What kind of software was used for the project?

Imagination & hands ... plus pencils, paper, Photoshop, After Effects, Softimage XSI, Final cut and Avid.

5. Were there any technical challenges you had to overcome?
Where do I begin? From the creation of the bespoke character rigs and sheer scale of modelling and building at one end - to the realisation of an Ocean that could convey a range of emotive set pieces from calm to stormy seas, plus the challenge of 10,000 unruly penguins at the south pole and a unwavering desire to keep the film as tactile as possible in its final look, the film was riddled with challenges that we had not faced before making it that much more interesting to solve of course. In the end the challenges were all subtle creative ones more than technical and despite what’s on screen the technology definitely was put to work to solve the story rather than be a means to its own end.

How much planning was needed in order to pull something like Lost and Found off?

This is question for Sue Goffe who produced the film -my methodology was to keep my head down working and trust Sue to make sure the world would still be there when I looked up. The simple answer is "a lot". With such a very tight budget - and the micro-schedule we had in which to produce the film - there was no room for any time wastage or navel contemplation. Once the treatment and animatics had been created and locked - the entire film was dissected into scenes & shots which were carved up according to content among the modellers, and animators in the most efficient order possible. With a very small team working in shifts for 11 months the film simply had to be planned down to the last frame in the most disciplined way we could something constantly being adjusted and reshuffled according to the flow of production as it occurred.