How A 'Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse' Animator Took The Animation References Into Her Own Hands
With every new thing we learn about the making of Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, the more of a work of genius the animated movie seems. From the voice acting, to the heartfelt narrative, to the bold, technology-pushing, kaleidoscopic animation, there's so much to love about Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. Now the latest new tidbit comes from animator Emma Shih, who reveals how she used herself for her reference work while animating Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse.
Shih proved to be a talent in front of the camera and behind the drawing board, in a short video she shared that showed all of her reference work for Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, aka the live-action materials she used to animate her scenes. The video shows side-by-side shots of Shih acting out the scenes to Jake Johnson, Shameik Moore, and Hailee Steinfeld's voices, next to the final animated shots. Watch for yourself to see the very cool process.
The video was shared on Twitter and went viral, with fans of the Oscar-winning animated film praising Shih's animation work as well as her impressive acting abilities. The diner scene in particular is magnetic to watch, with Shih's every expression and gesture making it to the final cut of the scene. The praise was effusive for Shih, with even the film's co-director Peter Ramsay chiming in with a sweet "Look at our geniuses" in reference to the Spider-Verse's insanely talented animation team. Fans made enough noise that Shih ended up joining Twitter to thank everyone for their praise.
Few of my friends told me I should open a twitter account, so here I am (I'm new to twitter and learning how it works 😳) Again thanks for all the positive comments everyone has been posting!! It really means a lot to me. https://t.co/RiYBAnrL3z
— the little light (@thelittlelight5) May 20, 2019
She added a note of gratitude to the rest of the Spider-Verse team, writing, "Also, wanted to point out that the animation was made possible by the [Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse] production team, I was inspired by many many talented people around me, they all gave me a lot of feedback to help me make this animation better."
So how many fries and burgers did Shih have to scarf down for this scene? Just the ones we see in the video — Shih clarified that she only "only did these four shots in this scene. Other burger hungry eating shots are done by my awesome teammates."
I'm glad that the hype around Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse hasn't died down, and that it has raised the awareness of the amazing work that animators have been doing for decades. You can show your appreciation for Into the Spider-Verse again when it hits Netflix June 26, 2019.