THE PRINCE OF EGYPT
About The Production
Visual Development is one of the key elements of the pre-production and production phases of making an animated film
Visual Development is one of the key elements of the pre-production
and production phases of making an animated film. It involves
exploring various designs, color palettes, locations, etc. in
an effort to define the visual style of the movie. Art directors
Kathy Altieri and Richard Chavez and Production Designer Darek
Gogol led a team of nine visual development artists in setting
a visual style for the movie that was representative of the time,
the scale and the architectural style of Ancient Egypt. Part of
the process also includes the research and collection of artwork
from various artists that may be in line with the style they are
trying to achieve, as well as taking part in trips such as the
two-week trek across Egypt that the filmmakers took prior to beginning
work on the film.
The story phase of production is an ongoing part of the process.
In the animation process, a script is not necessarily used - the
entire story is mapped out on storyboards instead. The Prince
of Egypt was "written" throughout the story process.
Starting with a beat outline for the story, Story Supervisors
Kelly Asbury and Lorna Cook led a team of 14 storyboard artists
and writers as they sketched out the entire movie - sequence by
sequence. Once a sequence is storyboarded, the artist pitches
it to the directors, producers and story team for approval. The
story process is intensely collaborative and is the time when
the team can really develop the characters and story points to
achieve the strongest and most cohesive story possible.
Composer and Lyricist Stephen Schwartz began working on writing
songs for the movie at the very beginning of the project. From
that point on, as the story evolved, he continued to write songs
that would serve to both entertain and help move the story along.
Composer Hans Zimmer arranged and produced the songs and then
eventually wrote the score. The score for The Prince of Egypt
was recorded entirely in London, England.
The animators handle the key drawings and poses for the characters
in each scene. Supervising Animators are assigned to each main
character, who then oversee a team of animators who are responsible
for bringing those characters to life. For example, Kristof Serrand,
the Supervising Animator on the Older Moses and Seti characters,
would handle the key scenes in the movie involving those characters
and then pass on various scenes to his team of animators.
The Backgrounds department, headed by supervisors Paul Lasaine
and Ron Lukas, oversee a team of artists who are responsible for
painting the sets/backdrops from the layouts. In the case of The
Prince of Egypt, approximately 934 hand-painted backgrounds were
created for the movie. Once the backgrounds are finished and approved,
they are checked and scanned.
Visual Effects in animation is basically anything that moves in
a scene that is not a character, such as natural phenomena, props,
vehicles, etc. Headed by supervisors Don Paul and Dan Philips
, the Effects department consists of both digital effects artists
and 2D traditional artists who together were responsible for creating
everything from shadows on the floor to the Parting of the Red
Sea, the Plagues, the Burning Bush and the vast crowds of the
Checking is the process by which all animation and all other elements
of a scene are checked and reviewed for possible errors, omissions
or inconsistencies. Checking Supervisors Pat Sito and Shauna Stevens
were primarily responsible for overseeing this part of the process.
Once scenes and animation levels are<
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