Press Release

The animated feature film Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs is based on the classic children’s book about the town of ChewandSwallow, where mysterious storms begin raining down hot dogs, pancakes, bananas, spaghetti, burgers, and more, to everyone’s delight. But when the storms get out of control, the town needs a hero. And they don’t mean a sandwich.

A movie this visually arresting and surprising demands compelling and technically sophisticated end main credits. DUCK took up the challenge.

“Joining a project of this caliber was an opportunity to showcase not just the technical skill, but also the technical creativity of our designers and animators,” said DUCK Executive Producer Mark Medernach.

Working from story ideas by the movie’s two directors Christopher Miller and Phil Lord, DUCK created animatics for timing and motion for the sequence. Directors Soyeon Kim & Todd Hemker of YELLOWSHED, represented by DUCK, collaborated with designer Justin K. Thompson from Sony to design the characters and backgrounds in Photoshop. Then, DUCK used After Effects to create digital puppets for the characters, adding joints to the bodies for movability. In a process similar to traditional stop-motion animation, designers posed each frame exactly the way they wanted it animated. DUCK animators worked from the puppets and the frames to animate the sequence in seven weeks.

To make the whole sequence appear to be in 3D, the 2D renderings were created in carefully spaced layers. Finally, DUCK exported the entire project from After Effects as a 3D Stereoscopic render. The result is a colorful, fast-moving sequence of end main credits with its own striking visual identity and storytelling.

“The story we produced for the end main credits continues the movie’s depiction of playful fantasy, danger, and heroism, but in a way that’s visually compelling and engaging on its own,” said Director Soyeon Kim of YELLOWSHED.
The Creds:

Client: Sony Pictures Animation
Production Studio: DUCK Studios
Executive Producer: Mark Medernach
Producer: Daniel Ridgers
Directors: YELLOWSHED (Todd Hemker & Soyeon Kim)
Designers: Justin K.Thompson, Paul Rudish, Soyeon Kim, Michael Kurinsky
Lead Animators: Morgan Williams, Soyeon Kim, Todd Hemker
Animators: Hsin-Ping Pan, Hsin-I Tseng
Effect Artist: Jesse Gregg
Image Prep Artist: Jinna Kim
Compositors: Todd Hemker, Erik Tillmans, Richard Ramazinski, Jesse Gregg
Technical Directors: Blake Robertson, Erik Tillmmans, Richard Ramazinski
About DUCK:

Los Angeles-based DUCK, is a continually evolving creative studio producing commercials, music videos, short films and web content. DUCK offers a wide range of services, including live action and integration, character design, film title design, 2D and 3D animation, digital compositing, digital/traditional ink & paint. In recent years, the studio has expanded, adding an original content division that works with writers and animators on unique ideas for film and TV.

About Sony Pictures Animation:

Sony Pictures Animation exemplifies the next generation of CGI storytelling to produce a variety of animated entertainment for audiences around the world. Sony Pictures Animation has a full slate of films including the mouth-watering 3D comedy CLOUDY WITH A CHANCE OF MEATBALLS which opens in September 2009, HOTEL TRANSYLVANIA, now in pre-production and, in association with Columbia Pictures, THE SMURFS MOVIE, also in pre-production. In 2007, SURF’S UP, was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Animated Feature and won two Annie Awards. The company’s first film, OPEN SEASON, was a box office success and the #2 DVD title of the year for Sony Pictures Home Entertainment. Its sequel, OPEN SEASON 2, released in 2009, was an international family hit. Sony Pictures Animation is an operating unit of Sony Pictures Digital Productions.