Hasta La Motion!

The highly anticipated feature, Scoob! Is finally out for the fans. Bringing out the old memories, this animated feature is sure to take all the 90s kids on a very nostalgic trip. With Scooby-Doo, Shaggy, Scooby, Fred, Velma and Daphne set on new adventures, solving mysteries and having the time of their lives, this feature has a plot to unleash the ghost dog Cerberus. Excited enough? The movie is now available on premium and video on demand, and will be released on platforms like Apple TV, Amazon Prime Video, YouTube, and Google Play. 

Taking the opportunity of the digital release, AnimationXpress spoke to the team at 88 Pictures, India, involved in the making of the animated feature. Chief creative officer Philippe Gluckman and chief operating officer Aby John share their experiences of working on the latest released feature film Scoob! based on the iconic property, Scooby Doo.

How was it working on a popular animated character like Scooby-Doo? As there is an already build up image of the character, how did you manage to keep it intact? 

Gluckman: Interestingly, the Hanna Barbera Style was originally created in the 70’s out of a concern for the economy. Animation could no longer afford the detail and craft of the Golden Age (Disney, WB in the 40’s/50’s), so a new style was designed that could be produced more easily. That constraint actually gave birth to a style of animation which became an art in its own right, as if the artists had been re-inspired by the need to create more economically, and till now has its die-hard fans. Scooby Doo is the perfect example of that. But now, here we are, fifty years later, trying to reproduce all that in 3D. And our main goal is to stay true to the iconic imagery of the original. Ironically, what was initially economic in drawing becomes difficult in 3D. 

How do we preserve the silhouettes of the characters, which don’t always make sense in 3D? How do we translate the apparent simplicity of the animation, when the computer wants to add polish?

The Scooby-Doo character in particular had a very demanding design, that probably isn’t apparent to most people. As it happens, the director Tony Cervone was involved with it from the Hanna Barbera days, and knew inside out all the do’s and don’ts that make Scooby who he is. It was very important to respect all that to the T, otherwise, our Scooby-Doo would become generic and off-model.

We had to be very careful with the silhouettes of the characters, working extra hard to reproduce the freedom of the original drawings, which don’t necessarily come in 3D. It may look free flowing, but actually on the computer, everything is very deliberate. Also, from a lighting perspective, we had to design the image to capture the easy cartoony read of the originals, yet adding the detail and believability that CG provides. Scooby offers a fun balance that we always had to strike: It’s emotional, but it’s still charming. It can get spooky, but it is still always funny. 

What sequences have 88 Pictures worked on?

John: We were super thrilled to be part of the lighting on the opening of the movie where Scoob and Shaggy meet for the first time. There was a lot of acting and emotions in the opening sequences which were featured on the brightly lit beach backdrop. There were a few other challenging sequences featuring the Ghoul Ghost and the one with Dick Dastardly in the gold mine sequence. The Ghoul sequence needed to look cold and eerie whereas the Dick Dastardly sequence featured bright golden colors throughout the sequence. We had our own custom lighting and rendering tools which helped us to efficiently manage the workload in the stipulated span of time.

What were the challenges faced and how were they managed? 

John: Since the schedule was compressed and the story changes continued well into the lighting schedule, we were constantly receiving revised animation files and hair cache updates which required us to render the shots multiple times while the look of the shot was getting finalised. There were multiple versions of the shots in constant flux and our production team helped balance this load very efficiently with the client needs. This also required us to scale our internet and rendering bandwidth as the render times were really high on the high res renders in the range of eight to 10 hours per frame.

Gluckman: We jumped into the project with tight deadlines, and had to learn the demanding style of the movie very quickly, hit the ground running. Luckily, we were very well supported by our partners at ReelFX which made the transition easy. Communication plays a vital role in such times and I guess we strive in such cases.

Please share with us the overall experience of working on this iconic project

John: It was a fulfilling and enriching experience to work on such an iconic property, something that we have grown up seeing in the traditional animation. It rarely happens that Indian studio gets an opportunity to get associated with such prestigious projects, needless to say it’s the best any artist could ask for.

Gluckman: Well, it doesn’t get much better than Scooby Doo! There aren’t many properties which carry such history and fame, and appeal to all. We actually learned a lot in the process. The leadership of the show had so much knowledge about the original, it was like dissecting in every detail what makes something so appealing, and then reproducing it with today’s tools and sensitivity. Overall, we are extremely proud of how it came out!

The movie couldn’t see the light of big screens, and had to be released digitally, how do you feel about that?

John: Nothing beats the experience of going to a theatre and seeing the first day first show of a movie with your family and friends. This can be achieved now in the comfort of your home through the help of high end streaming technology. Considering the times that we are in, it was a fair strategy to have Scoob! exhibited over the digital platform.

Gluckman: I belong to a generation who has grown up with movie theaters and the allure of the grand spectacle still holds for me. I still feel sharing the pleasure of a movie with an audience is irreplaceable. Can you imagine having worked so hard for several years, waiting for that number that would reward or destroy your efforts? That said, times have changed, and streaming has allowed the industry a freedom of content that it had lost a bit in the mainstream releases. It’s great that we are still able to deliver films to people in such challenging times. I believe both release platforms will continue to co-exist, and that’s all for the better.

With this recent project and any international projects in the past, we hope to see an in-house animated feature from 88 Pictures. On this note, 88 Pictures founder and CEO Milind Shinde expressed, “The pressure of the past performances and records is mounting on us for sure to do something spectacular soon! creating a truly indigenous animation property is nothing less than giving birth to a baby. The unique proposition of an animated property is its limitless shelf life.”

The domestic market and global market both operate on completely different sentiments and operating styles. And unfortunately, one can not have these two ecosystems in co-habitat at any studio. “While it’s a good time to be in the IP creation business, unless you create properties that can survive today, tomorrow and for the next two decades, I feel it’s best to wait and invest time in creating such long lasting properties rather than rushing into it,” added Shinde.

88 Pictures goal is to find those authentic indian ideas that can not only entertain the Indian audiences but also travel across and can relate to audiences worldwide. “We are already in the process of creating our first Indian property for global audiences and have received good feedback so far. You never know it could be our first IP show ..!!!” Shinde concluded.

For now the team at 88 Pictures just want to bask in the glory of Scoob! and wait for the time to share the next news. And why not! This iconic character recreation sure deserves applause and accolades. Directed by Tony Cervone, with a voice cast that includes Will Forte, Mark Wahlberg, Zac Efron, Gina Rodriguez, Jason Isaacs, Amanda Seyfried amongst others, the film is available on premium and video on demand.

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