The Way To Heaven Movie

Synopsis

2009-07-14T01:23:00.000-07:00

This film is based on the Chinese myth of Elephant Trunk Hill.

A larger than life elephant, who is a low-level god, is accidentally left behind on earth while admiring the mysterious hills of Guilin, China. He quickly tries to catch up realizing he has been left behind but falls over too old and exhausted to continue on to heaven. After sleeping for a few seasons he awakens realizing he may never return to heaven. So he begins to find new meaning to his life by helping the barren landscape become lush and beautiful. Helping the growth of Guilin by cultivating the land as a good farmer would he ends up working so hard that he looses all his energy and collapses by the riverside. Later he is woken up by the sound of the people celebrating his arrival and giving thanks for what he has done. The Gods then return for him and begin to take the elephant back to heaven but in exchange they must drain the landscape of all it's beauty in order to bring him back. The Elephant is now faced with a difficult decision to stay on earth forever or return to Heaven with the gods.

Running Time: 15min 12 sec

Director Bios

2009-07-14T01:21:00.000-07:00

Director - Dalton Grant, Jr.

Dalton has been a storyboard artist in the SF bay area for the last 8 years working on projects such as Pixar's Cars, Dreamworks Shrek 2 and Wild Brain's Higgley Town Hero's to name a few. He has also worked as an instructor at the Academy of Art University and San Francisco State University before founding Red Giant Studios in 2008 where he now serves as Director and Chief Innovation Officer.

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Animation Director - Mier Tang

Mier has worked as a freelance Illustrator and designer in China for the last 8 years and has worked on projects such as the TV animated series "Knowledgeable Cat Teaching History", the made for TV movie "How Much I Love You" and for magazines such as Figro and Seventeen. In 2002, she started a design studio in Beijing that created works for publishing houses, magazines and advertising agencies and authored "I'm Where I Don't Exist" a book about the Chinese bar culture. In 2008, she joined Red Giant Studios as an Animation Director and Executive Producer on The Way to Heaven. Mier holds a Bachelors of Fine Art from Tsinghua University and a Masters in Animation from the Academy of Art University.

Production Stills

2009-07-14T01:20:00.000-07:00

* Also available is a Behind the Scenes look on The Way to Heaven.

Press

2009-07-11T09:42:00.000-07:00

RED GIANT STUDIOS ANNOUNCES ITS 1ST ANIMATED FILM, THE WAY TO HEAVEN

This news release can be viewed at the following links:
Animation World Network
Highend 3D
Screen Daily

Crew

2009-07-10T09:53:00.000-07:00

Executive Producers 总策划／执行制作
Li Yuan Jun 李元君
Mier Tang 唐蜜儿

Producer 监制
Cindy Rangel

Art Director 艺术总监
Marc Scott

Supervising Animator 动画总监
Barry Wilson

2D Animation Supervisor 二维动画总监
Hanna-Abi Hanna

Animators 动画师
Carlos Joy, Hye Won Chang

Lead Concept Artist 首席概念艺术师
Lisa DiPaula

Concept Design Interns

Edward Ko, Carmen Chow, Kit Shum, Chi-Hsuan Ma, Tanith Connelly, Rosanna Sullivan

Lead Modeler 首席模型师
Eric Neill

Modeling Intern
Jonathan Landolt

Rigger/Technical Director 骨架设计／技术指导
Mauricio Santos-Hoyos

Effects Technical Director
Victor Wagner

Texture/Lighting Intern
Monica Cappiello

Compositor
Tun-En Chen

Compositing Intern
Chung Pu Hsiao

Editor 剪辑师
Watthana Wangwutphinyo

Sound Designer/Editor 声效设计／剪辑
Yin Lui 雷茵茵

Sound Mixers
Joshua Brown, Erik Reimers

Original Score
Thunderv Entertainment