Previs allows the filmmakers to experiment early on with unfinished versions of the characters. Shrek is seen at different stages, above. Photos courtesy of DreamWorks Pictures. TM & © 2001 DreamWorks LLC.

Eyes Of The Beholders
Smith is quick to note, however, that ‘beauty’ is a relative term when it comes to previs. Despite PDI’s sophisticated proprietary software, he admits, ‘Layout previs looks dumb. Some directors have a problem with it because it’s the simplest, ugliest picture in terms of aesthetics. But it’s the most important jump in the pipeline. It forms the visual backbone for the movie.”

Fortunately, he adds, “It’s a huge advantage that Jeffrey (Katzenberg) has learned to read our rough layouts. During Antz the previs was appalling because our crew was new. We had stick figures, and we just concentrated on A and B positions of characters that ‘ice skated’ across the floor. With Shrek we had more experience, and in our previs characters had eyes with moving pupils, and hands with fingers. The heads bobbed on the dialogue and the eyes darted. We got a much better idea of how the full-resolution characters were going to appear.” While PDI’s Linux-based hardware has speeded up the process, Smith thinks the look of previs will likely remain just good enough to communicate the necessary ideas. “Not much has changed between Shrek and Shrek 2 in this respect.”

Previs rough form images, but their essential purpose is to communicate visual ideas. Here, an early shot from Sinbad lacks lighting and texture.

Previs As A Collaborative Tool
To goal of previs is communicating the arc of a story, presenting the elements that the director finds essential. Which means the amount of detail can vary widely. While the main issues, notes O’Beirne “are choreography, staging, cutting and cinematic elements, if an effect like a water splash is part of the composition, we need to represent it. We’ll stick an image of a water splash on a card and animate it, so that everyone clearly understands there’s a splash there. It’s crude but it’s still clear in terms of size, shape and timing.”

DreamWorks has developed software plug-ins for Maya, which expedite doing multiple iterations of shots and delivering them in QuickTime format to everyone in the studio. “What’s been really interesting to me, coming from labor-intensive traditional animation, is seeing the economies that come with doing previsualization. You can clearly indicate the intention of something, and it’s definitely spiked our creativity. You never think you’re going to get those two things together — the element of control, where everyone is really clear about which way a sequence is going to go, along with a huge element of creativity. Those are normally independent of each other.”

An Invisible Art
Of course by the time a finished film appears, previs animations are distant memories. Smith observes, “It’s tough being a rough layout animator. You’ve got to take solace in the fact that you’re learning about filmmaking; you’re discovering how to make movies. Because nobody’s going to come up to you in the street and say ‘That was beautiful layout in that film.’ They’ll never see it!”

Ellen Wolff is a Southern California-based writer whose articles have appeared in publications such as Daily Variety, Millimeter, Animation Magazine, Video Systems and the Website CreativePlanet.com. Her areas of special interest are computer animation and digital visual effects.