I did receive an all expenses paid trip to The Good Dinosaur press junket, but all dino loving is my own.
Did I tell you that more dinosaur awesomeness is coming? Yep, I sure did. If you missed out on the first posts, you can check out all The Good Dinosaur posts here (Trust me you don’t want to miss it, Pixar is FASCINATING!)
During our tour of Pixar Studios we had a chance to speak with all the different departments about what it took to make The Good Dinosaur a reality. The first talks were about moving and living like a dinosaur and designing the backgrounds where the dinosaurs would live. Our next set of talks went into the lighting and set design. (Did you know they actually did “lighting” even though this movie is computer generated?)
Being a photographer myself, the lighting talk with Director of Photography-Lighting Sharon Calahan was probably one of my favorite talks. That probably makes me weird, but you know I love to rock my weird flag! Anyway, I had never really thought about the fact that computer animated movies still needed to be lit. (Duh, they obviously aren’t in the dark)
What do I mean by lighting? I mean adding shadows, adding highlights, and adding depth to the movie. When light goes across the mountain range in the movie, that isn’t put in by the set designers that is later added by the light department. I found this really fascinating because lighting something properly is such an art form. With just a stroke of light you can change the entire mood of the a scene. It’s the same as in digital photography.
The film is very emotional and the job of the color script, a large part of my job is to figure out how to support the film in an emotional and visual way.
We heard Sharon speak when we chatted around the campfire with The Good Dinosaur director, and she was telling us then how she used the research trip to Wyoming to get some inspiration for the lighting she wanted in the movie. It was neat to later sit down and hear her speak again and then SHOW us how those inspirations came to light during the lighting process. It again just hit home even the most minute details Pixar paid attention to to get The Good Dinosaur right.
Our next chat was with Sets Supervisor David Munier. What the heck is a sets supervisor? They are the big daddy (or mommy) in charge of the sets, aka where the scenes will take place. As I talked about in the last post, the place where The Good Dinosaur was set had to be big, but not so big that the characters would get lost in there and it would be hard to follow the plot of the movie.
David Munier chatted with us how the large expanses set had to be big enough to see for miles and miles. The trip to Wyoming played a huge part in setting up the scenes in The Good Dinosaur, and David shared with us that they even got down to the nitty gritty using USGS surveys of the Grand Teton mountains. Now that is detail oriented.
Munier also shared with us that he drew inspirations from the great Ansel Adams depictions of The Grand Teton mountains. Ansel had such an amazing eye to capture the beauty of nature, and it’s amazing that he’s still inspiring great works of art even to this day. Pixar did the amazing job of creating the beauty of The Good Dinosaur to become it’s own kind of beauty. From the clips that we were able to see, the views were just breathtaking; expansive, beautifully lit, and humbling.
Ok, ok so with each section I talk about I tell you that it’s my favorite section, but it’s really hard to pick just ONE favorite when you meet so much awesomeness. One of our last talks was with the FX department. When you think special effects, you probably think live action movies, green screens, and computer generated sequences in live action movies. Did you know that even Pixar has an FX department that works on each of their films? Yup!
What the heck does the FX department do? Effects Supervisor Jon Reish was kind enough to fill us in. The other part I am guilty of is repeating over and over just being blown away by how much detail goes into these movies. Sorry, I can’t help it! Especially when I chat with people like Jon. The purpose of his whole department is to add the most minute details to the movie.
The FX department is responsible for the water droplets that drip from the leaves after the rain, the bubbles that float around in the raging river as Arlo is being swept downstream, the fire and smoke that raise up from a campfire, and the fog that wisps off the mountain caps. That’s just a small list of what they do. You think you have heard every detail that Pixar puts into their movies, and then you chat with another department that takes it even further! Crazy! Awesome!
One of the clips we were able to preview with we toured Pixar was the raging river scene in The Good Dinosaur. It was pretty awesome to then go and chat with the department supervisor that was mainly in charge of developing that sequence. That sequence was so complicated and required so much data that it required all of Pixar Studios to update their servers so they could hold all the information, and the FX department was responsible for putting all the teeny tiny details in it; how the water moved, how the bubbles surfaced, how the spray hit the rocks. It really was fascinating!
Over and over again I have been saying “awesome”, “amazing”, “mindblowing” throughout these Pixar posts. It’s not lip service. It is just really amazing how much detail and heart go into these movies. Shoot, I can’t even go to the grocery store with a list of five things without forgetting a detail. Pixar makes magic by putting together layers and layers of details to become a movie that is sure to find it’s way into your family’s heart.
Are you stoked for The Good Dinosaur? I am, I can’t wait to see it on November 25th! Check out this cute clip out!
Want to learn more about The Good Dinosaur? Follow them on their social media channels:
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- Visit the official THE GOOD DINOSAUR website here: http://movies.disney.com/the-good-dinosaur
- THE GOOD DINOSAUR opens in theatres everywhere on November 25th!
Can’t get enough of The Good Dinosaur? Then check out these other posts about The Good Dinosaur!
Exclusive Behind the Scenes Tour of Pixar Studios
Moving and Living Like Dinosaurs
Around the Campfire with The Good Dinosaur Director
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