“I think it's because Po [from Kung Fu Panda] is such a geek, and he is so relatable. He is so excited by life and is excited to learn new things. I think that accessibility is something that we all can relate to, there are so many things we wish we could do but don't have the means to achieve it.” ThinkingMeanWishAchieveExcitedRelateNew ThingsGeekRelatableAccessibilityKung FuPandasKung Fu Panda Author:Jennifer Yuh Nelson
“Po's [Kung Fu Panda] unending enthusiasm is something we wish we could have. We can't help but root for him because of his geek energy.” HelpingEnergyWishRootsEnthusiasmGeekUnendingKung FuPandasKung Fu Panda Author:Jennifer Yuh Nelson
“I think we had to push forward to make sure it was different, do something that we had never done before and yet still have the consistency to stay in the same world. This was our chance to do all the things we didn't get a chance to do before. We've been working on these movies [Kung Fu Panda] for twelve years and we have to keep things exciting for us in order for us to devote that many years of our lives to do this.” ThinkingWorldYearsStillsDifferentDoneOrderChanceOur LivesExcitingTwelveConsistencyKung FuPandasKung Fu Panda Author:Jennifer Yuh Nelson
“You're right, we both have been working on these films [Kung Fu Panda] forever and we know these characters so well that literally we will react to the same note in the same way. We will have the same answer most of the time.” KnowsWayWellsHas BeensCharacterFilmAnswersForeverNotesKung FuPandasKung Fu Panda Author:Jennifer Yuh Nelson
“When you see all of the pandas in this movie [Kung Fu Panda 3], they are rolling because that is exactly what they do. Not only were we able to watch the pandas play but we had free range to walk around and get a feel for the architecture and get a sense of where they lived ,so there's a lot of firsthand exploration.” FeelsPlayAbleWalksWatchesArchitectureRangeExplorationRollingKung FuPandasKung Fu Panda Author:Jennifer Yuh Nelson
“One of the things we love about Po [Kung Fu Panda] is that he's vulnerable. He's someone that we can all identify with because he has those insecurities. He's an outsider feeling guy.” FeelingsGuyVulnerableInsecurityOutsidersKung FuPandasKung Fu Panda Author:Jennifer Yuh Nelson
“We got the best actors imaginable [in Kung Fu Panda]. If we could have made a wish list I don't think there would anyone else we would have added. Yeah, we've been blessed with exactly how amazing a cast of actors we have. To have someone like Bryan Cranston, who is not just an amazing actor, but who has such a range.” IfsThinkingMadeActorsWishYeahBlessedCastsListsRangeBryanKung FuPandasKung Fu Panda Author:Jennifer Yuh Nelson
“The hidden village was something we found when we went to research in China we climbed a mountain in the Sichuan province where the panda sanctuary is based, and we climbed to this beautiful, mist-covered, almost primordial place and when we turned these corners these moss covered old buildings would come into view, revealing themselves and it was so beautiful and so unlike anything we'd seen that we literally took those moments and put them into the film [Kung Fu Panda 3].” MomentsBeautifulFilmFoundViewsBuildingMountainResearchCornersChinaVillageCoveredRevealingMistSanctuaryProvincesMossKung FuPandasOld BuildingsKung Fu Panda Author:Jennifer Yuh Nelson
“We did two films [Kung Fu Panda], because the first two films were so embraced by the Chinese audiences we wanted to make something we could push further and since this is a co-production, it seemed like the perfect time to create something that felt native to Chinese audiences.” FirstsTwoWantedFilmFeltPerfectAudienceProductionsChineseNativeKung FuPandasKung Fu Panda Author:Jennifer Yuh Nelson
“You have hundreds of artists you're dealing with across the world and the scale of this movie [Kung Fu Panda] was insane - we had a parallel pipeline going on where you had two versions recording Mandarin voice actors, getting it to be funny for Mandarin audiences going beyond a straight translation, and then animating it and lighting it, it's a lot of work.” WorldTwoArtistActorsVoiceAudienceScalesVersionsInsaneParallelsTranslationsLightingPipelineKung FuPandasKung Fu Panda Author:Jennifer Yuh Nelson
“Oriental DreamWorks did a lot of the surfacing of the village [in Kung Fu Panda 3] and you know all the little paintings on all the gables and everything? They have meaning, and they could do that because they know what that means, we don't necessarily know about that over here.” KnowsMeanLittlesPaintingVillageKung FuPandasKung Fu PandaDreamworks Author:Jennifer Yuh Nelson
“One of my favorite things about the Kung Fu Panda 3 is the look of it. We never go for realism. I think a lot of time when people go for 3D that's the mistake. Because we're never going for full realism - for computer generated live action films like Avatar the goal is realism, to make the audience feel like they are seeing something that is real. Lord of the Rings had character design and environments to make it look real, whereas we aren't going for that, we are going for something that is theatrically, viscerally, and emotionally real.” PeopleThinkingFeelsLooksRealCharacterActionFilmGoalMistakeLordAudienceEnvironmentSeeingDesignComputerMy FavoriteRingsRealismFavorites ThingsKung FuAction FilmsPandasKung Fu PandaCharacter Design Author:Jennifer Yuh Nelson
“We actually tried to put in [Kung Fu Panda 3] all the things we wanted to put into the first two films. We're all the same people who've been working on the other films and we all had things we couldn't do, and had to leave on the table. We just couldn't achieve them before. This time we have multiple new environments and different styles of animation.” PeopleFirstsTwoDifferentWantedFilmEnvironmentAchieveStyleTablesMultipleAnimationDifferent StylesKung FuPandasNew EnvironmentKung Fu Panda Author:Jennifer Yuh Nelson
“We have those new environments [during Kung Fu Panda 3] that give a scale to the movie, that are the spirit realm and the panda village. The spirit realm, having no gravity, having this massive space, allowed us to do huge action shots. All that we just couldn't do before. We just couldn't get the scale, we'd have to cheat them. This time we found ourselves more free.” GivingActionSpiritFoundSpaceEnvironmentHugeShotsScalesRealmsMassiveVillageGravityCheatKung FuPandasNew EnvironmentKung Fu Panda Author:Jennifer Yuh Nelson
