Thank you to Disney for inviting me to cover behind the scenes for Animating Incredibles 2. All opinions are my own. #Incredibles2Event
I am always amazed at what goes into animated movies. When I sit down in the theater and watch a movie, I’m just purely looking at how it entertained me. It’s not until I am able to see behind the scenes that I truly understand everything that it took to put the movie together. How much thought and research was put into it. From the characters and environment to the colors and how they might affect my mood. It’s absolutely incredible. And the pun fits. 😉
We were able to sit down with some of the design team to talk about creating the world of Incredibles 2.
Animating Incredibles 2
Production Designer Ralph Eggleston is photographed on March 7, 2018 at Pixar Animation Studios in Emeryville, Calif. (Photo by Deborah Coleman / Pixar)
Bryn Imagire is photographed on January 29, 2018 at Pixar Animation Studios in Emeryville, Calif. (Photo by Deborah Coleman / Pixar)
Ralph Eggleston, Production Designer, and Bryn Imagire, Costuming and Shading Art Director, took us through some of the inspiration in creating the new Parr home.
Our jobs are to create the world of the film. The world is a character in the film. Design our characters/actors, their environments, the props and dressing, the costumes of the characters, the textures in the film and the lighting.
To give you an inside look, we were provided some concept art that we could share.
Concept art by Kyle Macnaughton, Philip Metschan and Shelly Min Wan. ©2018 Disney•Pixar. All Rights Reserved.
The Parr’s new home was based off of a mid-century design. They gathered reference from a lot of different sources including Frank Lloyd Wright and James Mason’s house in North by Northwest. They photographed 30 different properties to research this design.
Concept art by Ralph Eggleston. ©2018 Disney•Pixar. All Rights Reserved.
As you can see by the concept art below, they wanted to bring the outdoors indoors. Wait until you see it in the actual movie. It’s a pretty impressive house.
Concept art by Garrett Taylor and Philip Metschan. ©2018 Disney•Pixar. All Rights Reserved.
What is quite mind blowing is that everything in the film is designed and built from scratch. So how do they get it all done and look so amazing?
Philip Metschan, the Visual Designer, spoke a bit about pre-visualization or “previs.”
Philip Metschan is photographed on January 24, 2018 at Pixar Animation Studios in Emeryville, Calif. (Photo by Deborah Coleman / Pixar)
Philip told us that collaboration is key and that they like to work with story, art, and camera to build quick models that they can react to. As far as what Philip’s role is in Incredibles 2, he brings it all together – the storyboards, maps of the scenes, design, etc.
Everything that goes into making these films is incredible. It really seems like making an animated movie is just as much work as live action.
Nathan Fariss is the Sets Supervisor. His role is to turn the concept and previs into what we see in the theater.
Nathan Fariss is photographed on March 7, 2018 at Pixar Animation Studios in Emeryville, Calif. (Photo by Deborah Coleman / Pixar)
Nathan, led a team of 55 people in the sets department. They make all of the “stuff” from props and architecture – inside and out, vegetation, skies, and set extensions. Everything has to be made.
Computers are really good at making straight line. Make the world as real as we want it to feel or unreal depending what we’re making. Every seating, towers, buildings, carafes, everything.
Nathan Fariss is photographed on March 7, 2018 at Pixar Animation Studios in Emeryville, Calif. (Photo by Deborah Coleman / Pixar)
The attention to detail is amazing. All of the props that they make, get put together in a set. Food, dishes, silverwear, sink of dirty dishes, etc are all created. Everything to make things look lived-in. This all preps the structure of the world so that lighting and animation can then use them in the downline. They then come back later in the film and camera dress. They add grass, stones, proper shading, dead leaves, etc.
There is also another small group that “expands” the world. They make the “great big city.”
My goal was to not be afraid of cities. We made a 3D city that we can put in there and place wherever we want it. This same group makes clouds (like in The Good Dinosaur).
The set techs come in then and “fix” things and do trimming.
There are 2200 shots in the Incredibles 2 movie. So amazing and mind blowing at the same time. It’s hard to really wrap my brain around what all goes into these movies.
We also got a look at the “Anatomy of an Action Scene.” Ted Mathot is the Story Supervisor.
Story Supervisor Ted Mathot is photographed on March 20, 2018 at Pixar Animation Studios in Emeryville, Calif. (Photo by Deborah Coleman / Pixar)
There is a really cool action scene in the movie where Elastigirl has to stop a runaway train. Here we get to see Elastigirl in action including her new Elasticycle.
Ted explains that all films start in a story reel which is a drawn version of the film. With the story reel, they attempt to communicate what they want to happen in the film. It also serves as a reference point for production.
There’s a lot that is going on in this one scene. They bring in the police cars that Helen is “tangled” with, they are explaining why Supers are legal again ie: showing what a super can do vs what the public or police can do. They’re also showing that there is a balance between the mundane world and the super world.
We never want to be super for too long without being mundane. We never want to be mundane too long without something super. Introduce a phone call from home while Helen is in a high speed chase. Balance is what makes an INCREDIBLES movie.
Mahyar Abousaeedi is photographed on August 19, 2015 at Pixar Animation Studios in Emeryville, Calif. (Photo by Deborah Coleman / Pixar)
Mahyar works in the layout, camera and staging department. He said that they faced similar challenges that you would in planning a live action sequence. They even worked with a stunt coordinator to create some of these action sequences.
Some of the challenges they faced were things like the speed of the Elasticycle. They needed to figure out how Helen would keep up with the train going 150 miles per hour.
Cars Animator Kureha Yokoo has her headshot taken at Pixar Animation Studios on May 10, 2006 in Emeryville, Calif. (Photo by Deborah Coleman / Pixar)
Kureha is an animator who was partly brought in to work on Incredibles 2 because of her love for motorcycles. She shared a bit of the design process of the Elasticycle.
Brad wanted it to be cool, form follow function, should become an extension of Helen, should showcase her strength. What does that look like?
The Elasticycle transforms but it doesn’t feel like a transformer. The bike fits Helen and Helen fits the bike.
Because the Elasticycle doesn’t exist in reality, we wanted to make sure there were enough realistic (enough) components to the Elasticycle. Each collaborator added to the direction and creation of the Elasticycle. Balancing the super and the mundane. Reminding the audience that Helen is super but not infallible, she’s vulnerable and subject to peril. This is important because they want you to care about the characters.
Amit Baadkar is photographed on March 20, 2018 at Pixar Animation Studios in Emeryville, Calif. (Photo by Deborah Coleman / Pixar)
Effects Artist Amit Baadkar had a team of 6 effects artists that worked to mimics real world fire, water, smoke explosions, etc. Everything that this team did, created the perfect world where we can be entertained and not even think about this being an animated movie.
The story of the Parr family works around the idea that Super Heroes are not perfect. There’s a need to keep the peril and injury to show this.
Everything we saw from those that worked on Incredibles 2 was absolutely amazing. We also were given a few storyboards that we could share. Take a look:
Progression Image 1 of 5: Story – This storyboard was drawn by story artist Bobby Rubio for the sequence called “Stop the Tunneler.” Storyboards are drawn by story artists in order to pre-visualize the film as the script is being written. They are placed side-by-side in sequence by the editorial team, to convey the pace of scenes and deliver a rough sense of how the story unfolds. This storyboard is one of approximately 410 boards delivered to editorial for this particular sequence. In total, 52,725 storyboards were delivered for the entire film. ©2018 Disney•Pixar. All Rights Reserved.
Progression Image 2 of 5: Art – Once the storyline for a sequence is determined, concept art is created by the production designer and art department to determine the look and feel of the film. This concept art piece was created by production designer Ralph Eggleston, and showcases the exploration of color and design for the characters and new environments. In the first film, “The Incredibles,” bold colors were used to establish a visual language for the film, and the art team wanted to make sure this style was consistent in “Incredibles 2.” ©2018 Disney•Pixar. All Rights Reserved.
Progression Image 3 of 5: Sets and Layout – Using art reference for guidance, technical artists build basic forms and shapes of the sets and characters in the computer during a process called “Modeling.” “Shading” comes next, during which technical artists use a combination of painting and programming to apply textures, colors, patterns and other material properties to give the sets complexity and appeal. This image also shows the phase known as “Layout,” in which a virtual camera is placed into a shot. The characters are “staged” or placed into positions within the built set that work visually with the chosen camera angle. ©2018 Disney•Pixar. All Rights Reserved.
Progression Image 4 of 5: Animation – When Layout is complete, the characters are brought to life by the Animation department. Animators often use video reference of themselves or the voice actors to inform mouth shape or expressions, as well as overall movement of the characters. On average, it takes 4-6 weeks to animate a shot, but because the composition of the characters in this shot was so complex, it took the Animation department 8 weeks to complete. ©2018 Disney•Pixar. All Rights Reserved.
Progression Image 5 of 5: Lighting, Effects and Final Image – The Lighting department helps to integrate all of the elements – characters, sets, effects, etc. – into a final, fully visually realized image. The Lighting process involves placing virtual light sources into the scene to illuminate the characters and the set. Technical artists place the lights to draw the audience’s eye to story points and to create a specific mood. The lit images are then rendered at high resolution. 24 lit images, each over 2 million pixels, are created for each one second of the movie.
All the natural phenomena seen in this final image, such as the dust, smoke, and glow of Violet’s orb, were brought to life by the Effects department. Effects artists create these elements using complex simulation software that models the physics of how certain materials move. These Effects elements provide a believable and tangible sense of interaction between the characters and their rich, realistic world, which also helps to reinforce the emotional stakes for the audience. ©2018 Disney•Pixar. All Rights Reserved.
Everything comes together to make an incredible movie!
Incredibles 2 is in theaters June 15!
In INCREDIBLES 2, Helen (voice of Holly Hunter) is called on to lead a campaign to bring Supers back, while Bob (voice of Craig T. Nelson) navigates the day-to-day heroics of “normal” life at home with Violet (voice of Sarah Vowell), Dash (voice of Huck Milner) and baby Jack-Jack—whose super powers are about to be discovered. Their mission is derailed, however, when a new villain emerges with a brilliant and dangerous plot that threatens everything. But the Parrs don’t shy away from a challenge, especially with Frozone (voice of Samuel L. Jackson) by their side. That’s what makes this family so Incredible.
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