Dracula Untold: Art Department
Gary Shore’s Dracula Untold isn’t your typical vampire story. There was a determination to do something different right from the start – beginning in a pre-production office coated in a what-not-to-do wallpaper of every vampire from every movie, ever. Shore was keen to avoid the well-trodden gothic vampire story and instead ground this iteration in the history of the man Bram Stoker took as inspiration for Dracula. That historical backdrop meant a new challenge for Framestore: armies fighting huge battles, and some beautiful scenery and towering castles for them to be staged in. The Art Department was involved from conception stage onwards, providing inspiration for characters, animations and the many intricate environments used in the final film.
We didn’t want Luke to sit there with pointy teeth and pale skin. The idea was that there’s an inner creature under his skin.
Universal gave us a rough concept model, which we used as a starting point to work up to the different elements we needed.
We were very keen early on to lose the idea that a man could turn into a single small bat as seen in other films... Instead we went with the idea that he could turn into a number of bats that would move like a comet.
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