Bill Schwab / Digital Lorelay Bove / Digital Copyright © 2012 by Disney Enterprises, Inc./Walt Disney Animation Studios. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without written permission from the publisher. ISBN: 978-1-4521-1101-8 (hc) ISBN: 978-1-4521-4762-8 (epub, mobi) Designed by Glen Nakasako, Smog Design, Inc. Chronicle Books LLC 680 Second Street San Francisco, California 94107 www.chroniclebooks.com ZANGIEF and M. BISON © CAPCOM U.S.A., INC. 2012. STREET FIGHTER Is a registered trademark of Capcom U.S.A., Inc. PAC-MAN ® and CLYDE © NAMCO BANDAI Games Inc. Used with permission. Nintendo properties used with permission of Nintendo Co., Ltd. DR. IVO ROBOTNIK and NEFF courtesy of SEGA. © SEGA. All rights reserved. Q*BERT used courtesy of Sony Pictures Consumer Products. Front and Back Cover: Lorelay Bove / Digital CONTENTS Justin Cram / Digital PREFACE BY JOHN LASSETER FOREWORD BY RICH MOORE INTRODUCTION FIX-IT FELIX, JR. GAME CENTRAL HERO’S DUTY SUGAR RUSH THE ARCADE THE LOST CHARACTERS ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ABOUT THE AUTHORS W PREFACE Wayne Unten / Digital hen Rich Moore first pitched us his idea for Wreck-It Ralph, I got so excited because it was unlike any of our other films. Rich took us through the arcade screen to meet Ralph, an ’80s-era videogame bad guy who so desperately wants to be a hero that he goes on an adventure, wreaking havoc through two new modern-day games. Ralph causes the lives of all these different game characters he meets to collide in a way we’ve never seen before. And this mash-up of worlds is what makes this film so hilarious and unique. Rich and his artistic team invented three game worlds for the film that are completely original but are based upon concepts that are familiar to the audience. The eight-bit world of Fix-It Felix, Jr. celebrates the sights, sounds, and physics of those classic arcade games everyone loves, like Donkey Kong, Dig Dug, and Pac-Man. Ralph, Felix, and the Nicelanders walk in right angles and move their arms in unison and symmetrically—or in twinned poses, as we call it in animation. This simple style is so charming but also makes the game instantly recognizable as one from the ’80s. For Hero’s Duty, the first-person shooter game where Ralph gets his Medal For Hero’s Duty, the first-person shooter game where Ralph gets his Medal of Heroes, the artists designed a world that is off-the-charts realistic. That’s the hallmark of those action games for Xbox and PlayStation that I watch my sons play. So our artists had to create an equally gritty and immersive world and a mythology to go with it. Finally, Sugar Rush, the game in which Ralph meets loveable Vanellope Von Schweetz, celebrates the kart-racing conventions of a Nintendo 64-era game. And the cartoony all-dessert world is just spectacular. You see Mike Gabriel and Lorelay Bove’s delicious-looking development art for Sugar Rush and say, “oh yeah, I’m there.” Creating all these distinct worlds has been so much fun but bringing them together into one story has been an unusual design challenge. We needed an appealing and believable way to connect the worlds into one arcade universe, but at the same time keep the worlds with their own sets of rules separate. That’s when Rich and writer Phil Johnston came up with what is really the fourth world of the movie: Game Central Station. Game Central is a transportation hub that exists inside a simple power strip. For it, the visual development artists figured out how to marry the architectural language of the electrical outlet with the beautiful arches and details of New York’s Grand Central Station. We’ve been so lucky bringing Rich into the studio from The Simpsons and Futurama. He’s only been with Disney Animation on Wreck-It Ralph for a few years, but already his directing expertise and smart sense of humor have benefited the studio as a whole. Rich’s talent really shines through in his development of original characters like Ralph, Vanellope, Felix, and Sargeant Calhoun, who are so funny and so fresh, yet full of emotion. We’re also tremendously fortunate that Mike Gabriel, an amazing animator and director whom I’ve known since I first worked at Disney, was so intrigued by Rich’s story and characters that he volunteered to join the project as an art director. It’s Mike’s first time doing the job and he, along with Ian Gooding, have done it brilliantly. As all of the incredibly bold and diverse art in this book shows—from the initial character sketches, to the original eight-bit designs, to the set models made out of real candy–Wreck-It Ralph brings together four unique yet recognizable worlds that, when combined together, create a universe we’ve truly never seen before. –John Lasseter W FOREWORD Wayne Unten / Digital hen I was a sophomore at Cal Arts in 1985, I met a visiting alumnus named John Lasseter. He had recently started working for a new computer animation studio and wanted to share with our class a project they had just completed. Up until that day, computer animation had just been about flying logos to me. It was great for motion graphics, but it could never tell a story like character animation could. Or so I thought. What John showed us that day blew me away. It was Pixar’s first short film, The Adventures of André and Wally B. John had taken all of his training at Cal Arts in hand-drawn storytelling and infused it into this new art form. The result was an engaging comic story set in a believable world about characters I cared about. An honest- to-God computer-animated cartoon! I had no idea how he achieved it in a practical sense, I only knew that someday I wanted to work with this guy in this medium. After I graduated, my career took me deep into the world of 2-D animation. I had the great fortune of joining The Simpsons as a director at the show’s inception, and found myself at the epicenter of a television phenomenon. It was a big moment that lasted more than two decades. During that time, I worked with the most talented storyboard artists, writers, and designers that the 2-D television genre has ever known, first on the The Simpsons, and then on The Critic and Futurama. All the while, I continued to follow the extraordinary work that John and crew were doing at Pixar. And like the rest of the world, I added each of their successes to my list of all-time favorite movies. When John became the creative head of Walt Disney Animation Studios, he got in touch with me and asked if I was interested in developing and directing a CG movie. My initial reaction was, “Me? How does a guy go from The Simpsons to Disney?” At first it seemed like there was a big difference between my sensibility and what I thought was right for the Disney canon and the studio’s legacy. But John assured me that, from the beginning, Disney Animation has always been about invention and reinvention. I also wondered about making the transition from 2-D to computer animation. Then I thought back on the jump John had made, when I first met him at Cal Arts, and realized the change in medium didn’t matter. At our core, we are all striving to do the same thing— create memorable characters and worlds, and tell stories with heart. To that end, The Simpsons and Disney aren’t that different. Getting to make Wreck-It Ralph at Disney Animation Studios has been a dream come true. There is such tremendous support for the creative process at the studio under John and Ed Catmull’s leadership. Our charge is to create characters that we care about, worlds that we love, and bring our stories to life with the best animation possible. We get there by exploring different ideas, finding the right ones and allowing them to grow. It’s an organic process with a mind of its own. There’s no map to chart it, but if you navigate its currents with faith and respect, it will take you right where you need to go. This amazing process is only possible with the most talented people in the industry driving it. I have been so lucky to have Mike Gabriel and Ian Gooding art directing Wreck-It Ralph, along with a whole team of artists whose work on the film has been truly exceptional. The art in this book is a testament to their boundless imagination and passion. I hope you enjoy it. —Rich Moore “W INTRODUCTION WRECK-IT RALPH: A DIFFERENT KIND OF MOVIE Justin Cram, Wayne Unten / Digital reck-It Ralph is different.” Those words have echoed through the halls of Walt Disney Animation since the film’s inception in 2008. But what makes it different? Most obvious to many is the simple idea that although Disney Animation is best known for its traditional fairy tales, Wreck-It Ralph is anything but traditional. It stars a bad guy named Ralph, with big hands and a tendency to wreck everything. Ralph’s partner in crime is a nine-year-old impish moppet with dirty hair named Vanellope Von Schweetz, who is more interested in being a go-kart racer than a princess. The only romance in the movie is between a naive handyman named Felix and a tough-as-nails female, Sergeant Calhoun, whose greatest strength is in hunting down giant robot bugs. The villain is the effervescent King Candy, who wears festive pantaloons. Instead of one fantasy world, it’s got seven disjointed worlds, ranging from the square and simple to the sharp and hostile to the swirly and delicious. All this is plenty to label Wreck-It Ralph “different” in terms of a Disney animated film, but how did such a different film come to be? Answering that question isn’t easy and involves everyone and everything—from the director to the story to the crew. A DIFFERENT KIND OF DIRECTOR Walt Disney once said, “Our field of entertainment still has many new and exciting and wonderful things to bring to the restless public wanting variety and novelty in the movie theater. The only thing we should fear and be on constant guard against is getting bogged down—getting into the ruts of monotony and timeworn repetitions which the business of entertainment cannot long stand.” Emmy® Award-winning director Rich Moore came to Disney in 2008, bringing with him an edgy animation aesthetic and a bold, risky sense of humor. But he also had a clear goal that was right in line with Walt’s philosophy. Rich explains, “I wanted to add to the Disney Animation canon a film for everyone . . . but for everyone today. I wanted it to be fresh and modern and speak to today’s sensibilities.” But joining a company deeply rooted in its traditions isn’t easy. Producer Clark Spencer explains, “There’s a lot of history here at Disney Animation. Many people have been here for a while. There are ways that we do things, so when a new person comes in, you always wonder, ‘Will there be moments in time when they’re butting heads because of different approaches?’” So, needless to say, there was a lot of buzz around the building, wondering what “the new guy” was going to do. “the new guy” was going to do. Scott Watanabe / Digital And Rich’s approach quickly proved to be different. Disney has a reputation for making some of the most appealing characters in animation. But Rich brought something more to the designs that Art Director Mike Gabriel found exciting: “His designs were very funny. So I told the Visual Development group, ‘Every design you bring in now, make it funny,’ just to see what it would stir up. Everybody was trying new things and getting laughs on everything they were doing. It was really freeing.” But what many of the artists appreciated most about Rich was how he quickly created a comfortable and collaborative environment. He always welcomed new ideas, constructive criticism, and exploration. There was no hierarchy. He only asked that the artists stretch their imaginations as far as they could. Story Artist Josie Trinidad describes the experience: “He encouraged us to really push ourselves. I’d only worked on more—classic fairy tale adventures, which I loved, but they had a singular style. Rich was inviting me to explore and truly be myself in my work.” So the “new guy” not only became known as funny but also a great collaborator and, as Clark Spencer put it when describing Rich as a director, collaborator and, as Clark Spencer put it when describing Rich as a director, “His different sensibility and approach is opening people’s eyes to what Disney Animation ultimately can be.” A DIFFERENT KIND OF STORY When it came to finding the right screenwriter with whom to develop the story, Rich read a lot of great scripts from some very talented people, but none of them caught him. “Then Director of Development Maggie Malone brought me a script by Phil Johnston,” he says, “and I fell in love with the writing and the characters. It was so funny. The story just fired, and propelled me forward.” Phil had never worked in animation, but upon meeting him, Rich knew immediately that Phil had the talent he was looking for to develop and write Wreck-It Ralph: “He knows people better than anyone I know. His ability to put himself into the character’s mind is amazing. The best comedy happens when something is not just funny but also genuine in a way that everyone relates to. Phil is really great at that.” Phil wasn’t sure if he was a fit for Disney, but as he says, “The thing that probably attracted me most to the project was something Rich said to me early on. He said that in twenty years, he wanted people to look back and say, ‘How the heck did you ever convince Disney to take a risk on a crazy movie like this?’ The idea of pushing Disney’s storytelling limits got me very excited.” So Rich and Phil spent several months developing the characters and trying to make a truly modern and original fairy tale. Phil wrote the first draft, and the response was incredible. Story Artist Nancy Kruse remembers her initial reaction: “I thought, ‘What a great, crazy story. The characters were appealing but flawed. I like flawed characters that have problems. Cinderella is too nice. I love her, but I’ll never be like her. I’m more like Vanellope, so I related to that.” Head of Story Jim Reardon adds, “So many animated films are a little on the snarky side these days. It’s best expressed with the character standing there, arms folded and smirking at you. I can’t stand that too-cool-for-school idea. There are no characters in this film like that. They all say what they mean and mean what they say no matter how terribly flawed it is. I really like that, and I responded well to it.” Character Design Supervisor Bill Schwab sums up the reaction to the story from a design perspective: “Typically on movies that I’ve worked on here at Disney, you’re defining rules of design and color for one world. But Wreck-It Ralph has seven very distinct worlds, each with its own specific design and art direction. It’s the most complicated film we’ve ever designed, but it’s worth it for such a great story.” A DIFFERENT KIND OF CREW After a successful first table read of the script, Clark Spencer came on board as the producer, and it was time to put together a creative team. Rich reached out to experienced Disney director Mike Gabriel to be his art director. Mike had been with Disney for thirty years and had directed such beloved classics as Pocahontas and The Rescuers Down Under. Rich explains, “He had a long tradition here, which I respect. I wanted that eye. He knows what Disney characters should look like and how to get there. He’s also steeped in the legacy of the studio. I felt like I needed some of that. I didn’t know if he’d be interested, but luckily he said ‘yes.’” Rich then mixed it up, bringing in a co-art director whom Rich had known for a long time. “Ian Gooding and I went to school together. He is a guy who knows what things should look like, what makes them look their best, and he gives the look function and appeal like no one I know.” Ryan Lang, Scott Watanabe / Digital To build his story team, Rich looked to fellow Simpsons director Jim Reardon to come on as his head of story. Jim had just co-written Pixar’s Academy Award®-nominated script WALL-E, but also he had a quirky sense of humor that Rich couldn’t wait to bring to Disney. Story Artist Steve Markowski smiles as he says, “To see Jim’s humor in a Disney film is a unique treat. Jim can look at everything in life and find ten jokes about it. You’ll laugh hysterically at all ten of them. Eight of them you’ll throw out because there’s no way you could include them in a Disney movie. But you’re still left with two pieces of gold.” In the spirit of the film’s great mash-up of locations and styles, Jim and Rich added some story artists to the team whom they had worked with on The Simpsons, along with some who had worked in videogame development. Jim remembers, “Initially, the worry was, ‘Would they mesh well with the story people that have been here at Disney for a long time?’ Much to my pleasure the crew has gotten along great, and everybody is contributing, trying to make it funny and touching at the same time.” As the crew grew, Rich and Clark rounded out the Story and Visual Development departments with some of the most diversely experienced talent Disney Animation has ever had—from the best in Layout, Animation, Lighting, and Effects to experts in Modeling, Rigging, and Look. Their work is featured throughout this book and stands as the visual record of all that went into making Wreck-It Ralph “so different.” Ryan Lang, Scott Watanabe / Digital