{"id":21220,"date":"2015-06-25T08:15:39","date_gmt":"2015-06-25T08:15:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.skwigly.co.uk\/?p=21220"},"modified":"2017-03-06T10:58:18","modified_gmt":"2017-03-06T10:58:18","slug":"lightbox-minions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.skwigly.co.uk\/lightbox-minions\/","title":{"rendered":"Lightbox: &#8216;Minions&#8217; directors Kyle Balda &#038; Pierre Coffin"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Lightbox: Interview with &#039;Minions&#039; directors Kyle Balda &amp; Pierre Coffin\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/udO-MzuQ0-A?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>In the latest episode of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/playlist?list=PL-0qdHF_aune0e5I9HLJ_iy14qMqu-fi9\" target=\"_blank\">Lightbox<\/a> Skwigly talks to Kyle Balda and Pierre Coffin, the directors of Universal\/Illumination&#8217;s <a href=\"http:\/\/www.minionsmovie.com\/\" target=\"_blank\"><em>Minions<\/em><\/a>, released in the UK this Friday (June 26th) with a wider release to follow in July.<br \/>\nThe story of <em>Minions<\/em> takes place before the events of the popular <a href=\"https:\/\/www.skwigly.co.uk\/despicable-me-2-review\/\" target=\"_blank\"><em>Despicable Me<\/em><\/a> series in which the titular ensemble debuted. Following the plight of the gang as they roam through history searching for a true villain to serve, they encounter <a href=\"https:\/\/www.skwigly.co.uk\/minions-update-meet-scarlett-overkill\/\" target=\"_blank\">Scarlet Overkill <\/a>(voiced by Sandra Bullock) and attempt to ingratiate themselves by serving her felonious ends.<br \/>\n<em>Minions<\/em> is helmed by Kyle Balda &#8211; whose previous credits include co-directing Illumination&#8217;s <em>The Lorax<\/em> &#8211; joining forces with original <em>Despicable Me 1 &amp; 2<\/em> c0-director Pierre Coffin (who also lends his voice to the Minions themselves).<br \/>\nKeep your eyes on Skwigly tomorrow for our review of the film!<\/p>\n<p>Produced, presented and edited by Ben Mitchell<br \/>\nInterview conducted by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.skwigly.co.uk\/author\/byeang\/\" target=\"_blank\">Beverly Yeang<\/a><br \/>\nFootage courtesy of <a href=\"http:\/\/www.waytoblue.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">Way To Blue<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In the latest episode of Lightbox Skwigly talks to Kyle Balda and Pierre Coffin, the directors of Universal\/Illumination&#8217;s Minions, released in the UK this Friday (June 26th) with a wider release to follow in July. The story of Minions takes place before the events of the popular Despicable Me series in which the titular ensemble [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":114,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[247,755],"tags":[2352,3044,2351,3043,3045],"class_list":["post-21220","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-featured","category-interviews","tag-despicable-me","tag-kyle-balda","tag-minions","tag-pierre-coffin","tag-scarlet-overkill"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Lightbox: &#039;Minions&#039; directors Kyle Balda &amp; Pierre Coffin - Skwigly Animation Magazine<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=udO-MzuQ0-A In the latest episode of Lightbox Skwigly talks to Kyle Balda and Pierre Coffin, the directors of\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.skwigly.co.uk\/lightbox-minions\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Lightbox: &#039;Minions&#039; directors Kyle Balda &amp; Pierre Coffin - Skwigly Animation Magazine\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=udO-MzuQ0-A In the latest episode of Lightbox Skwigly talks to Kyle Balda and Pierre Coffin, the directors of\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.skwigly.co.uk\/lightbox-minions\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Skwigly Animation Magazine\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/SkwiglyMagazine\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/benmitchellcreative\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-06-25T08:15:39+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2017-03-06T10:58:18+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Ben Mitchell\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@benlmitchell\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@skwigly\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Ben Mitchell\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.skwigly.co.uk\/lightbox-minions\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.skwigly.co.uk\/lightbox-minions\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Ben Mitchell\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.skwigly.co.uk\/#\/schema\/person\/1e6e798460447114f19c1571ef3acb08\"},\"headline\":\"Lightbox: &#8216;Minions&#8217; directors Kyle Balda &#038; Pierre Coffin\",\"datePublished\":\"2015-06-25T08:15:39+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2017-03-06T10:58:18+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.skwigly.co.uk\/lightbox-minions\/\"},\"wordCount\":176,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.skwigly.co.uk\/#organization\"},\"keywords\":[\"Despicable Me\",\"Kyle Balda\",\"Minions\",\"Pierre Coffin\",\"Scarlet Overkill\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Featured\",\"Interviews\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.skwigly.co.uk\/lightbox-minions\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.skwigly.co.uk\/lightbox-minions\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.skwigly.co.uk\/lightbox-minions\/\",\"name\":\"Lightbox: 'Minions' directors Kyle Balda & Pierre Coffin - Skwigly Animation Magazine\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.skwigly.co.uk\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2015-06-25T08:15:39+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2017-03-06T10:58:18+00:00\",\"description\":\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=udO-MzuQ0-A In the latest episode of Lightbox Skwigly talks to Kyle Balda and Pierre Coffin, the directors of\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.skwigly.co.uk\/lightbox-minions\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.skwigly.co.uk\/lightbox-minions\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.skwigly.co.uk\/lightbox-minions\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.skwigly.co.uk\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Lightbox: &#8216;Minions&#8217; directors Kyle Balda &#038; Pierre Coffin\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.skwigly.co.uk\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.skwigly.co.uk\/\",\"name\":\"Skwigly Animation Magazine\",\"description\":\"Online Animation Magazine\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.skwigly.co.uk\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.skwigly.co.uk\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.skwigly.co.uk\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Skwigly Animation Magazine\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.skwigly.co.uk\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.skwigly.co.uk\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.skwigly.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/facebook-thumb-skwigly.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.skwigly.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/facebook-thumb-skwigly.jpg\",\"width\":250,\"height\":250,\"caption\":\"Skwigly Animation Magazine\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.skwigly.co.uk\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/SkwiglyMagazine\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/skwigly\",\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/skwiglyanimation\/\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.skwigly.co.uk\/#\/schema\/person\/1e6e798460447114f19c1571ef3acb08\",\"name\":\"Ben Mitchell\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.skwigly.co.uk\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.skwigly.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/Ben-Mitchell_avatar_1466682328-96x96.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.skwigly.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/Ben-Mitchell_avatar_1466682328-96x96.jpg\",\"caption\":\"Ben Mitchell\"},\"description\":\"Ben Mitchell is an animator, motion designer, composer, award-winning independent filmmaker and writer\/researcher. As a freelancer he has produced work for WildBrain, CBeebies, Channel 4, Shy Guys, Plymptoons, Animortal, Wonky Films, A Productions, Slurpy Studios and Rumpus to name a few. As an independent director he has produced six multi-award-winning short animated films that have been showcased at over 200 international film and animation festivals including Clermont-Ferrand, BFI London Film Festival, ITFS Stuttgart, Encounters, London International Animation Festival, Pictoplasma, London Short Film Festival and Anima Mundi. Alongside his work in animation production he is an active writer and researcher on the industry through such avenues as the leading UK animation resource Skwigly, for which he is Editor in Chief, and his books 'Independent Animation: Developing, Producing and Distributing Your Animated Films' (2016, second edition published April 2023) and 'Intimate Animation' (2025, co-written with Dr. Laura-Beth Cowley). As an educator he has lectured and tutored at AUB Bournemouth, University of the West of England, University of Gloucestershire and UAL Central Saint Martins. He has also been actively involved in a variety of capacities spanning curation, programming, awards jurying, hosting and panel moderation for such international events as Animafest Zagreb, ITFS Stuttgart, Encounters Film Festival, the British Animation Awards, Manchester Animation Festival, Cardiff Animation Festival, Big Cartoon Festival and Dublin Animation Film Festival.\",\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/benmitchellblog.blogspot.com\",\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/benmitchellcreative\",\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/benlmitchell\/\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/benlmitchell\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.skwigly.co.uk\/author\/ben\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Lightbox: 'Minions' directors Kyle Balda & Pierre Coffin - Skwigly Animation Magazine","description":"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=udO-MzuQ0-A In the latest episode of Lightbox Skwigly talks to Kyle Balda and Pierre Coffin, the directors of","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.skwigly.co.uk\/lightbox-minions\/","og_locale":"en_GB","og_type":"article","og_title":"Lightbox: 'Minions' directors Kyle Balda & Pierre Coffin - Skwigly Animation Magazine","og_description":"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=udO-MzuQ0-A In the latest episode of Lightbox Skwigly talks to Kyle Balda and Pierre Coffin, the directors of","og_url":"https:\/\/www.skwigly.co.uk\/lightbox-minions\/","og_site_name":"Skwigly Animation Magazine","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/SkwiglyMagazine","article_author":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/benmitchellcreative","article_published_time":"2015-06-25T08:15:39+00:00","article_modified_time":"2017-03-06T10:58:18+00:00","author":"Ben Mitchell","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@benlmitchell","twitter_site":"@skwigly","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Ben Mitchell","Estimated reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.skwigly.co.uk\/lightbox-minions\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.skwigly.co.uk\/lightbox-minions\/"},"author":{"name":"Ben Mitchell","@id":"https:\/\/www.skwigly.co.uk\/#\/schema\/person\/1e6e798460447114f19c1571ef3acb08"},"headline":"Lightbox: &#8216;Minions&#8217; directors Kyle Balda &#038; Pierre Coffin","datePublished":"2015-06-25T08:15:39+00:00","dateModified":"2017-03-06T10:58:18+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.skwigly.co.uk\/lightbox-minions\/"},"wordCount":176,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.skwigly.co.uk\/#organization"},"keywords":["Despicable Me","Kyle Balda","Minions","Pierre Coffin","Scarlet Overkill"],"articleSection":["Featured","Interviews"],"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.skwigly.co.uk\/lightbox-minions\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.skwigly.co.uk\/lightbox-minions\/","url":"https:\/\/www.skwigly.co.uk\/lightbox-minions\/","name":"Lightbox: 'Minions' directors Kyle Balda & Pierre Coffin - Skwigly Animation Magazine","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.skwigly.co.uk\/#website"},"datePublished":"2015-06-25T08:15:39+00:00","dateModified":"2017-03-06T10:58:18+00:00","description":"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=udO-MzuQ0-A In the latest episode of Lightbox Skwigly talks to Kyle Balda and Pierre Coffin, the directors of","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.skwigly.co.uk\/lightbox-minions\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.skwigly.co.uk\/lightbox-minions\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.skwigly.co.uk\/lightbox-minions\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.skwigly.co.uk\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Lightbox: &#8216;Minions&#8217; directors Kyle Balda &#038; Pierre Coffin"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.skwigly.co.uk\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.skwigly.co.uk\/","name":"Skwigly Animation Magazine","description":"Online Animation Magazine","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.skwigly.co.uk\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.skwigly.co.uk\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-GB"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.skwigly.co.uk\/#organization","name":"Skwigly Animation Magazine","url":"https:\/\/www.skwigly.co.uk\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/www.skwigly.co.uk\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.skwigly.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/facebook-thumb-skwigly.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.skwigly.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/facebook-thumb-skwigly.jpg","width":250,"height":250,"caption":"Skwigly Animation Magazine"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.skwigly.co.uk\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/SkwiglyMagazine","https:\/\/x.com\/skwigly","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/skwiglyanimation\/"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.skwigly.co.uk\/#\/schema\/person\/1e6e798460447114f19c1571ef3acb08","name":"Ben Mitchell","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/www.skwigly.co.uk\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.skwigly.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/Ben-Mitchell_avatar_1466682328-96x96.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.skwigly.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/Ben-Mitchell_avatar_1466682328-96x96.jpg","caption":"Ben Mitchell"},"description":"Ben Mitchell is an animator, motion designer, composer, award-winning independent filmmaker and writer\/researcher. As a freelancer he has produced work for WildBrain, CBeebies, Channel 4, Shy Guys, Plymptoons, Animortal, Wonky Films, A Productions, Slurpy Studios and Rumpus to name a few. As an independent director he has produced six multi-award-winning short animated films that have been showcased at over 200 international film and animation festivals including Clermont-Ferrand, BFI London Film Festival, ITFS Stuttgart, Encounters, London International Animation Festival, Pictoplasma, London Short Film Festival and Anima Mundi. Alongside his work in animation production he is an active writer and researcher on the industry through such avenues as the leading UK animation resource Skwigly, for which he is Editor in Chief, and his books 'Independent Animation: Developing, Producing and Distributing Your Animated Films' (2016, second edition published April 2023) and 'Intimate Animation' (2025, co-written with Dr. Laura-Beth Cowley). As an educator he has lectured and tutored at AUB Bournemouth, University of the West of England, University of Gloucestershire and UAL Central Saint Martins. He has also been actively involved in a variety of capacities spanning curation, programming, awards jurying, hosting and panel moderation for such international events as Animafest Zagreb, ITFS Stuttgart, Encounters Film Festival, the British Animation Awards, Manchester Animation Festival, Cardiff Animation Festival, Big Cartoon Festival and Dublin Animation Film Festival.","sameAs":["http:\/\/benmitchellblog.blogspot.com","https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/benmitchellcreative","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/benlmitchell\/","https:\/\/x.com\/benlmitchell"],"url":"https:\/\/www.skwigly.co.uk\/author\/ben\/"}]}},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1DH8N-5wg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.skwigly.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21220","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.skwigly.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.skwigly.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.skwigly.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/114"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.skwigly.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21220"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.skwigly.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21220\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.skwigly.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21220"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.skwigly.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21220"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.skwigly.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21220"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}