The BFG (Big Friendly Giant)

Production Design

Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films: Saturn Award for Best Production Design (Winner)

The BFG is an imaginative tale filled with magic, wonder and an unexpected friendship – Sophie, a young orphan girl, befriends a mysterious being called the Big Friendly Giant (BFG). Naturally scared at first, Sophie realizes that the 24-foot giant is actually quite gentle and charming. As their friendship grows, Sophie's presence attracts the unwanted attention of Bloodbottler, Fleshlumpeater and other giants. After traveling to London, Sophie and the BFG must convince Queen Victoria to help them get rid of all the bad giants that are invading the human world once and for all. The BFG is the first Disney-branded film directed by Spielberg, his adaptation of Roald Dahl's beloved fantasy book.

The BFG movie makes you remember what it's like to see with the eyes of a child. It is filled with gestures that are meaningful. Like the BFG, it cares about the little things, and it moves with a grace that you forget how giant he is. In the end, it’s all about friendship – and you’ll forget that the BFG and Sophie aren’t actually that different in size.

Behind-the-scenes Magic

Creating this movie faced a daunting challenge: it required bringing performance-captured giants to a totally-convincing, but entirely, computer animated life. The full range of human expressions were complex with tiny-sized people interacting with the big guys.

The live elements of the production were filmed almost entirely in a 300,000 square foot warehouse on the outskirts of Vancouver that was converted into elaborate sets of Sophie’s London orphanage, the Big Fuzzy-hearted Giant’s lair (in two scales), the mystical Dream Country where the Big Fantasy-delivering Giant collects visions for sleeping children, and perfectly-reproduced interiors of Buckingham Palace.