It’s no secret that Hollywood studios outsource special effects to various companies. One of the busiest in the industry is Framestore, whose recent blockbuster work has included Disney’s The Little Mermaid and Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. Framestore had a presence at Annecy Festival and in addition to recruiting new animators to join the team, they gave a presentation called “The Art of Animated Performances” led by Animation Director Pablo Grillo and Animation Supervisor Kayn Garcia. The panel focused on a few significant characters with big personalities – Paddington, Winnie the Pooh, Nifflers, Pikachu, Lumiere, Tom & Jerry, and Rocket Raccoon.
Paddington
As a London-based studio, getting the lead character of Paddington right was of cultural importance. Michael Bond’s literary masterpiece has been a staple of British culture since it was published in 1958 and had been depicted in a variety of illustration styles and animation before. But the 2014 film directed by Paul King would be the character’s live-action debut. At the time, the best reference for a literary character transition to live-action utilizing computer animation was Stuart Little in 1999. For reference, the team not only looked at live-action reference of real bears but also Peggy Fortnum’s classic illustrations and silent film stars like Charlie Chaplin and Jacques Tati for performance. A compromise had to be made to marry the public image of Paddington and the realities of a bear, with the character’s hips being bipedal like a human. The maquettes created for the first film in 2014 are still in use on the upcoming third film in the franchise. As something of a full circle moment, the Framestore team got to simplify their design for the animated series The Adventures of Paddington, based on the film franchise, which is animated by Blue Zoo Animation Studio.
Winnie the Pooh
Of similar cultural significance in the U.K. is A. A. Milne’s “silly ol’ bear,” who is best known through E. H. Shepard’s illustrations and Disney’s animated adaptation. For the 2018 film Christopher Robin, those two images were merged alongside vintage teddy bears from the 1920s. The production referenced Benjamin Hoff’s The Tao of Pooh and Peter Sellers’ 1979 film Being There, which also informed the design choices of Pooh and his friends. Character movements from the Disney animated shorts were studied and in addition to animation tests, an articulated puppet was filmed, and in a test, audiences had difficulty choosing which performance was a puppet and which was animated. Because button eyes can’t yield much expression, movements were intentionally limited, which yield more powerful performances. In a demo reel, we got to see the on-set stuffed friends that the actors would hold, who were missing their heads for ease of adding the CG characters in later.
Nifflers
Framestore has a long history with the Wizarding World films, so when Warner Bros. moved forward with a prequel series, the company began preproduction on visual development for Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. They received concept art from Paul Catling and Rob Bliss, but for the Niffler, they wanted to do something different. With just a brief description of the creature in the script, they started with a previsualization of the bank scene to figure out what the movement requirements would be. From there, they looked at the real animals that inspired the fantasy creature – an echidna, a platypus, and a honey badger. The bank scene model kept being modified with different elements of all three animals until they found a balance that not only felt right but was also very appealing.
Pikachu
Far less complicated was translating Pokemon characters to live-action in Detective Pikachu. The character designs would closely resemble their video game counterparts, so the bigger challenge was in the animation. With a global fanbase who love these characters, it was important that their essence felt correct despite being rendered with textures like fur that hadn’t been seen before. Framestore created animated auditions for each type of Pokemon featured in the film to ensure that they felt right.
Lumiere
Bringing the enchanted objects to life in Disney’s live-action adaptation of Beauty and the Beast brought along new challenges. A baroque candelabra needed to be believable as not only the object, but as a character. Hand-drawn explorations saved time and live-action reference was used to determine the character’s movements. Of particular influence was Gene Kelly’s performance in Singin’ in the Rain. An homage can be seen in the “Be Our Guest” musical sequence.
Tom & Jerry
Framestore is usually tasked with creating realistic animated performances. But the 2021 film Tom & Jerry allowed them to dabble in a squash-and-stretch cartoony world for a change. The designs emulated the Hanna-Barbera era of the ’40s and ‘50s. One of the biggest challenge was getting computer-animated rigs to have the same elasticity as the hand-drawn shorts they were referencing. The solution came through customized rigs for particular moments in the film. A dry brush tool was used to create the appearance of multiple limbs during moments of fast motion, which is how the effect was achieved on paper in the classic shorts. And in the final 2D look, the team discovered that removing ink outlines looked better, only keeping them on elements like eyes and whiskers.
Rocket Raccoon
The panel wrapped with a character Framestore has worked with for a decade, Rocket Raccoon, who recently returned to theaters in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. Not only did they look at live-action reference footage of raccoons to create the character, but also at voice recording sessions of actor Bradley Cooper. Over the years, Framestore has delivered some comedic and powerful performances with the character. But with the third film focusing so much on Rocket’s past, it brought along new challenges for the team, who also got to widen Rocket’s world with the addition of characters like Lylla, Teefs, and Floor.
Pablo Grillo and Kayn Garcia closed out the panel with a Q&A for animation industry hopefuls and also teased some upcoming projects. For Universal, they’re handling the dragons in a live-action adaptation of How to Train Your Dragon as well as the flying monkeys for the musical Wicked. And they teased a silhouette of a wooly mammoth, saying that they can’t yet talk about a project set in the ice age.