Interview - Pete’s Dragon : Let's Jared Krichevsky

By Mulder, Los Angeles, 22 august 2016

Q: Hello, we have a lot of questions about your work on the David Lowery’s film Pete’s Dragon. Can you tell us if you knew the original film from Don Chaffey before working on this project? What are your thoughts on the original movie?

Jared Krichevsky: I was familiar with the movie growing up, but I was really too young to appreciate it. My sister grew up watching it and so she was more fond of the original movie . My recollection of the movie was very minimal, so I had to watch it again to remember what it was about. With any project I always do a lot of research beforehand, which includes watching the original movies, looking for any history on the project that may exist, collecting any scientific data if that stuff exists. This is especially helpful with a reboot or a remake, because I feel it's important to understand the source of what you're working on. So I watched the original 1977 version of Pete's Dragon again for research, and watching it today it does feel very dated and some of the plot itself is very bizarre, including the redneck cannibals that sing a whole song about wanting to boil Pete in a stew and own him as a slave. So that was really bizarre for me, but I really did love Elliot the Dragon and his interaction with Pete. The dragon himself had so much personality and was beautifully animated so I ended up trying to take a lot of character from the original and try and integrate that into the new version.

Q: How was working with David Lowery on the concept design for Elliott The Dragon ?

Jared Krichevsky: Working with David was a really excellent experience, and he's really the kind of director that you want to work with because he was very open to learning about the process and seeing it for himself. He had a very clear vision of what he wanted, and even though I only worked with him in person for about a day I was able to see his vision and really got caught up in the story. Having seen the movie now it was everything that I expected and hoped that it would be, a very beautiful soft-spoken tale about a boy and his dragon. I look forward to seeing more films from David in the future.

Q: What were the main difficulties that you encountered while working on the design of the dragon?

Jared Krichevsky: I think it was mainly about finding the character, because he had to express a lot of warmth and personality about him, but he also had to be wise, playful, and nurturing. I think there were a few versions that I did where I was on the right track but just didn't hit the mark yet. But when I got through that phase I got the note that I should honor the original design and bring in more elements of that into the real world. Which was really about looking at the original design and trying to add more anatomy from real world animals to help make it more believable. The colors couldn't be too outrageous which is why we got rid of the pinks and colored hair that were in the original. He had to look as if he could blend into the forest, as if you were looking for him and he was right in front of you but you wouldn't even notice. But there are still or lots of ways to honor the original design, for example the big round belly or the spikes which we turned into cobblestones, the low-slung under bite with the chipped tooth. In the cartoon the wings were really tiny, which is fine for an animated dragon but in the real world with real physics we had to scale up the wings to support the weight of a creature that size.

Q: What were your sources of inspiration while working on the concept and design of the dragon?

Jared Krichevsky: First you have to look at what a Dragon is, one book that was very influential for me as a child was "The Book of the Dragon" by Ciruelo Cabral. The book was packed with so many images of what we think of Dragons today. But the first words I heard from my art director was that it was going to be a mammal, which I thought was a really unique and something we haven't seen before. So I looked at a lot of large mammals like Elephants and Rhinos, but also bears and wolves because they could project a lot of warmth, and so some of the versions I did reflected that. After doing a lot of research there weren't a whole lot of very furry dragons in mythology. Asian dragons have beards or manes and sometimes they have fur going down the mid line of the back. There aren't a whole lot of movie or TV dragons with fur, so the main go-to for that was Falcor the luck dragon from The Never Ending Story, but even Falcor had scales on his underbelly. There are Chimeras, but they're a combination of many animals, so I don't think that really counts as a Dragon. So we were truly thinking about something new, and from reading the comments from people when the trailer came out, a lot of people didn't think a dragon should have fur, and there are still some people who think that. Hopefully seeing the movie changed their minds. Besides, dragons aren't real, they can look however we want them too!

Q: Before working on the concept design for this dragon, had you already worked on other dragons ? What do you like and dislike about the design process?

Jared Krichevsky: I had worked on a few dragons here and there, but definitely nothing as big as Elliot! Normally dragons tend to be difficult because of dealing with all the wings and scales that can sometimes be a hassle, and then the challenge of doing a dragon that people haven't already seen a thousand times. Game of Thrones, and Harry Potter already had a lot of really iconic dragons, and "Reign of Fire" has some of the best dragons that have appeared on screen. So I knew making Elliot different was going to be a challenge. I think the design process can be rather emotional if you're not prepared for it. You're trying to please a lot of people who are applying pressure to get something done, and you try to do your best to give them something new and is not the same tired trope, and that can be really hard. Some days it really feels like everything's already been done before. Some days you feel like you're on top of the world and other days you're scraping the bottomless pits of personal despair, so no one really prepares you for that kind of stuff and so it becomes important to learn to manage your emotions and your expectations. It's also difficult when the client doesn't know what they really want, you can give them what you think is cool, but if they're not sure what they're looking for and they waffle back and forth on various ideas it can certainly test your patience. But each client is different and each design journey is different and I think that's what makes it so fun and unique, each job is it's own mountain to conquer, sometimes it's easy, and some times it's very very difficult. There's also some trepidation when a project comes out because you don't know how your design will change in translation to the big screen. When you do see your design on screen though (after a 2-3 year wait!), there is no feeling like it in the world.

Q: Elliott is a giant dragon and completely different from the one we knew from the original film. He is more realistic and his design gives this film a strong force. What are your feelings about the work of Weta from your concept design ?

Jared Krichevsky: I'm really glad you think Elliot is a strong force, I thought so as well. All of that credit rightly belongs to Weta VFX for bringing Elliot to life. In design all you can really do is determine a look of the creature, but the animation and feel to Elliot really give him heart and soul. You care for him, and that's because of the brilliant work of so many creative and talented people. Because without it people don't have a connection, but so many of my friends and family told me they wept through the movie because they could identify with Elliot, he captured their hearts, and that's an incredibly difficult thing to do. Seeing the movie made people want to rush home and hug their pets because of all the little pet "isms" and touches they put into the movie. To me, being trained in VFX, I understand how difficult the task of creating a digital character can really be, and then getting that character to really sit in every scene and feel as though it's right in front of you, people sometimes think we're just pushing buttons, as if there's some magical "make dragon" button, but there's so much more then that. There were many scenes where I would gush over the lighting, or the textures of his eye lids or lips, or appreciate the weight of his paws as they hit the ground. I absolutely loved his clumsy air paddling as he would swim through the sky, or little things like his ear twitches and snorts. It really was stunning work that they put in, I read that it took them somewhere around 18 months to build him and that rendering his fur took 2 days a frame. That's truly extraordinary on every technical level, and it really showed. That's why we do it, is to create that emotional connection. So to say the least I was floored by the heart and soul Weta put into him.

Q: Which software do you use for your design work (zbrush or another?) and do you use the same software on each project or does it depend on the concept design needed?

Jared Krichevsky: Mostly I use the big three, which are Zbrush, Keyshot, and Photoshop for all of my design needs. I find that getting bogged down in too many programs can muddy your process and decrease your speed, if you can do more with less than all the better. It also helps to understand that besides a few key differences, most programs speak a very similar language and they each have their own quirks. But I've been using this same process for the last six years and I've learned is though the process will stay the same, YOU will change, your thoughts will change, your influences will change, and that as you age your tastes will change, but the process will still be the same. You have to be willing to grow with your art and not try to force it out of you. Train your mind and exercise discipline in your process, expunge any negative traits that might hold your work back like self-defeat, distraction, or laziness.

Q: Tell us about your work for ASC studio?

Jared Krichevsky: Well I've worked for Aaron Sims since I managed to get an internship with him while attending school at Gnomon, so combined that stacks up to about 7 and a half years of design and VFX. As I was learning I did a little bit of everything, from rigging to animation and lighting. It was a very exploratory process, and when I finally settled on design is when I started to focus in on what I really wanted. Overall it's a very fun and relaxed sort of environment with a lot of very talented, highly creative, and very funny group of people. The best part of the job is really getting to joke around with my colleagues. We all have a pretty warped sense of humor, and so making each other laugh is probably the best part of the day. Sometimes when you have a stressful project it helps to relieve the pressure with humor. Other then that it's a very chill kind of place to work. Aaron has a lot of knowledge from his 30+ years of film experience and so we get a lot of his wisdom. He has a very unique, creative perspective and he always continues to surprise with his ideas, so I've been very fortunate to get to do this for as long as I have and to learn from the man. The best part is obviously getting to design, create, and talk monsters all day, it really does seem like a dream at times. For me, sitting down and getting into the creative zone can be a very zen like and meditative process and time just flys on by. I think we've estimated that I've worked on over a hundred projects in my time there and I couldn't believe it when they told me that, I was like, "No way, that's not possible". But it's what happens when you love what you do. Now as a creature and character supervisor I have the opportunity to train and advise new artists in the ways of the monster, when your friends start nailing big characters, it's really rewarding to see them grow. Some people can be threatened by new talent, but I think it helps push you and forces you to grow in your own work, there's a lot that we can learn from each other.

Q: What are your favorite Disney movies and why ?

Jared Krichevsky: Growing up in the 90's was to grow up during the hey day of some of Disney's best animated projects, and I watched them all. Since I thought I might go into animation when I was a kid I spent a lot of time drawing the Disney characters, I remember very clearly that my first drawing was Sebastian from The Little Mermaid, my parents were so proud that I drew it that they made copies and hung them up all around my Dad's medical practice. That was the first time that I learned that making art can get you attention. My favorite Disney movies however are Aladdin and The Lion King, because the songs and the music were so amazing and catchy, top that with the best animation and characters and I was hooked. In a very close 3rd and 4th are Beauty and the Beast and The Little Mermaid. All very stellar animated projects. I now have a new favorite in Pete's Dragon, but I suppose I'm a little biased about that one.

Q: Can you tell us about some of the projects you are currently working on and some of the projects you expect to start soon?

Jared Krichevsky: I cannot comment on any current projects that I'm working on but I am very excited to have worked on Steven Spielberg's "Ready Player One", having read the book it was a blast to be able to take part in that world, I also think it really has a poignant message about the power of technology and how it can consume us. I also worked on the reboot of Stephen King's "IT" doing makeup designs for Pennywise, so it's very exciting to be a part of that, since I love the horror genre the most and getting to be a part of that messed up world was very appealing to me. I'm very excited to see how these two, very different movies turn out

With All our thanks to Jared Krichevskyfor answering to our questions and a special Thank to Chase

Special thanks to the entire 'Aaron Sims Creative' team who collaborated on the process.

Pics: Aaron Sims Creative

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