7 ms·

I think we made How to Train Your Dragon three times at DreamWorks. So many rewrites, director changes, character redesign, etc. If you ever wonder why a featur

I think we made How to Train Your Dragon three times at DreamWorks. So many rewrites, director changes, character redesign, etc. If you ever wonder why a feature length animated film can cost over $300 million dollars, this is one reason.

pkulak 4y ago
Worth it. Love that movie.
mmcgaha 4y ago
It is good to hear that big up front design sucks as much for movies as it does for software.
- diskzero 4y ago
  It can be real pressure cooker. Developers who come in not from the game development world are often shocked by the brutal hours. The artists have it the worst however. They tend to get laid off in droves as productions ramps down. Directors and writers also get fired. They seem to be less immune to being punished than other management types in more traditional software companies.
  - guzik 4y ago
    > Developers who come in _not_ from the game development I've been working on hardware, firmware, backend, frontend, crypto, hft, mobile apps and games. I think that on average you need to rewrite your game 3 times so it feels 'right'.
skunkworker 4y ago
In college I remember hearing from one of my animation professors that DreamWorks switched between NURBS and polygons for How To Train Your Dragon, I'm unsure which direction it was but I don't envy the artists tasked with that if true.
- diskzero 4y ago
  I don’t know about that. I would need more info. The PDI tool chain used for Dragon used the same clamped p-blend curves that had been used for several generations of movies. Technology was almost never the issue for delays. It was usually story, direction, editorial, etc. If you get more context, maybe I can find out more.
davidferguson 4y ago
Oh you worked on How to Train Your Dragon? That's my favourite movie in the world! Really random follow up question - there's a How to Train Your Dragon advert that I assume played before the first film in cinemas, advertising the cinema's popcorn and other concessions, but the only two copies on YouTube are in really terrible quality. (one in English https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f37fI14Ne0I https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f37fI14Ne0I, the other in Finnish I think https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W0Hr4mD3G1Q https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W0Hr4mD3G1Q). I really really want a high quality version of this, and I'm wondering if you know of anyone at DreamWorks who I can contact about this? I've tried tweeting at a couple of people but unsurprisingly heard nothing back, so I'm maybe looking for someone in marketing?
- diskzero 4y ago
  You could try reaching out to Kate Swanborg. That sounds like some sort of partnership deal that she may have been involved with. Worth a try!
  - davidferguson 4y ago
    Thanks for the advice, it's appreciated! Any ideas how to get in touch? If not I'll try my luck at public twitter (which has had a 50/50 success rate for me in the past...)
    - diskzero 4y ago
      Call the main switchboard at DWA? 1-818-695-5000 When I was there, there were actual live humans answering and sending calls to people.
coding123 4y ago
The dragon looks exactly like one of my cats. Thank you for iterating.
- hinkley 4y ago
  I have since seen a number of voids named Toothless. Some of them weren't even bitey (which seems like false advertising to me).
- diskzero 4y ago
  The "original" Toothless was not Toothless. There were several other Night Fury designs. One amazing part of working in a studio (please try to tour one if you have any friend or reason to get on campus at Disney/Pixar/DWA) is seeing all of the storyboards and pre-viz art lining the walls. It is quite magical.
hinkley 4y ago
Thanks for nothing, you useless reptile. Seriously though, did they have to record the voice acting three times, or partially again several times?
- diskzero 4y ago
  Yes, the recordings get done over many times. Sometimes we lose someone due to story changes or some other circumstance. This is a bummer, as there is more than the voice that is lost. While it is easier for some stars to drive over to Glendale from wherever they live in LA, they still "perform" the part and that performance is recorded. The video of the voice over work is referred to by the animators and influences a lot about the how the animated character behaves. I suppose in less expensive productions, you could just try and plop a voice over in, but all the top studios will use the video reference and ask the talent back for voice fixes. In general, I found the talent to be really fun to be around and no-one just phoned it in. They really liked to work on the films. I ended up sitting next to Gerard Butler at the employee screening of Dragon at the now non-existent Universal Amphitheater. He stayed for the whole film. Unlike me, he hadn't seen it in thousands of tiny chunks during dailies, and had a blast.
Daub 4y ago
Nice to hear this story. I teach in an animation program. We tell our students over and over that animation is not like the movies: re-=shoots, pick-up shots, multiple take etc are simply not possible. That is why the bloopers reel in Toy Story was so ironic.
- diskzero 4y ago
  Cool. I hope your students are finding places at some good studios. Not only did DWA have bloopers, there are entire sequences rendered and ready to go that didn't make it in the final movie. There is also some shorts and an entire film that made it to pre-viz that never were released.

pkulak 4y ago

Worth it. Love that movie.

mmcgaha 4y ago

It is good to hear that big up front design sucks as much for movies as it does for software.

diskzero 4y ago
It can be real pressure cooker. Developers who come in not from the game development world are often shocked by the brutal hours. The artists have it the worst however. They tend to get laid off in droves as productions ramps down. Directors and writers also get fired. They seem to be less immune to being punished than other management types in more traditional software companies.
- guzik 4y ago
  > Developers who come in _not_ from the game development I've been working on hardware, firmware, backend, frontend, crypto, hft, mobile apps and games. I think that on average you need to rewrite your game 3 times so it feels 'right'.

skunkworker 4y ago

In college I remember hearing from one of my animation professors that DreamWorks switched between NURBS and polygons for How To Train Your Dragon, I'm unsure which direction it was but I don't envy the artists tasked with that if true.

diskzero 4y ago
I don’t know about that. I would need more info. The PDI tool chain used for Dragon used the same clamped p-blend curves that had been used for several generations of movies. Technology was almost never the issue for delays. It was usually story, direction, editorial, etc. If you get more context, maybe I can find out more.

davidferguson 4y ago

Oh you worked on How to Train Your Dragon? That's my favourite movie in the world! Really random follow up question - there's a How to Train Your Dragon advert that I assume played before the first film in cinemas, advertising the cinema's popcorn and other concessions, but the only two copies on YouTube are in really terrible quality. (one in English https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f37fI14Ne0I https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f37fI14Ne0I, the other in Finnish I think https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W0Hr4mD3G1Q https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W0Hr4mD3G1Q). I really really want a high quality version of this, and I'm wondering if you know of anyone at DreamWorks who I can contact about this? I've tried tweeting at a couple of people but unsurprisingly heard nothing back, so I'm maybe looking for someone in marketing?

diskzero 4y ago
You could try reaching out to Kate Swanborg. That sounds like some sort of partnership deal that she may have been involved with. Worth a try!
- davidferguson 4y ago
  Thanks for the advice, it's appreciated! Any ideas how to get in touch? If not I'll try my luck at public twitter (which has had a 50/50 success rate for me in the past...)
  - diskzero 4y ago
    Call the main switchboard at DWA? 1-818-695-5000 When I was there, there were actual live humans answering and sending calls to people.

coding123 4y ago

The dragon looks exactly like one of my cats. Thank you for iterating.

hinkley 4y ago
I have since seen a number of voids named Toothless. Some of them weren't even bitey (which seems like false advertising to me).
diskzero 4y ago
The "original" Toothless was not Toothless. There were several other Night Fury designs. One amazing part of working in a studio (please try to tour one if you have any friend or reason to get on campus at Disney/Pixar/DWA) is seeing all of the storyboards and pre-viz art lining the walls. It is quite magical.

hinkley 4y ago

Thanks for nothing, you useless reptile. Seriously though, did they have to record the voice acting three times, or partially again several times?

diskzero 4y ago
Yes, the recordings get done over many times. Sometimes we lose someone due to story changes or some other circumstance. This is a bummer, as there is more than the voice that is lost. While it is easier for some stars to drive over to Glendale from wherever they live in LA, they still "perform" the part and that performance is recorded. The video of the voice over work is referred to by the animators and influences a lot about the how the animated character behaves. I suppose in less expensive productions, you could just try and plop a voice over in, but all the top studios will use the video reference and ask the talent back for voice fixes. In general, I found the talent to be really fun to be around and no-one just phoned it in. They really liked to work on the films. I ended up sitting next to Gerard Butler at the employee screening of Dragon at the now non-existent Universal Amphitheater. He stayed for the whole film. Unlike me, he hadn't seen it in thousands of tiny chunks during dailies, and had a blast.

Daub 4y ago

Nice to hear this story. I teach in an animation program. We tell our students over and over that animation is not like the movies: re-=shoots, pick-up shots, multiple take etc are simply not possible. That is why the bloopers reel in Toy Story was so ironic.

diskzero 4y ago
Cool. I hope your students are finding places at some good studios. Not only did DWA have bloopers, there are entire sequences rendered and ready to go that didn't make it in the final movie. There is also some shorts and an entire film that made it to pre-viz that never were released.