Klaus is a new origin story for Santa Claus, about a postman that gets sent to the remote town of Smeerensburg and befriends a reclusive toy maker. Sergio Pablos, the director, used mostly traditional 2D hand-drawn animation, while animated film nowadays use 3D animation and CGI. Pablos wanted it to give the movie a nostalgic component, but he overcame some of the limitations of 2D using lighting to give volume to the characters.
“One of the early inspirations that we had for this film was ‘Batman Begins,’” said Pablos, whose version of Santa is taciturn, has dealt with loss and has a toy shop that could be seen as a sort of Batcave. “You can definitely say people have described it as 'Santa Begins.’
Klaus è una nuova storia sulle origini di Babbo Natale, che parla di un postino che viene mandato nella remota città di Smeerensburg e fa amicizia con un giocattolaio solitario. Sergio Pablos, il regista, ha usato principalmente animazione tradizionale, in 2D e disegnata a mano, mentre al giorno d’oggi i film d’animazione usano 3D e CGI. Pablos voleva dare un tono nostalgico al film, ma è riuscito a superare alcune limitazione del 2D usando l’illuminazione per dare spessore ai personaggi.
"Una delle prime fonti di ispirazioni che abbiamo avuto per il film è 'Batman Begins” ha detto Pablos, la cui versione di Babbo Natale è taciturna, ha sofferto una perdita, e ha un negozio che ricorda una sorta di Batcave. “Si può decisamente dire che il film è stato descritto come ‘Santa Begins’”
Regia/Directed by: Sergio Pablos
Sceneggiatura/Screenplay by: Sergio Pablos, Jim Mahoney, Zach Lewis
See, a lot of reviewers describe it as sort of a reverse Paperman, a 2D movie that looks like CGI instead of vice versa, and think the reason it was animated that way was to trick audiences into thinking it was CGI since they wouldn’t accept a 2D-animated film that looks 2D.
But if you look up interviews with director Sergio Pablos, you’ll see that his purpose was NOT to trick people into thinking it was CGI, but to essentially look like an illustration, and give it the same kind of shading, texturing, and detail you’d see in concept art and promotional material.
He didn’t want to bring 2D animation back, he wanted to bring it forward, and take it in a new unique direction that hadn’t been done before, as he believes staying in the past is what caused it to die out. (For instance, he believes The Princess and the Frog wasn’t a big hit because it went out of its way to look exactly like the older Disney films.) Basically, how can you build upon current 2D technology while keeping everything we like about classic 2D animation?
He noticed that in a lot of older 2D-animated films, the characters look like flat-colored stickers against a detailed background, and pointed out that if this was a deliberate stylistic choice, then why do they have so much shading and texturing in the promotional material? Clearly, this was a technological limitation that his team could improve upon, which they did via groundbreaking technology. (I’d share a video about the programs used to do it, but the video was made by Andrew Dobson, and the less I have to do with him, the better.)
Pablos doesn’t necessarily want other 2D studios to do the exact same thing his studio did, but he does hope that other studios will try out with experimenting new tricks with 2D animation in their own way, as there isn’t much you can do with CGI that hasn’t already been done, but there’s a LOT of new and unexplored potential for 2D animation.
Gallery Nucleus welcomes artists from Netflix’s first original animated film, KLAUS. They will be sharing insights from the production and some behind the scenes work on the film. Bring your questions for the Q&A session and meet the artists one-on-one as they sign copies of the new Art of KLAUS book. Select concept art from the film will also be on display.
Event Schedule: 6:00 - 7:00 Artist Discussion Panel / Show and Tell 7:00 - 7:30 Q & A 8:00 - 9:00 Book Signing
Event Guidelines: - Please plan to arrive early to purchase art books for signing. Books are available on a first come first served basis while supplies last. - Due to time constraints, each attendee is allowed only 2 signing items per person. Artists will not be doing sketches. - Seating is also first come first serve. Standing room available! - Walk-ins welcome as long as event is not at full capacity but cannot be guaranteed.
