Arte del Frederico: October 2010

Monday, October 18, 2010

"Tom & Jerry Meet Sherlock Holmes"

In 2009, I had the pleasure to work at Warner Bros (again) on a new Tom & Jerry project. This "direct to dvd" feature was directed by an old friend, Jeff Siergey. I had worked with Jeff on many projects over the years, from Tiny Toons and Animaniacs to Space Jam. Spike Brandt (another old friend from WB) would produce and serve as creative consultant on the film. I was brought in to Production Design the "Tom & Jerry Meet Sherlock Holmes" (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1722638/) and deliver a look that was inspired by the old MGM Tom & Jerry shorts of the 1940s, in particular... "Dr Jeckle and Mr. Mouse" (1947) and "Mouse In Manhattan" (1945). In my opinion, these two episodes represent the best of the series and we arguably the MOST memorable.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1722638/

No coincidence that this project was being developed at the same time Guy Ritchie's, "Sherlock Holmes" was being filmed with Robert Downey Jr and Jude Law. As images of this exciting new film were being released, our crew was surprised at the similarities of the two productions and their content. I initially thought of setting the film in the earlier years of Homes' investigative work, 1880-85... but seeing the set pieces from the Ritchie movie caused me to rethink the period and include a version of the London Tower Bridge under construction. This would place the two films in the same world. That would be just the beginning of references to the Holmes world of film and literature. I tried to include a reference to Tom & Jerry or Sherlock Holmes in almost every design. At this point, the Production Design took on a life of it's own.

The project started out with me being the Production Designer as well as the sole Background Designer, Layout Artist and Prop Designer. It quickly became apparent that I had more work than I was able to finish in my 6-8 months of production.

The first 2 months were spent designing and laying out every background for the first few sequences. As time passed, I focused on key establishing shots and major prop designs. By the end of production, I was roughing out designs for animators to work on and designing larger set pieces that set the period and location of the film (1890 London).