Vanguard's Valiant effort: this studio aims to create length animated films for less than the norm … a lot less - English Beat

Post, Nov, 2003 by Bob Pank

WEST LONDON -- Vanguard Animation (www.vanguardanimation.com), located on the Ealing Studios lot in West London, opened its doors a couple of months ago and immediately set to work on its first task--producing the 75-minute feature Valiant, This company is set to make big changes in the growing area of computer generated movie production, and Valiant is just the first in a series of four full-length features already planned for Disney.

Vanguard Animation was founded by John H. Williams and Nell Braun. Williams, producer of Shrek 1 and 2, is the CEO of the company, while Braun, who's held numerous senior positions within the media and entertainment industry, including chairman/CEO of Viacom Entertainment, is president.

The company is a subsidiary of Williams' Los Angeles-based Vanguard Films and has been challenged with bringing down the production cost of CG feature films to $40 million--half that of recently released blockbusters.

Tom Jacomb, UK line producer at Vanguard Animation, praises the pre-production work for Valiant, which was completed at Vanguard Films. "Curtis Augspurger and Buckley Collum lead the team. They are vastly capable and have given us tremendous detail--including 50,000 drawings. They studied every aspect or making the film, not just the art but the technology as well. So when we opened the doors here we could hit the ground running."

Written by George Webster, Valiant is a quintessentially British story directed by Brit Gary Chapman and brought to life by animators from around the globe, but mainly Europe. The film tells the story of a wood pigeon, Valiant, who, despite his small size and inadequacy for the job, is determined to become a member of the Royal Homing Pigeon Service during World War II. The job includes delivering vital messages from the French Resistance to the Allied Forces and all the while avoiding the lethal enemy falcons. The 75-minute film comprises 1,350 shots and is due for release in 2005.

Despite the quality of pre-production, more detailed references were needed. Jacomb explains, "There is vital work to translate the 2D drawings to 3D models. So we have created clay versions of the major characters so everyone is working from the same reference to make the CG versions." Similar care is taken with other props, an Airfix model of a Halifax Bomber was at one artist's desk, and the framework of a building at another, "just so we can get the action right," he says.

Currently there are 85 staff with about 80 percent being CG artists. For those wondering where so many talented artists can be found, the answer is: around the world. They come from the USA, Canada, Australia, Bulgaria, Italy, Spain, Denmark, Sweden, South Africa and Japan, as well as Germany, France and the UK--the countries from which the chief players in Valiant come from.

THE FUN

Jacomb explains, "We are not aiming for flat, basic animation. That's boring. We are creating characters [that] all behave in different ways according to their individual make up--part of which has to do with their nationality. Valiant is very much a British pigeon. We have a fantastic team of artists and they get inside and live the characters, so they know exactly how each will react to circumstances and make that happen on the screen. That puts real life, interest and fun into the animation. Above all this is about fun, for the audience and us too. We hope this will instil a sense of ownership for our artists, that a part of the film is theirs. Which it certainly will be."

THE TOOLS

With the help of a $4 million grant from the UK Film Council, Vanguard Animation has been set-up in a modern building with an all-new installation. There is no legacy drag so, most interestingly, the set-up reflects the latest thinking and experience of feature-length CG animation applied to up-to-date technology.

Jacomb, points out that each of the open-plan floors on three levels are quiet, but busy. Currently the 85 staffers require 80 workstations for the CG artists--yet the rooms are devoid of fan noise and excessive heat. He reveals, "The only things we have at the desks are monitors, mice, keyboards and artists. All the hardware is in one room. "This engine room houses 80 one-rack unit Boxx Technology dual-Xeon PC workstations, Gigabit Ethernet networking, eight terabytes of online shared storage and a further four terabytes of offline and StorageTek tape backup. The BlueArc Si8900 server comes in for special praise from Jacomb, "It doesn't get choked if several people want data at the same time. Even with 30 people demanding, they all get about 90 percent or more of full speed."

The room also contains the renderfarm comprising some 80 further one rack-unit dual-Xeon PCs from IBM. "We weren't sure about the UPS but after the power black-outs in London this summer, we're glad we've got it. That gives us time to save everything before the diesel runs up."

Artists' software includes Alias Maya for modelling. Layout, animation and compositing will use Apple Shake. And, according to Jacomb, "We are thinking of using [Side Effects'] Houdini for lighting and effects."