Exclusive: ‘Migration – How the Animation is Designed’ Featurette

Illumination has just shared with AWN an exclusive featurette, “How the Animation is Designed,” from their 3DCG animated comedy, Migration. In the video, director Benjamin Renner, production designer Colin Stimpson, and other members of the creative team share insights into the animation design and how 2D art transforms onto the big-screen.

Today also marks the day that the film is available on 4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray, and DVD. There’s an all-new collector’s edition with 3 original mini-movies and more than an hour of bonus content.

In the film, the Mallard family is in a bit of a rut. While dad Mack is content to keep his family safe paddling around their New England pond forever, mom Pam is eager to shake things up and show their kids—teen son Dax and duckling daughter Gwen—the whole wide world. After a migrating duck family alights on their pond with thrilling tales of far-flung places, Pam persuades Mack to embark on a family trip, via New York City, to tropical Jamaica.

Who could imagine their well-laid plans quickly go awry.

Renner (Ernest & Celestine, The Big Bad Fox and Other Tales) directs from a screenplay by Mike White (The White Lotus, School of Rock). Guylo Homsy (Sing, Sing 2) co-directs, while Illumination CEO and founder Chris Meledandri produces. The top-flight cast includes Kumail Nanjiani, Elizabeth Banks, Caspar Jennings, Tresi Gazal; the film also stars Danny DeVito, Awkwafina, Carol Kane, Keegan-Michael Key, David Mitchell.

Exclusive Bonus Feature on 4K UHD, Blu-ray, DVD and Digital:

• FLY HARD (MINI-MOVIE) - Chump sheds her tough-as-nails attitude, risking her life to fly through a blizzard and the harrowing streets of New York to return a prized possession to a kind woman from the park.
• MOONED (MINI-MOVIE) - Following the events of Despicable Me, Vector and a lost Minion are stranded on the moon, and struggle to get back to Earth.
• MIDNIGHT MISSION (MINI-MOVIE) - The Minions will try anything to help Agnes overcome her fear of the dark, even if it involves going into outer space.
• MICROPHONE MADNESS - A fun look behind-the-scenes as the cast record some of their silliest lines.
• MEET THE CAST - In this series of behind-the-scenes pieces, we learn more about our favorite characters and the legendary comedic voices behind them.
  
  • KUMAIL NANJIANI: MACK
  • ELIZABETH BANKS: PAM
  • KEEGAN-MICHAEL KEY: DELROY
  • AWKWAFINA: CHUMP
  • DANNY DEVITO: UNCLE DAN
  • CAROL KANE: ERIN
  • CASPAR JENNINGS: DAX & TRESI GAZAL: GWEN
• TAKING FLIGHT: THE MAKING OF - Migration is an original script so brand-new characters and locations had to be developed, designed, and animated from scratch! Here, filmmakers and crew break down their process to show us what gives this film an entirely new look and feel.
• THE ART OF FLIGHT - Using a series of production phases from storyboards to pre-viz, we peel back the feathers and reveal just what goes in to creating the avian heroes of the film.
• THE SOUND OF FLIGHT - Take a closer look at the music of Migration as Composer John Powell walks us through his scoring journey.
• HOW TO DRAW
  
  • MACK
  • DELROY
  • CHUMP
  • GWEN
• BUILD YOUR OWN POP-UP BOOK - Daddy duck, Mack, likes to tell his two little ducklings some…overly imaginative bedtime stories. In this fun “How To” we’ll show you how to create a pop-up book so you can tell your very own bedtime stories!
• CALLING ALL BIRDS - They may not have cellphones, but you can call your web-footed friends anytime you want! In this fun How To, we’ll teach you how to create and customize your very own set of colorful bird whistles.
  
  • THE MACK QUACK
  • THE HERON HONK
  • THE CHUMP CHIRP
• BEST NESTS - You don’t have to fly south –or anywhere –to find a perfect paradise for your feathered friends. Here we’ll teach you how to make the best nest for your pet ducks, or anyone flying by, including a water feeder to keep them hydrated!
  
  • NESTS

Source: NBCUniversal

Dan Sarto is Publisher and Editor-in-Chief of Animation World Network.