When we moved into the Lunada Bay Ward we met Matt & Janae Davis and learned that he is an animator for Sony. We told him that that is what Kameron wants to be! He then offered to take us on a tour of his studio. I cannot tell you how excited Kam was! So today we were finally able to make it happen. We met Matt, Janae and their kids, Alec and Maren, in Culver City for the big tour.
Boards showing the Cloudy characters. Some of them actually changed from what these pictures depict. Many changes are made over the years.
I love walruses so this was my favorite little guy!
There are huge banners all over the grounds of the different movies they've done.
The inner courtyard was decorated so cute with banners and characters (Smurfs) all around. It seems like such a fun place to have lunch and unwind.
At first, Matt took us through his office and we learned all about his work. On his laptops he showed us how a movie is made using Hotel Transylvania. It starts with an idea, and then very basic drawings that don't even look like the characters, and then approvals need to be made and things either move forward or are discontinued. This happens several times in the process. So we saw what the beginning of the movie was going to be, but it ended up changing. Then he showed us the next steps and how the images change and details are marked for the scenes. And then you have the music and voices. The one thing I thought was interesting is that they create "layers" with the scenes and images and layer all the detail in. If they were to put all of that detail in right from the beginning the servers would crash! It's too much information so they layer it later on. We walked around through the buildings and saw a recording room where a lot of famous stars have recorded their parts. Usually that is done in other studios, but many times they end up at Matt's office. We stood right where Adam Sandler was - as he was in Hotel Transylvania and played a huge part in it's creation. Katy Perry, Ashton Kutcher (Matt also made Open Season), Demi Lovato, and more had been in there as well. We were definitely star struck! There were a lot of areas that we were not allowed to snap pictures.
We were also given a sneak peak of what they're working on right now... but we are sworn to secrecy!! At any time the producers could pull the plug so it may not make it into theaters. Hopefully it does! We learned that an animated movie takes anywhere from 4-8 years from start to finish. Matt also shared that he doesn't see much of his family, especially at crunch time right before the release. Janae will often pack up the kids and a meal and head up to his office just to see him. I remember it was crazy right before Cloudy released in theaters... they were still working on it two weeks before! I think Matt said they usually want it ready to go 4 weeks out.
After the tour we all walked to Chipotle for lunch.
It was so neat to be there and see the computers and equipment and technology that goes into making a movie. Kameron is even more sure that this is his future. I am looking forward to the day that I can sit through a movie and take a picture of his name in the credits!
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