Disney CGI specialist Mark Empey grew up in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, and learned his craft at Sheridan College. His first major credit for the Mouse House was as a CGI technical director on 1997's Hercules. Now he's the CGI supervisor on Bolt, the latest animated film from Disney, starring John Travolta and Miley Cyrus.
In this interview, Mark discusses his role in the film, his working relationship with directors Chris Williams and Byron Howard, and why audiences would want to see Bolt.
In layman's terms, what is a CGI supervisor? What was your role in the film?
"I overlook modeling, character & prop setup for animation and technical animation (cloth, hair & other character complexities).
"Primarily, I was responsible for the execution & delivery of all characters on Bolt. We broke down the story, went over the design details of each character and worked to incorporate any new software development required. Other tasks included bidding, strategic planning, casting and delivery for shot finaling (lighting)."
What were some of the artistic and technical challenges in Bolt?
"We set out to improve the overall character aesthetics from previous releases. Because, Bolt is a 'travel' picture, we were expecting a lot of characters & wanted to make sure they could look as good as possible. Also, Penny was designed with long hair which required us to write a hair system that could give her a believable look when she performs in the action sequences.
We developed our own cloth solver to achieve better-looking cloth simulations. We tested both systems on "Glago's Guest."
"Another challenge was animating the collar on Bolt. Hair collision is fickle & requires a lot of extra attention to make it work nicely."
What about Rhino?
"Rhino was the ultimate challenge, due to his design. He's essentially a 'talking potato' that needed to transition cleanly from quadruped posing to bipedal posing. We also knew that Rhino needed to be nimble enough to travel on all fours in a ball across the US and also act anthropomorphically with appeal.
"We developed our own in-house Pose Space Deformer system to help art direct modeled shapes that are driven by the character rig when one animates."
How did you get onto Bolt? Were you involved when Chris Sanders was still the director and it was called American Dog?
"Yes, I initially started out on Chris Sander's American Dog."
There have been a lot of stories flying about, regarding what happened with that project. What can you tell us, to set the record straight? Why did Williams replace Sanders, and why was the story revamped?
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I noticed that there was a deliberate attempt to soften the backgrounds in this film, to take away that CGI rigidity and glossiness. Where did that come from, and how was it accomplished?
"It was inspired by the painterly style of American Realism, with artists such as George Bellows and Edward Hopper, The idea was go with a more impressionistic approach for the backgrounds. We came up with the term 'Blast Zone,' to define the areas that required more or less details.
"Characters which have more detail stay within the blast zone, which leads away into less detail. A painterly technique called Ray Painting (which is patent pending) was developed to execute this look."
What did you look to for inspiration when making this film?
"For art direction, American Realism. For animation, we watched films like 101 Dalmations, The Aristocats, Bambi, Lady and the Tramp. For cloth and hair inspiration, we watched Ratatouille."
Some have argued that Disney Animation has been been taking a little too much influence from Pixar in its most recent films. Is that a legitimate belief, and how would you address that?
"Well, anyone who works with this medium appreciates the great work Pixar does. They tell great stories with appealing characters and a signature look.
"But with Bolt, hopefully the audience will find some of the legacy aspects that has built this studio."
How would you describe Chris Williams and Byron Howard as directors? What were their strengths and weaknesses?
"Both are passionate and are crystal clear with their direction. They are also two of the nicest guys to ever work for.
"There was an incredible pressure to complete this movie in the 18 months we had, and their willingness to collaborate – to make smart decisions along the way – was critical in our efforts not to compromise the product on the screen. This is their first feature experience with this medium (CGI), and they will only get better as directors now that they have this under their belt."
Williams is known as a story guy, while Howard comes from animation. Was that how their responsibilities were divided, or was it more open-ended?
"With the aggressive schedule to deliver by November, it was clear that the 2 needed to divide and conquer. Both Chris & Byron were involved with character designs. Chris was also driving color keys along with set designs. Byron was actually designing characters to fill out the crowds."
Why should audiences want to see Bolt? What sets this film apart from other animated films with talking animals?
"It's a good story. It's the result of John Lasseter's commitment to great storytelling There are plenty of laughs, but more importantly, it has its poignant moments.
"Starting out, we were aware of the "talking animal syndrome", so we wanted to ensure we keep the characteristics of how animals move, behave and articulate. When you watch Bolt or Mittens' movements, hopefully the audience will pick up on some of the animal behaviors that we are naturally aware of by being around dog and cats."
Bolt opens Friday.
Dominic von Riedemann - Dominic is the Animated Film Feature Writer, and winner of 11 Suite 101 Editors' Choice Awards.
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