by Alison L. Roberts

General Hein.

Part 2:
Interview with Andy Jones, animation director for Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within.

[ROBERTS]: Where there any films, etc., that influenced/inspired your work on Final Fantasy?

[JONES]: I'm a pretty big anime fan and a bigger sci fi fan, and the fact this was a combination of both definitely inspired my work in the film. One of my favorites is Ghost in the Shell. It is more of an adult film, and I liked the idea of doing that sort of film.

[ROBERTS]: What did your team do differently compared to those working on Dinosaurs or Jurassic Park? (I've read several articles that focused on how they built the creatures from a skeleton and out. What did your team do differently?)

[JONES]: The idea is to ultimately make the outer skin look right. As long as you can get to the end. . . and the exterior was correct, then you achieved your goal. Building the elaborate musculature system meant that if something was to fall short, it couldn't be changed. We took a more artistic approach that allowed us to change what needed to be changed.

[ROBERTS]: Where you involved with "The Gray Project"? When was that done? What was done differently between that and Final Fantasy? [Ed. note: "The Gray Project" was an early attempt at motion picture-style animation.]

[ROBERTS]: "The Gray Project" was done in mid-1998, right before I got here in August '98. It was kind of what got me to come here. I saw the potential of it and thought it could be pretty cool. [From there] it was kind of an evolutionary process, like all of the characters. For example, we developed facial animation alone for the skin around the eyes. We just kept pushing for what made the skin look real — there are hairs on the skin, like peach fuzz, but it catches light, and getting the skin to react was an important detail. If you have light on a character's face and bring it around into the shadow, red light comes out showing their blood vessels. It was very important to make it feel organic. Once those details were all discovered and put in place, it started looking better.

[ROBERTS]: What is the next step in animation? What will it take to get there? (I know it's a very speculative question. . .)

[JONES]: I'm not sure. We're trying to create a new style. Where that could take us, I'm not sure. I'm sure others will come out with realistically animated humans. I'm looking forward to more comic book-style films, developing a more artistic style. . . I think you could make a really good Batman this way.

[ROBERTS]: Like the difference between comic strip style and a really detailed graphic novel?

[JONES]: I think [it] could make an interesting film like Kingdom Come*, with that kind of dramatic lighting. . . faces and characters.

* A fan-favorite featuring heroes and villains from the DC Comics universe, such as Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman. (Think Batman, a la The Dark Knight.)

Special thanks to Andy Jones and Yumi from Square USA for taking time out to talk with "another person who has a web site" and to Karen Penhale for arranging the interview.