Strange World, Disney’s new animation offering, introduces a family of explorers called the Clades, who attempt to navigate an uncharted and treacherous land alongside a motley crew that includes a mischievous blob, a three-legged dog and a bunch of ravenous creatures. The film stars the voices of Jake Gyllenhaal, Dennis Quaid, Jaboukie Young-White, Gabrielle Union and Lucy Liu.
Working on this project, among various other prestigious Disney projects over the last few years, have been Indian talents Norman Joseph and Chatrasal Singh. Joseph works as a general technical director at Walt Disney Animation Studios and is responsible for providing support to artist teams, including writing tools, facilitating the computer-generated animation process and acting as a liaison to the software developers. He has previously worked on the Oscar-winning film Big Hero 6, as well as Frozen 2, Moana, Raya and the Last Dragon, Ralph Breaks the Internet and Zootopia.
Chatrasal Singh is a senior animator with over a decade’s experience in creating high-quality feature film and visual effects animation. He has previously worked on DC League of Super-Pets, Peter Rabbit 2: The Runaway, Wish Dragon, Sherlock Gnomes, Monster Hunt 2 and Kung Fu Panda.
Has working on Strange World been any different or more challenging than the work you have done so far?
Norman Joseph: Every experience is different and I don’t compare them. Strange World was definitely a difficult movie to make but was also super enjoyable. For this film, we had to build different environments and to create a story with three generations. Technically, it’s been a challenge, but that’s the fun of it.
Chatrasal Singh: It’s my first feature film with Walt Disney and it has been creatively fulfilling for sure because the hierarchy is very flat here... it’s a joy to work with them. This is an otherworldly film and there are many, many creatures in it. Strange World is this adventure pulpy movie with a lot of action sequences and chases which involved complicated camerawork and to be able to animate and tell a story in these sequences was very challenging.
Norman, you worked as a child artist on Doordarshan and now you create some huge animation titles. Would you say that life has come full circle?
Norman: Yes, it’s funny how I was in entertainment and then I did software engineering and while I was in it, I went back to entertainment. I had an interest in the entertainment industry from a very young age. In engineering college, I built a game and saw that my professor was entertained by this game which I had built in just an hour and I told myself that maybe I should go back to entertainment again.
What made you want to take up this career?
Chatrasal: I was completely into animation and movies and games since I was a kid, especially Disney movies... Aladdin, The Lion King are movies that I grew up with. I went to a residential school in Ooty and when they would play these movies, I would always be in awe.
After school, when I found out that there are people working in this field and actually getting paid for it, I knew that this is exactly what I would like to do. I went to study animation in Vancouver and now I have been working professionally for 13 years. It’s the best job!
Do you remember the first animation film you watched that had a big impact on you?
Norman: It would be Beauty and the Beast. It showed me how animation could convey emotion.
Every experience is different and I don’t compare them. Strange World was definitely a difficult movie to make but was also super enjoyable. For this film, we had to build different environments and to create a story with three generations. Technically, it’s been a challenge, but that’s the fun of it — NORMAN JOSEPH
There is a lot more access to tools now. They are readily available, almost for free, to almost everyone right now. The gap between the really big studios and the smaller studios is becoming less now. Everyone is now able to create such beautiful work. What differentiates the good ones from the others is story, characters and personality — CHATRASAL SINGH
What’s the best thing about working at Disney?
Chatrasal: Their 100-year-old history has meaning. All the films that they have done — including their recent features like Tangled, Zootopia, Encanto — have always inspired me and so to be able to be part of a team that makes a movie like this is really awesome. I think Disney is doing all the right things in terms of storytelling, diversity, inclusion... it’s been supporting all of us. You see it in their movies as well as with the people like me who are making these movies.
Norman: The first thing that comes to mind is that it’s inclusive. Every person at the studio has equal opportunity to make an impact. The director takes the final call, but he or she also takes into account the different perspectives that come up. We do employee screenings while a movie is being made and there is a system of submitting notes by the employees and all these notes are read by the creative team. The idea for us has been to entertain, but also to make a movie that means something.
What would you pick as the highlights in the evolution of the animation genre over the last few years?
Chatrasal: There is a lot more access to tools now. They are readily available, almost for free, to almost everyone right now. The gap between the really big studios and the smaller studios is becoming less now. Everyone is now able to create such beautiful work. What differentiates the good ones from the others is story, characters, personality and stuff like that. But in terms of look, tools have become way more powerful now, enabling us to render heavy sequences with many layers and many characters in much lesser time. This was not possible even 10 years ago.
Is being an animator a lifelong education, given that you always have to be clued in to the latest technology, tools and even stories?
Chatrasal: The tools and the pipeline keep changing, but what we know as artists will stay the same. We only keep improving on that. But as long as one is able to adapt with what the new software is then you will be fine. Many of the animators at Disney were 2D animators before and at some point, they had to move to 3D animation. They were all able to transition well.
It seems like a fun job from the outside, but what’s a really tough day at work like?
Chatrasal: As animators, we put a lot of ourselves in the work that we do. We emotionally leave a lot on the table. At times when we are not able to get the performances right or fulfil the directors’ vision, that becomes very frustrating. Also, as artists, we can get burnt out. It’s necessary to take breaks and ensure our mental health is fine.