production notes hotel transylvania - Visual Hollywood

HOTEL TRANSYLVANIA (2012)PRODUCTION NOTESThat said, there were certainly opportunities to let the comedy play. “In many oldmonster movies, they have very theatrical lighting cues. We thought, that’s the kind ofthing we want to do, but play it for comedy, nothing scary,” says Vignali.Like any animated film, the production design represented a huge challenge – one thatVignali acknowledges that most audiences never fully comprehend. “The thing aboutan animated film that maybe people don’t realize is that everything has to be designed.On a live-action film, filmmakers can take advantage of locations that already exist. Butin animation, we have to design everything--right down to the number of particles wewant floating in the air,” he says. “How much depth of field do we want, how much lightdo we want to reflect back up into a character’s face? Every little nuance had to beconsidered.”Vignali says that his greatest challengeand achievement on Hotel Transylvaniawas in the design of the lobby of thehotel. “I’ve designed a lot of sets, andthis is by far the largest I’ve ever done,”he says. “It’s 175 feet long. The lobbyalone was like designing an entirevillage, because the walls are divided by columns and each one has a unique feature –archways, windows, door frames, a fireplace, or even a giant organ. I designed it fromthe top down – first the floor plan, then elevations. Ultimately it was designed it as if itwere for a live-action film, with cutaway walls – almost like a dollhouse – so you couldsee everything. It was a monster of a set (no pun intended). Then, of course, we hadto dress the set, we needed to know whether there's a log holder inside the fireplace,how much light comes out of the fireplace, where to hang the tapestries, and evenwhere to place all the cracks in the walls. It was a huge undertaking.”© 2012 Sony Pictures Animation 18