With 15 years under his belt working at Lucasfilm on projects including Star Wars Rebels, The Clone Wars and Tales of the Jedi, Animation Director Keith Kellogg discusses the latest season of The Bad Batch and the challenges involved in pushing the envelope of episodic animation to make every episode an unforgettable adventure and a visual treat.
Kellogg and his team are responsible for anything that moves, especially the main characters. “We really try and make sure that all those characters you see on the screen come to life and emote in ways that hopefully move you in different ways, whether it’s fearful, or sad, or happy,” Kellogg says. “We’re just trying to make sure the audience really feels what these characters are experiencing.”
True to the spirit of innovation at Lucasfilm, Kellogg says the crew working on The Bad Batch is constantly pushing technology to help tell better stories.
Take, for example, the squad’s trooper armor. Kellogg recalls that early in Season 1, there were times when the armor would appear to unnaturally stretch and bend. Working with the animators, Kellogg says the team was able to develop the right look. “We came up with this idea to try and push our armor so that we could either have it be more malleable-looking for certain poses and things, but also dial it down so that it was more solid,” he says. “I think it really helped the show actually be a little more grounded feeling. It makes everything feel a little more realistic, a little more gritty.”
