in the center and lit from behind. "It also had food," Staub says, "a piece of pizza with cheese stretching. It had steam, so it gave us a chance to think about what those effects would look like. He had used color to block in things in a simplified way that allowed you to get a quick read. It had shallow depth of field. And, it had loose edges." Trying to get such a simple and appealing look is the hard- est thing to do, notes Staub. "I think that's true with any kind of artwork. You want to draw the eye of the viewer, and you do that with the same techniques, whether you're doing a painting or working in a computer," Staub says. "What we wanted was a quick read on things. The story has one-off shots, with images on screen only for a second. We had to focus the viewer's eye quickly through value, color, shape, and depth of field." With the painting of Winston and the slice of pizza at hand, the crew sought to match Tur- ley's artwork in 3D. "We had a goal defined by this one image," Staub says. "We worked with all the de- partments – modeling, rigging, animation, layout, look, and lighting. Everyone had to think differently. And, slowly and sure- ly, we got closer and closer until we felt like we got there." M O D E L I N G In most CG films, the models are complex, with shading that creates a realistic look when lit. Not so in this film. "We have a chair with buttons on the cushions," Staub says. "When a modeler first built it, it looked rounded and smooth and detailed. It could have been in any of our movies. But for this short, we had them model it almost like a box, so that when the light hit it, it would hit clearly defined planes. Usually when the light rolls off the edge of a DISNEY ARTISTS COOK UP A VISUAL TREAT FOR THE SHORT ANIMATED FILM 'FEAST' BY BARBARA ROBERTSON EYE CANDY DISNEY ANIMATED SHORT