THE ANGRY BIRDS MOVIE: WHY ARE THOSE BIRDS SO PISSED OFF?

Now that the movie has been playing a few weeks, I figure it's okay to post some boards.

I had SOOOOOOOO much fun working on this insane little story.  I have known one of the directors, Fergal Reilly for almost a decade, going back to when I spent time working at Sony.  Fergal asked if I had any availability to do some work on the film and of course I said yes!

It's always exciting and encouraging when someone as genuine and talented as Fergal has the opportunity to shine as a director and I'll be damned if I wasn't going to find a way to help him out.

I then got to meet and work with his friend and the other director on the film, Clay Kaytis, who like Fergal is just a really great person welling up with talent.  They are both, smart, collaborative, thoughtful and passionate.

What more can you hope for in a director(s)?!?!

So, the first of the 3 sequences I worked on for the guys and this was over 2 years before the film was released, was the big end battle, where the Angry Birds, now officially ticked off are launching their offensive on the Pig City for having stolen all the birds unhatched eggs to eat for dinner.

I'd never played the game, still haven't, but Fergal pitched me the story and then to my delight only handed me a rough beat outline for what they were looking to have happen.  Each of the main birds was to have their individual talent highlighted in their attack, plus the Pig Air Force was to be revealed as a last resort by the Pigs to stop the birds from getting back their eggs.

As a story artist, you relish these assignments, where story, dialogue and design are kind of left up to your imagination.  Lucky for me I have a bizarrely unhinged imagination so I went nuts.  When showing Fergal some initial really rough story beats, he encouraged me to go even crazier!  God, he's a good director.  (;^D

As with all films, things change.  The Pig King's son, Smooth Cheeks departed as did the little SpokesPig, who was to be the true power behind the throne.  So here you get to meet a couple of characters that ended up in cartoon purgatory on a hard drive somewhere.

Here is Part 1 of the end battle mayhem.