Yesterday I went to St. Andrews University for the Half-Cut Film Festival. They had a panel discussion and Q&A session with two Pixar animators - Dovi Anderson and Rich McKain.
Their talk was excellent. They described their typical day and showed us pictures of the AWESOME studio. It's divided into left and right brain, with the technical stuff on the right and creative stuff on the left. There are only 4 bathrooms near the middle so as everyone has to see each other every day. Which, they say, is awkward for people who've dated someone at work and then broken up with them. They detailed the animation process from conception to distribution, including how they design and animate the characters to make them look real, and told us about their upcoming film, Up and the projects to follow.
The best part was when they discussed the making of Ratatouille. Since I've been writing about anthropomorphosis, it's exactly what I was looking for. They showed the storyboards and rough layouts that are made up for story purposes but without emotion or character definition. It seemed as though they thought we'd be surprised at how sparse it all is, but having watched a lot of the extras I had seen it before. Perhaps others had too. They played some movement sequences of Remy where they had tested how his tail should move, how he would run, and things like that.
My favourite part was the sketches from what they called a "style package" - which is a document they give to the animators so as they keep the movements and stances of the characters consistent. So Remy, for example, should always have a curved back, his arms close in, and his feet should be together on the ground so as he's almost in a seated standing position. I asked how they create the mannerisms that are particular to character, and they said it was a combination of storyboarding and everyone's ideas coming together, animators putting their own flair into it, and other animators picking that up in the screenings. Each animator screens their work whenever they have a scene prepared or in progress and they watch it together to give feedback.
Apparently anyone in the company can pitch their ideas to the Brain Trust - which is a group who make decisions (executives or producers or something). You have to pitch three ideas, not just one. They find directors in the same way -- when they chose Brad Bird, Pete Docter and Andrew Stanton to direct for the first time, for example, they had to pitch three ideas at that point.
After the Q&A we went to the reception before the Half-Cut screening and awards ceremony. I spoke to Dovi Anderson there (I had planned to do a JD and sneak-hug him, but... well... he was with his wife and... well, it didn't happen) and he was wearing full Highland dress and everything. He was lovely and we chatted about Scotland (they're making a film that's set here) and the studio and I asked him for some advice and the like. He's worked on Ratatouille and Wall-E as a crowd animator, and I asked him about the Disney video that's been going around which I think I might discuss tomorrow. So look out for that!
Overall it was a great experience. I've been really lucky with my dissertation topic - I went to a Screen journal convention in Manchester that was about animation in March as well. It's good to know that it's relevant and visible right now and I might continue to do research on it in the future.
What are your thoughts on Pixar? Who's the most inspiring person you've met or heard speak?
Until tomorrow!
Nicola x
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