Big Hero 6 | November 7, 2014 | Now available on home video

[Melvin Frohike]

WDAS CG films have had a consistent style since Tangled but I think that's deliberate since the characters models are very similar to the 2D films.

Correct, this is expressly because with Tangled there was a concerted effort, driven by legendary Disney animator Glen Keane, to translate their 2D animation style--both in design and the animation itself--to CGI, and this is what they've been doing since (I'm sure they'll use other styles, too, but this became the new baseline). Keane was the original director of Tangled (until he was sidelined for about six months by a heart attack ), and only agreed to transition the movie to CGI if it could accomplish the same things that WDAS' hand-drawn animation could. Hank Driskill or somebody on the technical team assured him that this could be accomplished, and although it turned out to be extremely challenging to realize, Keane kept training and beating on everybody (animators and the technical directors who supported them) until he was satisfied with the result (then he retired from WDAS because he preferred to draw ).

Before Keane entered the picture, WDAS' hand-drawn and CGI movies had their own styles and standards, but he was harder to satisfy and, being forced to transition Tangled to CGI, he wanted it both ways, and in some important ways he got it.

 

You compare CG humans now compared to even 10 years ago and the difference is incredible. The ones in Shrek don't hold up well compared to say The Incredibles which was the first film to really ultilise human characters.

The difference is huge, but if you'll notice, as you might have already, WDAS' style of character animation in CGI--not just the designs but the movement and expression--is in fact the same style as that of their hand-drawn animation, and is distinct from the styles used by other studios. In fact, Glen Keane drew by hand thousands of animation poses on a Cintiq tablet for Tangled to directly guide the CGI animators, a way of working that WDAS calls "draw-overs." This has the interesting side-effect of overlaying each individual animator's personal style with the style of the 2D animator who is doing the draw-overs. In this way, Tangled's animation (particularly that of Rapunzel) is generally done in Glen Keane's personal style (with the general hand-drawn WDAS style on top of that!), while Frozen's animation is generally done in Mark Henn's style. I could give you examples to look at all day for comparison with the newer CGI movies, but to keep things brief a few good examples are Keane's Ariel animation in "Part of Your World" and Tarzan's animation in general (note the strength and stress in their poses--compare with Tangled), and Henn's Belle animation when she first meets Beast, in the whole West Wing scene, and when Beast is dying and Belle says that she loves him (note the subtle but masterful caricature of thought and emotion--compare with Frozen).

 

 

Funny you should say about anime when the Japanese created that big eyes on their characters which is based on Disney ones.

I'm well aware of this, but that was not what I meant. I meant that to some people (two of whom I know personally) Big Hero 6 specifically seems too "Japanese" for their taste. They said nothing about Frozen or Tangled in this regard, and that's probably because in these movies there are no Japanese characters flying around on robots battling villains wearing kabuki masks. Nobody said anything about eyes.

Edited December 7, 2014 by Melvin Frohike

[Fullbuster]

OMG Star Wars VII trailer in 100 theaters on Wednesday just before BH6, the movie should have a small boost

[AJG]

Actually, a couple of people I know are put off by how animesque the movie seems to them. It may not actually look animesque, but in some ways it reminds people of anime nonetheless, and some people think that this is weird for Disney. This is by no means a majority view, but I wonder how many people feel this way.

It's the whole "San Francisco-Tokyo" thing. I don't remember seeing anything resembling anime at all.

[AJG]

WDAS CG films have had a consistent style since Tangled but I think that's deliberate since the characters models are very similar to the 2D films.

You compare CG humans now compared to even 10 years ago and the difference is incredible. The ones in Shrek don't hold up well compared to say The Incredibles which was the first film to really ultilise human characters.

The consistent style is getting boring in my opinion.

[Melvin Frohike]

Do you want to build a Baymax?

http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~cga/bighero6/

[Dingdong123]

OMG Star Wars VII trailer in 100 theaters on Wednesday just before BH6, the movie should have a small boost

Will it be exclusively playing in front of Big Hero 6??

[Melvin Frohike]

Will it be exclusively playing in front of Big Hero 6??

Unfortunately no, although there will be a small tie-in (first showing each day must be with Big Hero 6):

http://www.forbes.com/sites/scottmendelson/2014/11/24/thank-you-disney-for-premiering-star-wars-the-force-awakens-trailer-in-theaters/

Edited November 25, 2014 by Melvin Frohike

[75Live]

Yeah this was the movie I picked to watch due to the trailer.  I could have picked any, but since I haven't seen this yet, me and my friend are going to this one

[Melvin Frohike]

Don Hall talking about Big Hero 6 and various topics with other animation directors/producers:

The Hollywood Reporter: Animation Roundtable

[phantom]

Don Hall talking about Big Hero 6 and various topics with other animation directors/producers:

The Hollywood Reporter: Animation Roundtable

I was searching for this one! Thanks. Last year was very good too.

[Empire]

Don Hall talking about Big Hero 6 and various topics with other animation directors/producers:The Hollywood Reporter: Animation Roundtable

Awesome! Will have to watch this later.

[Ezen Baklattan]

[wileECoyote]

Yeah this was the movie I picked to watch due to the trailer.  I could have picked any, but since I haven't seen this yet, me and my friend are going to this one

 

Unfortunately Metreon isn't showing BH6 so I'm left with Interstellar, HB2, and Penguins.  

 

 

Its San Fransokyo.  It should be Ramen or Udon

[portgas]

Man, it's so sad that this movie doesn't get as much discussion or agiotage as Frozen or even HTTYD2 on the web. It's so awesome. Come on, I want it to get at least 700m. Got myself a nice poster, too.

[cory]

Except for Hiro's family, BH6 seemed more like Pixar-style design than WDAS to me. 

[75Live]

Unfortunately Metreon isn't showing BH6 so I'm left with Interstellar, HB2, and Penguins.  

 

 

Out of those choices, I would go with interstellar, but it stinks that you can't see BH6 if you wanted to

[Inuyugi]

Hope Penguins doesn't kill BH6, and they can coexist nicely.

[Dingdong123]

Urgh Penguins is expected to have nice Thanksgiving numbers. I am seriously afraid for Big Hero 6.

[TServo2049]

Family films can coexist at Thanksgiving, one does not have to kill the other. Examples: Home Alone 2/Aladdin in 1992, Rugrats/A Bug's Life in 1998.

[Ezen Baklattan]

Considering how Wreck-It Ralph dropped only 11% against Rise of the Guardians, I don't think we should be too worried about The Penguins. It should stay under a 20% drop.