Tuesday, May 31, 2011

Extra News - Latina animator on a roll with ‘Kung Fu Panda 2’

Extra News - Latina animator on a roll with ‘Kung Fu Panda 2’

Check out another interview with me about Panda 2. This one's in English so most of you guys can read it. Cheers and if you haven't already, go see PANDA 2!!


Latina animator Rebecca Perez on a roll with ‘Kung Fu Panda 2’
by Kiko Martínez | trad. Víctor Flores

Working as an animator for DreamWorks Animation Studios since 2009, Rebecca Pérez has been part of the creative team known for making such well-received films as “Megamind” and the Oscar-nominated fantasy adventure “How to Train Your Dragon.”

In her third animated film with DreamWorks, Pérez, who has also worked as an animator during her four-year career with Walt Disney, Sony Pictures, and Twentieth Century Fox, takes on a new challenge in “Kung Fu Panda 2,” the sequel to the highly-entertaining 2008 animation about a chubby panda bear named Po (Jack Black) who learns a prophecy has identified him as the Dragon Warrior.

In the “Panda 2,” Po must lead the Furious Five – Tigress (Angelina Jolie), Monkey (Jackie Chan), Mantis (Seth Rogen), Viper (Lucy Liu) and Crane (David Cross) – to defeat a villainous peacock known as Lord Shen (Gary Oldman). Along with showing off his martial arts prowess, Po is given the opportunity find out more about his family roots.

During an interview with EXTRA, Pérez, who is Cuban-American, talked about the character she grew most attached to in “Kung Fu Panda 2” and the moment in her life when she knew she wanted to be an animator.


EXTRA: What was your specific role as an animator on “Kung Fu Panda 2?”

Rebecca Pérez: I had the opportunity to work on most of the characters – Tigress and the rest of the five [main characters] as well as some of the others like the sheep.

Is it easy to get attached to these characters after working on them for so long?

You definitely get attached especially if you get to work on one particular character more than the others. I actually got attached to the sheep character, which is interesting because I don’t
think she even has a name.

What was it about the character that you liked so much?

I think it was because I just got to work with her so much. The majority of her scenes were all my shots. I also felt for her because she has so much innocence. There was a lot of emotion in her character.

What kinds of cartoons did you grow up watching as a kid?

I watched all sorts of Saturday morning cartoons like “The Smurfs.” I really like the short animations that were funny and whimsical.

Did you watch cartoons like any other kid would or did you feel there was more to them on an artistic level?

I don’t think it was until later in life when I saw “The Little Mermaid” when I realized there was more to it like storytelling and performance. I knew right away I wanted to be part of that.

So, was that the moment you knew you wanted to be an animator?

Actually, the point in my life where I knew that was when I saw an animated TV commercial for Listerine that I would later find out was made by Pixar before they were know for making films. When I saw it at the time, I wasn’t even sure what I was looking at. When I saw that animated bottle of mouthwash it transformed animation into something I had never seen before. I wanted to know how they did it.

What does it feel like when you finally get to see all your hard work as a final product on the big screen?

It’s very moving especially when you have kids around you laughing. Seeing it with an audience is so refreshing. It definitely
enriches the whole experience.

Wednesday, May 25, 2011

Jennifer Yuh Nelson breaks new ground

Jennifer Yuh Nelson breaks new ground
There aren't very many women in the field of Animation and even less who've held the title of Director. Here's a great article about Jenn Yuh Nelson our Director on Kung Fu Panda. She really has been one of the best directors I've worked with. Although gender plays it's roll in who and what we become in life, at least as far as society tells us. Jenn (as a person and individual) is a fantastic Director always taking our work and adding her insight to make it better. Thank you Jenn for letting me be a part of such a fantastic film and team.

Monday, May 23, 2011

AOL Latino.

Here's a cool little online interview for AOL Latino. For those who don't understand Spanish, the interview is about Latino's working as artists in the Animation Industry and in this case at DreamWorks on Kung Fu Panda 2.

Here's the full AOL Latino Online article


Sabía usted que Dreamworks recluta talento de creadores latinos para sus películas?
Cuando pensamos o hablamos de artistas, nos imaginamos un Picasso, Monet o talvez un Van Gogh. Pero, y que de los procreadores del Panda Kung Fu? Aunque parezca un poco divertido, este tipo de arte animado ha fundado una nueva generación de creadores de películas. Particularmente en países latinoamericanos donde los artistas talentosos son reclutados para trabajar en los estudios de Dreamworks.

Alberto Corral, Manuel Almela, Manuel Aparicio, Sean Eckols y Rebecca Pérez han sido incluidos como parte de la nueva ola de artistas latinos. Cada uno tiene su propia historia en particular, pero el tema primordial que tienen en común, es que si tienes el talento, tú lo puedes hacer.


Video producido por Carlos M. De La Vega

Aunque suene bastante simple, ustedes escucharan en el video que la perseverancia, juega un papel muy importante en el desarrollo de este talento. Especialmente, si vives en un país deficiente de escuelas especializadas a enseñar este tipo de arte.

Así que, si tu ere padre de un niño/niña que desea ser artista y crees que esto sería muy difícil de lograr, piensa de nuevo. Este sendero ya está establecido, solo se necesita un pequeño empuje para salir adelante.

Ali Villavicencio Escritor AOL Noticias

Panda 2 Premiere & Cast and Crew Party

Like the title of this post states this past weekend we had our Crew screening on Panda 2. It was incredible. The studio rented out the Gibson Amphitheater at Universal to screen the film and then immediately after we had our Wrap Party on the Universal lot. I even got to see Jeffrey and take a picture. We were also treated with a surprise visit by Jack Black who thanked us all for our hard work, which, as he said, he would take full credit for in every interview. He's a very sweet fun guy and we could tell he was genuinely proud to be part of this film, as we all are.

Now, having seen the whole film completely finished I have to say, I'm soooo proud to have been a part of it. I would even go as far as to say that I found it to be even better than the first! And I'm a HUGE fan of the first film. There are tons of laughs, action, and heartfelt moments all over this film. There's something for the whole family. I've already seen the completed film twice and I can't wait to see it again this Friday.

On a side note, in addition to all the fun events with the screening, I also got to be a part of this films press marketing. They asked me to do some phone and on camera interviews for this coming week about my experience on the film. Hopefully I'll have more to report this week and maybe some links to video's that I can post here. The whole experience was extremely fun and exciting especially when I get to talk about such an amazing film.

Congratulations to Director Jen Yuh Nelson and the whole Kung Fu Panda 2 Team.

Friday, May 20, 2011

Dreamworks on The TODAY Show

The TODAY Show launches a new segment called "Give Me The Keys TODAY" And the goal is to pull back the curtain and see the behind the scenes in how different people and companies work. Today their segment is all about Dreamworks and what goes on in our studio. It's a pretty cool video, I recommend checking it out! A few of my coworkers and friends made it in the video even my foosball nemesis Adam Strick made it on camera (he's the one playing foos... lol) Congratulations to all the hard working folks who made the cut including my good friend Steve Meyer who animated the last couple of "Puss" shots in this clip.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Thursday, May 19, 2011

Welcome Back to ReBlog!

First and foremost I'd like to let everyone know that I'll be updating this blog in the next month or so. So please be patient and you happen to come across some broken links, please let me know.

In the meantime I just want to update folks on the latest news and happenings with me. I just wrapped up animation on Kung Fu Panda 2 and the film has come out beautifully. If you loved the first, like I did, then you'll be more than happy with the sequel. I had a chance to animate Po as well as the furious 5 on a sequence called "A city without Kung Fu". I'll give more details once the film has come out.

Until then check this awesome little treat video on the how we make all this magic happen at one of the worlds top 10 companies Dreamworks Animation!