Digital production company BobbyHouston and creative house Feiner Arts created an incredible piece of animation for the 2010 Gotenborg International Film Festival at the start of the year. Dragon is a special short produced as an intro and played before each and every film screened at the festival. After a total of approximately 800 plays, it received a great deal of attention and was appreciated by the GIFF crowds.

Dragon is a collaboration between BobbyHouston, Feiner Arts and festivals agency SCP. The idea grew from the GIFF logo which is a full-grown dragon, and was inspired by the 1960 fetus photos created by the famous Swedish photographer Lennart Nilsson. ‘In the beginning of the film we wanted to get a nice underwater feeling, with anemones and corals. When we first get a glimpse of the fetus the feeling should be that it is a human and the surprise comes when we show the wings and the whole dragon’ explained BobbyHouston animator Richard Blank.

The dragon and organic structures were conceptualized and modelled by Feiner Arts, with the first challenge to design the dragon fetus within its surroundings. The team used different animal fetuses, including crocodiles and birds, for reference. It was essential that the fetus appeared believable and not plastic or artificial, so the animators worked hard to create a sound sub surface scattering, while keeping the render time down. Depth of field was also important to ensure a macro feeling to the piece.  Z-Brush and 3D Max were used for modelling, all animation was created in Maya; rendering was produced using V-Ray, compositing with Nuke.

About BobbyHouston BobbyHouston is a digital production company that helps leading brands and agencies to develop and visualize communication ideas for film and interactive media. BobbyHouston consists of designers, directors, artists and producers with a strong focus on motion media.

About Feiner Arts Feiner Arts specializes in visual cross-solutions, ranging from 3D and image editing, to illustration, photography and design. Feiner Arts is based in Gothenburg, Sweden.

About Goteborg International Film Festival GIFF is the biggest film festival in Scandinavia, and with audience figures of over 200,000 each year, is one of the largest events in the annual festival calendar. GIFF offers a film and seminar programming alongside concerts, performances and parties; and encourages new talent with two exciting international competitions: The Dragon Award and The Ingmar Bergman International Debut Award.