ANIMATION
FINDING THE RIGHT FORMULA FOR ELEMENTAL By TREVOR HOGG
Images courtesy of Disney/Pixar. TOP: Ember had to look as if she was made of fire while Wade required several simulations including drips, splashes and bubbles to make him a believable water character. OPPOSITE TOP TO BOTTOM: The Lighting department integrates the characters, sets and effects to produce the final image. In order to discover the performances, the animation team manipulates the previs models of the characters and then computer simulations are activated to make them appear and feel like their element. Production Designer Don Shank creates the sets within Presto, which is Pixar’s proprietary animation system.
Hardly elementary to put together is the original romantic comedy Elemental from Pixar, where a new arrival to a city inhabited by Water, Earth, Air and Fire enters into a relationship that crosses the class divide. The story was inspired in part by a science class joke. “When I looked at the Periodic Table, all I could see was this apartment complex,” chuckles filmmaker Peter Sohn (The Good Dinosaur). “To make the pitch more acceptable to everyone, I boiled it down to the classical elements fire, water, earth and air.” The subject matter is personal in nature, he reveals. “I lost both of my parents during the making of Elemental, and this film has a great deal to do with appreciating our parents and the sacrifices that they make for us. It has been this interesting emotional ride.” Given the nature of the characters, effects were an essential aspect of their design, with Sohn having to readjust his expectations. “There were lots of articles last year about how tremendously difficult the hours can be in the visual effects industry, and with so many projects going into streaming and features getting so big, that there were some eye-opening ways to produce this material that I was guilty of. I pulled back on a lot of that in the middle of last year. I went in knowing the gameplan of what we were going to get to do, but because my parents had died, I was like, ‘This is to honor them! We’ve got to go further.’ The crew has been a tremendous support in this process, and they have lifted the film in ways that I will forever be grateful for.” One of the hardest aspects was to make sure that the characters actually look like they are made from their designated element, such as “Ember [Leah Lewis] and Wade [Mamoudou Athie] as our main characters, Fire and Water,” states Sohn. “Ember was the most challenging to get to her look. I remember seeing Ghost Rider as a kid and going, ‘A character with a fiery head.’ The fire was so realistic and meant to be scary. Then there was Jack-Jack in The Incredibles who goes on fire. It’s hard to make a fire character
34 • VFXVOICE.COM SUMMER 2023
PG 34-40 ELEMENTAL.indd 34
5/1/23 2:52 PM