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Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minuteDriver Scan →Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errorsFree Scan →In a June 2008 interview, animator Manuel Almela described working on Kung Fu Panda as a collaborative, sequence-focused process. People en Español identified him as one of the film’s 40 animators; he explained how scene intent shaped an animator’s creative choices, estimated how long the work took, and singled out Po as a character he especially loved.
What was it like working on Kung Fu Panda?
Andrés Martínez Tutek’s English-language interview with Almela was published by People en Español on June 9, 2008. It presented him as a Spanish animator among the 40 animators working on the film. Rather than describing animation as a matter of owning one character from start to finish, Almela emphasized collaboration across scenes and characters.
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A separate RTVE listing dated July 15, 2008 identifies an interview with Almela as having aired the previous day and describes him at the time as a Riojan living in the United States. That is a contemporaneous biographical description, not evidence about his present-day location or work.
How did sequence-based computer animation work?
Almela summarized the distinction this way: “In computer animation we focus on sequences.” In his account, this contrasted with the more traditional idea of assigning an animator a particular character. Working on a sequence could involve multiple characters, so an animator needed to understand what the whole scene was meant to communicate before adding an individual creative interpretation.
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The order matters: first grasp the scene’s overall idea, then make creative choices that serve it. Almela described creativity not as separate from the sequence, but as something guided by the scene’s purpose.
How long did the film and animation take?
In the 2008 People en Español interview, Almela estimated that the broader process of making an animated film could take about four years. He said character animation on Kung Fu Panda took a year. These are his approximate recollections of the project and the wider production process as he described it then—not universal timelines or independently measured industry benchmarks.
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What movement research informed the action?
A 2011 report about Kung Fu Panda 2 quoted Almela saying animators studied a Chinese kung fu style reported there as “bashu style,” and that they had taken classes for the first film. The wording “bashu style” is retained as that report gave it; the available account does not establish a corrected spelling or further explanation of the term. This later reporting adds context about movement study, but it is distinct from Almela’s 2008 description of sequence-based workflow.
The 2011 report is the basis for this account of martial-arts study. A June 2008 Folha de S.Paulo report also attributed martial-arts lessons to Almela, but that page was not accessible for review, so it is not needed to support the point here.
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1Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minute2Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problems3Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitchesWhy did Po stand out to Almela?
Almela said he felt especially drawn to Po, referring to the panda’s manner and “noble soul.” He also recalled that the team missed Po once the work was over. His affection for the character gives the technical account a personal note: the sequence mattered, but so did the personality animators were helping bring to life.
The film-credit catalog lists the 2008 DreamWorks Animation feature and gives Almela an animation credit. That listing does not identify his specific shots or assign him particular characters, so it cannot establish that he animated Po or any other individual character. The catalog entry supports his general animation credit only.
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