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Wall-E Supervising Animator Tells His Story
Posted by
CmdrTaco
on Thu Jul 17, 2008 09:19 AM
from the just-get-more-computers dept.
from the just-get-more-computers dept.
Denofgeek wrote in to tell us about their story where "Pixar's supervising animator Angus MacLane gives an interesting interview about the technical challenges in bringing Wall-E to the screen. Plus he squeezes in a bit on his love of Lego, too..."
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Submission: The technical challenges of making Wall-E by Anonymous Coward
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Rated G! (Score:5, Interesting)
Definitely makes you think, though! And the animation was absolutely breathtaking at times.
Re:Rated G! (Score:5, Insightful)
Kids don't take much to be entertained. "Oooo Robot Moving." or anytime he goofs up or does something silly.
Here be some spoilers, kind of.
I think this movie had more in it for adults than any other Pixar movie I've seen. The first thing I thought of when I saw the movie was Idiocracy. I imagine that the animators were probably fans.
Short Circuit, 2001 (I was really hoping they'd work in a "I'm sorry captain, I can't do that", Apple startup chime, references to all previous Pixar movies and of course Cliff Claven (John Ratzenberger).
From the beginning everything was very well done and even small details weren't over looked. I can't wait for the DVD to watch it again and just watch some things in the background to see what I missed in the theater.
Parent
Re:Rated G! (Score:5, Insightful)
Most kids don't dream of eating fine cuisine in a 5 start restaurant, but they do play with toys, imagine monsters, play with bugs, dream of exploring the ocean, obsess over superheroes, play with cars, and aspire to go to space. The only thing that was really kid-friendly in Rat was the sappy "you can be anything you want to be" moral lesson, and the fact that it's a cartoon about a nerd and his rat. The setting and the plot didn't really involve anything that kids are really into. Even all of the artwork, backgrounds and animation, as visually stunning as they were, still seemed kind of high-brow and adult-ish for a kids show. When we left the theater after Rat, my kids weren't quoting it or talking about it, I think they liked it, but nothing was really memorable to them. I really liked Ratatouille, but I didn't feel like it was one for kids to really enjoy.
We went to Wall-E on opening night after my kids had been watching the trailers for months, and they loved it. My daughter giggled uncontrollably through about half of the movie, whenever the robots would talk, or whenever Wall-E would do something silly. We'll be sure to buy this one when it's released on DVD. But Ratatouille is one that we're ok with just seeing once in our lifetimes.
Parent
Re:Rated G! (Score:5, Insightful)
The rating doesn't mean that it's "for" kids, it just means that it won't "offend" them with the particular things that make the other ratings required for a movie. A documentary on beans could be rated G and would be so boring as to make kids run screaming from the room. Put the F word in that documentary a few times, and it's rated R, but still heinously boring to kids/etc.
Parent
Re:Rated G! (Score:5, Funny)
"Get these motherfucking beans out of my motherfucking documentary!", as narrator Sam Jackson would say ...
Parent
Re:Rated G! (Score:4, Funny)
A documentary on beans could be rated G and would be so boring as to make kids run screaming from the room.
Especially if it's narrated by George Wendt.
Parent
Re:Rated G! (Score:5, Interesting)
Parent
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
"70mm Panasonic cameras"
um, I think you probably mean Panavision there...
Panasonic? (Score:3, Informative)
I think you mean Panavision [wikipedia.org].
Re:Rated G! (Score:5, Insightful)
I enjoy many of the Pixar movies and "The Incredibles" is still my favorite. Wall-E is second though, displacing "Monsters, Inc." It grew on me.. I've seen it a couple times so far and enjoyed it far more on the second viewing (not that I didn't enjoy it the first go round).
I understand what you're saying about social commentary though. If not handled properly it can be annoying. This may sound like a copout, but I think science fiction has to handle it differently. In other genres the commentary is best hidden beneath layers of abstraction. Want to protest the madness of war in a drama and you make a "Romeo and Juliet" piece that ends in tragedy. Want to comment on the deterioration of the environment and you write about the flower girl that gets sick because a factory blocks her view of the ocean.. Not in science fiction.. In SF the skies turn violent because of pollution. The people wear gas masks. The effect of the disparity between rich and poor are farmed organ donors.
IMHO, this commentary on the cuff is what distinguishes SF. Traditional literature teachers scoff at SF because the themes and messages are so brazen, but it is precisely this "obviousness" that I enjoy.
Parent
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
I disagree. In SF the useful commentary is still hidden deeply. It just takes place in a world taken to the extreme. Some people call the extreme world ham-fisted, but that is just the environment which allows more creativity to permit more allegorical setup and therefore the higher amount of useful commentary. Those who object to it are too easily distracted or not comprehending of how handy it is to have a fantasy world.
In other forms of literature the amount of commentary is small, weak, and puny, becau
Re:Rated G! (Score:5, Insightful)
Actually, Wall-E was much different than I expected... I found it to be a bit heavy for younger kids,
I hear this a lot. Frankly, I don't understand why a movie that doesn't pretend to be a kid-friendly movie gets dinged for, well, not being very kid-friendly. My 8 year-old liked it (the messages were a bit over his head) but my 12 year-old really liked it and he understood the deeper themes. What really bothers me about bad reviews of this movie is the claim like, "I didn't laugh out loud one time!". Gee, maybe that's because it doesn't rely on low-brow humor to get its point across?
Parent
Re:Rated G! (Score:5, Interesting)
I hadn't really read up on it before viewing it and had no idea it was going to be an entire social commentary-esque movie.
Actually, I listened to a really good interview NPR did with Andrew Stanton (director and co-author of Wall-E) [npr.org] and at one point he discusses that the story never was intended to be a social commentary on environmentalism. The story was written about a decade ago and while it certainly has the universal theme of protecting nature, he primarily used the concept of a polluted planet to avoid having to give some other explanation for humans leaving the planet that would have been to heavy for a children's movie (ie: global war).
Parent
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
It was a social commentary on consumerism and corporatism, not environmentalism.
It might not have been intended to be a social commentary on environmentalism (nor, quite frankly, did I think it was particularly a commentary on environmentalism regardless of the intent), but there's no way anyone could convince me that it's not a particularly violent commentary on consumerism and corporatism.
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
I took my two kids, aged 4 and 1 (well, 22 months old) on the opening Saturday at 9:30. They both were entranced. Visually speaking, it was enough constant motion and humor and bouncing around for the 1 year old to love it. The 4 year old immediately bonded with the main character, Wall-E, and his interest, Eve.
Sure, it might be a bit heavy for kids, but they're just going to miss all the heavy stuff anyway. Pixar wasn't shooting for social commentary, they've come out and said they were working on thes
Excellent Movie (Score:5, Informative)
I will admit - I don't watch too many movies. However, I am extremely glad I spent the money to see Wall-E and I will be buying it on DVD when it is released.
The animation of this movie is amazing. Using almost no words (two?), the animation team captures a wide range of emotion: love, sadness, fear, humor and anger. What's even better is that they capture these emotions in the form of robots - something that typically is not associated with emotion. The storyline itself is fantastic. Not only is it simplistic enough that even a child can understand it and enjoy it, there is a definite adult theme throughout the entire movie which emphasizes taking care of this planet that we live on.
Additionally, this movie starts up with a great short (haha...that rabbit is awesome), the ending credits are absolutely beautiful and genius (how many different art styles can you spot?) and the soundtrack is great.
I would highly recommend that everybody check this movie out in the theater. It's definitely worth it.
Re: (Score:2)
You see I just wasn't that thrilled with it. The main reason was the "message". Yes I am all for "taking care of the planet" but at the same time I am tired of being beat over the head with it. I find it really funny that Disney/Pixar is making out "mega marts" as the root of all evil.
Then putting out Walle happy meal toys, and selling Walle everything at Walmart.
Was it a good movie yes. Was it beautifully done? Yes. Was it a heavy handed morality story?
I would just rate it as good. I really enjoyed Cars a
Re:Excellent Movie (Score:5, Insightful)
The main character's directive is to compact trash, but for the most part the "message" is an incidental passive voice in the background of the movie. The last half of the movie is spent in outer-space (away from the planet), and a lot of the first half is setting up the romance between the two robots. This movie is way, way, way more than just "take care of the planet".
There's also social critique of how lazy humans are getting (fast food smoothies, etc). There are a lot of other smaller parts in the movie that are charming, as well (like Wall-E teaching the robot on the Axiom how to wave).
I find it really funny that you think the people who wrote this story and brought it to life are the same people who want to milk the franchise for all it's worth.
Parent
Re: (Score:3)
I like to imagine that Pixar made the movie and brought it to life. While Disney is the monstrous parasite that is sucking all the life it can from the movie and shitting out toys for consumption.
Re:Excellent Movie (Score:4, Insightful)
The people that wrote and brought this story to life are some employees of Pixar and Disney.
Some other employees at Pixar and Disney are already are merchandising this for all that it is worth.
I find it really funny that you can't separate the two.
There, fixed it for ya.
Parent
Re:Excellent Movie (Score:4, Insightful)
Do you know how many employees work for Pixar? Do you know how many animators there are? Do you honestly think those animators are the ones who sign off on creating merchandise? Or that Mr. MacLane said "Gee, I'm not rich enough, let's create a new movie about robots and get richer!"
Sure, they know anything they create will be merchandised. That statement implicitly acknowledges that it is beyond their control - i.e. they aren't the ones doing the merchandising.
Parent
Re:Excellent Movie (Score:5, Insightful)
I thought the message was 'geeky socially awkward guy robot gets the hot chick robot.'
IMO the whole 'taking care of the planet' business was nothing more than a macguffin [wikipedia.org]; the movie doesn't revolve around B&L, but around the interaction between Wall-E and EVE. You could have replaced B&L with anything, such as a post-apocalypse setting, or widespread disease, or simply running out of food (or space).
Parent
Re:Excellent Movie (Score:5, Funny)
Seen on Superpunch.
Wall-E: Best movie ever... featuring a creepy guy who lives in a garbage dump, drugs a girl into unconsciousness after she spurns his romantic advances, ties her up, and takes her bound, comatose body on dates. Naturally, she falls in love with him.
Ladies, better keep a close eye on your drinks if you meet anyone that works at Pixar.
Parent
Re:Excellent Movie (Score:4, Insightful)
1. There's more than one message in the movie. Yes, the prominent theme is taking care of the planet, but the movie also advocates (*Warning: spoilers*): active awareness and participation; improving the world; disobeying a stagnant and narrow-minded regime; and of course, love, compassion, and teamwork. Not to mention the initial concept of being less wasteful generally.
2. Yes, there is some irony in using mass-culture happy-meals and sedate audiences to convey a message of active participation and environmental conscientiousness. However, there is nothing stopping you from enjoying that happy-meal and then doing your part to contribute to your community. We don't have to be paragons of excellence in order to live up to whatever message you read into the movie, just make an effort toward making a difference.
3. The movie has a lot of unique qualities that make it worth seeing, such as the remarkable characterizations and emotions created without so much as a word; or the fairly unique (or at least rare) storyline that engages our imagination (which is not something I can say about Pixar's Cars' "big-city chum gets stuck in backwater village" scenario). Wall-E is full of invention and creativity, and offers a lot to the audience besides morals.
4. I don't think you are simply tired of hearing the message, but rather you are explicitly offended by the particular message you read into the movie. It seems like what really turned you off from the movie was the suggestion that our current lifestyle is the cause of world's destruction. I'm not sure why you are unable to look past that one nerve that the movie struck and enjoy the film for all the reasons that make it a charming romantic-adventure story, but take solace in the fact that no matter what you do with your life, you won't actually turn into a mindless blimp in a hover-chair.
As a side note, the movie does not claim that mega marts are the root of all evil. Rather, they are simply a little jab at current culture as Pixar illustrates the dystopia. The causal force behind the destruction was humanity's lack of care.
It's a good movie with lots of charm. Go see it for its entertainment value.
Parent
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
Two reasons:
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
>Then putting out Walle happy meal toys
Hey, this month's happy meal toy is Tranformers.
No. Wall-e is not a transformer.
The end credits complete the story (Score:5, Insightful)
I absolutely agree; this film is a masterpiece, and what I find amazing is how Pixar turned the end credits into such a subtle and beautiful coda to the story. The art styles, and the scenes they depict, reflect the progressive rebirth of the newly-recolonized Earth, moving through hieroglyphics to a scene reminiscent of a Van Gogh painting, with Wall-E and EVE gazing up at the large tree, which one realizes is the same plant they struggled to protect, growing from the boot deep in the soil. I can't say enough about this wonderful film, and I continue to be stunned that Pixar keep outdoing themselves with each release.
Parent
More than taking care of the planet (Score:5, Informative)
Parent
Re:More than taking care of the planet (Score:4, Insightful)
Ok, spoilers I guess:
Actually one thing I really liked about Wall-E was how all the humans were shown as fundamentally decent people willing to give up ultimate comfort once an alternative was offered to them.
Incredibles - Exceptionalism should be rewarded
I really had issues with the Incredibles message. Unlike Wall-E the average human was portrayed as weak-willed, contemptible, and ungracious for not heaping glory on their superhuman betters. The line from the kid, "when everyone's special then nobody is" I found to be a pretty horrible statement, the implication being that he can't really shine unless everyone else is inferior in every way. And the race at the end, I didn't really see the point; it takes no effort to win, all he gets from winning is the dubious recognition of having won an elementary school race.
Cars - taking a different path is a good thing
I wish the writers had taken a different path instead of hitting every cliche along the way. Five minutes into Cars you know everything that's going to happen in the rest of the movie.
Parent
Re:More than taking care of the planet (Score:4, Insightful)
Actually one thing I really liked about Wall-E was how all the humans were shown as fundamentally decent people willing to give up ultimate comfort once an alternative was offered to them.
I agree. The humans weren't willfully destructive or lazy, they simply had developed to have every care or whim taken care of for them. Basically, living on a cruise vacation for 700 years.
The line from the kid, "when everyone's special then nobody is" I found to be a pretty horrible statement, the implication being that he can't really shine unless everyone else is inferior in every way.
Completely disagree here. :) It's a disparagement of our modern focus on claiming that everyone is equal. Everyone isn't equal though -- some people are clearly better than others at certain things. Dash is obviously much better than any of the other kids at running, but he's being held back because excelling goes against what they've been taught to believe, that we're all equal. He knows he's capable of doing better, and he wants to be "special." The phrase "everyone's special" is insulting. The point of the final race is that Dash now has another outlet -- hero work with his family. He doesn't need to show off anymore, and he doesn't need to flout his powers. Now that he can run elsewhere, he doesn't need to "win" the race. He can, but doesn't have to.
Five minutes into Cars you know everything that's going to happen in the rest of the movie.
Yeah, Cars is more about the characters (including the town as a character) than the plotline.
Parent
Re:More than taking care of the planet (Score:4, Interesting)
Incredibles - Exceptionalism should be rewarded
The message of the film is that mediocrity is celebrated.
I really had issues with the Incredibles message. Unlike Wall-E the average human was portrayed as weak-willed, contemptible, and ungracious for not heaping glory on their superhuman betters. The line from the kid, "when everyone's special then nobody is" I found to be a pretty horrible statement, the implication being that he can't really shine unless everyone else is inferior in every way.
s/every/some. But yes, that is true. It may not be pleasant, or nice, but it is true. It's kind of the definition of special really. And you know what? The average human is weak willed, ungracious and contemptible. In the film, it's not that they didn't heap praise, it's that they forced them away. They forced the incredibles to be as mediocre as they were. That is what people are like.
Much as I don't particularly like it, I'm like that too, to some extent. Have you never felt ill will towards someone who got/achieved something you didn't manage to do? If you ever have, then you have those tendencies too.
And the race at the end, I didn't really see the point; it takes no effort to win, all he gets from winning is the dubious recognition of having won an elementary school race.
So the best guy shouldn't win, so everyone else can have a chance? Why shouldn't he win? Because there's nothing special about special? Because the mediocre people should be celebrated too? Your comment is the point of the film.
Parent
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
In Dash's case, he's complaining about having to lower himself to the level of regular people (and thus competing on regular human terms), while Syndrome is talking about raising regular people to the level of superhero
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Best. Movie. Ever. (Score:2, Informative)
Blew me away (Score:5, Insightful)
To be quite honest, I wasn't all that thrilled about going to this movie. I walked into the movie by request of my little brother, and I figured I'd at least get a few laughs out of the movie.
What I got was a masterpiece.
Not two minutes into the film, I was enthralled by the sheer beauty of the landscapes. The incongruity between the cheerful opening tune and the devastated Earth landscape is absolutely delightful.
Also, Pixar has gotten so good at what they do that they don't even need words to tell a story. The first 45 minutes of the movie has pretty much ZERO dialogue with the exception of BnL ads for background. Oh, also a word or two (literally) from the robots.
Particularly well done were the flight scenes - the part in the beginning where EVE watches the ship leave and start cruising around while WALL-E watches in awe, and when the two of them are dancing around the Axiom. I could watch those two scenes over and over again and still be thrilled.
Also, the (oft overlooked) soundtrack is phenomenal as well. I bought it the instant I could, and I've had it on repeat for about a week now. (2815 AD and Define Dancing are my favorites)
I can honestly say that this is the best (in terms of sheer all-around quality) film that I have ever seen, and I fully expect this to just rake in its well-deserved awards.
Re:Blew me away (Score:4, Insightful)
> I fully expect this to just rake in its well-deserved awards.
I agree, but you know what sucks, is that an animated film, no matter how well received will ever be able to win an Oscar for Best Picture thanks to the creation of Best Animated Feature category by the Academy a few years ago. Having a separate category for documentaries makes sense to me, but splitting out animation and not action, romance, western, etc. does not.
Parent
Re:Blew me away (Score:5, Insightful)
2001: A Space Odyssey is 141 minutes long and has 28 minutes of dialog. And no massive explosions, gunfights, etc. either.
That "story without dialog didn't work"? Riiiiiiiight.
Parent
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
Y'know, I haven't seen the movie, but I really find this to be impossible. Indeed, the lack of dialogue is the single biggest reason I'm not going to see the movie until I, at the very least, pirate it to see if it's any good: stories without dialogue don't work. Period. There's a reason why we quit making silent movies, and it really disappointed me that Pixar is taking a step backward in that regard.
You know what also sucked? Radio dramas. Stories without pictures suck. I will right now say it is absolutely impossible to make a good story with just words. The people who listened to them were all congenital idiots. What were humans doing around campfires for thousands of years? Just making due with what they had. The moment we could combine pictures with those words, bada-boom-bada-bing, campfires became passe. And for good reason! People who listen to talking books are philistines and possibly communis
Great stuff! (Score:5, Interesting)
What I found most interesting about TFA was about the software they use for long-term development.
It said that for long-term development movies (Wall-E was 3 years, right?) they use the same software all the way through. I had always wondered about that kind of thing.. Since 3D software and rendering engines and such is always improving, how do these guys make the movies? Do they constantly re-render with the better software throughout the process, etc.? How do they keep up with competition in that regard?
So it was neat to finally find that out. The article also offers a lot of insight into the team arrangement at Pixar. I like that they aren't chained to animating a certain character/part- That they really observe who likes to animate who and what kind of scenes and kind of let them do what they enjoy best in the project. I wish programming jobs were like that- Where we could work on parts that we really liked instead of being moved from language to language and to different teams etc. like our preference doesn't matter. I think it's a really good thing they have over there.
If you haven't seen Wall-E yet, it's well worth the ticket price!
Greatest Wall-E Triumph: the roach! (Score:5, Insightful)
They were able to make a roach cute. And no, not some Disneyesque anthropomorphic huggable buggable plushified abomination to be mass-marketed to yowling ankle-biters everywhere, no, no, no! This was a realistic roach, the kind that makes me reach for a shoe and go Khrushchev on its filthy self. My family went to see this movie together and my own mother, my earliest memories of which involve her screaming hysterically and attacking palmetto bugs with a toilet plunger wielded with the sort of two-hand grip reserved for viking warhammers, she found the roach cute! She gasped when Wall-E rolled over it that last time, thinking it might be dead.
If Pixar can make her identify and sympathize with a realistic roach, the animators at those other studios should just hang up their keyboards and go home.
Presto and Portal (Score:3, Interesting)
As I watched the short Presto I couldn't help but imagine a guy at Pixar playing Portal on their lunch break and going "Hey, I've got an idea!"
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Re: (Score:2)
Hmm all my kids think Wall-E is a animated version of the "Short Circuit" movie's Johny 5 robot.
They haven't seen the movie, Just trailers.. Maybe this weekend.
Re: (Score:2)
Re:Shorts (Score:5, Insightful)
Whoa, whoa, whoa... You went to a Pixar film not realizing that there would be a short before it? What rock have you been living under?
Parent
Re:Shorts (Score:5, Interesting)
And now, in Wall*E, the people (for the most part) have a very cartoony bubbly look, which is obviously intentional to represent how far the human race has degenerated during the time it has been waited on hand and foot by robots in space. The obviousness of that intent is highlighted by the fact that in the line up of photos of all of the previous captains, the first one was very realistic looking, and they gradually get more cartoony and fat from there. Also, all of the videos of Fred Willard are actual videos of the actor, not animations. That serves to further show the contrast between what humans were and what they have become. I think when Toy Story came out, they were focused on showing off this new medium and how realistic it can be, so they tried to even make the people lifelike, which was hard to do. So in subsequent movies, they've avoided the Uncanny Valley [wikipedia.org] by making the humans cartoonish in different ways, depending on the theme of the movie.
Parent
Re:Shorts (Score:5, Insightful)
The only movie I remember without a short was The Incredibles. But all the others had shorts. I've always like them myself, a tribute to the old movies. Besides if you are going to be that serious then why the heck are you going to a kids movie.
Parent
Re:Shorts (Score:5, Informative)
Nice animation, but a little too saccharine for me.
Parent
Re:Shorts (Score:4, Informative)
And, in case you haven't seen: they're all here [pixar.com].
Parent
Re:Real people VS 3d people (Score:4, Informative)
Parent