julia donaldson books the snail and the whale

Since neither characters have arms and legs, the emotion was relayed in their face. Both Lang and Snaddon watched a lot of animal documentaries to get the emotion right between the characters. Of course, that didn’t come without challenges. It’s an emotional moment, and Snaddon’s key to making it land was ensuring “we were creating a moment that would feel completely at home amongst the illustrations of the original book, and so our approach here was much more painterly and illustrative than realistic.” Scrimgeour says, “Through its simplicity, it is regarded as one of the most profound moments in the film.” Not only was the color palette limited, but the lighting was also subdued and the only physical set was the ocean. “That, in turn, made her internal journey powerful,” says Snaddon.Īrt director Sarah Scrimgeour says technically the shot was not a difficult one to animate. Upon realizing that, the snail’s animation in subsequent shots was changed to show a change in perspective. “This is the moment that it hits home for Snail that the universe is endless and that she is even smaller than she thought.” Snaddon adds that the idea behind the shot was to show moments where the snail is experiencing the beauty of the universe, but as the animation team were working on the rendering of the show and working with the film’s lighting, it became about something bigger.

Julia donaldson books the snail and the whale