An animated feature is a baby of not just the director and its cast, but also of talented artistes who conjure "magic", combining technology and arts, say Avneet Kaur and Norman Joseph, who worked on Disney's latest release "Ralph Breaks the Internet".
The 2012 original, about an arcade game character who rebels against being an antagonist, was a massive hit and in the sequel Ralph has moved to the world of Internet.
Avneet, who has been working at Disney Animations for more than 14 years, said being a part of "Ralph" was like a dream come true for her as she was involved in creating details about the many Disney princesses who make a cameo in the movie.
The studio had roped in the original talent behind these royal princess to once again lend their voices to these beloved characters for the epic congregation scene.
"I am currently a simulation supervisor but on 'Ralph', I was a simulation director. Visualising Disney princesses in CG was a dream come true. I got to work on some iconic characters like Ariel. We were the first few of our team to realise that in CG.
"I had to work on simulation solutions for Ralph and Vanellope, Ralph's best friend. I also got to work on Shank, the character voiced by Gal Gadot," she told PTI in an interview over phone.
Simulation would be something hard to explain to a person unfamiliar with what goes on in creating these characters in animation but Avneet, who was born and studied in India before leaving for the US for further studies, has found a way out.
"I tell people that I make magic happen. I say that I made Elsa (the princess in 'Frozen') look great. That's what I do. The amazing thing is that people get to see our work on screen so it is easy to tell someone that 'Look, I made her move, I made her smile or I made her hair look gorgeous," she says.
Joseph, who worked as a child star on Doordarshan before shifting to the US to study computer graphics and animation, said he has been lucky to be able to pursue both his passions -- technology and entertainment.
"It is like life coming to a full circle for me because in India, I worked as a child artiste on Doordarshan for seven years. Later, I got interested in computer science and when I came to study in the US, I got involved with animation. It opened the world for me to know how technology affects animation," he says.
Joseph, a technical director at Disney Animations where has worked for five years, says there is this perception that all the people working on an animation film are animators which is not true.
"When I tell people that I work in animation, they often say, 'Oh, you are an animator' and I am like 'No, that's not the only position but I help the animator animate. I ensure that they can create a visualisation that they have imagined," he says.
So how many people it takes to create a successful animation film?
"All in all close to 350 people total but over the period of two years, people often go on other films," says Avneet, who has worked on almost all the big projects to come out of Disney-Pixar's stable in recent times, including fan-favourite "Frozen".
She says when she joined the industry, not many people from India thought of it as a career option but things have changed a lot in the one decade.
"This, as an industry, is still catching up in India but we are seeing more and more people from that part of the world delve into this and take that as a career option. Finding a career that let me use artistry and technology as a form of expression was just amazing," she says.
"The coolest part of making a film at Disney animation is that we are always pushing the limits of what we can visualise. Technology is in complete service to artistry but the demands are always new so there is no rinse and repeat," she added.
"Ralph Breaks the Internet", featuring John C Reilly and Sarah Silverman, released on Friday in India.
Disclaimer: No Business Standard Journalist was involved in creation of this content
