casvdp

Ratatouille BTS + HIGH RES BACKGROUNDS

Added 2020-09-06 19:32:45 +0000 UTC

Hey all! Here's some insight into the process for this one.

So it started off by me watching Ratatouille a couple months back. I am a HUGE fan of this movie and for some reason is one of the few movies that makes me cry (I get really teary eyes when Anton tastes the ratatouille). Once the credits rolled it dawned on me I had no clue how to boil it down to a recap cartoon. There was so much talking, going back and forth throughout Gusteau's kitchen and the story was just not straight forward at all! I shelved the idea for this one up until I asked Basset to help out with the storyboards.

Initially my idea was to let Studio Meala (the guys who animated the Totoro recap) handle the animation part once again. They did a fantastic job with Totoro. I'd have very little to do with the production so that I could focus on other things (Brother Bear for example!). Upon receiving the storyboards by Basset I laughed my ass off and decided I'd put all my attention to this one! The original board was very snappy and very very fast paced. The whole runtime was 1 minute and 38 seconds. About the same length as my Lion King toon except twice the shot count! The fast pacing really helped with the comedy Basset was going for, Gusteau exploding into pieces in a couple frames, the giant rat bursting out of the building for a split second, most of these gags worked because they went by so fast, so I wanted to make sure the comedy wasn't lost when finalizing the cartoon. A bunch of the shots needed more time to breathe but most of the fast paced jokes were translated 1:1.

Take a look at the original board here! https://twitter.com/Bassetfilms/status/1301565386639409152

This is the first cartoon I've done in 4K! I think it really shows, even if you don't own a 4K display! Because there's so many more pixels to finalize the backgrounds quickly became more detailed than I anticipated. Each small house in the big Paris pan shot was painted individually, something I wouldn't have bothered with if I was working in regular 1080p. So! This one being in 4K means every background can be used as a screensaver for your monitor! I've attached every single one at the top of this post. Let me know if you do use one!!!

Designs! I had this idea to give Remy huge human hands whenever he was cooking. This doesn't really happen all that often in the final cartoon, but was still a funny idea to me.

Rats!

Usually I don't bother with design sheets for characters that only appear in a single shot. I'll just design them as I get there. Because I worked with a small team (one animator, one colorist) I had to! Here's the granny that was eventually animated by Erik Waeijen. You can watch the process of this shot here; https://twitter.com/onehornsearcher/status/1301464828851245056

Another idea that was cut was Anton having the "yes honey" meme as a face. Not sure why.

Enlarged Remy's hands for the thumbnail! Not a lot changed, nor a lot of different versions to pick from like with Lilo & Stitch.

Then lastly! The after credits scene needed a "Giant Rat" cameo! My first idea was to just reanimate the "we're the rats" meme from Jerma and have the giant rat be ripped like the other giant rats throughout the cartoon.

Never finished this background as I came up with replacing the giant rat with Underminer from "The Incredibles"!

For the people who do not understand this reference; https://youtu.be/OXQwx1EolD8

Speaking of The Incredibles! I have a couple cartoons that are still in the works but that is one I definitely want to do! In fact! I am planning to live stream the making of "The Incredibles" from start to finish. Doing designs, backgrounds, animation & compositing in it's entirety live on Twitch. Again, I'll have to finish up everything else first so you'll be updated once this plan is more thought out. Either way let me know what you think of it!

UP NEXT: The Ultimate "Brother Bear" Recap Cartoon & STAR WARS: A New Hope!

Stay tuned!

Thanks so much for all your support!

BTW; I missed a couple people in the credits this time around. I'll make sure to watch out for that more closely next time. Very sorry! If you are one of these people, message me! I'll put you on top of the list in the next one.

Love,

Cas