SnitchSeeker.com - 'Fantastic Beasts' animation director discusses designing Credence's Obscurus to life

Asa part of promotion of the DVD and Blu-ray release of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them early next week, the film's animation director Pablo Grillo discussed how he brought the enigmatic black mass of Credence Barebone's Obscurus to life through visual effects.

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Quote:

Pablo Grillo: "Probably the most challenging creature was the Obscurus, although whether it's a creature or not is a difficult question. It's a sort of beast that's the embodiment of the twisted and repressed magic of Credence.

"It's one of those things where it's described as a black mass, a dark force, and it's very ambiguous. An ambiguous form, something shape-shifting, which could be any size but had to ultimately express inner rage, his fury, his confusion. To be able to express those things through such an ambiguous mass is a great challenge – it becomes a piece of expressionistic art rather than a conventional approach to animal psychology which you can physically anchor.

"It's very interesting and very challenging on a technical level as well as a creative one because you're dealing with a lot of simulations and FX that have to be controlled to be expressive, but are unruly because simulations do their own thing. So finding the right result, the right layers to use to get that right is a big old challenge."

Grillo also discussed the digital creation of several other magical creatures, including the Niffler, Bowtruckle, Thunderbird, Occamy, Demiguise, and even a couple of animals left out of the movie, like the Lethifold and Kappa (the latter referenced in the Harry Potter book series) - all of which can be read at the source.

Pre-order J.K. Rowling's Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, out March 28th, in the following formats now:

• Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (Amazon Exclusive) (Niffler Figurine/Blu-ray + DVD + Digital HD UltraViolet Combo Pack)
• Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (Blu-ray + DVD + Digital HD UltraViolet Combo Pack)