Another pride for the Philippines - Cebu-born animator Galen Tan Chu co-directs the latest installment on one of the most popular animated movie franchises, Ice Age.
Chu, who has been mainly on the screenwriting and animation departments of precedent Ice Age movies, co-directed with Mike Thurmeier the fifth Ice Age installment Ice Age: Collision Course.
“It’s a really phenomenal experience,” Chu said referring to experience working in Ice Age franchises. “You get to be involved in the process – writing, the creation of the animation, the story of the movie. It’s really great to be able to have that much creative input in the process.”
The director added that the latest Ice Age movie is the biggest one yet, drawing inspiration from a scene from the first movie in the series.
“There was a moment in the first Ice Age where they walk past an ice museum, and they come upon a spaceship that’s encased in ice. And so at the beginning of this movie, Scrat’s going to find that very same ship,” Chu added.
Scrat is the the saber-toothed squirrel often causing cataclysmic events that lead to adventures of the main characters.
The animator said that animation has always been his passion and is thankful that his parents were supportive in his decision to pursue it.
“I decided to go into art school, thinking I would be a 2D animator. This was right around the time when they were able to make full-feature animation films like Toy Story or Jurassic Park,” he explained.
Chu immediately started looking for a job after graduation and luckily at the time, Blue Sky Studios, the film producer, was searching for animators.
“So they hired me, knowing that I don’t really have that much computer animation experience,” he said. “But it didn’t really matter because as long as you know how to animate, it’s kind of the same thing.”
Chu said he keeps in touch with his relatives and talks to them regularly. Unfortunately, he won’t be able to visit anytime soon.
Chu also worked in the animation department of other animated movies like Horto Hears a Who! and Rio.
Photo: The People's Movies
Source: CNN Philippines
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