Lemony Snicket (2004) — Credits Production/Unused Assets
Apr 26, 2021 9:39:18 GMT -5
gothicarchiesfan, Optimism is my Phil-osophy, and 1 more like this
Post by the panopticountolaf on Apr 26, 2021 9:39:18 GMT -5
Much of the information used in this thread was gathered by Watch The Titles!. All credit for the Jamie Caliri interview goes to them.
Just like the rest of this film, the beautiful credits sequence went through considerable changes throughout its production, as recalled by project director Jamie Caliri to film credits database Watch The Titles! in 2008. I'vecopy-pasted relayed some of his memories below.
“Brent Watts of Axiom Design had the notion of turning the character designs they had created for Lemony’s merchandising campaign into an end title sequence. They pitched this notion to the producers who agreed to look at story boards. Axiom put together storyboards even though they’re not an animation or film company. The original boards were just shots of illustrations moving inside of picture frames with floating text.
“They took these boards to Mike Miller of MWP (an editing company). Mike looked at the designs of the characters and thought I might be intrigued. I was. He asked if I could direct this picture-frame sequence. I said yes, but felt that they needed more story elements to make it interesting.
“Meanwhile I read the first three books twice. I pitched a more dynamic version of the picture frames to Brent and Axiom.
(Keep this quote in mind!)
"These concepts were presented and rejected by the powers that be and we were asked to make something without story. ‘Images floating’ was one of the quotes. I think they were worried about us making a mess in the kitchen so to speak.
“We worked in a rented house in Ojai, California. Todd [Hemker, a lead animator] and Ben [Goldman, also a lead animator] were working and living in this house. This was tough on them because they were away from home and working night and day. It was a tour of duty.”
Now, the way in which Caliri mentions the "more dynamic version" of the credits sequence (probably the children going through the film's story in a short animated format, judging by the fact that he mentions reading the first three books directly beforehand) makes it sound as if it never made it past a concept stage.
However.
The 2005 DVD release of the film uses the same artstyle and very similar (if slightly rougher) animatics. Some assets (taken directly from the credits design team, I would guess) which appear in the DVD don't appear at all in the film. I've listed as many as I could find below, along with a video walkthrough of the DVD menus. These suggest that perhaps the "retread of the story" concept went quite a ways before being nixed. Feel free to point out any others you spot — I'll add them to the list and credit you.
Unused Assets:
-Olaf's tower (seen in the Main Menu to Set Up transition)
-A variation on the "tower" seen in the last 30 seconds of the credits, including a lamp and wallpaper (Main Menu to Set Up)
-A cable car (Main Menu to Sorrowful Scenes)
-A giant snake (Secret Menu #2)
-Stephano (Secret Menu #2)
-Yo-yos with eye insignias (Secret Menu #3)
-Captain Sham and a sailboat (Alarming Audio Commentaries)
-Full Olaf character rig (Orphaned Scenes)
-A stage similar to the one seen in "The Marvelous Marriage" (upon starting the film)
-A lever, perhaps the one seen in the train sequence (upon starting the film)
And the video (apologies for the horrible background noise, this was the nicest video I could find):
Just like the rest of this film, the beautiful credits sequence went through considerable changes throughout its production, as recalled by project director Jamie Caliri to film credits database Watch The Titles! in 2008. I've
“Brent Watts of Axiom Design had the notion of turning the character designs they had created for Lemony’s merchandising campaign into an end title sequence. They pitched this notion to the producers who agreed to look at story boards. Axiom put together storyboards even though they’re not an animation or film company. The original boards were just shots of illustrations moving inside of picture frames with floating text.
“They took these boards to Mike Miller of MWP (an editing company). Mike looked at the designs of the characters and thought I might be intrigued. I was. He asked if I could direct this picture-frame sequence. I said yes, but felt that they needed more story elements to make it interesting.
“Meanwhile I read the first three books twice. I pitched a more dynamic version of the picture frames to Brent and Axiom.
(Keep this quote in mind!)
"These concepts were presented and rejected by the powers that be and we were asked to make something without story. ‘Images floating’ was one of the quotes. I think they were worried about us making a mess in the kitchen so to speak.
“We worked in a rented house in Ojai, California. Todd [Hemker, a lead animator] and Ben [Goldman, also a lead animator] were working and living in this house. This was tough on them because they were away from home and working night and day. It was a tour of duty.”
Now, the way in which Caliri mentions the "more dynamic version" of the credits sequence (probably the children going through the film's story in a short animated format, judging by the fact that he mentions reading the first three books directly beforehand) makes it sound as if it never made it past a concept stage.
However.
The 2005 DVD release of the film uses the same artstyle and very similar (if slightly rougher) animatics. Some assets (taken directly from the credits design team, I would guess) which appear in the DVD don't appear at all in the film. I've listed as many as I could find below, along with a video walkthrough of the DVD menus. These suggest that perhaps the "retread of the story" concept went quite a ways before being nixed. Feel free to point out any others you spot — I'll add them to the list and credit you.
Unused Assets:
-Olaf's tower (seen in the Main Menu to Set Up transition)
-A variation on the "tower" seen in the last 30 seconds of the credits, including a lamp and wallpaper (Main Menu to Set Up)
-A cable car (Main Menu to Sorrowful Scenes)
-A giant snake (Secret Menu #2)
-Stephano (Secret Menu #2)
-Yo-yos with eye insignias (Secret Menu #3)
-Captain Sham and a sailboat (Alarming Audio Commentaries)
-Full Olaf character rig (Orphaned Scenes)
-A stage similar to the one seen in "The Marvelous Marriage" (upon starting the film)
-A lever, perhaps the one seen in the train sequence (upon starting the film)
And the video (apologies for the horrible background noise, this was the nicest video I could find):