May 25, 2017

Brazen Animation Unveils Pitch for Feature Film "The Tempest" [Exclusive Making-of Video

Brazen, a relatively recently launched animation startup in 2014, has released a teaser for its "Tempest" project, which it plans to pitch as a feature film.

The Dallas, Texas studio, formed by former Disney, Blue Sky, Reel FX, and Greengrass Studios veterans, is self-funding through commercial productions, and Tempest is part of a broader development of IP surrounding the idea of a wayward sea captain.

Cartoon Brew asked Brian Engram, CEO of Brazen and director of Tempest, about the idea behind the film and future plans for the feature.

Initially, "The Tempest" was to be "a simple animation test, more of an exercise in technique and animation than anything else," Engram said. But as Blazen worked on the test, the studio became more interested in advancing the broader story of "a man who has lost everything in his life because of his prideful ambition and must return himself to the way he should be."

Ultimately, the director told Cartoon Brew that the final film showed what Brazen could do in storytelling, design, 2D animation, 3D animation, effects simulation, lighting, and compositing. [In "The Tempest," for example, the captain's logbook "comes alive" like a 2D flip book. According to Engram, Brazen is specifically looking for animators who can work in both 2D and 3D, and the studio has a desire to produce both types of animation.

Brazen shared this exclusive video with us about finding the right animation style for the project.

"The reason we made this choice (to use 2D animation) was to transport the audience momentarily into the captain's past and give them a glimpse into the pain and loss he has been through. I also wanted to use this moment to show that his nemesis had indeed arrived." This much-illustrated book of his also plays a role in the feature film."

Effects were a further challenge to succeed with The Tempest. Blazen hired several effects artists for "Pacific Rim" at Industrial Light & Magic, but at first they only had experience with realistic water simulations.

"When I explained how far I wanted to go with the stylistic beauty of the water, the initial reaction was, 'Brian, I don't know how to achieve that.' But once we started thinking that the effects should be led by the animators first, with the effects team behind them, the method began to come together."[17

Now that the animation is out in the world, the studio has been working on it for about two years between client service projects, with the bulk of the production completed in the last nine months. According to Engram, Blazen is in the process of "putting together a list of some studios that we might pitch or partner with on the film."

"It is clear that we are still developing The Tempest and moving forward. Our goal as a studio is to be a small storytelling and development studio, not to be a big production house like other studios aspire to be." We want to produce meaningful content ourselves that we can collaborate and partner with other companies on. Certainly, we will need true partners who believe in us and the type of stories we want to tell."

You can learn more about Brazen's "Tempest" on the studio's website.