The talented animation and compositing team at Iloura have been nominated for a VES award in the Outstanding Animated Character in a Live Action Motion Picture for its work creating "Wilbur" in Paramount's Charlotte's Web.
Winners will be announced at the 5th Annual VES Awards gala on 11 February in Hollywood. The Iloura animation team responsible for the creation of Wilbur includes Grant Adam, Daniel Fotheringham, Avi Goodman and Paul Buckley.
Iloura completed over 57 shots for Charlotte's Web. The team built four 3D pigs to cover the Wilbur character over the 12 months that the story unfolds. Four stages of the pig's development were identified in this time, from baby through to a full-grown pig. Not only did Iloura cater for the four development stages, but in each phase Wilbur was played not just by one pig but by several pigs, as at the rate they grow production needed to keep cycling baby pigs through the phases for the duration of the shoot (4 months). For Iloura this meant that there was no one pig that could absolutely personify Wilbur. The pig built in 3D had to be able to be matched to whatever pig happened to be shot in the same scene. Iloura's models then had to have a degree of flexibility with snout shapes modified depending on the pig of the moment.
R&D and animation work commenced in March of 2005 with final shots being delivered in July 2006.
