‘100% Wolf’ posed a number of interesting challenges for ReDefine’s animation team – both technical and creative.
Animating such a large number of quadruped characters was one of the main challenges that the team faced, as was the development of the unique characteristics of each character through their poses, animation and facial expressions. The ReDefine team worked hard to ensure that the smallest details from the voice performances were faithfully captured in the animation, and for most of the key performance shots the animators also performed and recorded acting references themselves.
Here’s a breakdown of the key characteristics of each of the main characters:
Freddy Lupin
Freddy is our hero and has a lot of attitude – mainly wanting to prove that he can be as good as his dad! He goes through lots of emotional phases – from overconfident, to scared, to proud – and it was important to reflect his character development through the animation, as Freddy learns to value himself for who he is.
Batty
As a street dog, Batty is smart, confident and cunning, but also a caring and loyal friend. We spent a lot of time and effort on her facial animation and pose library, to reflect the changes she goes through in the movie. Despite all her tough talk, all she really wants is a home and a family to call her own.
Flasheart
Brave, charismatic and handsome, Flasheart is a respected and well-loved leader! We took inspiration from Mufasa in The Lion King when animating Flasheart – both are strong leaders as well as being proud and loving fathers.
Cripp
Cripp was one of our favourite characters – everyone wanted to animate him! The challenge (and also the fun part) was to capture his split personality and panicking nature through some pretty extreme facial expressions!
Hamish
Hamish is a peacemaker – a calm and free-spirited character who pushed our rigs to the limit with his meditation poses! With such a furry face it was hard to show his changes of expression… to do so, we made good use of the shape of his eyebrows!
Hotspur
Narcissistic, preening, calculating and cruel, Hotspur is the main villain and it was very important for us to push his performance to convey these characteristics. The only thing standing in the way of him becoming pack leader is Freddy, and when Freddy transforms into a poodle rather than a werewolf, Hotspur sees his chance!