Loot Crate Magazine July 2017 Animation | Page 8

This fall, Bob’s Burgers enters its 8th season. That’s a lot of special recipes and body rolls! We got to talk to Supervising Director Bernard Derriman, who’s been with the show since the beginning, for some inside information on how Bob’s gets its Bob’s on! For the Looters at home who may not know, what does a Supervising Director do? HOW TO BUILD BOB’S BURGERS WITH BERNARD DERRIMAN By: Tamara Brooks Every episode of Bob’s Burgers has a director, and we have 4 directors working on different episodes all at the same time. Sometimes, a director might even be working on two episodes at once, at different stages in production. As the Supervising Director, I oversee all these episodes - I work closely with the directors, Loren Bouchard, and the writers to ensure that each episode’s creative vision is being met in Storyboards and beyond. How did the visual style of the show come to be? Loren had a very specific idea for the visual style of the show from the outset. Our environments take inspiration from a New England landscape, a New Jersey-style waterfront, and San Francisco’s Victorian architecture. No one knows Bob’s apartment better than Loren – it’s based on his home in San Francisco, where he developed the show. Loren is very detail oriented – he likes everything to be true to life and relatable. We look at a lot of reference, whether we’re designing a building or a toothpick. And for the characters, Loren took inspiration from the Muppets, which is why our characters have floppy arms and no teeth.