If one city isn’t big enough to hold six superheroes, then you need to mash-up two, right?
That’s what directors Don Hall and Chris Williams did for “Big Hero 6,” an animated film based on an obscure Marvel comic book series.
Blending Tokyo with San Francisco (to form San Fransokyo), the two were able to find a middle ground that teems with architectural surprises.
In “The Art of Big Hero 6,” Hall – who’s from Iowa – and Williams talk about the new world they created.
“Don wanted to figure out a logical explanation for how a mash-up city like this could exist,” says art director Scott Watanabe. “I came up with the idea that after the 1906 earthquake in San Francisco, Japanese immigrants rebuilt the place using techniques that allow movement and flexibility in a seismic event.”
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In the pictures, you can see Asian influences on something like the Golden Gate Bridge, American echoes in homes and businesses. The book, written by Jessica Julius, includes photos of the animators’ finds during visits in both places and the inspirations they drew upon for their hybrid.
The reinvention fits well with the story, which uses anime concepts to draw new fans to old-school superhero crime-fighting.
Julius details some of the things you might overlook when you see the film. She provides close-ups of signs and vehicles and reveals that “101 Dalmatians” was a stylistic template for the Disney company’s 54th animated feature.
Hall and Williams check in routinely and give their reasons for doing what they did.
Baymax, the film’s breakout character, was actually inspired by advances in robotics. At the Robotics Institute at Carnegie Mellon University, they found inflatable robots. “I knew I’d found Baymax when (a scientist there) showed me this crude, vinyl, inflatable arm,” Hall says. “I’d never seen anything like that.”
The character’s eyes (two dots with a line) were inspired by a Japanese bell shape. Because there isn’t a full face, says character designer Shiyoon Kim, “it allows the audience to project onto him whatever they need in that moment and seems to make him eerily cognizant.”
Drawings detail Baymax fully. In the book, you can see the inner workings that are never revealed on screen.
Julius’ research also turns up the Hyperion Renderer, a new rendering technology used for the first time on “Big Hero 6.” Photographs show how artists are able to duplicate realistic settings in animation. It’s amazing how lifelike they look. Read the book before you see the film and you might be watching for the occasions where it was used.
“The Art of Big Hero 6” also includes extensive looks at the characters’ creation and suggests Hiro, the teen boy who brings friends together to fight crime, actually looked like the boy in “Up” at one point.
Now a rad teen (with floppy hair and mad scientific skills), he’s a Hiro worth admiring.
Late in the film, the six get their crimefighting suits and, quickly, they’re pressed into service. In the book, however, you get to see how those suits might actually function.
Artist Chris Mitchell, for example, shows how the fan boy Fred might actually have operated his Kaiju suit.
Because the folks behind “Big Hero 6” have considered every detail of their world, the film doesn’t seem as farfetched as you might think.
The “Art of” book actually serves as the defense for their choices. Like a written exam for their doctorates, it supports everything you see and provides its own joys in the process.
“The Art of Big Hero 6” is written by Jessica Julius. Published by Chronicle Books, it retails for $40.
