The secrets of ‘Shrek 2,’ ‘Shark Tale’

Two of Dreamworks’ most popular 3-D animated films are being presented in Seoul, not on screen but in galleries.
“Welcome to 3D Animation’s World,” an exhibition at Zero One Design Center, brings together clips showing the characters, backgrounds and costumes from “Shark Tale” and “Shrek 2” by a company that has produced eight animated feature films, including these two.
“Shrek 2,” a sequel to the 2001 fairy tale about a green ogre who rescues a princess, is one of the highest-grossing animated films to date. “Shark Tale,” which opens in Korea in January, is a deep sea comedy.
The show at the Design Center includes 3-D images, character sketches, details on sound and production, a preview of a production seminar and a documentary on making the two films.
For “Shrek,” the show provides a glimpse into the production of a scene in which Princess Fiona and Shrek are greeted by 6,000 people from the kingdom of Far, Far Away, through a “digital dollhouse,” which has an assemblage of people with different ages, genders, sizes, hairdos and garments.
It also enables viewers to see the facial animation system, a program first adopted by Dreamworks, which allows animators to control the facial expressions of the characters as realistically as possible through the formulation of muscles and wrinkles on human skin programmed into the system. The company also introduces its programs to create natural body gestures.
For the production of “Shark Tale,” the team shows its latest technology that enables animators to convert two-dimensional sketches on paper into a computer-controlled system. The crew of “Shark Tale” also illustrates how the details of the sea world have been depicted in the movie through their “Global Illumination Solution,” a system that allows animators to capture the depth of water and darkness of the sea as realistically as possible.

by Park Soo-mee

“Welcome to 3D Animation’s World” runs through Feb. 6 at Zero One Design Center in Daehangno. For more information call (02) 792-2490~3 or visit www.zeroonecenter.com.