Image courtesy of Deron Yamada. © 2004 DYA367.

London? Why London?
The type of response I got when I told my friends and colleagues about my plans to move my family to London to work with Framestore Animation on The Tale of Despereaux went something like this:

"You're leaving California to make an animated film where? London? Are you crazy? Why would you want to make an animated film in London?" My answer wasn't what they expected. Not something they get to hear very often.

"Because I think we're going to make this film look amazing, really beautiful."

Their response? "Yeah, well, I'm telling you -- you'll miss the weather!"

The temptation of the Flemish masters' fairytale world in The Tale of Despereaux brought DP Brad Blackbourn from California to London. Images courtesy of Universal Pictures and Framestore. © Universal Pictures.

For me, too many 3D CG animated features aren't particularly interesting from an artistic or cinematic perspective. Sometimes it's hard to believe we've descended from the same animation industry that in 2D has produced such varied and fascinating visuals such as Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Fantasia, Mr. Magoo, Akira, Aeon Flux, My Neighbor Totoro, Persepolis and Samurai Jack.

Ever since animated films turned 3D, to a large extent, too many look like they were all shot in the same color palette: same type of lighting, same textural feel and even similar character design. They're mostly enjoyable films, but imagine if every live-action film looked like The Wizard of Oz? How would that affect the feel of varied films like Casablanca, Citizen Kane, Lawrence of Arabia, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Easy Rider, Blade Runner, Saving Private Ryan, O Brother, Where Art Thou? and The Dark Knight?

Maybe CG animation is still finding its feet, maybe we're kind of where the movies were in the late 1920s when sound had been introduced but everyone seemed to struggle to recapture the quality of the latest silent films whilst wrestling with the new technology. In a medium (CG animation) that gives us the freedom to produce any possible artistic vision, it sometimes feels like almost everyone is clinging to one shared palette. Instead, ironically, it's the live-action world taking the lead and using the CG animation tools to produce the most striking and imaginative visuals with material from the world of graphic novels like Sin City and 300.

So, naturally, when the chance came up to help create something unique and beautiful, I jumped at it.

The Book and the Cinematic Vision
Having briefly spoken with Framestore about their upcoming first animated feature, The Tale of Despereaux, my curiosity was piqued and I grabbed a copy of Kate DiCamillo's book. Before I'd read a third of it, I was really excited. The visual possibilities were incredible. Her weaving of light and shadow into the story to such a degree that they almost became characters was very exciting from a cinematography perspective. One of the main characters was even called Chiaroscuro! Then I was told that the visuals would be in the style of the Flemish masters Pieter Brueghel, Johannes Vermeer and Hieronymus Bosch. These are the sort of names to make a DP rub his hands in glee. I was hooked.