News Analysis India

Tag: Raya and the Last Dragon

  • INTERVIEW | ‘Raya and the Last Dragon’ was made mostly from home due to pandemic

    Express News Service
    Much happens in the creation of an animated film. Apart from the usual filmmaking processes like scripting, storyboarding, lighting, and editing, here, there is also concept art, pre-visualisation, texturing, animation, rigging, rendering and compositing. Such intensive work naturally demands much manpower—which is why animated films are made through the collaboration between many, many divisions. With Disney’s latest film, Raya and the Norman Joseph and Archana Senthilkumar from Disney, who let us into the making of this film and talk to us about what it took to complete this film during the pandemic:Last Dragon that has come out to great reviews, this entire process had to be improvised. Here’s

    Excerpts. Could you expand upon your responsibilitiles?Norman Joseph: As a General Technical Director, I support production and develop the tools used by artists in production. Among those we partner with, include artists, production and technology leadership, technical directors, and software engineers. The tools we develop help facilitate the computer graphics animation process.

    Archana Senthilkumar: I work as the bridge between the software development teams and the artist production teams. At the beginning of a project, we spend time developing software that the artists will use after the production goes into full swing. At the end, we switch fully into support mode to help them with all the little tweaks. 

    NJ: I also develop the workflow that gets used by artists from multiple departments to contribute towards making the film. I also help with the workflow to create all the vegetation you see in the film; I also create a workflow for the crowd department artists to be able to share their character data with animation and technical animation department artists, so that each department is able to access character performance with tools they are familiar with. What does a regular day at work entail for you? AS: We use scripting languages like Python and C++ as well as 3D software packages like Maya, Houdini, and Nuke. A regular day at work involves development tasks and handling a queue of support tickets from artists who are currently working in production. Sometimes, it’s a small issue that can be fixed in five minutes. Some others take us down a rabbit hole that take weeks and need the help of a dozen other people.

    We begin an animation film as a regular film: we ideate, get feedback from the crew, research consultants and experts. If a particular scene may resonate well with the audience, we can start working on it even if the scenes surrounding it are not in the final stage yet. We can come up with different versions of the same scene and make changes at various stages, so there’s a lot of flexibility when it comes to animation. And then, there’s also a production management department that makes sure that we are not continuously making changes till the deadline.  At which stage of production do you join the team? NJ: Technical directors work with all the departments through the production. We start working from the start of production and as more departments come in line, more technical directors join the production. I joined the production when the ‘crowd and effects’ departments were starting to get busy on production shots. 

    AS: People with supervisory roles roll on at a much earlier stage so that we can talk to the director and ideate with the script along with what is technically achievable. Once that is fleshed out, I team up with the rest of artist production.  How different is Raya and the Last Dragon, say, from a Frozen 2, in terms of technical challenges?NJ: The biggest difference between the two films is that Raya and the Last Dragon was made mostly from home, due to the pandemic. We are lucky to have so many amazing people working with us and it’s amazing how we all came together to create this film from home. We built multiple new tools and workflows to support our amazing artists, so we all could have what we needed to make this film. Much like the theme of this film, we trusted each other and came together to bring our best to our work even when we all had to do it from home. All we had was video conferencing to connect with each other. 

    AS: From a technical standpoint, this film has a lot of action. A lot of action choreography went into the character’s animation. For example, in a sword fight, you want the character’s actions, motions and expressions to be smooth even though they are moving fast. There are also a lot of different environments in this film. Kumandra (the fictional world in which the film is based) is made up of different type of lands—right from desserts to port cities and icy mountains. Dealing with different kind of terrains for the same film was technically challenging.  Tell us a little about your next project.NJ: I am currently working with the workflow group at the studio to build the next generation of tools to be used for our future projects. The work involves experimenting with new software and tools, and trying things that we have not tried before, so we can learn to see what’s possible in the future.AS: The next film we are working on is Encanto. I have just started working on that film and it is a totally different setting that speaks of a different culture. I’m very excited to work on it.

  • ‘Raya is the most badass Disney Princess’

    Express News Service
    Disney’s push for Asian representation caused a stir with the controversial release of Mulan last year. So it’s only natural to wonder if their next, the sprawling animation epic Raya and the Last Dragon, will deliver on its word. Set in the fantasy world of Kumandra, it’s the first Disney adventure inspired by Southeast Asian culture. It follows Raya, a fallen princess questing to find the last dragon and prevent the apocalypse. The fantastical world is rooted in cultural specificity, highlighting the mythology, art, cuisine and architecture of countries like Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia, Indonesia, and others.

    “We let the story guide our research and inspirations,” says co-director Carlos López Estrada. “We didn’t want the film to just tick off boxes. We didn’t want it to say, ‘Here’s us showing diversity or representation or strong female leads.’ It really comes from a core — which I hope comes across in the movie.”

    For the film, Carlos has teamed up with Don Hall, co-director on past Disney films like Winnie The Pooh, Big Hero Six, and Moana. Like the Polynesian protagonist of the last, Raya too is a Disney Princess — and the first of Southeast Asian origin. Hall, for his part, places her quite high in the pantheon. “Raya is probably the most badass of all the princesses,” Hall says. “Being a warrior, she identifies more as a guardian of the dragon than a princess. But she has a lot of other traits — vulnerability, humour, love of family —- that connects her to other princesses.”

    A major through-line in Raya’s journey is her relationship with trust. Having lost her kingdom to feuding factions, Raya has lost faith in humanity. She has every reason to: her best friend, Namaari, is now her nemesis, and she encounters thieves and tricksters every step of the way. “The world is too messed up to trust anyone,” she tells Sisu — the goofy titular dragon — when they meet. Yet Sisu (who can take human form) reverses that logic. “Maybe it’s messed up because you don’t have trust?”

    “That scene hit me hard,” says Kelly Marie Tran (The Last Jedi, The Rise of Skywalker), who voices Raya. “I think what makes it powerful is that they are both kind of right. It’s really about them trying to understand where the other person comes from.”

    Awkwafina (Crazy Rich Asians, The Farewell), who voices Sisu, adds, “That line for me summed up the entire movie. It holds such weight when you apply that thinking to the world we live in.”The actors weigh in on the representation debate surrounding the movie. “I never want to play a character who reiterates any sort of stereotype about a group of people,” assures Kelly Marie Tran, whose parents are Vietnamese but who grew up in the US. “Even if it’s not an Asian-centric cast,” ventures Awkwafina, “it’s important for me that my character is not one-dimensional. More than anything, I look for the heart of a story and what’s it trying to tell.”

    The makers of Raya and The Last Dragon enlisted a team of anthropologists to flesh out the world of Kumandra. Given the Southeast Asian setting, the influence of India and China inevitably spilled into the film. “There’s Sanskrit that’s shared among some of these countries,” details producer Osnat Shurer. “Also, many of our crew members were Indian. So when we were working on the wraps of the clothing, for example, we were referring to the dhoti as well as other styles.”

    Indeed, much of the film’s look crosses the traditional with the modern. Hall says he wanted to push the technology in terms of lighting and performance, yet retain the signature Disney look. “This is a particular look we felt suited Raya really well,” he says. “But that doesn’t mean other films down the line need to look the same.” López Estrada points to the film’s colourful prologue as a nod to past styles. “It gave us an opportunity to create something that’s reminiscent of flat or 2-d animation. So yes, you can expect a lot of different visual styles filtering through the film.”

  • ‘Raya And The Last Dragon’ to release in India on March 5

    By Express News Service
    Disney’s first Southeast Asia-centered animated film, Raya And The Last Dragon, which chronicles the quest to find the last dragon in a fantastical world, will release in India on the big screen in March.

    The Disney film will release across theatres in India on March 5. The trailer of the film gives audiences a glimpse of Raya (voiced by Kelly-Marie Tran) as she rallies her warrior crew and con artists on her quest to find the mythical last dragon.

    The film also includes Awkwafina, Sandra Oh and Gemma Chan as voice cast, and is directed by Don Hall and Carlos Lopez Estrada with Paul Briggs and John Ripa co-directing it. It is written by Qui Nguyen and Adele Lim.

    The official description of the film reads: “A lone warrior, Raya, must track down the legendary last dragon to stop an evil force that has returned after 500 years to once again threaten her homeworld, Kumandra.”

  • WATCH | Trailer of Disney’s ‘Raya and The Last Dragon’ out

    By Express News Service
    The trailer of Disney’s upcoming animated feature film, Raya and the Last Dragon, was released yesterday. The new trailer delves deep into the life of a lone warrior, Raya (voiced by Kelly-Marie Tran), who must track down the legendary last dragon to stop an evil force that has returned after 500 years to once again threaten her homeworld, Kumandra.

    Disney’s first Southeast Asian-centered animated movie also stars Awkwafina, Sandra Oh and Gemma Chan as the voice cast. 

    The film is directed by Don Hall (Big Hero 6) and Carlos López Estrada (Blindspotting) along with Paul Briggs and John Ripa co-directing it. Produced by Osnat Shurer and Peter Del Vecho, it is written by Qui Nguyen and Adele Lim (Crazy Rich Asians).

    Raya and the Last Dragon will be released across theatres in India on March 5.