Our featured Pixar blogger is Ronnie Del Carmen, the story supervisor on Disney·Pixar's upcoming film, Up.
Hi Disney fans, my name is Ronnie Del Carmen. I’m the story supervisor on Disney·Pixar’s upcoming film, Up, and I’m excited about the opportunity to tell all you Disney fans out there what we’re up to these days at Pixar. I am and always have been a huge Disney fan, so it’s great for me to get a chance to talk to a community of people who think a lot like I do!
As many of you probably know, Up comes out on May 29, and with each passing day, everyone here in Emeryville is getting a little more excited. Since I was the lead story artist on the film, most of my work on Up is done (that doesn’t mean I’m not still busy developing new stories — I’m working on some super-cool content you’ll see on the DVD release of Up!). But I’m really enjoying sitting back and seeing how all those little lines and drawings and stuff my team and I worked so hard on are now at this point in the process becoming realized with color and light.
Like I say, most of my work on the film is done but not all. Every day I sit in on reviews and take a look at the lighting of sequences. Yesterday we were looking at a scene toward the end of the film. It’s really weird to see a sequence that a long time ago I was developing with Pete [director Pete Docter], just sitting in his office, trying to craft a sequence. We would draw these things, essentially they’re just lines, one drawing after another, and we’d be talking about it and coming up with an idea and getting to the point where you say, ‘Well that might work.’ And then fast forwarding to yesterday, and I get to see the scene in lighting, and there’s all this color and mood and animation and acting and the voice of the actors in there… it just makes my jaw drop how wonderful it looks. Where at the beginning it sometimes seems like it’s not going to hold together, the idea doesn’t seem like it’s magnificent enough, but each of these moments as soon as they are given light and life seem like they should have always been there. They look magnificent. It just makes me stop and stare.
But you’re always wondering, ‘Oh gosh, did we lose something in the layout stage, did we miss an opportunity in the animation?’ Pete and I recently had a discussion about an action that a character was going to do that we had intended in the boards (storyboard stage) for a moment and we had loved it then, that this character should touch this missing spot on his jacket, almost as if to touch a scar he had his whole life. And we had it on the board for so long. And here we are now the movie’s animated and we ended up never putting the scene in the movie because other things were needed more than that one. But every now and then we talk about it, we’ll say, ‘Remember that moment when we had him talking about the biggest wound in his life, and he’d absentmindedly touch this missing spot on his jacket where a patch was stolen years ago?’ We always wonder about ideas like that, should we put ideas like that back in? That kind of stuff always comes up when you’re making these movies.
"The way the lighting bounces off surfaces and the characters, it is just magnificent. I wanted them to freeze each frame so I could just stare at it them all! I just melt every time I see it."
It’s really cool when we get to show this stuff to John [Lasseter, Chief Creative Officer, Walt Disney and Pixar Animation Studios]. When John’s in the room, he’s always thinking, ‘Let’s kick this up a little more,’ he’s always adding great ideas and creative possibilities. He’ll watch a scene and the next thing he likes to say is, “Hey you know what could happen?” You’ll see just some of his great ideas in the scene when Carl, our film’s 78-year-old hero, visits the film’s antagonist.
Now that Up is in the homestretch, I, like almost everyone else here at Pixar, get to check out the dailies that are shown in our theater on Friday afternoons. No sound, just quick shots. Just a couple days ago, I saw one of the sequences at the end of the film, which is just so dramatically and beautifully lit. The way the lighting bounces off surfaces and the characters, it is just magnificent. I wanted them to freeze each frame so I could just stare at it them all! I just melt every time I see it. I wish I could say more, but I don’t want to spoil the fun for you when you see Up for yourselves!
There’s also a scene when Carl comes across a book of his wife’s childhood adventure book and silently pages through it. Just flipping the pages. All you see is his face. I did the story work on this scene years ago, but when I saw it finalized, the muscles on his face and the emotions start to overcome him… just to watch Carl’s face experience those emotions as he goes from page to page… it’s devastating. It floors me, and I hold my breath the whole time as if I were there with him.
I know you’re all going to have a great time, a magnificent time, at this movie. My hope is that it will also take you on an emotional journey. The movie’s really about what’s valuable in life, and grandparents can watch this movie with their grandkids. And I’m really proud of that. This movie affects me deeply, and I helped make it!
Well, thanks for reading this little post on what’s going on up here at the Studio (sorry, I couldn’t resist!) in Emeryville. I look forward to giving you an update as soon as I can get a little time away from my drawing desk.
