For their “undead office comedy†feature film NetherBeast Incorporated, the Ronalds Brothers commissioned Locked Horns Productions to create an elaborate animated title sequence including fully animated versions of the film’s principle cast. The first step was to capture the essence of each character in a simplified, stylized form that would be recognizable but not too photorealistic. Title designer Paul DeNigris recruited fine artist Linda LaGalia to art direct the sequence and create illustrations of each cast member as well as various components of the office - cubicles, file cabinets, and the like.
Steve Burns as “Otto” and Dave Foley as “Henry”
Working in Adobe Illustrator, Linda created each character with animation in mind. Each limb segment was placed on a different layer in Illustrator so that when the characters were imported into Adobe After Effects, Paul could “rig” them for animation as follows:
Notice the right-hand column: “Parent.” Each limb segment was connected in a logical hierarchy for character animation - bicep parented to torso; forearm parented to bicep; hand parented to forearm; and so on. With each limb “rigged” in this manner, each character would be ready for animation.
Note how each point of articulation on Otto’s body is marked with the X-Y-Z (red-green-blue) axis handles commonly used in computer animation software. Now making Otto walk, run, or do anything the sequence required would just be a matter of keyframing: (click image to enlarge)
Each character was assigned a walk cycle, like Otto’s here.
Otto, being the star of the sequence, also had a run cycle, a stair-climbing cycle, and numerous specific actions from shot to shot. He also had two swappable heads - one for profile and one for head-on shots - and a set of swappable hands for pointing, gripping, and other specific maneuvers.
Here now is the complete title sequence. Enjoy!
