We all know that a lot goes into a movie- especially an animated one. You have to come up with a story, write a script, record the voices, and do the animation. But there is so much more than that.
When you think of a movie set, you may think of a studio lot in Burbank, teeming with movers & shakers in Hollywood, or roped off areas in real cities. I bet you didn’t know that movie sets could be animated! Unlike live-action movies, the crew can’t just pack up and go to set one day and start filming. These sets need to be created from scratch, and they have to come from somewhere!
On my recent trip to Pixar, I had the chance to speak to three of the main people {of hundreds, of course!} behind the way that The Good Dinosaur’s world looks. They explained things like why they didn’t make the dinosaurs realistic, just how extensive the special effects are, and how they used real data on a real mountain to create Arlo’s world.
Set Supervisor David Munier had a lot to share about how the Pixar team behind The Good Dinosaur created the huge world seen in the movie!
The Sets Team is responsible for building all the environments, which includes everything that isn’t a character or a special effect {like snow or fire- more on those later}. Most of what you see on the screen comes from the Sets Team.
Peter Sohn, the Director of The Good Dinosaur, really wanted to capture the beautiful environment. While following Arlo and Spot, he wanted to be able to see 50 miles into the distance at any time to take in the scenery. In other Pixar movies, they would typically include a scene or two that swept over a large set like that in order to establish where they were, but Peter wanted the entire movie to consist of large sets. Part of the reason for this was that he needed a way to make a dinosaur- which compared to us would be huge- seem small, since that was how he felt in the movie.
They finally figured out a way to make a huge set like that once they pegged down their location. They decided that they didn’t want to make a large mountain range from scratch, but rather wanted to use the Grand Teton mountain range. It was the realization that they could use the USGS {United States Geological Survey} data to learn more about the mountains without having to guess- making it both easier and more accurate. The USGS data had all the information they needed online- things like the sea level, satellite photos, and even forestry data. They were able to pull from that data and translate it into something they could see in the computer.
Once they had their set in place on the computer, they took one of their original inspirations for the film- the Ansel Adams photograph “The Tetons and the Snake River”. They wanted to see what would happen if they placed the “camera” just about at the spot where Adams would have been to take the photograph, and they found that it was really close. The data gave them the perfect foundation for their set and gave them a huge shortcut to building it! Once the set was built, they would be able to put the camera anywhere they wanted to, exactly like they wanted.
We’ve all heard of special effects, but when most of us hear the term we think of car explosions or inanimate objects coming to life. In this movie, however, special effects refers to the natural phenomena- such as rain, fire, and smoke. Effects Supervisor Jon Reisch brought us behind-the-scenes in the special effects room!
There are scenes where it’s obvious that the special effects team had a hand in it- like the raging river or the campfire- but there are subtle moments, too, that you never notice. Things like sand shifting after it’s been stepped on, or debris and dust moving as the big dinosaurs run. If those small interactions with the earth were missing, it would be completely noticeable, but when they work right we don’t even consciously think about them.
That said, they are so important to not only connect the characters to the land they live in, but to help tell the story. The special effects make it seem like the characters really are in this beautiful world that we’re seeing, which helps us bring ourselves into that world as well. Nature {and thus, the special effects} also play a huge role in the emotion of the film- fog may be used to make a scene more ominous, or rain may begin to pour to highlight Arlo’s sadness. Nature is used quite often to help reflect the feelings of the characters, and the special effects team is there to help that happen.
The special effects team {which is comprised of everyone from computer scientists and software developers to visual artists} uses a lot of physical simulation software, which has a specific understanding of physics. They can use it to test even the smallest details, such as whether the foam in the river matches what it would look like based on the speed of the river. Another example is when Arlo digs sticks into the sand, as seen in the trailer. The simulations allowed them to test to see how the millions of grains of sand that make up that scene would interact with each other as he moved the sand around. They needed to make a believable hole, and to make sure that the entire action was believable as well.
Each of these special simulations takes a really long time to run. They are done one frame at a time, and each frame is contingent on the frame that came before it- making it a slow and tedious process, but a very important one.
All of this data and all of these effects take up a lot of digital storage- especially in a movie like this one where nature plays such an integral role in the story. The special effects alone took up 300 TB of storage- which is 10x the amount used in Monsters University. In fact, the big river scene was 17 TB all by itself- more than the entire movie of Cars 2.
The Good Dinosaur had a special effects team of about 31 people, twice that of most Pixar movies. That’s because you can see special effects in about 900 shots in the film- about twice the amount of scenes for most Pixar movies.
If you’ve ever tried taking photographs, even just for a dance recital or a birthday party, you know how important the lighting is. Photographs can be destroyed by the wrong light, or they can make you feel like you’re right there in the photo with the right one. Of course, the Pixar crew was shooting for the latter with this movie, so the lighting was incredibly important to master. Sharon Calahan, Director of Photography– Lighting, talked with us about how they designed the visual design of the set and how she was able to master the lighting in the movie.
When thinking about what they wanted the set to look like, they turned to movies that had already been made. They watched several live-action westerns, pulling inspiration from many of them. “Seven Years in Tibet” was one of the biggest influences on the scope and scale of The Good Dinosaur because they admired that it showed a great physical journey as well as a big emotional journey for the characters, which was their goal for the film.
Director Peter Sohn wanted the set to take on a form and almost become a character, but he hadn’t spent any time in a rural area so he needed to check it out and get a feel for it. He also knew that he wanted the set to be something primordial, but he didn’t want to just guess at what that would look like. He wanted it to be something that could really exist. So, the crew took several trips to the area to experience it for themselves, take notes, and just observe. {You can read more about those trips here.}
On those trips, Sharon did a lot of her research by painting outdoors and observing. She didn’t do complete finished paintings, but she took “notes” through painting what she saw. She observed what the light and color did over distances at particular times of day and how things interacted with each other. Painting like this not only helped her to remember what things looked like, but it helped her remember what it felt like, which she said was even more important. Having those memories allowed her to look at something during production and say That doesn’t quite feel right,” or “We can turn up the wind here,” things like that. According to Sharon, “The memories, I think, are as important as the images.”
Light is used to help set the mood, just like it is in our every day lives. The last scene before Arlo gets swept down the river is meant to be super sweet, so it’s done at dusk, which is considered by photographers and artists to be the “magic hour”. The way the light hits at that time has a tendency to make you nostalgic, and Sharon was looking to answer one question: “How can I make devastation feel as beautiful as possible?”
One of the things that helped guide the style of the movie was knowing that they wanted a world that would draw the viewer in and make it feel like they were there breathing the air. They didn’t want to overly stylize the scenery, but rather make it feel like you could just step right into it while watching the movie.
So, then, why did they stylize the characters? Why not make them photo-realistic as well?
Sharon said that typically, things like schedules and technology limitations would be the culprit, but in this case, it was the Director. Peter wanted the characters to be appealing, and he wanted a rich and perilous scenery that could really exist. Together, that made up a very realistic set filled with lots of adorable {and not-so-adorable} dinosaurs and other creatures as the stars.
The Good Dinosaur hits theaters on Thanksgiving, but you can watch the trailer for below! You can also follow The Good Dinosaur for more updates & behind-the-scenes peeks!
Want more behind-the-scenes looks at The Good Dinosaur? Check back next week or read my campfire interview with Director Peter Sohn & crew or interview with Production Designer Harley Jessup and Animators Kevin O’Hara & Rob Thompson!
Robin (Masshole Mommy) says
My kids are SOOOOO excited for this movie. I think it’s going to move to our favorite list real fast.
Liz Mays says
I didn’t realize they used Grand Teton. Now it’s even neater to me and I have to see this!
Alicia says
This looks like it’s going to be an amazing movie! I know I can’t wait to take my kids to go see it. It’s really neat to see behind the scenes and how they created the movie.
Sara P. (@SensiblySara) says
I can’t wait to see The Good Dinosaur! But now you’ve got me itching to see it even sooner! I love all this behind-the-scenes info!
Ellen ThatChicMom says
It is so amazing what they can do with computers and animation! My kids are excited to see this when it comes out!
Melissa says
So so interesting! I can’t wait to see this movie!
Amy @GrinCheek2Cheek says
I can hardly wait to see the movie! I’m sure it’s spectacular, especially with all those extra special effects.
I love on the DVD’s when I get to watch all the extras to see how much effort goes into each movie. It’s incredible!
Crystal says
How neat! I’ll never be able to look at the Grand Tetons without seeing a dinosaur there. I am always so impressed with the locations the magicians at Disney/Pixar create.
Valerie Remy-Milora says
The magic of movies will never get old! It is amazing the tiny details that must be attended to for us to believe in what we see! I love getting that behind the scenes look into animated films. Thanks for sharing with such detail! I almost feel as though I’d been right there by your side 🙂