



Since Miles Luna and Melanie Stern provided tweets over the week prior, a lot of anticipation was setup as to what chapter 6 of this volume would be like in the Brunswick farms setting. From a narrative standpoint, it is great to know that certain big reveals and topics fans were impatiently tapping their feet over wanting to learn about had been brought forth. However, what did the episode offer in terms of behind-the-scenes discussion?





This is something I’ve admittedly struggled with figuring out as each scene in the episode, while captivating in terms of the story, did not at first have as much to break down in terms of the animation or storyboards or camera layout or visual effects. The content in the episode did not really warrant as much of that so more time than usual was spent deeply observing subtleties in the presentation that otherwise would’ve went over my head which of course led to some speculation. Even anecdotes about the production were relatively scarce between Lindsay Jones being the episodes of RWBY Rewind and CRWBY - Behind the Episode that focused on this chapter. I was convinced that there would not simply be as much to talk about, that is until Miles Luna posted a very interesting series of tweets. But more on that later.

For now, let’s dive into breaking down what we can on a scene-by-scene basis, starting with Ruby talking to Qrow. One thing worth noting is that this scene, the fireplace one right after and a later scene were both confirmed to have been animated by Nicole LaCroix and Vincent Cappelluti, both of which were recruited back during volume 5′s production. This is also the same Nicole LaCroix that took part in the “3-D Animation - Just the Tip” panel at this past RTX Austin in early August and demonstrated how she invokes the personalities of each member of team RWBY through the different ways they dab (note how in Weiss’s case, you can see her sporting the blue leggings that she would be wearing throughout volume 6). There really isn’t a whole lot to honestly say about Nicole and Vincent’s sequences though. There are a couple of small instances of neat character acting like with Blake feeling worried with her cat ears downward and Ruby’s easygoing response to Maria’s insistence on staying up herself. But otherwise, it’s not really clear yet what their tells are in terms of how they animate characters.

Moving on, we get a neat jump cut with the fireplace (though I’m still not a fan of the way the soot on the bottom looks) and we get what might be Hannah Novotny’s sequence. I made a previous post expressing my observations of how she animates characters and basically, previous scenes that were confirmed to have been done by her have much of the same patterns in character acting. Characters will often perform gestures through lots of subtle anticipatory action, there is a focus on secondary action with certain characters such as Blake’s cat ears and mouths being expressed are pretty defined in a way by looking either scrunched, being left slightly open or having a small snarl to them with their teeth shown whenever the character is upset, scared, perplexed or is in an otherwise serious mood. In the morning scene where Ruby wakes up Qrow, although it’s not confirmed Hannah did this sequence, some of these same traits previously mentioned also be seen here. The most obvious one is the way Ruby kept gritting her teeth in frustration over Qrow and the latter keeping his mouth open in a startled manner. There is also a bit of that anticipatory action in the way she approaches consoling Qrow by ever-so-slightly shifting herself before leaning over to reach out to him.

As confident as I feel about the the scene being done by her, I’m also still somewhat on the fence since not much confirmation about Hannah’s sequences are made in general. One separate thing about the scene itself though. It’s a small thing, but I like the choice of having the window panels frame Qrow and Ruby as a visual way of presenting that despite the latter’s efforts, the former is choosing to stay withdrawn over his feelings. I can’t help but wonder if it’s the same person that either provided the storyboard or camera layout for the shot where Blake was shown by herself through the window after her talk with Yang.





Next is the scene at the front yard and there is a little bit of confusion as to who animated the beginning of it. It was confirmed that Alyssa Lisiecki animated Qrow “being angsty”. Though given that has been Qrow throughout most of the episode, it’s unclear whether that meant when he accidentally flattened the tire or when he was at the bar room. I’m doubtful that she animated the part with Qrow storming back into the house though more on the reasoning behind that in a bit. Another thing to bring up though is choice of framing in the sequence. It’s relatively simple but there are effective moments of shots being framed to have Ruby be at odds with everyone else as seen in this moment where she looks over at Qrow sulking to her right while Yang is also feeling depressed to her left. Although almost everyone else is not sharing Ruby’s sentiment, the scene is tonally less aggressive compared to when the gang were questioning Ozpin back in chapter 2. So shots are not necessarily presented to antagonize Ruby but they do at least seem to focus on Ruby responding to and eventually being influenced by everyone else’s emotions and viewpoints. Also, side note, the trees in the background are frequently swaying in every other shot. That’s a nice attention to detail to indicate that though the snowstorm passed, it’s still a bit windy out.

Speaking of which, we get to the next sequence with Ruby and the well which may have been animated by Asha Bishi. There are various movements and gestures on just Ruby’s character alone from the way her hand shakes while holding on to the lamp to the way her mouth and eyes move to demonstrate how unconsciously conflicted she feels and the additional follow-through animation with her hair, all of which feel lively in a way that Asha is known to do character animation. At the same time, it also doesn’t come off too overly-animated either, making it clear that Ruby is ultimately torn about what she’s doing. Also, when she drops the well and gets anxious, you can see Ruby’s stomach pressing in and out as if she’s rapidly breathing. That’s something I never seen done before in the show. Also, it’s just hilarious how Blake is so lacking in energy that in this shot, one of her cat ears barely pick up when Weiss talks. One last thing to note is that because I suspect the rest of this scene was done by Asha that I’m not really positive Qrow going back inside the house was the angsty moment Alyssa referred to. It could actually be a much later scene when Qrow was drunkily resisting Ruby and Weiss’s actions but the answer to that is at this point up in the air.

Skipping slightly ahead into the middle of team RWBY searching down the well, we get what is probably the strangest flubs in the show thus far. There is a moment when Ruby takes out her Crescent Rose in a very mechanical and choppy way and another when she brings the lamp back to the others where it is still seen through the wall. Both instances are really bizarre, they’ve took me out of the immersion a bit and… I have no idea why or how they turned out the way they did. This has led to a bit discussions within the fan base and while people were generally understanding, believing that it would all be fixed by the time the blu-rays come out, the matter is still perplexing to want to speculate. A few fans believed that a certain animator was responsible. That could be possible, though I’m doubtful that would’ve passed without animation director, Joel Mann, the two lead animators, Paula Decanini and Ian Kedward, or even Kerry Shawcross at least noticing that upon reviewing the scene. My personal theory was that something happened in Autodesk Maya. As much as fans praise the capabilities of Maya as an 3-D animation software and what it has done for the show, it’s not infallible. It’s definitely more robust compared to Smith Micro Poser, the animation software used during volumes 1-3. But there have been stories of how things went mysteriously wrong in the latter years of RWBY’s production. One example was from the compositing panel at RTX Austin where one of the compositors, Autumn Elizondo had her computer haunted one day and it crashed when everything was previously fine. Another example came from the volume 4 blu-ray directors audio commentary, where Kerry explained how when making the scene with Qrow and Raven at the tavern, something happened with the set on every animator’s computers:





Kerry: “But also, due to technical reasons, don’t know why, the oval tables just turned at one point and started clipping through everybody! Miles: “Are you kidding me?” Kerry: “Yeah! Everybody opened their Maya one day and the ovals were turned. Don’t know why (Miles laughs)! Had to fix it by hand though, I’ll tell you that much!”





Even outside of RWBY, instances of animation going bizarre on a much bigger scale can happen, such as what happened with Mass Effect Andromeda. There was even a very insightful and informative video by Daniel Floyd of Extra Credits who tried to best guess what might’ve happened then. So it’s possible that’s what ultimately happened in those moments in the underground well scene in this chapter. But honestly, after spending time contemplating on the matter, I’m not even totally sure if that is the reason. That’s how utterly strange this, so it’s anyone’s guess at this point what the problem might’ve been.









But putting that glaring mystery aside, now is time to get into what Miles Luna has been very open about sharing since the episode premiered: the Apathy Grimm and the plot for Brunswick farms. Since episode 191 of the Rooster Teeth Podcast, it has been slowly unveiled each passing volume between blu-ray audio commentaries, interviews, live streams, Q & As and any other behind-the-scenes sources as to which ideas were conceived between Monty Oum, Miles and Kerry before working on the script for volume 1 in 2012 and which ones came after. It was revealed through the volume 4 directors audio commentary that Corsec and Fennec Albain were originally meant to be the main antagonists of volume 1 and that Roman Torchwick was intended to have a much smaller role before he was cast by Gray Haddock and Monty, Miles and Kerry came to find the character appealing enough to span his relevance for more than one volume. It was hinted at during the volume 2 mid-season live stream that there was indeed a specific reason why the moon was shaped the way it was but that they kept hush-hush about the matter for now. Once again, going back to the volume 4 directors audio commentary, Miles was the one that came up with the story of the gods while working on the production of Red vs Blue season 10.

Though as stated, not every idea was conceived before the scripts for volume 1. One infamous example was the story of the maidens, an idea that according to the volume 3 directors audio commentary, Monty had thought of and shared with Miles and Kerry between the end of volume 2′s production and the beginning of volume 3′s. The main idea between the three of them at the start was that while they have these definitive, key points for what they wanted to cover in the story, including the ending, they want to simultaneously be flexible because they anticipated that they would learn and discover other story ideas that would compel them to either expand on their story or adjust them. Everything being uttered is not exclusive to RWBY’s story planning either. Certain authors of long-running Shonen manga have shared how their plans for their stories have changed due to certain circumstances. The most infamous example is Eiichiro Oda, the creator of One Piece who originally planned for his manga to last for roughly 5 years at the beginning of his career before he created the Seven Warloards (or Shichibukai) and found them appealing in the same vein Monty, Miles and Kerry found Torchwick’s character so appealing and wanted to keep going with the story to this day.

So that’s how storytelling of the kind of scale RWBY has been telling often works and is the very why reason there has never truly been this definitive answer as to how many volumes RWBY was going to have. All that being said, one idea Monty, Miles and Kerry had that has been sat on and even teased as being Miles’s favorite Grimm prior to the Nuckelavee was the Apathy Grimm. It was this combination of him discovering a picture of a scarecrow that invoked this feeling of being frail yet disturbing, the short story of Bartleby the Scrivener which became the basis of the Brunswick farms plot and the Reavers from director Josh Whedon’s 2005 movie, Serenity (a continuation of the infamously cancelled Firefly TV series) that all led to the horror-esque phase in volume 6′s story. Art director, Patrick Rodriguez also shared his story for first designing the Apathy Grimm, initially wanting to add to the creepy element by making it skitter around and having the sound of its bones hitting against the surface. Though the design was scrapped due to it looking too nimble. And by the time Aromie Kim, one of the character designers brought on board for volume 6′s production, got around to designing the Grimm herself, she looked to children and adolescent books with illustrations by Stephen Gammell as her inspiration. Even Chris Kokkinos, the lead of the audio department, chimed in on his creative input for the way the grimm screeched and whispered and the sound of how they moved. Hopefully, between all of this behind-the-scenes information, fans will utter the phrase, “made Monty proud”, not just in response to action scenes but also in terms of story beats since this is the kind of creative input Monty Oum wanted in the first place.





Despite not having nerves of steel for the horror genre, it’s extremely fascinating seeing such details for the concept of this one type of creature. Though we’re not done talking about the Apathy Grimm as there’s still matter of how they’re animated. Putting aside the popular comparison to the Redead from The Legend of Zelda franchise in terms of the way they move and scream (both of which were Kerry Shawcross’s idea), one neat touch are the way their eyes constantly swirl around and glow to give off a deranged vibe. The choice of camera angles and staging of the vast underground tunnels setting also add this sense of heightened tension and desolation as team RWBY and Maria navigate their way trying to find an exit. They also help remind the viewer about the overall space of the tunnel ways since they’re wide but not tall. Nice work to whoever did the camera layout for this whole chase sequence. Also, this was the other scene that animators Nicole LaCroix and Vincent Cappelutti had worked on this episode.

Skipping ahead a bit, a neat compositing choice was Maria’s vision who is not only seen as color blind, but the colors seen as black such as Ruby’s hair and clothes have this flickering effect to them. There were also a couple of nice bits of animation such as Weiss frantically running up the stairs and struggling to open the door and Yang’s eyes changing to have a soulless, dazed look to them that would commonly be seen in anime. Moving on even further, there was an especially intriguing fire visual effects when Weiss burned the Grimm where it swirled and formed to the tip of her weapon before tossing it at them. So far this volume in general has done wonders for fire effects specifically.

That’s pretty much it to cover for this chapter’s production analysis since the last scene didn’t really have anything going for it other doing what it needed to do by dying down the anxiety before closing off the episode. I’ll be honest, when I first learned that the Brunswick farms setting was going to provide some exciting things, I didn’t expect the rest of the plot to be within this one chapter. Though none of this is to imply that it was a bad thing, since what we did get in this chapter covered a lot in primarily the narrative sense with the presentation coming at a close second. With a lot of meaty information about the process of the story-line for this episode and the last one, chapter definitely had quite a bit to talk about.

With Brunwick farms behind the main cast and the audience, the most obvious question of what’s in store from here onward will definitely be raised. There was a sneak peek clip outside of the usual one from RWBY Rewind that featured a preview of a fight sequence for chapter 7, but I’m going to withhold on talking on that for now. Once again, thanks are in order towards Changyuraptor on the RWBY sub-reddit and his Source Mcgourse guide that he has been updating on who animated what after each new episode premieres.

