Why I Do What I Do is an original AsiaOne series where we showcase people with uncommon professions and what it takes to get there.

If the Force existed, then there would most certainly have been a disturbance when Star Wars: The Force Awakens was released.

Well, in case you haven't watched it for some reason, Han Solo died. (Sorry guys, it's been too long to call us out for spoilers)

Played by veteran actor Harrison Ford, Han Solo was a beloved character that debuted in Star Wars: A New Hope, the 1977 film that marked the start of the original trilogy. Considering the character's legacy, his death was a shocking turn of events for fans — old and new alike.

And it was a major spoiler that Zaini Jalani, 39, had to keep mum about for one year.

The senior animator has been working at Lucasfilm Singapore for 15 years and keeping secrets comes with the territory as he has many Star Wars projects — including some Hollywood blockbuster movies — under his belt.

Talk about a heavy burden.

He recalled: "In Episode Seven, the first Star Wars movie I worked on, I actually saw the Han Solo scene. I was in the room looking at it myself and was like 'Oh my gosh, I have to keep this a secret for the next one year.'"

Working on a Star Wars project is always exciting and there's always a "certain buzz in the studio", he said, but it's also wrapped in secrecy. When Zaini has to view clips or sequences, he does so in a private room. Hence, after viewing the Han Solo scene, he couldn't even talk to his colleagues about it.

"Since then, I try as much as possible not to work on sequences with all these big spoilers," he said.

However, keeping things under wraps isn't too difficult for Zaini as he is fortunate enough to have friends and family who don't pester him too much about spoilers.

When they do, it's always done in jest and Zaini teases them back by being incredibly vague about what he's working on. No spoilers at all, of course.

He said: "They understand my work and they respect that and they don't really ask too much."

Never thought it was possible in Singapore

Zaini doesn't have one specific point in his life where he suddenly discovered his desire to be an animator or to work for Lucasfilm.

Instead, his career was a slow burn that grew over time; and it started with his love for cartoons and movies, such as the usual Sunday morning cartoons and Disney animated films.

Whenever he came across a character that he really likes, he would make sketches of it despite lacking any official art training.

He added: "I saw some of those behind-the-scenes footages and understood that you can have a career [in this], but I never thought it's possible to have it here in Singapore."

So, when he decided to pursue a diploma after completing his O-levels, he was excited to discover a course related to animation, an up-and-coming industry then.

It would be a while before Zaini got his break with Lucasfilm, though. He only got the golden opportunity in 2006 — four years after he graduated — and beat out hundreds of applicants for a coveted spot in their training programme.

Zaini shared: "I was at my first job. One of my colleagues actually showed me this advertisement by Lucasfilm. They were looking for applicants for their training attachment programme. They were going to send, I think, five artists and six engineers to LucasArts in San Francisco to be trained for an entire year.

"So my friend and I just gathered our portfolios, updated our reels, and we applied for the programme... And from what I heard, there were hundreds of applicants so I didn't get my hopes up too high."

Inspiring year of training

That one year of training in San Francisco was "like a dream" to Zaini. He started off with LucasArts learning about environment modelling and worked on the video game Star Wars: The Force Unleashed.

Subsequently, he moved to the animation department and got to work on the insanely popular animated series Clone Wars.

He said: "We were surrounded by the best in the business and my growth was exponential... I learned so much from them (the artists) because they were more into pop culture and comic books, which I didn't have access to growing up, so I just soaked it all in."

Zaini may have had made an unconventional career choice, but thankfully, he also has an unconventional mum who has unwaveringly supported him in his journey.

He revealed: "I lost my dad when I was very young. It was my mum who raised us and I remember she had to work two jobs just to pay the bills and put us through school. So financially, we were a bit stretched. Despite all that, she was very encouraging."

Though she wasn't familiar with the Star Wars franchise at all, she was so excited for Zaini and his overseas training trip that she even packed some rendang for him to bring over.

Representing local in Hollywood

And now, after 15 years in the industry, Zaini has played a part in many Hollywood blockbuster films such as Rogue One, Ready Player One, and Aquaman.

His crowning glory? The Mandalorian, obviously.

"Anything to do with the krayt dragon and the bantha were done here in Singapore," he remarked.

For the uninitiated, the krayt dragon is a large, carnivorous reptile that hails from the desert planet of Tatooine (home of Anakin and Luke Skywalker). A skeleton of the creature can be seen in A New Hope but its appearance on The Mandalorian marked the first time viewers got to see a living, breathing incarnation of it.

Suffice to say, Zaini and the animation team had a Herculean task as they had to create its movements from scratch without any existing references within the Star Wars universe.

He explained: "The director, Jon Favreau, he had a vision for the character. He told us that he wants the dragon to be moving in the sand via some form of liquefaction of the sand and he wants to keep it in the sand as much as possible throughout the episode to create more impact, somewhat like Jaws."

The team tried taking inspiration from various creatures — such as a lizard that can dive and hide in the sand and a snake — but they either posed too much of a technical challenge or it didn't fit the vision that Jon had.

Eventually, they settled on taking their reference from alligators and crocodiles, studying how they move elegantly through the water, and how most of their bodies are underwater with just their heads peeking through the surface.

Their work even scored them a prestigious award from the Visual Effects Society.

And, Zaini confessed, the feeling of seeing his name in the credits never grows old either.

He said: "Seeing your name up there in the credits, seeing your work on the big screen, it is always an amazing feeling. You feel fulfilled, that the hours you put into your work is finally realised on the big screen and you get to share it with the world."

bryanlim@asiaone.com

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