Page 37 - 3D Artist 110 - 2017 UK

are based on these old stand-up arcade-style
videogames. there’s a lot of stuff that people in
their mid-forties will appreciate.
“the lines are so blurred now between
live-action ilms and fully animated ilms,” notes
Balda. “When you watch a marvel ilm, like The
Avengers, there’s so much animation in that and
audiences don’t necessarily know where the live
action stops and the animation starts. these were
things that couldn’t have been done in the last 15
years. From a director’s point of view, it’s liberating
to know that you can go in any direction you want
to.” the movie’s climatic battle was an epic
accomplishment. “the third-act action
scene was the most technically challenging in
terms of staging and cinematography.” Soret
agrees, “the ending of the movie was challenging
as we had many characters on the screen and
very tight deadlines. In order to inish in time, we
divided the scenes in many layers so we could
share the work between many animators. We
The movie features an
overarching theme of managed to inish in time with 15 animators
family, especially with Gru approving one shot on the last day of production.
discovering he has a twin
brother that his mother that was a huge achievement.”
kept secret! Director Kyle Balda enjoys the performance
of the movie’s retro-obsessed antagonist. “the
stuff that I am most excited for audiences to see
is Balthazar Bratt, our new villain.” two particular
scenes stand out to Soret. “I really love the
sequence where gru and Dru pretend to be
each other, followed by agnes in her room with
gru trying to explain to her that unicorns don’t
exist: they are really strong comedic and
emotional moments.”

We divided the scenes
in many layers so we could

share the work between
many animators
Julien Soret,
Animation director
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