Apr 21, 2020

How Willoughby uses CGI to create a handmade Look (exclusive art)

Following last year's Klaus, Netflix's headlong charge into animated feature production continues with The Willoughbys, an adaptation of Lois Lowry's eponymous children's novel about a very dysfunctional family. The film premieres on Netflix tomorrow.

The book has the macabre tone of an Addams Family tale, but the film leavens the mood with lashings of color and slapstick energy - while retaining a grisly edge.

The family of the title live in a quaint old house lost amid the high-rises of a cosmopolitan city. Neglected by their self-absorbed parents, the four children strike on a plan: they will orphan themselves by dispatching mom and dad on a hazardous world tour. The kids' efforts to find a better life take them on a journey into the big city, and thence to a candy factory run by the reclusive Commander Melanoff.

The old and the modern, the fantastical and the real, meet and clash throughout the story, and these dynamics are reflected in the film's design. By and large, Netflix's animated features avoid the conventional visual language of big-studio cgi, and The Willoughbys is no exception: it revels in bold palettes, heightened texturing, and an animation style that pays homage to stop motion. (It's worth noting that this approach was already in place when we first reported on the film in 2017, before the streamer had come aboard. The film was developed and animated at Canada's Bron Animation.)

The film's look is in large part the work of director Kris Pearn (Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2) and production designer Kyle McQueen (The Addams Family). Below, alongside exclusive behind-the-scenes artwork, they share their creative principles, and talk about their inspirations - from Citizen Kane to bats in toilets.