This past week, Sony Pictures Animation hosted a special press event at their studio in Culver City, California to promote Open Season: Scared Silly – and Animated Views was there!

The event coincided with the tenth anniversary of the release of the first Open Season, which was also the first feature from the studio. Present in hosting the event were director David Feiss, cast members William Townsend and Melissa Sturm, and lead editor Maurissa Horwitz.

In addition to screening the new film, Sony provided a look at the development process. These included viewings of concept art from past, present, and future projects, sampling a scratch recording session, and demonstrating the different phases in editing. Feiss offered to draw sketches of the characters for attendees.

“It was great coming back,” Feiss said, who served as head of story on the first Open Season before returning to direct the new film. “I feel like I know these characters. They are like friends.”

Feiss is best known for creating the popular Cartoon Network series Cow and Chicken. Since Open Season, he had been doing story art on numerous films from DreamWorks, Illumination, and Sony. He was working on story art for Hotel Transylvania 2 when Sony approached him to direct Open Season: Scared Silly two-and-a-half years ago.

“There was a few ideas I had for that first film that actually didn’t make it in,” Feiss reflected. Directing the latest feature in the series offered a chance to realize those story ideas while working with the premise of the Timberline wildlife dealing with a possible werewolf in their home. A concept he thought would be fun to explore. “You put a werewolf out in the woods, how would these guys react to it? He [Boog] would be afraid, he [Elliot] would be intrigued.”

Feiss utilized his television experience to lead production through a very tight and unconventional schedule. According to Horwitz, he managed to get the film made in less than two years and have it look as beautiful as the first film.

“Dave knew what he wanted,” Horwitz explained. “He’s very decisive with the comedy and the animation.” And with the animation being done in Vancouver, she further praised his ability to keep things from being hectic. “Communication was great. It really could not have gone smoother.”

With the limited amount of time to make the film, Feiss looked within Sony to provide scratch voice recordings. Often the voices were so good that they decided to cast based off these early sessions. This included hiring the studio’s associate production manager Townsend to voice Elliot and marketing executive Sturm to voice Giselle.

“I was super intimidated, and that was just the storyboard voice,” Townsend said, recognizing he was voicing not only one of the franchise’s main characters, but also one that has had three previous voice actors before him. “It’s the first time I’ve ever done something like this. It’s pretty cool.”

Elliot is not the only character Townsend voices. During the scratch recordings, it was discovered that he had a natural ability to mimic a silly German accent despite having never done any voice work before. This made him being cast to voice the popular dachshund Mr. Weenie. And while he’s perfectly happy with his primary job at Sony, the experience has gotten him interested in doing more voice work in the future.

“I didn’t know much about the animation industry when I started here,” Townsend said. “But after working here for two years, I love it.”

Even after ten years and four films, Feiss sees the franchise continuing to grow. “There is talk of another Open Season,” he said. “The studio does like the franchise and these characters give [Sony] many places more they can go.”

Open Season: Scared Silly will be released on blu ray and DVD on March 8. The official synopsis from Sony reads: Elliot, Boog and all your favorite creatures are back in a brand new comedy adventure, Open Season: Scared Silly. When Elliot tells a campfire story of a monster in the woods, Boog – who has never been the bravest of bears – becomes very scared. His best friend Elliot comes up with a crazy plan to scare the fear out of Boog! With the help of Mr. Weenie, McSquizzy and all your favorite forest friends, they venture on a hilarious journey where the power of friendship helps Boog overcome his fears with lots of laughs and some surprises along the way!

Below are exclusive pictures and video from the Open Season: Scared Silly press day event at the Sony Pictures Animation studio.

From left to right: William Townsend, McSquizzy, Maurissa Horwitz, Boog, David Feiss, and Elliot.

Boog and Elliot making some new friends.

David Feiss drawing a sketch of Giselle for a fan.