Naturally, the choreography of the camera is strongly tied to the movement of the characters and subjects, so we usually block first (really our process should be called “Staging and Camera” rather than "Camera and Staging"). Our department receives a “story reel,” which is a storyboard version of the movie, complete with dialogue and a temporary soundtrack that we use as a jumping off point for each scene. While blocking, you’re thinking through the scene just like an actor. If I were this little character, where would I be? What would I do? This process actually takes up most of your time, as each character has thousands more controls than the camera, and there are sometimes dozens or even hundreds of characters in a single shot.
CAMERA PLANNING Starting a new project also often involves some fresh composition challenges. Most people can agree on what a medium shot of a human looks like, but what’s a medium shot
of a talking car? Or fish? What’s a wide shot of your subconscious mind? There are fewer conventions for how we compose our shots, so each film often goes through some trial and error for what works. That pre-production planning period is one of the most enjoyable parts of the process. For Inside Out, Patrick Lin (Camera DP and a veteran of Up and The Incredibles) felt that there should be two distinct camera styles for each of the worlds in the film, the “inside world,” which takes place inside the mind of a 12-year-old girl named Riley, and the “outside world,” which is the stylized version of San Francisco where Riley lives. Patrick and I watched lots of films for inspiration, and (although the subject matter couldn’t be more different) Blue Valentine ended up being a frequent reference, with its two very distinct camera styles. Being able to show our director, Pete Docter, the way that film intercut so well helped him feel confident our plan would work.
TECH ON SET:
Pixar Animat ion Softwar e: Presto Camera Cap ture: Vicon M otion Syste beeb box (c ms, ustom enco ding hand w h ee ls) Rendering: Renderman Cineroid EV F SmallHD DP 7 Paralinx Arr ow for wirel ess monitoring on capture st a ge Camera test s shot on Ale xa
TWO CAMERA STYLES The “inside world” had a more perfect, traditional animated camera style which referenced the straight and simple dolly moves of 1930’s studio films. An example of this is the elaborately choreographed shot where
Our camera ‘rigs' were often primitive but what mattered was the end look. Here Adam Habib records a take in the mocap stage. Photo by Patrick Lin
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SOCIETY OF CAMERA OPERATORS · SOC.ORG