Happy Feet

I was the Lighting Supervisor on Happy Feet, Animal Logic’s first animated feature. I worked with George Miller and the wider production team to develop the visual approach for an enormously ambitious film - and it was an incredible opportunity to help define how a new Australian animation studio could make a feature sing.

We combined character performance, motion capture, virtual landscapes, underwater chases, snow, crowds, and constantly changing skies. The team developed a mix of proprietary software and production techniques to achieve fluffy penguin fur, snow kicks, water, and the art-directed reality of a huge penguin population.

Lighting was central to the film’s cinematography. Working with George Miller and the wider creative team, I helped establish the colour, contrast, and atmosphere for different environments and sequences, from the Antarctic landscape to underwater action and the musical performances. The lighting had to carry the mood of each scene and direct attention to the performances without losing the scale of the world.