In the span of five seconds, this shot combines a 180° camera move, ground deformations, flowing sand, prop manipulation, smoke, fire, and a character hitting the ground and running at top speed. Tall order for animator Laura Craig, but she delivered: intense action, and even more intense emotion…

The boy’s stumble wasn’t in the script—animator Kyle Torres felt it was worth adding, and we extended the shot just to accommodate it. But what makes that stumble the right choice for the scene is the way it connects to the film’s imagery of resilience and perseverance seen throughout the film.

This is one of my favorite shots in the film, because you can catch all the Ottoman family dynamics in just a few seconds: dad is oblivious, the boy is carefree, and mom is ever-vigilant for calamity. The Scarab is, as always, lumbering.

Animator Sam Wilson was a force of nature on this one…

The challenge of a complicated camera move like this is that you can’t animate the camera until the animation is set, and you can’t animate the characters until the camera move is set.

The only solution: start with a best-guess camera move in an empty environment, and animate characters to match.

Strap in, it’s another mecha shot, this time showcasing the Scorpion’s memorable reveal, as it unfurls from its compact parking stance.

Were the Akira-style headlight streaks really necessary? History will be the judge.

As we wrap up post-production, it’s a great time to start showcasing some of our favorite shots from The Ottoman.

And there’s none better to kick things off with than sequence 3 shot 1.1! This powerhouse of a shot features the Scarab mecha thundering across the desert ruins, headlights blazing.