Cross-Functional Leadership
Implementing Innovation in 3D Color Technology & Art Direction
Client:
LAIKA* is an American stop-motion animation company, founded in 2005 and headquartered in Portland, Oregon. The animation house is home to many well-known, celebrated films, such as Coraline, ParaNorman, The Boxtrolls, Kubo and the Two Strings, and its most recent, The Missing Link, which won the 2020 Golden Globe for Best Animated Feature. Through technological and creative innovations, LAIKA is devoted to telling new and original stories in unprecedented ways.
Challenge:
Lead Cross-Functional Teams in Adoption of New Technology with Direct Impact on Feature Films
Results:
The coordinated execution of LAIKA’s innovative, 3D color printing technology resulted in four award-nominated features: Kubo and the Two Strings (2016), The Boxtrolls (2014), ParaNorman (2012) and Coraline (2009). Kubo and the Two Strings won a BAFTA Award and the 2016 Scientific & Technology Oscar®.
Overview:
LAIKA’s use of 3D color printing to innovate rapid prototyping in animation created challenges with integrating a new material process and internal color department into a streamlined workflow.
The transformed aspects of production, such as stage lighting, visual effects, and the development and cohesion of assets (puppet faces vs. neck vs. bodies, etc.) created widespread impacts to daily routines and timelines. I provided art direction on color technology for all iterations of all characters, working cross-functionally across to pinpoint issues and implement new processes—from maquette to digital duplication to building puppet bodies to printed faces to set lighting on the animation stage and cohesion of visual effects with the articulation / animation of main puppets.
Obstacle:
A lack of knowledgeable guidance and cohesion between departments and assets—and detailed understanding of how all facets work together—faces, bodies, background elements, textures, etc.—risked timelines and negative impacts to the final outcome of feature films.
Implementation required solid working experience with the evolving rapid prototyping process and recent developments in technical specifications to coordinate production efforts and outputs.
Tory’s Solution:
I bridged the gap between all departments (Fabrication, Rapid Prototyping, Visual Effects, Set, Animation) to create seamless characters comprised of diverse groups of materials and assets for the stage while developing realistic timelines.
Creative Roles:
Visual planning, design and layout of characters, including early-stage outlines of color concepts from beginning to completion, and flowchart phases to track team progress and achieve results as expected
Hands-on design of new characters, including collaboration with 3D print vendors to increase color intensity and better relate the range and capabilities of printers to assets
Leadership Roles:
Work and training with LAIKA’s internal tech team to continue improvements to 3D color printing technologies and gather feedback about upcoming character faces / needs
Ongoing mentoring of film directors and production designers on 3D technology capabilities and possibilities, setting expectations through the lens of technology
Meeting inputs to support wider creative strategy for the director of feature films
Review of color design, puppet fabrication / maquette design under the film’s director; early character development and quality analysis assignments assigned to match each team member’s skill sets and competencies
End-to-end project management for all characters and deadlines, including projecting complication scale for printer expectations
“I worked with Tory for many years at Laika. She has always been tremendously positive and friendly in addition to being awesome at her job!”
— Trevor Dalmer, Netflix