Paddington in Peru's animation works because of one small detail

Paddington In Peru remains a labour of love for the animation artists behind the live action VFX movie. The latest film, the third one made in collaboration with the team at Framestore, is the most sophisticated entry to date; not only did Paddington return to the jungles of Peru but it's the first film in the series to be shot in 4K.

But despite the challenges faced by location and resolution, there are some subtle details that make the marmalade-loving little bear feel like a real, living character. I spoke with Sylvain Degrotte, VFX Supervisor at Framestore London to discover the secret to Paddington's believability – and it comes down to the eyes (and that hard stare). Below we hear how the pros do it, and if you want a job in the VFX industry read Framestore's advice, and look at our best animation software guide.

"Paddington’s eyes are the most important thing, as the eyeballs are not a perfect sphere shape, they give a realistic behaviour as they push the flesh around," says Sylvain. "When Paddington looks around, "not only do the eyeballs rotate but they translate in and out, for example when paddington close his eyes, or when he does his famous hard stare."

Sylvain also points out that Ben Whishaw’s (who performs Paddington’s voice) facial expressions were of great value: “Ben Whishaw has a headcam set, so we have close-ups of his facial expressions to use for reference. For the sections that are more action centred, Pablo was recording himself (for facial reference) under the agreement with (director) Wilson of course. Pablo can act during dailies and show the animator the essence of the performance."

Paddington VFX gets the details right

The issue of nuance was key to the work that Sylvain and his team were focused on and he explains that, “Over time, from the first Paddington film to now, we’ve made considerable updates to Paddington’s face. He’s capable of a wider range of face shapes, and the library of expressions we have to work with has increased. This means our animators have more tools with which to really tease out those emotions that are so important to Paddington as a character.”

Sylvain makes the point that because we the audience know Paddington so well, the illusion of his on-screen creation can easily be broken if some detail isn’t quite right.

“Paddington is a character that can easily break," begins Sylvain. "As an animator you might be tempted to change something about Paddington’s appearance, but you have to be conscious that you’re basically walking on eggshells. For instance, when you’re testing how you might increase the density and richness of his fur, you have to make sure you’re not losing its features. It was the same when using another aspect of our improved groom system, which allows us to introduce slight variations in the type of hair, like you have with real animals: this expanded toolkit is amazing, but you have to make sure you don’t lose the essence of what makes Paddington, Paddington."

He continues, explaining how they "reworked his groom, increasing the fur density fourfold, allowing us to achieve the extreme close-ups required by this story".

Adding: "Paddington’s iconic duffle coat was also recreated from the ground up, both as an asset and in its simulation, to achieve greater movement, drape, and texture. We used a groundbreaking cloth solver called CARBON for the first time on a show, which allowed us to push the realism of the simulation. To authentically capture the behaviour of the coat, we filmed extensive reference footage of stand-ins performing Paddington’s actions, which gave us a solid foundation for how the duffle coat should respond in various situations.

"We also gave a special attention to the lighting of Paddignton both on set with DOP Erik Wilson where we always did a pass of the lighting with the stuffy head in situ as well as in post, where we made sure Paddington always had a key light to shape his face in the best way possible."

Sylvain points out how Paddington's face has a specific asymmetric shape on the nose area, with a white and the brown pattern that gives him a subtle identity that may go unnoticed, until it's not there, and the realism, the familiarity, would be broken.

"Other areas of focus were his eyelids and irises – which are lot more hi-res – and his lips, which started looking a bit too simplistic and plastic with the move to 4K. It still looked the same, but richer," says Sylvain.

Mark Curtis, VFX Supervisor, Framestore Montreal, joins the conversation and points out the subtly in the performance is another reason why Paddington works so well as a character.

“It’s very restrained," says Mark. "Paddington is a British character and you’ve got to be able to see his character and his soul in his eyes. The subtlety of the performance that the animation team brought, shepherded by Pablo [Grillo, animation director], and with Ben Whishaw’s brilliant performance, was really incredible to see and be involved with."

Mark explains how a sequence towards the end of the film where Paddington is wrestling with what he wants to do with his future and identity is the standout scene that brings everything together. “Seeing him wrestle with that with just his facial expressions is really amazing and it’s testament to the animation team and all of the asset team that built the rig and the facial shapes and enabled all of that,” reflects Mark.

Do you Framestore's work on Paddington in Peru? What part of the VFX work impressed you the most? Let us know in the comments below.