kottke.org: Pixar is always trying to push the envelope of animation and filmmaking, going beyond what they’ve done before. For the studio’s latest release, Toy Story 4, the filmmakers worked to inject as much reality into the animation as possible and to make it feel like a live-action movie shot with real cameras using familiar lenses and standard techniques.
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Pixar loves to go the extra mile. This is really cool, because they are using a different technique to create such cool screen pictures, and making the audience feel like they are watching a live action film. It's so interesting that they are able to create this effect by actually filming and mimicking the paths of real cameras. Toy Story 4 was a wonderfully made film, and their techniques for animation using their "fake cameras" added to the dramatics of the story as a whole. I love that Pixar does this as a way to 'relate' to their audience, because it truly is so much extra effort. I would love to see them in the process of filming for the carriage scene and then transferring that as an effect in their software. It seems like a really smart way to do it, and probably took a million Pixar employees to do. They're really lucky they have a million dollars to pay all these people.
Honestly, this article and video just proves that the amount of detail and thought that goes into Pixar animations goes to infinity and beyond. I remember watching Toy Story 4 and comparing it to the first one and even the third one and thinking, there's something different. The look of the animation felt softer, but at the same time more defined. It also looked more realistic. Now I know why. The camera movement and focusing patterns of real but fake cameras bring a whole new dimensionality to the film. I love it. I always wondered why there was a director of photography in an animated movie, as they do not use cameras. Yet, at Pixar, they clearly do. Integrating new technologies from old ones, such as motion capture, creates more artistic freedom and look to Pixar's films that continue to make them seem more realistic. I wonder how much money this new technology and implementation costs? The amount of time is obvious; Toy Story 3 came out in 2010, and Toy Story 4 came out 9 years later. It was well worth the wait.
I love this guy! The videos he makes are truly incredible and eye-opening. So in this episode, Evan Puschak shares how the animation studio, Pixar, uses animation techniques that recreate what we are used to within the actual film world. For example, a film technique that uses a split focus diopter is utilized when a crew wants to have a shot with 2 subjects in focus in the frame. Rather than creating the effect digitally in a way that would being focus to each character in an unnatural CGI way, Pixar took every day film techniques to recreate this scene so it would seem more like what our eyes are accustomed to. In another part of this video, Puschak describes how Pixar made the animation look like it used different specific lenses. In certain scenes the bokeh of certain shots look like it was shot using an anamorphic lens where other shots were carefully designed to not have those types of lenses.
I love this guy! The videos he makes are truly incredible and eye-opening. So in this episode, Evan Puschak shares how the animation studio, Pixar, uses animation techniques that recreate what we are used to within the actual film world. For example, a film technique that uses a split focus diopter is utilized when a crew wants to have a shot with 2 subjects in focus in the frame. Rather than creating the effect digitally in a way that would being focus to each character in an unnatural CGI way, Pixar took every day film techniques to recreate this scene so it would seem more like what our eyes are accustomed to. In another part of this video, Puschak describes how Pixar made the animation look like it used different specific lenses. In certain scenes the bokeh of certain shots look like it was shot using an anamorphic lens where other shots were carefully designed to not have those types of lenses.
-Pablo Anton
This is a fascinating look at the thought and preparation that goes into a Pixar animated movie. The author is right, our eyes are so accustomed to the movement and focus of actual cameras in the world, but Pixar could have easily written Toy Story 4 off as an “animation only” film and stuck with the general animation style that they are classically known for and that is common in the animation world. But, as Disney tends to do, they went the extra mile and incorporated live filming techniques and effects into the animation. One statement that stood out to me was, “they keep [the diopter] in because making something look like it was shot in the real world with real cameras helps the audience believe the action on the screen.” Everything that Disney/Pixar does is deliberate and helps to further the world and the storytelling of the piece.
Wow! This is so very cool. I do not have any film background, but what the video in the article showed was amazing. I never really noticed how animation is using real life film shots to tell story as well. It is a little embarrassing that I have not noticed it since it still is cinematic storytelling. In fact, I feel as if I have noticed it in video games before I acknowledged it here in cinematic animation. I love how Disney and Pixar have put so much attention into the small details. It does just feel like it was filmed on camera in a studio. I hope that in the special features’ sections of Toy Story 4, they go into depth the process. I will definitely need to keep a sharper eye on animated films to see how this technology and attention to detailed storytelling is spreading to other animation studios.
This article just proves the way animated films have evolved over time. When comparing the first Toy Story with Toy Story 4, it's easy to see the difference in attention to detail. The more obvious difference was the detail in each of the characters as well as each background. However, looking at it in more detail, just as Jason Kottke and Evan Puschak did, you can see the way they put in so much extra work when it comes to the camera angles and lenses. I personally don't know very much about film or animation, so when I saw Toy Story 4 I didn't initially notice the realistic camera angles and lenses. At the same time, after reading an article and watching a video about the efforts the entire team of Toy Story 4 put in to create the film, I can't help but appreciate every bit of it.
The development in digital animation is exciting. As their techniques enable more realistic shoots, more the audience will be drawn into the story. However, is it just me or do anyone else feel uncomfortable while seeing these too realistic 3D animated movies? Although I do enjoy watching Pixar films, when I take a step back from the story, I feel the same way as when I am talking to the receptionist robot, which is now commonly used in Japan. The sense of fear and anxiety, which are probably caused from the idea that robotics and software taking over humans in the future. Perhaps, the time may come when animated actors will take over the real human actors. I do not mean to deny the idea of animation imitating the analog camera works. The point is that along for the age of computer graphics, it might be important for the creators to think what can be done only by those digital techniques.
It is interesting to read about this technique. I had guessed that the camera techniques used in animation were modeled to a certain extent after live camera techniques, but I certainly had no idea to what extent. I would be interested in going back and looking at the transition between hand-drawn, digital, and 3D animation to learn how the camera techniques changed and developed. I imagine that, because creating many backgrounds for hand-drawn animation is expensive and time consuming, 3D digital techniques opened up a world of new opportunities for modeling camera behavior. On the other hand, I remember reading years ago about the dust on the movie Wall-E. It was a single person’s entire job to write the program that emulated the behavior of dust. I suppose that blockbuster animated films will always be expensive to produce because they are always trying to advance their cinematic techniques. On the flip side, there are many more “straight to video” animated features than there used to be, and I would imagine that it is because baseline technology has advanced sufficiently.
Pixar animation is so beautiful and life like. They really go the extra mile to make everything looks so accurate and real. I’ve always been impressed with movies like Coco and The Incredibles have so much detail. The animators focus on real life movements and how humans move in the real world. They use this to then create their art by adding their own style of animation to it. To use real cameras in order to make it realistic shows just how far they will go to pay attention to the specific details. I am always so excited to go see a Pixar movie when they come out. Even though these movies are typically branded for children, I always appreciate them for their literal beauty in the animation. I think every person can appreciate the artistry of a Pixar film. I can’t wait to see what they come up with in the future.
Pixar is truly amazing. Their work and attention to detail is truly amazing. Working in animation as they do they have every right and reason in the world to leave out as many details as possible. There’s no reason for them to care and pay so much attention to these little details. In theatre we are always looking at the things no one will ever see or no one will ever notice. We cut and we work around things so that they look “right” and they fit the picture we are are trying to display they may not always be accurate but they work. With Pixar they are constantly trying to look for the most accurate and perfect moment to make sure that there is no lapse in their story due to the failure of their pictures and images. They spend so much time and effort to do such amazing work I only wonder how much it keeps those people up at night working on these fascinating details.
This is actually one of my favorite YouTube channels that I have not gotten a chance to see in a while because we've been so busy! The artistry behind these films is incredible. Toy Story 4 is easily one of the best looking computer animated films ever, which shouldn't be surprising considering it is Pixar, but still features astounding visuals, nonetheless. Understanding this analysis of the different kinds of stylistic choices made to subtly further the story in terms of the visual sense was fascinating. As someone who spends a lot of time engaging with films and filmmaking, the emphasis on the different lenses used on close ups of different characters was a very interesting reveal and makes perfect sense for what is happening on screen. I love the idea that animated films can be so precise and intricate in the construction of their worlds because it truly allows for storytelling without any kinds of limits.
I had always wondered how animators such as Pixar and Disney create these shots that give the illusion of film work. Being very uneducated on the process of creating an animated film I had no idea that they had specific software that could create movement lenses for them. After reading this article it is definitely something I want to continue reading and learning about. The way we as an audience view and think about an animated movie vastly changes when we see it in a way that looks realistic. My mom, for example, hates what she refers to as "kids movies" however there are a few that she inexplicably likes. Many of these take into account the need to look as if the movie were physically filmed. The fact that her liking of a "cartoon" can come almost exclusively from the camera angles and the light and purposeful swing to mimic a true cameraperson is an interesting conundrum.
I always say that, as an artist, you should have a deep love and passion for what you do in order to continuously produce top tier work. This is a good example of that. I can appreciate a good, high quality movie. However, no matter how much it worked on me or how much I unknowingly enjoyed the effects, I would have never noticed something like the split diopter shot being used in toy story, nor thought of using the live-action shooting techniques as a way to make an animated movie seem more real. Obviously. I have not studied cinematography and I am not passionate about it enough to think that deeply about it. The other things is that it is not supposed to be explicit to the viewer. It's supposed to leave an impression on the viewer without them even truly realizing that it is there. The same thing applies in theatre. A lot of the work that we put in is not seen. Many people may never know the hours, techniques, brain power, muscle power, tricks, etc., that went into creating the 90 minute show that they sat and watched. All they know is that they, hopefully, were entertained and felt some form of emotion or it left an impression on them. The reason I say we, as artist, have to be passionate about it is because a lot of what we do goes unseen and that can be discouraging at times. But the passion for our crafts is what helps us to continue to perfect our craft or be creative beings, constantly producing cutting edge, top tier work.
The amount of care that goes into every second of a Pixar film is honestly beyond the comprehension of any single person. The control over the frame through which we watch these movies so heavily influences how we absorb what is presented to us. Not only is Pixar doing the work to support the stories they are trying to tell, but they are supporting the attention that goes into the “movie” aesthetic. As someone who has absolutely no background in cinematography and movie making, I did not consciously register the techniques being used to inform my viewing, but I think that is a good portion of the magic of this. As we often say in theatre, the most successful designs are the ones we don’t “notice”, and this is proof of that extending into movies and TV. The freedom of animated films to disregard and change the limitations that we often see in other movies and TV is abundant, but Pixar’s commitment to going the extra mile and truly doing the heavy lifting in everything is clear.
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