Illuminations upcoming filmMigrationis a comedy about a family of ducks trying to fly from New York to Jamaica.
Writer-directorBenjamin Rennermakes his 3Danimationdebut, andJohn Powellwrote the score for his film.
I start to draw lines.
I stop as soon as what I want to express is there on paper.
If I want to draw a duck, I draw three lines.
Some call it minimalistic.
I call it lazy.
You have to remove elements, make them with shadow and light, Renner said.
You go from everything and you remove things.
2D is more like you make things appear.
Renner said ducks were challenging creatures too.
He recalled a team of 50 animators studying a real duck at their studio.
This duck must feel like a human must feel when hes abducted by aliens, Renner said.
No one was speaking.
We were all just watching a duck and had no idea what to do with it.
He was not harmed.
He went back to his cage after.
Mack (voiced by Kumail Nanjiani) is a duck who doesnt want to migrate.
To match his personality, Powell constructed a theme that intentionally did not go anywhere musically.
I wanted one that went down, Powell said.
He was not going to be a hero.
Its a tune that goes down and just goes around in circles.
Thats what I started with.
Then the trick was over the film to try and make that actually become a heroic theme.
Although the film begins in New York, ducks dont know New York from anywhere.
Powell said Renner encouraged him to approach the soundtrack as an alien landscape.
So Powell experimented with different random instruments.
Theres a whole bunch of things in there, Powell said.
Theres also strange voices.
Theres a kora, which is an African harp.
I was using an odd thing sliding.
It all sounds like I know what Im doing.
Migrationis in theaters December 22.
Check out the panel video above.
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