Though it's the actors' voices that
personify the characters, the animators also play
a vital part in bringing those characters to
life. "In a way, there is an ensemble of
`actors' for each role-one doing the voice and
several more doing the animation. You actually
cast your animators, and direct their
`performances' in much the same way as you do
your voice talent," says Wells.
Dave Brewster, supervising animator for
Older Rameses and the Queen, agrees. "Animators
are just frustrated actors who are too scared to
act in front of the camera, so they act with a
pencil."
Just as actors have different techniques, so
do animators. Fabio Lignini, the supervising
animator for Aaron, notes, "Some of us close our
doors and act out the scenes before we even start
drawing. I also went to the recording sessions,
which was very helpful because Jeff Goldblum has
very specific mannerisms and gestures."
In addition, the actors are videotaped as they
record their lines, and the animators often use
this as a reference. Rodolphe Guenoden, the
supervising animator on the character of
Tzipporah, illustrates, "Michelle Pfeiffer has a
certain spontaneity; she just went to the mike
and, bang, the scene was there. I tried to get
that same spontaneity in her character."
Bob Scott, the supervising animator on Miriam,
adds that sometimes the voice alone is enough to
inspire him. "There is a distinctly sweet
quality to Sandra Bullock's voice. It really
adds to her character, and made it easier to
animate Miriam."
Traditional hand-drawn animation has seen
some refinements over the years. Nevertheless,
the daunting task of creating tens of thousands
of pencil drawings to fill 24 frames per second
remains unchanged. Consequently, certain
characters must be split between two supervising
animators and their teams, as was the case with
Moses and Rameses.
William Salazar was the supervising animator
on Younger Moses, who we first meet as a carefree
youth, but who is then confronted by a truth that
changes his entire life. "I think the most
difficult thing is to show emotion without
dialogue," Salazar says. "For example, there is
a scene that was animated by a member of our
team, James Baxter, in which Miriam is trying to
convince Moses that he is her brother, and she
sings their mother's lullaby to him. You can see
the panic in Moses' eyes when he realizes he has
heard this song before; you know he remembers
without his speaking a word."
The supervising animator on Older Moses was
Kristof Serrand. The younger version of his
character had already been conceived, so Serrand
had the advantage of not starting from scratch.
He first had to match his drawing of Moses to
that of William Salazar and then age him
appropriately. He adds, "The other challenge was
to keep the character real. Moses is an
impressive man, but if you're so impressed by the
character, it becomes too intimidating and you
can't do anything. I had to think of him as a
normal person, someone I could meet somewhere."
Serrand also served as the supervising
animator on Pharaoh Seti, who, he says, he "tried
to portray as a father rather than just as a
ruler. That made him more human and more
interesting."
The role of Rameses was also divided, with
Dave Brewster supervising Older Rameses, and
Serguei Kouchnerov handling the younger
incarnation of the Egyptian prince. For
inspiration, Kouchnerov studied ancient Egyptian
art, in addition to the performance of Ralph
Fiennes. Also the supervising animator for baby
Moses, Kouchnerov had a more personal inspiration
for this character-his own three-month-old baby
daughter.
Patrick Mate had a special appreciation for
his work as the supervising animator on the
magician team of Hotep and Huy, being a fan of
their alter egos Steve Martin and Martin Short.
"I had a lot of fun with the movement and the
choreography of the characters. They are always
together, so it was much better to have one
animator supervising both of them," Mate says.
The supervising animator for the role of
Jethro, Gary Perkovac, was also incorporating the
work of two actors, but for only one role.
"Danny Glover and Brian Stokes Mitchell brought
things in common to Jethro that I tried to draw
from," Perkovac says. "They both have very kind
eyes and both gave incredible energy and joy to
their performances."
A large portion of the animators, as well as other members of the production team,
were alumni of Steven Spielberg's London-based Amblimation and had come from all
over the globe. "It brought an international feel to the picture, and made it
more interesting to direct.as long as you could speak 20 different languages,"
Steve Hickner laughs.
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