Dear Coco: What Did It Take To Make Oscar Winning Animated Films?

The great grand Oscars ceremony was over, but the gaga isn’t. There are twenty-four categories that the Academy would present the awards but animated films are always our cup of tea. And here, have some interesting things about the winners, Dear Basketball, and Coco.

Dear Basketball

Kobe Bryant – a legendary Basketball player representing the Los Angeles Lakers for twenty long years. To his credit, Kobe has five NBA championships and many accolades. And of late, he won another grand title and we should now be calling him ‘Oscar-winning’.

While he was declaring his retirement from his career, Kobe wrote a letter to The Players’ Tribune in which he confessed his love for the game. In that letter, he shared everything he had for basketball since his childhood, when he used to throw the rolled up socks into the garbage can, to the long and bright career.

Later, renowned character animator Glen Keane would make an animated short film out of this letter with a voice over by Kobe himself. Dear Basketball, the short film that excited the fans of Kobe and basketball lovers across the world was first screened in the Tribeca Film Festival on April 23, 2017. The simple 2D animated short film won the hearts of millions and the members of the Academy, to win the golden statuette to be the Best Animated Short film. Yet again, Kobe created history as the first athlete to win Academy awards

“It’s a message for all of us. Whatever form your dream may take, it’s through passion and perseverance that the impossible is possible.” – Glen said in his acceptance speech, reckoning the achievements of Bryant as a basketball player.

How he got the idea to write the letter and to make a film out of it?

Read it in Kobe’s own words- “Once I made up my mind that I was going to retire, I had to think of how I was going to announce it. What I really wanted to do is, to speak to the game itself. The idea is very simple. How do we take this story and turn it into something that can hopefully inspire.”

Coco

Lee Unkrich’s second film as a director, Coco, collected $750 million across the world and stood as one of the highest grossing animated films of 2017. Business figures apart, it won several prestigious awards in various categories that include 11 Annie Awards for the year. And later, it would bag the biggest – Academy Award for Best Animated Feature.

“With ‘Coco,’ we tried to take a step forward toward a world where all children can grow up seeing characters in movies that look and talk and live like they do. Marginalized people deserve to feel like they belong. Representation matters”, Lee said while receiving the award along with Darla K Anderson and cast & crew.

When his first directorial, Toy Story 3, was released, Lee Unkrich pitched the story of Coco. Though they thought of creating Miguel as an American boy, the director later wanted it to be Mexican. Japanese animator Hayao Miyazaki, co-founder of Studio Ghibli, made several popular animes like Spirited Away, John Wick, and Howl’s Moving Castle. Our Coco too got some inspiration from these films.

The man behind the complex verticals of the Land of the Dead, Harley Jessup, told in an interview to the Mirror, “The vertical layout, nighttime setting and water base proved a brilliant canvas for the palette, When Miguel arrives in this fantastical new world, we wanted it to be a vibrant explosion of color.

“For the Land of the Dead, Lee [Unkrich, the director] described a vertical world of towers, contrasting with the flatness of Santa Cecilia. The lights and reflections are dazzling and there’s a crazy transportation system that connects it all.”

Besides winning the best feature film award, Coco also features an Oscar-winning song by Benjamin Bratt, Remember Me. Lee says, “Every bit of music that’s performed on screen is authentic. We videotaped musicians playing each song or melody and strapped GoPros on their guitars so we could give the animators tons of reference footage for how their fingers move and play.”

Pixar also released a video showing how they created the interesting characters like Dante, the dog accompanies Miguel and the frequent visits of the team to Mexico. Here, you can watch it for yourself:

Both the movies tell us one thing – passion is the driving force. The makers of Coco gave all their all to make it the best-animated feature of the year, probably one of all time. On the other hand, the life of Kobe itself is a great motivation for all who want to be achievers. If you haven’t watched the films yet, come on guys, don’t be late!