AWN Oscar Travelogue

Oscar Showcase Tour 09 Pixar Gallery Part 2

oscartour — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 17:43:59 +0000

The Oscar tour poses for a shot in front of the giant Luxo Jr. statue outside Pixar.

Time to take a quick trip back in time for some great additional pics from the Pixar visit in the Bay Area last week.

A group shot with Ed Catmull.

Konstantin Bronzit's Lavatory Lovestory screens at Pixar.

Presto producer Richard Hollander and journalist Barbara Robertson.

Oscar tour alums Andrew Jimenez and Ralph Eggleston.

Presto supervising animator Andrew Gordon shows the nominees some of his current work.

Andrew serves up some hospitality, single malt Scotch and Bourbon in his exclsuive Lucky 7 Lounge.

La Maison director Kunio Kato, Gobelins' Eric Riewer and Lavatory Lovestory director Konstantin Bronzit inside the Lucky 7 lounge.

Oktapodi directors Quentin Marmier, Olivier Delabarre, and Francois-Xavier Chanioux with Robot's Taki Tsuyoshi in the Lucky 7 lounge.

Finally, the Love Lounge!

Oktapodi directors FX and Emud Mokhberi relax in the Love Lounge.

FX and tour master Ron Diamond sit for a pic in the Love Lounge, where the walls are covered with the signatures of the visitors.

One last group shot before leaving Pixar.

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Oscar Showcase Tour 09 Pixar Gallery

oscartour — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 17:23:57 +0000

Oktapodi's Emud Mokhberi, Robot Communications' Taki Tsuyoshi, Ron Diamond, Ed Catmull, Lavatory Lovestory's Konstantin Bronzit, Oktapodi's Olivier Delabarre, Oktapodi's Quentin Marmier, Gobelins' Eric Riewer, Oktapodi's Francois-Xavier Chanioux, and La Maison's Kunio Kato.

Every year Pixar host the Oscar nominees for Best Animated Short. It’s always an exciting chance for the filmmakers to interact with the artists at the studio. Follow their day in pictures.

Oktapodi's Quentin Marmier.

Oktapodi's Emud Mokhberi.

The tour loads the van for the trip to Pixar from the Sofitel Hotel.

Posing for one more group shot outside the hotel before heading to Pixar.

Presto director Doug Sweetland address his fellow Pixar artists.

Pixar employees pack the theater to watch the nominated shorts.

The filmmakers begin their special tour of Pixar studios.

Pixar's Andrew Gordon gets ready to take a pic of the nominees in the Lucky 7 Lounge.

Emud takes a pic as a memento of his time at Lucky 7.

The filmmakers get a chance to talk with Pixar artist, such as Tony Apodoca (r), over lunch.

Oktapodi's Olivier and Francois enjoy their lunch at Pixar.

Ron chats with Pixar artist and Oscar tour alum Andrew Jimenez after lunch.

Relaxing and chatting after lunch at Pixar.

The pensive Kunio Kato.

Pixar's Paul Topolos checks out Quentin's portfolio.

Konstantin likes to hang with incredible people.

Quentin leans on Dash.

The nominees check out things at the Pixar Studio Store.

Konstantin buys some souvenirs at the Pixar store.

Posing for a last minute pic under the giant Luxo Jr.

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Finding Inspiration at Pixar… and the Toilet

oscartour — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 15:22:54 +0000

Day 2 kicks off at Pixar.

written by Barbara Robertson

Long day, but a good day for the Oscar nominees. We started at Pixar where, first thing, right after taking pictures of each other in front of the giant Luxo lamp outside the front door and the monsters inside the Pixar’s enormous lobby / café / foosball court, they met Pete Docter, director of Pixar’s next feature, UP, matte painter Paul Topolos, and the Presto visual effects supervisor Tony Apodaca. Ed Catmull, co-founder of Pixar Animation Studios, and president of Walt Disney and Pixar Animation Studios walked into the lobby to introduce himself and welcome everyone. And then we were swept into Pixar’s huge theater. Doug Sweetland, director of Pixar’s nominated short Presto introduced Ron and Ron introduced all the nominees in our travelling band.

The lights dimmed a little. Everyone in the audience went “oooooh.” The lights went out, the ceiling became a starfield, and everyone said “aaaaaah.” The Pixar person sitting next to me explained, “It’s a tradition.” And the red curtain lifted.

Ron Diamond introduces the nominees at the Pixar Theater.

This was the first time many in the audience had seen the films and the reception was wonderful. After, all the nominees gathered on stage for questions and answers. They were all dressed in blue jeans and black sweater/shirt/T-shirt except for Konstantin who wore white pants with his black shirt and Kunio who had grey slacks and a black shirt. They looked like a team and after almost a day together are beginning to develop some camaraderie despite the language differences – the feeling that they’re in this amazing adventure together, not that they’re competitors. Now, back to the Pixar theater and the questions from the audience.

Q: Where did your inspiration come from?

A:
Konstantin (“Lavatory – Lovestory”): From the toilet, of course. And, from the lonely woman.

Kunio (“La Maison en Petits Cubes”): I saw a key visual in my head of many houses on top of each other. I showed that to our scriptwriter.

Emud (“Oktaodi): From drawings of Octopi and also pictures of Greece.

Q – to Kunio: Do you ever do comedy?

A: I love comedy as well, but for this film about a lonely old man, which does have a bit of humor, I wanted to describe it simply and straightforwardly.

Q: What were your technical challenges?

A:
Konstantin: You saw the film. There were no technical difficulties at all. I was drawing.

Kunio: The most technically challenging was texturing the hand drawings. There were many, many drawings. The coloring was done by computer. The challenge was to put the color into the drawings.

Emud: The octopi were most challenging– how to design, model, rig. But there were many challenges.

Q: Was it difficult to get agreement among the six directors of “Oktapodi?”

Emud: Yes. We talked it out until we all agreed. Everyone had a say. Then we went by the majority. Everyone was mature about it.

Eric added that Gobelins has determined that no one student should be responsible for the films. All the work on every part of the process should be a team effort all along. The school hopes the students come to a harmonious agreement because that’s what they will have to do in the real world.

Question to Kunio: Why the French title?

Kunio: Of course the original name is in Japanese. When we entered the film in International festivals, we needed a universal title. In English the title translated to something like houses of wood blocks and that didn’t feel right. A French friend said the film has a French feeling so it might be good to have a French name.

Q: What was the favorite aspect of the film?

A:
Konstantin: The story. Totally.

Kunio: To see and create a film with different people as the director. Before, I worked with two or three people, but for this film I had to communicate, talk, embody the story. It was a challenge.

Emud: It’s hard to pick one thing. Maybe the octopi on the clothesline. Maybe it was the story phase when we were all together pretty much the entire time. When we moved into production we split up.

As we left the theater, Konstantin turned to me and said, “That was too thrilling!”

And then, on to lunch. Pixar laid a lavish spread for us with salmon, ravioli, broccoli rabe, fruit, salad, and cookies. As I was waiting my turn, I heard someone from Pixar say, “I think we will always remember: What was your inspiration? The toilet.”

The filmmakers get a chance to visit Pixar's secret Lucky 7 room.

So… after lunch, we toured Pixar, saw the RenderFarm, and walked through the animation area, but the one thing everyone wanted to see was Andrew Gordon’s office because they’d heard the stories and sure enough, Andrew tipped back Shakespeare’s head on a shelf near the built-in bookcase in his office. The bookcase rotated, and his secret Lucky 7 room appeared behind the wall. We drank a toast to everyone’s good fortune and went in search of the legendary Love Lounge next.

All told, we were at Pixar for four or five hours. The nominees met with people from Pixar who dropped by the lunch area, they shopped in the Pixar store, they began to get to know each other a little more now that they had all seen each other’s films. They moved from table to table in the lunch room sharing stories, asking questions.

Next stop. PDI. Stay tuned.
Tomorrow is another big day, so I’m going to fall into my bed in the George Gershwin room in the bunk house at Skywalker Ranch. Although…. calling it a room is an understatement. It’s a suite with a full kitchen, couch, easy chairs and best of all, a Bosendorfer grand piano next to the dining room table. I promised Eric, who is in the John Houston room directly below, that I would not play any tunes until morning. G’night.

END

My humble accommodations at Skywalker Ranch.

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Exclusive Video: Madame Tutli-Putli Eyes

oscartour — Sat, 23 Feb 2008 23:14:56 +0000

Watch It On AWN TV!

At the Pixar Q&A, director Maciek Szczerbowski answers the most asked question about his film Madame Tutli-Putli - how did you do the eyes?

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Exclusive Video: Madame Tutli-Putli’s Journey

oscartour — Sat, 23 Feb 2008 23:10:44 +0000

Watch It On AWN TV!

At the Pixar Q&A, directors Maciek Szczerbowski and Chris Lavis talk about the journey of the title character in their film Madame Tutli-Putli.

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Oscar Showcase 08 Pixar Photo Gallery

oscartour — Sun, 17 Feb 2008 22:52:20 +0000

During our visit at Pixar we shot a great deal of wonderful pics with Pixar characters and employees, including Brad Bird and Ed Catmull.

I Met the Walrus director Josh Raskin, Even Pigeons Go to Heaven director Sam Tourneux, Madame Tutli-Putli director Chris Lavis and Walrus illustrator James Braithwaite pose for a Pixar pic. © 2008 AWN Inc.

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Nominees Have A Date with Brad Bird, Ed Catmull & The Rest of Pixar’s Staff

oscartour — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 10:50:47 +0000

Like last year, a pattern of the same questions being asked at the various screenings continues. Of course the first question was to Chris and Maciek about the human eyes on the puppets in Tutli-Putli. Marcy said one of the difficulties of working with the eyes was timing out shots. Chris and Maciek found that the performance via the eyes sold some scenes quicker than when it was cut using the eyeless puppets. Josh was asked about the audio footage of John Lennon used in his film, which he said had never really been heard before they made I Met the Walrus. A first for the tour, but most likely not a first for the Madame Tutli-Putli team was about their enigmatic ending. Maciek explained that the intention of the film was less about plot and more like a poem where one scene doesn’t dictate the next, but informs the preceding scene. Chris added that the work of Carl Jung was also influential in setting the mood for the film. A little tidbit about the title is that in Hindi it means puppet, as well as delicate woman, which is a fact that the directors did not know before they were informed of it by a Hindi speaking member of one of their audiences.

After the studio screening, Pixar treated the nominees to lunch with some of the studio’s directors including For the Birds‘ Ralph Eggleston; Brenda Chapman, writer of Cars and the director of an upcoming Pixar feature that will be announced soon; and Gary Rydstrom, a veteran of the Oscar tour from last year with the film Lifted. Gary told us he’s currently working on a feature as a director based on an idea he pitched.

Roger Gould also joined us and chatted with Chris about managing the creative process by experimenting. Chris said that their first hand drawn rendition of Madame Tutli-Putli was not good, so they brought in actors and workshopped the script, shooting it from every angle. Roger mentioned that one of the challenges on Ratatouille was the script change midway, which added new sets such as the farmhouse sequence that begins the movie. He also said that at Pixar they try to focus their features on personal stories and that The Incredibles and Ratatouille are very much Brad Bird as a guy trying to do something he loves, but isn’t allowed to. Speaking of Brad Bird, he was true to his promise and dropped by to chat with the nominees as did Ed Catmull. Both took time out of their busy Oscar schedules to spend real time talking with the animated shorts nominees.

Check back later to find out what Brad Bird and Ed Catmull had to say to the nominees.

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Love for Pixar on Valentine’s Day

oscartour — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 10:49:13 +0000

It was a windy day in San Francisco with the filmmakers bundled up to guard themselves against the cold. Having received a much need rest, Suzie was far more energetic about the day’s events versus yesterday. In the car ride over to our first and only screening of the day at Pixar, Chris revealed that Pan’s Labyrinth director Guillermo del Toro saw Madame Tutli-Putli and said that it was a film made by masters. During the ride, Chris and Marcy discussed the treatment he and Maciek are working on for an adaptation of a Maurice Sendak story.

Find the funny looks in this group picture at Pixar. © AWN Inc.

Our first and only screening today was at Pixar, where we were treated to an amazing tour of the behind the scenes of where few outsiders get to traverse. The Animation Pit, where the artists work, is filled with intricately decorated offices, a haven for toy lovers. When more office space was needed, traditional cubicles were brought in, but the artists hated them. So after a little research, for the same amount of money, they were able to bring in little huts called tough shed, which have been transformed into mini-offices in the middle of the wide halls.

The first stop on the backstage tour was Ratatouille animator Andrew Gordon’s office, where we piled in for a demonstration of Pixar’s proprietary animation software Mendie. Andrew showed off the ease of the program, which he said is easy for traditional 2D animators to pick up on. Through direct manipulation of the CG characters, the animator can move individual joints or use stock poses to save time. Deformation of the skin can be applied easily. For the clothes, the animators work closely with the sim artists to make sure the folds of the shirts move naturally with the characters. The artists have access to all the takes from the production along the process. Using Ratatouille as an example, Andrew showed us animatics to the final render of a scene he worked on. Andrew said that he uses various reference techniques to help him bring to life his creations, from videotaping himself acting out the scene to drawing out thumbnail sketches in TV Paint.

Pixar animator Andrew Gordon (center) poses with the nominees in the secret Lucky 7 room in his office. Courtesy of Pixar.

Capping the presentation, Andrew literally pushed a hidden button that opened up a secret room in his office, featuring a fully stocked bar called the Lucky 7. Celebs that come to visit the studio always stop in and the pictures on the walls stand as evidence. Recently, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly director Julian Schnabel dropped in. But Andrew didn’t tell us if he was there for the Thursday 2 pm scotch tasting event.

Some other facts that came out along the way were that some frames take as long as 36 hours to render, Pixar burns its own negatives and that the overall gender divide is 50/50 — however in the animation department the scales tip in favor of men. As we walked the halls, we were all impressed with the detailed maquettes that are produced for the characters. It was our lucky treat to run into one of their creators, Jerome Ranft, in the hall who is working on a project for 2012 for which he wished he could show us, but was not allowed to. For aspiring stop-motion animators, he said that floral wire works really well in armatures for puppets. One hall was dedicated to art from Pixar’s Annie-winning short film, Your Friend the Rat, which features 3D, 2D and stop-motion animation. One of the models where tiny rats take over the globe is on display. However, some of the rats have jumped ship and fallen off to the case floor.

Next up, we were invited to see John Lasseter’s office, which is like a museum of toys. Featured prominently on the wall is the giant head of the Cat Bus from Hayao Miyazaki’s My Neighbor Totoro. No one probably has more Cars toys than Lasseter. Next to Lasseter’s office is the office of Steve Jobs, whose work space could not be any more different. The slick minimalist style is in stark contrast to Lasseter’s treasure trove of collectables. We learned that John and Steve have less time to mingle with the artists, which is sad, because they brought an excitement to the studio, often dropping in on artists’ working to give encouragement.

In the hall before the screening, we had a chance to catch up with For the Birds Oscar winner Ralph Eggleston, who is just wrapping up work on Wall*E. Standing in the huge atrium as you enter the building, the busy Brad Bird came racing through, but was lured to stop by our videographer Guy’s HD camera. After grabbing a quick bite to eat, Brad dropped into the screening and promised to meet up with the filmmakers afterward.

Roger Gould, co-director of the Pixar short Boundin’, warmly introduced Ron to the audience in the Pixar Main Theatre. Ron presented the assembled directors and producers, before the films rolled. Having seen all the films already, the filmmakers snuck out to spend the 90 minutes playing ping-pong and air hockey in the commons area, as well as catch up on some work and chat with the Pixar artists who mingling around during lunch. Topics of discussion included the importance of doing adaptations right so not to alienate the already established audience. Marcy mentioned a Beatles documentary pitched to the NFB as a possible project for Maciek to animate on. In regards to animating The Beatles, the vet in the area, James, said, “give it a whirl.”

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Ron’s Oscar Tour Pics from Skywalker Ranch & Pixar

oscartour — Tue, 20 Feb 2007 00:13:45 +0000

While you wait for more details from the San Fran leg of the tour. Here’s some more pics to check out from Skywalker Ranch and Pixar, courtesy of Ron.

Before the Ranch, we had dinner with ILM. Rick DeMott (r to l), Roger Allers, journalist Barbara Robertson, ILM animator Steve Rowlins & Clone Wars' Athena Yvette Portillo. © AWN Inc.

Roger gets a closer look at what appears to be a gorgeous original Maxfield Parrish painting at Skywalker Ranch. © AWN Inc.

Monster, Inc. director Pete Docter chats with Roger Allers while Mike Thurmeier talks with Gary Rydstrom in the background. © AWN Inc.

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Nominees’ Skywalker and Pixar Experiences

oscartour — Sat, 17 Feb 2007 09:49:53 +0000

Tamas Liszkas (l to r) Marcy Page, Mike Thurmeier, Roger Allers & Geza Toth eating breakfast at Skywalker Ranch. © AWN Inc.

Friday morning I went to sleep at 6:20 am and woke up around 7:40 am. That may have been the most restful hour and 20 minutes of sleep I’ve ever had. The comfortable beds and soft pillows at Skywalker Ranch were hard to leave. The last time I ran on so little sleep was in college during my senior year while we were filming long hours over a weekend on the bedroom set I built. This trip has certainly recharged the creative juices in me.

After a call to my wife and a hot shower, I was ready to meet the others. Marcy introduced me to Tamas, who is representing Maestro. He and Maestro director Geza arrived at 2 am from the airport. Geza was in the breakfast area with Mike and Roger while Ron was near by trying to keep the workmen at his rental house from jack hammering the foundation. Roger was telling them stories of his many adventures abroad. On a river ride in China, he saw bodies strung up on the cavern walls, an ancient burial ritual of the area. Roger mentioned to Geza that he had visited Budapest while he was backpacking across Europe after college. He remembered having the feeling that the beautiful city had an oppressive cloud hanging over it. Geza assured him that his cloud had long gone. At the time, Roger was full-fledged hippie with his red hair grown to his waist, which received many curious stares from the locals. During the trip, for a time, he lived in a cave along the water. It was a very old shepherd’s dwelling, which had formed a smooth flat floor from years of animal dung being stamped down. Marcy shared an interesting fact that she had heard that more people are living in caves in China today than there are people living in all of Canada.

Because none of us were all that anxious to leave the Ranch, Ron had to prod us to get our bags to the door. We congregated in front of “The Inn” where we had stayed the night and were greeted by the Ranch’s manager and Candy, our tour guide. First, she took us to the Ranch’s private firehouse. The nearest fire station is 20 minutes away so George bought his own. There has never been a fire, however the Ranch station has attend to many traffic accidents along the windy Lucas Valley Road, which actually wasn’t named after the man behind Skywalker Ranch.

Next, we headed over to the main house, which was a mile away, along mossy brink-lined roadways that gently flowed through the trees and green hills. Ron told us an interesting story about the long horned cattle that were grazing on top of the hill. Apparently, George wanted cattle to roam the property, but was unsure what cattle to purchase. So he had life-sized cutouts made of the various breeds and had them taken to the top of the hills so that he could see which ones looked the best. Now that’s serious previzing.

At the main house, we meet up with two former Blue Skyers, who of course of have forgotten their names. I’ll have to ask Mike when I see him at the end of next week. I know one of them was the original designer on the Scrat character. Candy led us through the elegantly decorated building with its early Rockwell paintings and gorgeous stained glass. The library, which offers its researchers for any film, is filled with books on any subject one could think of. Right in the center is an intricate stained glass dome. I have to get

the picture from Ron, in which, Roger strategically placed the camera directly under the middle of the dome while we all circled around and waited for a timed snapshot.

Throughout the tour, everyone was skirting from wall to wall trying to take in every piece of precisely chosen artwork and furnishings. A greenhouse, which is automated to control the temperature within by opening windows, looks down over a brick courtyard where there are offices below the above structure. Out the cafeteria, outside, is a huge barbeque, which is used in the summer quite often.

Next we headed over to the sound studio, where we strolled by Lake Ewok and past the vineyard, which makes its own wine that is distributed through the Coppola label. When we arrived at the sound studio, Candy turned the tour over to John, the manager of Skywalker Sound. On the big sound stage, the San Francisco Ballet Orchestra was recording classical music for a CD. Hung on the walls throughout the buildings is George’s amazing collection of movie posters. Roger mentioned that he loves to collect old movie posters too, but doesn’t have enough walls in this home to display them all. Don joked that he needs to invest in more real estate. In a brick-lined central meeting area, there was a huge, vibrantly colored poster of Jackie Coogan’s Treasure Island. In the center of the room was a green garden and in the center of the garden stood Tick Tock from Return to Oz.

On one of the mixing stages, Christopher Boyes was mixing sound effects for Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End. We had run into him the night before as we arrived at the Ranch and he remembered Mike from the nominee luncheon. He too had a very negative experience with the Interrotron and Errol Morris’ aggressive questioning. On the other stage, sound mixers were hard at work on a trailer for Ratatouille, which we didn’t get to see because it was top secret. We also got to see the foley stage where they were working on Clone Wars, but that too is top secret and we were foiled yet again at seeing something that no one else has seen before. We went down on the stage and talked with the foley artists. Roger said he’s so impressed with foley artists because they are like actors and marvels at their precise timing. One overriding impression that I got from all the nominees was their love and appreciation for art in general. They’re professionals, but they were fans first and they are still great admirers today.

And as they say, all good things must come to an end. But it wasn’t that bad, because we were now off for Pixar. Along the way, Tamas was snapping dozens of pictures. He promised us that we could get some of them to share. I sat in the back of the van with Marcy and asked her how she left San Francisco to go work at the NFB. And it turns out to be a romantic tale. She meet composer Normand Roger while she was teaching in San Fran and asked him if he would compose the music for the film she was working on. She went to Canada to mix the film and found love in the process. After returning to the States, her music man asked her to move to Canada where she would come to work for the NFB. As we talked, she told me that she’s actually getting a chance to animate for a documentary she is working on. The budget can’t afford to purchase a certain clip so she is drawing a sequence to fill the spot. Art will find a way I guess.

So often in this industry the path takes us down roads we never thought we’d travel, yet we find ways to make the journey as close to our dreams as we can. I’m reminded of a conversation I had with Don at the ILM dinner. I was telling him about how my wife just couldn’t understand how I could write TV scripts and have them completely changed by the studio. I said it’s just the way the industry is and at this early point in my career if one gag that I wrote still remains, it’s still a part of me in there. I’m learning from the experience and it’s making me a better writer. Don told me it was great to hear that I had a day job at AWN and still had the chance to express myself creatively in other ways. I guess there is an innate understanding in all those who spend their lives creating — it’s not a choice we make, it’s a need we must fulfill.

Okay, that ends the Hallmark section of this post just in time for our arrival at Pixar. Our host Kumiko Hidaka greeted us as we arrived. As we waited for the screening to begin, we were joined by Lifted nominee Gary Rydstrom and Monster, Inc. director Pete Docter. Gary quickly had us laughing about his nerve-wrenching experience pitching his new project that morning. He has a welcoming personality that puts one instantly at ease. One is drawn in by his humor, which is fast and witty with a touch of self-deprecation and sly cynicism. Which of course made me like him instantly. As we sat down in the auditorium, someone asked if he was excited to watch his film with an audience and he commented that it was actually painful. The crowd at Pixar was much more receptive to the shorts than any of the other studios. The comedies all received the biggest laughs of the tour thus far. And with the home court advantage, Gary got the loudest response from the crowd as he was introduced. It’s funny; now that I’ve seen all the films on the tour three times I’m beginning to notice new things that I never saw before. The cat climbing the wall in the background trying to get the bug in The Danish Poet. The mix of irritation and determination as the girl strikes the last matches in Little Matchgirl.

As for the questions from the crowd, Mike had wondered before the screening, which would be the first question asked — what was the inspiration for Little Matchgirl or was The Danish Poet based on a true story. He picked one of them, but check back later to find out which one when I do a recap posting on all the questions asked during the San Fran leg of the tour. Following the screening, Pixar provided lunch for us and we were visited by some of the artists. It was nice to sit down with Gary and Bob Peterson, who did story on A Bug’s Life, Toy Story 2, Monsters, Inc. and Finding Nemo. Currently, he’s working on Pete Docter’s new project. Gary was very complementary of Mike’s work on No Time for Nuts, especially jealous of all the sets he had. Marcy brought up a conversation that we had with Mike about the montage sequence in No Time for Nuts, which quickly transports Scrat from location to location. During the first edit, the sequence wasn’t as funny as they liked, but Mike and co-director Chris Renaud were afraid to cut too much. So in frustration they just shortened each shot to five frames and the sequence began to work. From that point they added to each shot accordingly until it felt just right. Bob wondered whether there was a budget for a lion in the coliseum sequence, but Mike said they didn’t have the time or money to build new characters, so they had to work with what they had.

Gary said that when Torill Kove, who directed The Danish Poet, came to Pixar for the Animation Show of Shows screening, she said that she has a knitting group where they just come up with stories much like the one in The Danish Poet, which tells the story of how random choices can affect our lives in ways we could never think of. He asked Marcy if she’s ever been to one of the group meetings and she said Torill wouldn’t let her because she doesn’t knit. She couldn’t even come to listen. Gary liked the quirky humor of The Danish Poet and admired all the details worked into the backgrounds and sides of the frame. Marcy said that it was the first production for the animator who worked on the backgrounds and when Torill let him loose to experiment, he turned in way more than was needed and they had to cut a lot. It’s funny, with so many people talking about Torill during the tour, it seems like I already know her. You know if I didn’t follow my producer Kristi from college to California and went to New York instead, she would have never helped me get the PA job at Acme Filmworks where I worked for Ron who gave me the job at AWN, which brought me to this point where I will meet Torill next week.

After Gary mentioned some the audio touches in The Danish Poet, Marcy asked Gary, who worked 20 years in sound, if the sound was worked out early on. He said that he began working out the sound design during the storyboard stage. Because he didn’t have a background in animation per se, Gary said he used sounds to communicate his ideas to the animators. He was worried when he first started that he didn’t know enough animation terminology, but found that just telling the animators, he goes “whiz, bang, whoop,” was enough for them to get the what he wanted. He also found that when it came to rhythm and timing his sound training came in handy when working in animation.

Mike really appreciated the design work on the little alien in Lifted, whose head twists like gelatinous material. Gary’s original intention was to twist the character and form creases like a bendy toy. But the creases were a tall order and in the end a widget had to be created to get the look he desired. He also wanted the ability to change eye size and move the eyes around. He found it ironic that details that were common in classic 2D animated shorts are harder to pull off in CG. Mike commented that they have been trying for a while to figure out how to show a character moving so fast that you see multiple limbs. Blue Sky finally found a solution that they are using on Horton where three identically animated characters are added to the scene and the shutter speed is changed. Gary commented that what someone would just draw in traditional animation now takes a team of scientists in lab coats to figure out.

As the Pixar employees went back to work after lunch, the nominees gathered for the studio tour. Because Roger and Don have seen the studio before, they opted to take the van to Oakland to see if they could get an earlier flight back to Los Angeles. So Mike, Marcy, Tamas, Geza and I followed our tour guide Randy as he laid out the Pixar philosophy. Everyone was bit disappointed in the tour, feeling it was very sterile and overly rehearsed. Mike wished we could have seen some of the artists working and I think everyone felt the same way. Marcy did find something new and revealing in the section of the tour where Randy discussed the story problems on the original Toy Story. It was interesting to see how the filmmakers recognized that Woody wasn’t working as a ventriloquist dummy. There also seems to remain some hostility toward the executive regime that tried to force “edginess” on this family film.

When we arrived at the airport, everyone said their good-byes. You could tell that Mike was happy to be on his way home to see his wife. He admitted that being away from her while she was so close to having the baby made him far more anxious than he thought it would before he left. We all look forward to seeing pictures of the new baby. But that’s not to say he regretted coming. While we were waiting to leave for the airport, he called his co-director Chris to tell him what he has in store when he joins the tour in L.A.

While Ron and I waited stand-by, we chatted with Geza and Tamas, who were very sick of airports and airplanes at this point. Geza apologized to me for speaking Hungarian to Tamas, which I told him he shouldn’t be. Though he isn’t as comfortable with English as his native language, Geza’s wit is not lost in translation. When I asked him what software he used on Maestro, he said, “for the script, Microsoft Word 2003.” With a sly grin he then told me he used 3ds Max. With the Hungarian government funding their trip, Geza and Tamas plan to make the best out of the experience, requesting a big American car with a GPS system to use while they are in California. The two really want to throw a party on the beach where they will cook Hungarian fish soup for all their guests. Geza seems somewhat overwhelmed by all the attention. This is the biggest drama of his life he said. Though he likes to take life a bit slower than the fast paced Oscar extravaganza, he doesn’t seem to be dreading the experience either.

Well that wraps up the San Fran leg of the tour. But check back soon for more pictures from the San Francisco studios, more observations from the nominees and other interesting tidbits.

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