Here’s what actually goes into making a talking animal movie

Behind MPC’s muzzle replacement and CG dogs (and an eagle) for ‘Strays’.

This week on the befores & afters podcast, we’re chatting about Strays, the Josh Greenbaum-directed film that features a group of abandoned dogs on a crazy adventure, who also happen to talk.

The stars of the film are Will Ferrell, Jamie Foxx and Isla Fischer. MPC was the lead VFX vendor responsible for muzzle replacement and completely CG creatures on the show, and I got a chance to speak to both production visual effects supervisor Jason Billington and animation director Matt Everitt.

In the podcast, we dive deep into just what went into crafting talking dog performances, including a test that was done, the shoot, muzzle replacement, 3D work and the meticulous aspects of matchmoving, tracking and comp. This was also a show where MPC used their new grooming system called LOMA for the first time.

Check out the podcast below, and a gallery of images from MPC.

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