The success of the latest animated film The Wild Robot is predominantly attributed to the character of Roz, an abandoned robot on an island full of animals who learns to survive and develops feelings for its community. Prashanth Cavale, one of the lead animators of the film, attributes the human characteristics of Roz to the subtle details that his team incorporated. “Even with her (Roz) limited ability, we could bring a nuanced portrayal. For example, her eyes had certain bellow controls, which we would use to show her thinking or focusing on something. She also had these controls where we could turn on the lights on her, and it could change into different colours, and it would be used to emote different things,” he explains, adding that he has been overwhelmed by the outpouring of love for the film.
Prashanth and his team of almost 40 members worked for several months to bring The Wild Robot to the screens. On bringing a unique flavour to the film, the animator says, “The film required us to animate in a style that is different from some of the other projects we've done in the past at DreamWorks since this has more naturalistic and grounded performances of animals.” Prashanth reveals that working with director Chris Sanders, known for Lilo and Stitch and How To Train Your Dragon, was a dream come true. “He thinks of the emotions of characters in a very unique way and gives a lot of space for them to breathe, unlike modern-day filmmaking where everything happens quickly. He appreciates animators and the ideas that they bring to the table,” he says.
The animator, who hails from Bengaluru, and has been working at DreamWorks Animation for over a decade, explains that they take a video of themselves enacting the actions before they animate a shot. “We used a lot of our own acting references for animating Fink. We also strive to make the characters more appealing. Having access to a wide library of poses and expressions of characters also helps in creating a character.” But it is not all about making a character appealing. Be it the panic attack that Puss gets in Puss in Boots: The Last Wish, or the emotional mother-son scenes between Roz and Brightbill, the animation is no longer serving as an escape from reality, rather it is slowly bridging itself with reality.
Prashanth credits the relatability of recent animation films to the advancement in technology. “Our rigs have become much more robust and there are so many more controls that you can go into the nitty-gritty and add details like the small twitches in the hand or the eyebrows,” he says. The changing landscape of technology has allowed the advancement of animation along with the inevitable surge of AI. “I don’t respect AI,” confesses Prashanth, while elucidating, “The ethics behind it are not right. AI limits the learning curve for aspiring animators. Everything is spoon-fed. Filmmaking is a very iterative process. I don’t think AI can handle that as well as be consistent in it. It cannot give you textures of the characters’ movements. We, as humans, can add a bit of quirkiness to our choices and ideas. That is what makes animation alive. Also, AI is using what has already been done, inventiveness isn’t present.”
However, Prashanth is optimistic about the future of animation in India, noting that the market has been flourishing for decades. "India has established itself as a service-oriented hub specializing in VFX and feature animation. However, original intellectual property (IP) creation has been limited. While there have been attempts in the past, the right kind of support has often been lacking. Creating original content in India could be immensely valuable as we have many stories to tell, not just in mythology,” he says.
Up next, Prashanth is working on Bad Guys 2 and Shrek 5. When asked about the possibility of The Wild Robot 2, he responds with a tinge of doubt and hope, “I don’t think NBC Universal has greenlit the project, but everyone is eager for a sequel.”
