Production designer Aidan Sugano and co-directors Nick Bruno and Troy Quane discuss the meticulous use of lighting, its intensity, and how it interacts with characters, to reinforce the emotional and psychological purposes of each shot in the critically acclaimed 3DCG feature, now streaming on Netflix.
Helping create the look of multiple character shapeshifts, whales falling through buildings, castle explosions, laser blasts, hovercraft chases and more, production designer Aidan Sugano had his work cut out for him in the 3DCG animated adaptation of ND Stevenson’s award-winning graphic novel, Nimona.
But amidst the beautiful, chaotic visuals of this feature film, now streaming on Netflix, Sugano says his “favorite frame from the entire movie” is one with no movement at all, when disgraced knight Ballister is rescued from his prison cell by shapeshifting ally Nimona; the shadows cast by the bars across his body as he stands in the open doorway symbolize the emotional imprisonment that remains of the judgments cast upon him.
“One of our artists came up with it and when he did, we were just like, ‘Holy shit. That is the most genius execution of this ever,’” says Sugano, known for his visual development on Ferdinand and character design on Spies in Disguise. “But honestly, the whole film has been like that. The way light interacts with our characters, the intensity, the amount, the quality, all of that was used to control and illustrate what was being said about the character’s relationship with acceptance at that specific moment. There are just too many easter eggs to list.”
Produced by Annapurna Animation with animation and visual effects from DNEG Animation, Nimona follows the redemptive journey of knight Ballister Boldheart (Riz Ahmed) framed for a murder he didn't commit. In this futuristic dystopian world, where technology has progressed, but society has stagnated into medieval classism, the only one who can help Ballister prove his innocence is Nimona (Chloë Grace Moretz), a mischievous teen who happens to be a creature who can transform her shape from a giant whale to a tiny armadillo. She’s also one of the “monsters” Ballister’s previously sworn to destroy in protection of the realm.
Creating a story that unpacks themes of perception, expectation, and acceptance in a way that both young and older audiences will understand and find entertaining is complicated. These topics, while common in a lot of preschool and adult media, are rarely tackled in a way that speaks to all age ranges, and it’s even rarer for them to be presented with the message that acceptance of others isn’t a requirement, but rather fair consideration.
“Nimona is about getting to know people for who they really are,” explains Nick Bruno, co-director with fellow Ice Age: Collision Course artist Troy Quane on Nimona. “That's the dignity that we all deserve. And I don't think we do that enough. I'm fine with you thinking I'm an asshole, as long as you come to that conclusion after you get to know me. You don't have to accept me. But I do want my fair share and not have somebody else tell you who I am.”
Both Nimona and Ballister are characters who have been judged without the chance of explanation, condemned without understanding, and labeled as monsters without much hope of redemption. And what they suffer from, on top of an unfair social structure, is a lack of inner self-assurance or self-acceptance. The journey to love oneself even when knowing that no one may ever accept you was a monstrous feat of story for Stevenson to squeeze into his comic. And everyone on Nimona’s film team knew the animated adaptation would be a feat.
But what’s magical about animation is its ability to infuse as many visual metaphors as possible, with color, shapes, textures, and, most prominently in this story, the use of light and shadow.
“By far, the biggest visual metaphor in our film was the use of light and shadow,” notes Sugano. “We meticulously designed both our lighting and cinematography to reinforce the emotional and psychological purposes of each shot.”
Bruno adds, “I always say, making movies is hard, and surrounding yourself with the right people is the ticket. Aidan did such a great job in the beginning of the movie with embracing the themes, embracing what it must be like to live in the shadows, when you know everybody else is out there in the light feeling free. He presented the idea that, for the whole movie, these characters would be in the shadows until they have those moments of being free. Our initial thought was, ‘Is that movie going to be too dark?’ But you have to go with your gut when you know it’s the right thing to do. And that’s why you need someone like Aiden, who can still make something so beautiful, and colorful within those shadows.”
Of course, in true Nimona fashion, rules are made to be broken and both light and shadow served a dichotomy of functions, not all being as clear-cut as light being good and shadow being bad.
“Light represented acceptance,” explains Sugano. “It could embrace a character, surround a character, hug a character. But it can also expose. When you’re in the light, that’s when you’re at your most visible and most vulnerable. We used it to divide characters and keep them separated. We also used it to give them a moment of connection and bring them together. Shadow represented the opposite. It was non-acceptance and concealment, and we used it to drive our characters into hiding and force them to suppress their true selves to the point where we could use it literally to keep them imprisoned.”
Quane adds, “There’s a moment when Nimona shapeshifts in front of a young Gloreth, a legendary figure in our film, for the first time, to get an apple and hand it back to her. As Nimona is handing over this apple, Gloreth does this little confidence check over her shoulder back to the village like, ‘What will people say?’ and Nimona starts to pull that offering back into the shadows and Gloreth stops her. This animation style allows us to craft moments like that, where even if people don’t pick up on it intentionally, they will still feel it.”
Sugano also wanted shadow to provide safety for characters, using the darkness almost as a safe haven of concealment and a place to retreat to when they felt threatened.
“In Nimona’s moment of deepest pain and isolation, when she feels like there is no hope, she becomes an actual creature of shadow,” says Sugano. “She becomes a creature whose very essence consumes light, until she’s finally seen, and then she becomes light, she becomes acceptance, she becomes a literal sun that turns night into day.”
There was no limit to what light and shadow could be used for, as long as it clearly expressed the emotions and intentions of the scene.
“Animation is a visual poem,” says Sugano. “I think of it as, if live-action is prose, animation is poetry because you create everything in service of one idea. And so that, especially for this project, was really important.”
Animated with 2D stylings inspired by Sleeping Beauty’s Eyvind Earle and modern artist Charlie Harper, the team’s use of light and shadow is as abstract as the messages in the story and serves as an example of the best of what adaptations can be, when it’s not just about transforming a comic into a movie, but about diving deeper into the world, beyond the words written, and utilizing animation tools to present visuals that will spark conversation and understanding of these characters and the situations they are in.
“My kids were both teenagers at the time we were making this, and I was watching front row that journey of discovery and the challenge of, ‘Who am I? How do I fit in? Is anybody ever going to see who I am?’” says Quane. “You realize how big of a journey that is and it makes you remember back to yourself.”
Bruno adds, “No matter who you are or what you’re dealing with in life, you just really want to be seen for who you are. And then one day you grow up, and you have three kids, all under the same roof, all very different. I realized it's my job as a parent to celebrate them for who they are, because they don't know who they are. And I'm 42 years old, I'm gonna be 43 next week, and I hardly know who I am. The journey is to let them see for themselves and to find that and we do live in a world that doesn't always want it to be that way. And when you look at a kid, that's a horrible thing, to squash that imagination and that light of who they are.”
Even with all the intentional symbolism, Sugano encourages viewers to go on their own journey with the film. Much of the creative team, including Sugano, went through their own metamorphosis working on Nimona and the production designer believes everyone’s interpretation of what they see in the film will be different.
“Go in without any expectations, and then see what comes up,” he says. “And if you see any of those little easter eggs and you land on those, then hopefully some of them were consciously designed or maybe they were subconscious. It's the audience putting their own interpretation into this, which is another reason why this project is so cool.”
Victoria Davis is a full-time, freelance journalist and part-time Otaku with an affinity for all things anime. She's reported on numerous stories from activist news to entertainment. Find more about her work at victoriadavisdepiction.com.
