The Morning Watch: The Animation Of 'Wolfwalkers', The True Story Behind 'The Queen's Gambit' & More

The Morning Watch is a recurring feature that highlights a handful of noteworthy videos from around the web. They could be video essays, fanmade productions, featurettes, short films, hilarious sketches, or just anything that has to do with our favorite movies and TV shows.

In this edition, take a look at how Wolfwalkers was brought to life with a mix of three-dimensional and two-dimensional animation. Plus, learn about the true story that inspired Netflix's his limited series The Queen's Gambit. And finally, listen as director Spike Lee answers 35 questions organized by Marcel Proust as a parlor game that reveals the nature of one's personality.

First up, Movies Insider reveals how animators used 2.5D animation techniques to mix two-dimensional and three-dimensional elements to add depth to the hand drawn animation of Wolfwalkers on Apple TV+. This video explains how 3D models and virtual reality helped create immersive, hand-drawn images that let the viewer see through the eyes of a wolf.

Next, ScreenCrush breaks down the true story that inspired The Queen's Gambit, which is fresh off winning the Golden Globe for Best Limited Series. Though the Netflix series is about a young woman who becomes a chess prodigy in the 1950s and 1960s, the story that inspired it is based on a man named Walter Tevis, whose life also inspired other novels that were turned into movies, such as The Hustler and The Color of Money.

Finally, Spike Lee (director of Do the Right Thing, BlackKklansman, and more) participated in Vanity Fair's Proust Questionnaire, answering 35 questions designed to reveal the nature of someone's personality. Who are his favorite writers? What is his greatest extravagance? What is the trait he most deplores in himself? The director answers all these questions and then reflects on his responses. Enjoy!