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You know them from Corpse Bride but Grangel Studio has been around for four decades already, doing both stop motion, CGI, and also traditional 2D animation. Here the head of the studio Carlos Grangel walks us through the Catalonian company's past, present, and even future.
"Hi friends, this is almost the end of day 2 at the San Diego Comic-Con in Málaga and I'm here joined by Carlos who is celebrating an anniversary, the 40th anniversary of Grangel Studio.
So congratulations on your anniversary."
"It all started with comics. We know you from animation mostly, but it all started with comics and you transitioned to animation. So what can you tell me about those origins?
Thank you for inviting me to this interview.
Yeah, we started as my brother and I, as an illustrator and comic strips artist."
"And then we made the evolution 5-6 years later, studying animation into animation.
And now you are a very well-known animation studio and one of your milestones and probably the best known of your works is Corpse Bride, which is also like an anniversary.
It's a round number, it's a 20 years old project."
"It's an amazing year with Grangel Studio's 40th anniversary and Corpse Bride's 20th anniversary.
So it's a year to celebrate that we've been together in the business of comic strips and animation for 40 years.
And then we finished Corpse Bride on 205, which is 20 years ago.
And it was presented in September at the Festival of Venice in Italy on 205."
"So it's a great anniversary for that film.
How much it meant to you as a studio and how did it change the way you worked with animation from that point on?
Well, it changed because we were more well-known.
But at that time we had done 9 films with DreamWorks, you know, and with Universal."
"And then with Munich Animation and other studios.
It was our first Warner Brothers made in England, obviously, in London.
But we had done with Warner Brothers a film for Germany called The Fearless Four around almost 10 years before that.
And anyway, long story short, it was our first feature film in a slow motion."
"And it made a big impact in the business and then for Grangella Studio.
Working with Mackenna and Saunders building the puppets and Mike Johnson as director, Tim Burton.
You've mentioned other projects that you've done in the past.
How do you work with such different genres?
Do you adapt to them all?
And how do you work with how stylized are your characters?
But then they are functional to your purpose."
"Yeah, I mean, for a designer, it really doesn't matter if you work for CG, for classic animation or for slow motion.
The characters, they have to be as well designed as you can and as best designed to serve the script.
Then there is an adaptation to the media.
So if it's a slow motion, you will be working with sculptures."
"If it's CG, you will be working with modelers, CGI modelers.
And if it's classic animation, you will be working with the supervising animators, the junior animators, the beginning animators.
But basically, you have to do the best designs possible for the film.
So it's more important the script than the technique of animation the studio is going to use."
"It doesn't have the impact, you know?
Exactly.
You mentioned three techniques, very different, and you also mentioned classical animation.
If I'm correct, you also work with Spirit, which is..."
"Yeah, classic animation.
Exactly.
Classic animation.
Prince of Egypt, classic animation.
So Spirit is a personal favorite of mine, and you work on the character design."
"And you were recognized for that project as well.
So as we are, you know, recollecting some memories from past projects, what can you tell me about that one?
About the approach, with such difficult, you know, horse character, and to be there and to be stellar.
Well, talking about incredible movies, Spirit and the Prince of Egypt were the most difficult movies to be made."
"At Grangell and at DreamWorks Pictures, because the Prince of Egypt was a massive movie, you know?
And then Spirit, the Stallion of the Cimarron.
It is just impossible to design a horse, because a horse is perfectly designed by nature, you know?
So nothing we could do was close as the real thing, you know?
So, and then, moving that horse and making expressions on the face, Spirit actually, to me, with, yeah, with the Prince of Egypt are the two hardest movies we worked on so far, till now."
"Different styles, with Mercy and the Corpse Bride, slightly similar to that one is Hotel Transylvania.
Is that your, I mean, the style you feel more comfortable in?
Yeah, that's my, if we go to that style more cartoony, more stylized, this is how I feel more, okay, that's my comfort zone, okay?
But I like to go out from the comfort zone and get challenged."
"And that's why sometimes we take movies that are not really into our comfort zone.
And it's when you really keep learning things, you know?
Because if you are always in your comfort zone, it's gonna be okay.
But if you go out and you suffer, and yeah, that's the word, suffer."
"But because we have the passion, we try to do our best in any style possible.
If we see that we cannot do it, we probably won't take the commitment.
But if we say, okay, that's challenging, then we take the commitment and we try to do it, you know?
All right, we've talked a lot about the past, let's talk a little bit about the present and the future."
"What, which current projects you can tell us you're working on right now?
Right now there are three projects.
One will fully be made in Catalonia, you know, in a studio in Barcelona.
There is another project will be done in Los Angeles."
"Obviously, we cannot leave Hollywood, they are not allowing us.
And for us, it's a way to keep working with big studios.
And there is a project that is gonna be done in Brazil and maybe stop motion.
So these are the three things that I can tell you."
"I cannot go deeply.
No details, no title.
I cannot disclose things.
But these three things, they're gonna keep us busy for the next three years."
"So we cannot think more ahead.
That's beautiful. You're gonna turn 43 at the very least.
43?
We wanted to celebrate 40th anniversary in case we don't arrive to 50th."
"Yeah, but we have a short work for the next three years.
Yeah, that's true.
Okay, and finally, you said, if I'm correct, as a mic dropper of your panel, you said that keep believing is something that you would advise young artists now."
"So as a way to wrap this interview up, what does it mean deeply to you?
You mentioned struggling and suffering.
Yeah, yeah, it means that I am not a genius, I am not an extraterrestrial, I am not an alien, so I am human."
"So if a human did it, anyone can do it.
Because just keep believing, just keep working, just keep putting your passion, your work, your time, all your senses to make you what it's fulfilling for you.
And if you're an artist, come on, go and demonstrate it."
"And it's going to take a while, fine, but keep believing.
Fantastic, I think this is the best way to wrap this.
So thank you so much for your time, Carlos.
Enjoy the San Diego Comic Con."
