Role: Animation Director
This Christmas... well, September actually...I joined the team at Rascal VFX as Animation Director for this extended commercial for Boots. Featuring Puss in Boots (of course!). Under the direction of powerhouse directing duo Dom&Nic and working closely with the animation team at Lore.
My role was to get inside the mind of Puss and design his personality from scratch (excuse the pun). Mannerisms, motivations, movement and all that good stuff that goes into making a character feel living and breathing. Essentially direct the cat.
We had to avoid any similarities to the Dreamworks version, from his costume to how he spoke. So the macho bravado of Antonio Banderas was a no go. This Puss was more genuine, light hearted but still a bit cheeky. We decided to ground him in reality with more realistic movements instead of cartoonish. He was incredibly realistic looking when rendered. We also adjusted his proportions, giving him front facing "human-like" knees instead of the slim backwards facing cat legs. We had a look at accurate standing up cats and it just felt weird and alien.
Credits below
This Christmas... well, September actually...I joined the team at Rascal VFX as Animation Director for this extended commercial for Boots. Featuring Puss in Boots (of course!). Under the direction of powerhouse directing duo Dom&Nic and working closely with the animation team at Lore.
My role was to get inside the mind of Puss and design his personality from scratch (excuse the pun). Mannerisms, motivations, movement and all that good stuff that goes into making a character feel living and breathing. Essentially direct the cat.
We had to avoid any similarities to the Dreamworks version, from his costume to how he spoke. So the macho bravado of Antonio Banderas was a no go. This Puss was more genuine, light hearted but still a bit cheeky. We decided to ground him in reality with more realistic movements instead of cartoonish. He was incredibly realistic looking when rendered. We also adjusted his proportions, giving him front facing "human-like" knees instead of the slim backwards facing cat legs. We had a look at accurate standing up cats and it just felt weird and alien.
Credits below
Director DOM&NIC
Agency VML, The Pharm, Hogarth, WPP Media
Agency VML, The Pharm, Hogarth, WPP Media
Creative Director & CG Lead Andy Steele
Animation Director Tim Fox
VFX Supervisor Chris Tobin
2D Lead Kalle Lundberg
2D Mikael Theander, Richard DeCarteret, Matt McDougal, Al Ford, Joe Wreford, Adam Maynard
3D Lead Dan Newlands
3D Daniel Westerlund, Andrea Lazzarini, Belinda Sandberg, Dale Alexander
DMP Aurélien Ronceray, Nils Firas, Nicholas Knoll
Designer Sian Leatham
Animation Director Tim Fox
VFX Supervisor Chris Tobin
2D Lead Kalle Lundberg
2D Mikael Theander, Richard DeCarteret, Matt McDougal, Al Ford, Joe Wreford, Adam Maynard
3D Lead Dan Newlands
3D Daniel Westerlund, Andrea Lazzarini, Belinda Sandberg, Dale Alexander
DMP Aurélien Ronceray, Nils Firas, Nicholas Knoll
Designer Sian Leatham
Creature Team LORE
Executive Producer Thomas Deutschmann
Creature Animation Supervisor Janak Thakker
Producer Daniel Rådén
CG Supervisor Mattias Forsström
Production Manager Hanna Sundman
Animation Devika Nagarkar, Pankaj Kumar, Aman Bhanot, Anders Frejj
Creature Animation Supervisor Janak Thakker
Producer Daniel Rådén
CG Supervisor Mattias Forsström
Production Manager Hanna Sundman
Animation Devika Nagarkar, Pankaj Kumar, Aman Bhanot, Anders Frejj
Colourist James Bamford
Senior VFX Producer Rosanne Crisp
VFX Producer Alessandra Milani
Production Assistant Noemi Seminara
Senior VFX Producer Rosanne Crisp
VFX Producer Alessandra Milani
Production Assistant Noemi Seminara
