“Some people have the idea, that the director has the idea of the story and the characters fully formed in his head, and the animator is just executing what he says to do. But every day it is a series of a thousand decisions, made by different people in different departments, and the director saying ‘yes, no, yes, yes, no’. We are all figuring it out together. ” – Disney Pixar’s Inside Out Supervising Animator Shawn Krause
{Exclusive Look) The Animation of Disney Pixar’s Inside Out
For a year and a half, a team of up to 90 animators worked to bring Disney Pixar’s Inside Out to the big screen. Five days a week at 9 AM, Inside Out Director Pete Doctor would stand in front of a small movie theater style auditorium filled with animators, as they presented shot after shot in hopes of hearing “Lets Final It!” Each and everyone of these Animation Dailies shaped the must see film of the Summer!
Are you ready to Get Animated with Disney Pixar’s Inside Out? I know I was last month when I flew out to Pixar Animation Studios to meet with Supervising Animators Shawn Krause and Victor Navone, Directing Animator Jamie Roe, and Story Artist Tony Fucile.
“When you are drawing something, you really feel the energy and connection from your head to the pen. When we do it on the computer, manipulating these puppets…it’s a very removed feeling. A very different way of working with the tools. It’s nice to combine both mediums.” – Supervising Animator Shawn Krause
This team of talented animators and story artist were a critical part of creating Inside Out. They walked us through a mock “Animation Dailies” Session from Disney Pixar’s Inside Out. It was eye opening and fun, and I’m about to share it all with you. But first, let answer the question you are probably asking….
What are Animation Dailies?
When a scene comes out of the story department in storyboard form, and it’s gone to layout so cameras and characters have been placed, it comes to the animators so they can animate within that layout. Periodically the animators show their work in progress to the other animators and the director during Animations Dailies. They look at each others work on the film and share ideas for ways to improve it. The Director then approves shots or make notes for changes.
“Animation Dailies are at 9AM every day. We get everyone at the same time, get the day going, and see what everyone is working on. It helps us stay on track.” – Supervising Animator Shawn Krause
The Inside Out Animation Dailies were roughly an hour long and covered about 15-20 shots each. It’s a collaborative meeting, not just Director Pete Doctor giving notes. Anyone is free to speak up with ideas to improve the scenes, one of them even brought their 4 year old son in! Can you imagine if our family unit worked like Animation Dailies? A collaborative team speaking up with ideas and improvements?! All I hear are Disgust and Anger.
There are different stages a shot goes through during Animation Dailies. Lets take a look….
LAYOUT – This is what the animator first receives when they start a shot. It is very rough, very crude, but the main point is for them to see where the camera is, and where the characters are staged in relation to the cameras. All of that is important to keep the story progressing through animation.
“We are trying to go for a cartoonier style with these mind characters, to make them feel like they move differently than the human characters in the real world.” – Disney Pixar’s Inside Out Supervising Animator Victor Navone
FIRST PASS BLOCKING: During the First Pass, the animator figures out what ideas they want to put into the shot. They’ve been briefed by the director, they have storyboards for inspiration, recordings of the actors they can listen to, and sometimes they even draw or act them out in front of the camera themselves to see what they are doing! Once they have established the main performance they want to put in front of the director, and roughly put those ides into the scene, they will do a First Pass Blocking.
The First Pass Blocking is also when Story Artist Tony Fucile gets inspired, takes notes, and does sketches to help the animators out. All the notes and drawings go to the animator so they can reference them at their desk as they compose the computer character to match the drawing.
These notes and drawings can include things like changing shape and size of facial feature, adjusting body movements, and changing expressions.
SECOND PASS: After First Pass Blocking in Animation Dailies, the animators collect all the thoughts, new ideas, and the story artist’s sketches. They head to their desk to re-work everything and try to get to the next page. To get “closer to what the director wants“. The progressions are then showed when the animator is ready and it’s best to show frequently.
“If you don’t show frequently as an animator, you do all this work and then you show the director too late. You’ll have to redo all the things you have done. With some Animation Dailies, it’s best to make your notes early so you’re not giving someone ideas when they are almost done with a shot.” – Supervising Animator Victor Navone
SHOW FOR FINAL: When the animator is finished with the shot and wants to know if there are any last minute notes, they Show For Final. This is the final finished animation version without simulation or hair. There are a lot more details like lip-sync, the tongue is animated, and small details have been added and polished. Hair and cloth isn’t moving right, as that is a later department. Animators are focused on the motion of the body and the face.
When an animator is ready to Show For Final the words they want to hear from the director are “Lets Final It!” When the director says final, that means the animation is approved and ready to go on to a downstream department like simulation and effects.
When it comes to reaching the final step of an animated shot, the average for the Disney Pixar Inside Out team was 3 seconds of finished animation every week. You can see why it takes a year and a half, with 45 animators, to finish a 90 minute film. After watching the first 56 minutes of Disney Pixar’s Inside Out I can definitely tell you that all the hard work was worth it!
“For me, out of all the films I’ve worked at Pixar, this was the most intensely collaborative the whole way through. Not that the others one aren’t, but this one was sculpted perfectly when we got it and everybody added a trait or an acting moment or an idea the entire time, as a team, through the whole production. It was really great to work with everybody on this one” – Supervising Animator Victor Navone
Another important part in creating the animation is often the actor and actresses voicing the characters. For example, Joy. Joy is happiness. But how do you show happiness?
“Director Pete Docter and Co-Director Ronnie del Carmen had a great idea…that Joy inspires happiness. She doesn’t try to make you happy. Nothing is more annoying than someone telling you to cheer up. It’s not about that. It’s about her being infectious.” – Supervising Animator Shawn Krause
A lot of Joy’s infectious happiness came from the actress behind her voice, Amy Poehler, and her voice recordings.
“They were already so appealing, charismatic, and infectious. It makes your job as an animator easier. Instead of trying to make a mediocre voice recording fun, she starts fun and you try to make it more fun.” – Supervising Animator Victor Navone
“Everyone was saying, Bill Hader was saying ‘That’s Amy Poehler!’ That character is Amy Poehler. As soon as we got her voice, we knew how to play with the character.” – Supervising Animator Shawn Krause
After learning the process of Animation Dailies and all the hours of work, thousands of ideas shared, and oodles of scenes created by up to 90 animators (the last time an animation team was this big, was Finding Nemo and The Incredibles!)…..we wondered if the animation team is able to watch the film in the same we, the audience does.
“We never really get to see our film as the audience. We have the history of the film in our head as each shot goes by. We have a lot of baggage we carry around as we watch these films. It takes about 5 or 6 years before you can just watch the film and enjoy it.” – Supervising Animator Shawn Krause
Need more Inside Out?
- Behind the Camera of Inside Out
- Creating the Worlds and Characters of Inside Out
- Ultimate Guide to Inside Out Toy & More
Janel from NellieBellie says
My kids are soooo excited to see this movie! How fun to see some behind-the-scenes stuff about it. Thanks!