Can you tell us a little about what you do these days at Pixar?
I supervise animation on particular films. On Ratatouille, I worked between the director and about eighty animators - making sure they have what they need and that the director is being heard clear and concisely.

You once won a Student Emmy Award and you’ve also worked on 6 big-budget feature films which all received Oscar nominations and the last 3 have won. What does the recognition feel like?
Oh, it’s amazing! I started really getting interested in this kind of thing when I was about 15 and I just do things to sort of please myself. I watch stuff and if I like it I show it and I get feedback. Working that way and pleasing yourself, a lot of times people really respond to it.

When did you know you wanted to be an animator and what attracted you?
I was interested in a lot of things. I liked performing, but I was nervous in front of people. I liked music, but I didn’t like practising all hours. I liked dance and I wanted to be a stunt man. And I liked to draw. When I researched animation I found that animators draw, but they’re also performing and deciding how a character acts. Also making your own cartoon, you get to do your own music and voices and you can be any kind of character. I didn’t have to pick, I got to do everything!


FindingNemo: Dory, Marlin & Bruce Copyright Pixar/Disney

What cartoons did you like as a child?
Tom & Jerry is hilarious to me. Bugs Bunny… and I love the old Disney feature films, like, Sleeping Beauty, The Jungle Book and Pinoccio.

Can you remember your first animation project?
When I was 15 there was a summer school that taught animation. The application was to do a flipbook to animate something. I animated this guy walking in and picking up a coin off the ground…and then a large, three tonne weight falling on him and that was the end. It was really dumb, but I remember working so hard on the drawings and getting it just right. That was my first one. I still have it! Very proud! It got me in!

Do you prefer that kind of animation, or computer animation?
I like all kinds of animation. I enjoy drawing but I also enjoy the freedom of using the computer because I don’t have to draw as well. Some people draw really well and they love it because they can animate whatever they like. I have a hard time drawing hands and noses, so the computer frees me from that kind of thing. But I love watching both.

What’s the rough process for creating a Pixar film?
Somebody comes up with the story idea and then a team of development artists draw what we think the world and the characters are gonna look like. Over a year or two that’s finalized on paper and Photoshop. From there, we’ll have a sculptor sculpt it in clay, so we can see what the character’s gonna look like in three dimensions, then we build it in the computer in a 3D environment. Someone will make controls so that the arms can move realistically and the face can express. And then we animate the script that’s been played out.

How long would it take to create a five minute piece of animation at Pixar?
The simpler your design and the more animators you have, the faster it is. For 5 animators to do 5 minutes it could take a few months! Remy the rat’s got whiskers a tail and ears. All that stuff takes longer to do.

Any advice for young, aspiring animators?
Have fun, try it! Get a stack of paper and draw a stick figure jumping off a ledge into a swimming pool. The feeling you get from bringing life into something is really fantastic. I imagine it’s like having a kid where you sort of create, raise and shape it. And when you start flipping the paper, it lives by itself, it doesn’t need you anymore! I would try to move stuff around however you can, just to learn. Draw, use Flash, use a computer but you don’t have to, just get your ideas out there.

What personal qualities and talents help in your job?
You have to enjoy observing people and things. It’s a character actor’s job in that I might one day be asked to animate somebody who is really nerdy versus somebody who’s very confident. I can’t just have them walk the same. If you’re feeling really confident your shoulders are back and you stand taller and walk differently to when you’re feeling shy or nerdy. You might have your head down shuffling along. I have to have that saved in the back of my brain.

It’s not about making fun of people, it’s about observing and appreciating the differences. You can really tell a lot about a person’s personality by the way that they’ll hold themselves, or the way they do a certain activity. I find that really fascinating. So most importantly a sense of curiosity and observation and to save those away. ‘Cos you never know when you might have to animate that guy who moves like he’s carrying 300 pounds on his back. They’re out there!

What would you like to be doing in 10 years time?
There’s something really great about working on someone else’s character but it’s also fun to think about a whole character and a whole story. It’s a different sort of challenges that I miss. I’d like to, eventually, whether it’s at Pixar or on my own, get back to that.

Now onto Pixar and animated films… Pixar films use a lot of famous character voices – have you been able to work with actors and which were the most memorable?
The one I’ve worked with the closest and who I enjoyed the most was Ellen DeGeneres (Dory in Finding Nemo/known for her Talk Show ‘Ellen’). She is a really funny and genuine person. Living in California working in film, you sometimes have the opportunity to meet famous people and it can be really disappointing. You may love the character they play, but you meet them and they’re very unpleasant. Our good-luck charm John Ratzenberger, from the TV show Cheers - he’s got this voice that’s always in every movie that we do – he is the nicest guy. Bonnie Hunt is another.

Pixar are known for their child friendly storylines with an adult twist. Would they ever consider creating a more grown-up film?
The studio tends to go for stories that are kind of universal human stories. Ratatouille’s about somebody who wants to do something but is afraid of what people are gonna think. You can apply that to a grown up or a kid and just vary the situation. What I like about Pixar films is that they’ll take those human ideas that affect all ages and apply them to a character that isn’t human. So as they’re not a specific male, female or age then we’re all able of identify with them. Some of the humour is skewed more towards adults, but there’re jokes in there for everybody. For me, what is ‘adult’ is often very similar to a kid’s experience.

How would you like to see animation develop and what other genres or influences would you like to see in animated films?
As much as we see in any other kind of film. In the 1980s the US made some really silly but family-friendly films, like Back To The Future, The Goonies and ET. These days it’s either super silly or super gritty. And they’re great in their different ways – but I miss fun and some serious stuff at the same time. I’m happy working at Pixar because I feel like that’s the kinda movie that they’re making.

Outside of purely animated films, do you think that they use too much CGI in movies?
Yes I do. There’s something really great about older films, when CG was too expensive. In Jaws you see one scene of just the shape of the shark moving slowly under the water and it’s horrifying ’cos your imagination fills in. Nowadays, you have multiple shots of a computer generated shark, chewing flesh off bone in the most detailed fashion. I think it creates more suspense to wonder what’s out there, than to show it. CG has created camera work that wouldn’t really exist. It makes it feel like a video game and it pulls me out of the movie. So I prefer more traditional methods.

What do you think a purely animated film offers that real life doesn’t?
I think animated films play to what is best about film…that people will sit down in the dark and suspend their disbelief completely in a way that they won’t in everyday life. For two hours to completely step outside yourself and put yourself in the shoes of somebody else and what they’re going through. Animated film pushes that because not only is it another character but something different like a robot or mermaid. Anything! I really love its potential to connect us to our imagination and our ability to be young again.


Rataouille:Copyright Pixar/Disney

How would you define Pixar today, compared to ten years ago?
I think Pixar’s matured a lot in the last ten years. But every time the technology advances, we keep adding more detail to the image, so it looks better. So movies have gotten more interesting to look at, which we expected but they continue to stay slow to make, which we didn’t expect!

And I think Pixar’s really learnt to invest in their artists, because as the technology improves, the artists improve and they really value that. We’ve learned how important it is to have groups of people who work well together creatively. And as I said today, it’s very important to have making mistakes be accepted as part of the process. Working around the mistakes and learning from them, for me, is one of the best parts of it.

So what sort of things do Pixar have in the pipeline for us?
Ooh, exciting things! ‘Wall-E’ has little dialogue, and you don’t even realise it! It’s pure animation, and has a nice environmental message to it. ‘Up’, which is directed by Pete Docter (Monsters Inc.), is an original idea and really whimsical… almost like a Miyazaki (Japanese) animated film. Next is ‘Toy Story 3’ and we want it to be right, so many of the original creatives from the first two Toy Story’s are contributing. From what I understand, the ending is completely awesome. There are other films coming down the pipe, of course, but I can’t tell you about ‘em. You’ll have to wait and see…

Thanks to Mark Walsh and Pixar Studios

By Sarah Kabar

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