Pixar Animation Studios

[Ferno]

Really liking The Good Dinosaur trailer. Ever since Monsters U Pixar's really been showing off their new lighting tech and it's really stunning here.

On the subject of the dinosaur designs, I don't mind them. I mean yeah they're cartoony dinosaurs but these are the same guys who also brought us cartoony bugs and cartoony fish and cartoony rats and no one had any problems with those. I think Arlo has that same sorta "Pixar" look, especially his eyes.

I'll admit that compared to earlier films there is more of a "disconnect" between the style of the characters and backgrounds, but for me it just looks cool personally. It's so surreal and sort of artsy imo seeing these cartoon-esque dinosaurs lit so realistically. They look like they belong in the environment, but they 'don't' at the same time, which is hard to describe but I like the final result.

Edited July 21, 2015 by Ferno

[Kuzu]

That is some funky ass CGI, but yea this film looks like its going to be a feel trip, I'm not ready.

[Failinhearts]

Remember what I said about me not being interested in this film? Well I take it alllll back! Oh wait, somehow my words were deleted because of the update? Whatever, it's irrelevant anyway.

This trailer looks great and sold me on this movie.

Edited July 22, 2015 by Failinhearts

[Penny]

Eh, the trailer didn't really change anything for me. It looks really pretty, but that's all that perked my interest. The movie just isn't catching me, so far. I mean, I'll probably go see it, but it's not something I'm really looking forward to, like I was with Inside Out.

 

It's probably gonna be a decent movie, but probably not something as great as Pixar's best like Wall-E and Inside Out. inb4 Pixar proves me wrong

[Ryannumber1gamer]

Alright, I finally got to see Inside Out now that it's finally released in the UK. My thoughts?

Pixar. You are fucking back, and you are fucking back with a bang. 

I have been hyped for this movie ever since the first trailer release. I was expecting this to finally be Pixar's massive return to show. After the craptactular Cars 2, the meh Brave, and the great Monsters University, Pixar has finally brought it's A-Game back to the table.

I guess before diving straight into the movie, I'll briefly go over the usual short.

Meh, it's alright. Nothing really remarkable. It's named Lava and about two volcanoes that sing about being together. The animation was really spectacular here but the rest was kind of unremarkable. Honestly, Paperman or The Blue Umbrella, or honestly, even the Toy Story or Party Central shorts surpass it. 

But the main show itself. It is 90 minutes, filled with creative, emotional, heartwarming, funny, tense, and downright amazing moments.

The animation is at a absolute peak here. Pixar's brought their A-Game Animation for this movie and it fucking shows. This movie is downright beautiful to watch. Just look at Riley and the human characters and compare them to the likes of The Incredibles for example, you can just see how much they've improved here. It really does show.

 The characters were really good and fun throughout. You can really connect with Riley and the emotional trouble she's going through. She's in a totally new place, with none of her friends, and uncertain about what's going to happen. But you can also connect with her parents, who are trying their best to put on a bright face and keep the whole thing together. 

As for the Emotions themselves, you can really connect with them as well. Joy for example. She doesn't want to prove she's the best or anything. She simply wants Riley to be happy, but just doesn't know that

she needs the other emotions to be happy

. Anger and Disgust are short tempered but in the end, you can tell their hearts are in the right place, and again, they just want what's best for Riley, even if they go too far. Fear and Sadness get some of the best moments and lines in the entire movie. My personal favourites was

When Fear was watching the Dream Productions movie and ended up getting scared out of his wits, and Sadness somehow managing to make every happy moment depressing.

But Pixar was also very clever with some of the things they did in the movie, that when given clever thought, you realize how it subtly enhances the events of the movie. For example

 

Recall back when Joy, Sadness, and Bing Bong are riding the train of thought, when Honestly Island falls, causing the train of thought to crash and fall into the abyss. But this also fits into the story. Think about it. Riley is now going into a misguided plan of running away from home. When the train collapses, what does that mean for Riley? It means she isn't thinking straight anymore. She's lost her common sense.

Inside Out is full of moments like that, which all make you think and it's really great. 

But the emotional and heartwarming moments? I remember seeing a comment from Penny at one point that every moment after a certain point in this movie was a tearjerker. Penny was correct.

It really is sad seeing Riley slowly close up and become more and more emotionless as the movie progresses. It's absolutely heartbreaking to see this once happy girl begin to slowly turn into a depressed person who has lost all the things that made up her personality, On top of that, there's Bing Bong's sacrifice in order to save Joy, and a lot more

 

But the best part has to be the message the movie offers. It is a seriously great message, that rivals Monsters University's message.

The message being that you need all your emotions to operate. That even though Sadness may suck, it's a natural part of life, and it's something we all need, so we can move past the sadness, and just let it all out. It's a really brilliant message that doesn't shove itself into the viewer's face, and allows the viewer to enjoy and experience as Joy learns in the film

You want me to sum this movie up in one word. Amazing. Just Amazing. This isn't just my favourite Pixar film to date. This is my favourite animated film. Ever. This ranks extremely high on my favourite films ever made. There is absolutely no low points in this film in my opinion. The animation is amazing, the characters are funny, witty, and are easily likable, the amount of creativity found in this movie, as it presents stuff like catchy songs, forgotten memories, and more is brilliant, the soundtrack is great, the situations, and events of the movie are heartwarming, funny, and sad. This film is simply amazing. No questions asked.  

Edited July 24, 2015 by Ryannumber1gamer

[Gabz Girl]

So I finally got to see Inside Out yesterday evening! First up was the short Lava aaand it was decent. Animation was gorgeous, the song was cute and yeah, that's it really. Not the best Pixar short, but it was certainly better than Blue Umbrella!

Now as for the movie itself, wow, it was great! I can honestly say that this is one of Pixar's best, right up there with Up and the Toy Story movies. It's also the first Pixar movie that actually made me cry, like, genuinely cry and not just watery eyes like with Up. It's so good to see a great Pixar film again after one bad sequel, a mediocre original and a good prequel.

The story was well executed and a wonderful and creative journey into the mind. I loved the Emotions, especially Sadness (don't understand the hate she gets D: ) and while I expected to find Joy annoying that quickly changed when she

was stuck in that lost memories pit with Bing Bong and started to cry

The other Emotions were funny, but I think Fear was the weakest. He just wasn't as memorable as the rest. As for Bing Bong...

his sacrifice was REALLY sad but kinda makes sense since Riley is growing up. But damn it Pixar whyyy

Oh, and while she appeared more as a background character I liked Riley. So sad to see her going deeper and deeper into depression when she was such a happy girl at the beginning. Of course the part that made me cry more than

Joy's sadness and Bing Bong's death, was when Riley returns home and burst into tears telling her family how much she misses Minnesota and God I already feel choked up just thinking about that scene right now!

Me and my boyfriend were sniffling in our seats with all these people around us which was kinda embarrassing but hey, it was an emotional moment and we could totally relate to it since we've had troubled pre-teen/teenager years too! I love the message it brings as well, very emotional.

Of course the animation is absolutely gorgeous and I love the difference between the realistic looking human world and the cartoony colourful visuals of the mind world. A lot of squash and stretch was utilised in the Emotions and other mind characters, which was fun to see. Overall, Inside Out is a wonderful, funny and emotional movie and I hope the Good Dinosaur ends up being just as good (or better?!). Solid 4.5/5 from me!

[Emperor Robrainiac]

I just got back from seeing Inside Out with my mom and sisters. While it might need some time to process the movie, I have to say that I came out more than pleased.

We weren't able to see it during the week it opened, since the family wanted save on money for a roadtrip, and I don't like seeing Disney and Pixar movies without having family to tell my useless trivia and pointing out the easter eggs.  For a while I was worried that this would be the first Pixar movie we wouldn't see in theaters. Thankfully that wasn't the case.

But enough about me. Lets get to the movie.

The Characters very lovable. You would think that characters who's main trait is based on emotions would be kinda flat, but the minds behind the movie really made the emotions believable and relateable characters, basically a bunch of people doing their jobs and doing what they think is right for Riley, while having emotions of their own as well.  In my opinion I didn't find any characters really annoying. Someone has mentioned Sadness getting some hate, which kinda surprises me. C'mon! Look at her, don't you just wanna give her a big hug? 

As I said before, I'm still letting the movie sink in, but I have a feeling that I could end up in the boat with everyone else saying it'll end up being one of their favorite Pixar movies. The cartoony art style within the minds is a wonderful transition from the more grounded style of the real world. The story really gave of tons of "feels" (as the kids are saying these days) and overall creativity, the characters we're introduced to, outside and inside, are very likable. In addition, there's a ton of easter eggs, both from Disney and Pixar. I managed to catch the Haunted Mansion theme, a Finding Nemo board game called "Find Me" and and a picture of Figment from Disney's "Journey into Imagination." I have a feeling that this is going to be one of those movies where you'll find something new every time you watch it, very much like how the Lego Movie was with so much stuff happening in the background.

Overall, a great flick! A wonderful watch after Pixars recent flicks, which ranged from decent to meh.  I'm glad we managed to catch it in theaters. 

Edited July 27, 2015 by Emperor Robrainiac

[Kevin]

I saw Inside Out with a friend of mine recently and I have to say it exceeded my expectations and I want to place it up there as one of my favorite Pixar movies! I will say that I cried like a baby! Heck, the whole theater I was at was in tears by the time the movie finished! I think the only other Pixar movie that made me cry that much was Toy Story 3. Granted, Up, made me teary eyed, but not outright crying.

What can I say about the characters! They're absolutely loveable! Oh and one note I want to make:

Dammit, Pixar! Why did you have to sacrifice Bing Bong! Why!?


Now that I got that out of the way, I find Riley to be a very relatable character in regards to everything she went through

Her going from being a happy girl to slowly falling into a deep depression to the point of having no feeling at all and breaking down towards the end was absolutely heart-wrenching and what I consider to be the saddest part of the entire movie.

As for The Good Dinosaur, it's looking really good from the trailer and I'm definitely looking forward to seeing it when it comes out!

[Ryannumber1gamer]

What can I say about the characters! They're absolutely loveable! Oh and one note I want to make:
 

Hidden Content

''....Take Riley....to the moon for me''

That was legitimately one of the saddest moments in a Disney film to date. 

[...]

An Inside Out short called Riley's First Date had a sneak peek on Good Morning America today, it's going to be part of the Inside Out Blu-ray release on October 13.

[Ryannumber1gamer]

If they ever make a sequel to Inside Out, there's some more ideas I hope to see them tackle, such as recurring dreams. On top of that, I'm rather curious how the emotions work for...well the emotions. Like in the film, there are points you see Joy

feel sadness, fear, and disgust for example.

[Monkey Destruction Switch]

If they ever make a sequel to Inside Out, there's some more ideas I hope to see them tackle, such as recurring dreams. On top of that, I'm rather curious how the emotions work for...well the emotions. Like in the film, there are points you see Joy

Hidden Content

No no no please no, too much Inception xP

[...]

We got ourselves some good stuff from D23! Check it out!

Incredibles 2, Toy Story 4, and Finding Dory teaser posters! 

...and there's Cars 3. But we all know nobody cares about that.

And from the looks of it, a follow-up to Luxo Jr.?

 

 

[Johnny Boy]

And there's gonna be a panel on the upcoming movies from Pixar and WDAS at 3pm PT/ 6pm ET. Can't wait to see what they have in store!

[Ryannumber1gamer]

Toy Story 4 is gonna be a rom-com involving Bo Peep and Woody? 

Is this a prequel? If so, that'll fucking suck. One of the big driving points of Toy Story is the friendship between Buzz and Woody.

I don't think this'll be good.

[MightyRay]

Hooray! Bo Peep might actually get some character development! 

I really like Bo, I was kind of pissed when she got shelved in 3 so this lovely to hear for me! 

[Disonoid 3000]

I really dislike it when sequels go out of their way to go back to a previous film and undermine an emotional scene, and that seems to be the entire point of the new Toy Story.

Also, their romance was really bland to begin with. 

I wasn't really expecting to be excited about this, but now it's just hitting my personal peeves. 

Edit: Also, no Ryan, it is not a prequel. It's been confirmed to be a direct followup some time ago.

 

 

And from the looks of it, a follow-up to Luxo Jr.?

 

 

That's a placeholder for their Day of the Dead film. 

Spoilered for size and length;

The Untitled Pixar Movie About Dia De Los Muertos, as it’s been called, finally has a real title. Pixar revealed at today’s D23 presentation that the movie is officially named Coco, after one of the major characters in the story. Lee Unkrich is directing and Darla Anderson is producing. The pair last teamed up on Toy Story 3.

Unkrich explained that he’d discovered Dia De Los Muertos through the artwork. His appreciation of the colorful skeleton folk art led to his emotional investment in the holiday, which Unkrich described as a sort of “big family reunion between the living and the dead.”

The premise of the story comes from a simple question: “What if you could meet your long dead family members?” For research, Unkrich traveled to Mexico to see how the holiday was celebrated in different places, meeting many families and experiencing the traditions with them.

Described by John Lasseter as “breathtaking, beautiful, and fun” and by Unkrich as “emotional,” Coco follows a 12-year-old boy named Miguel who sets off a chain of events relating to a century-old mystery.

While further plot details are being kept under wraps for now, D23 attendees were shown a diorama, not originally intended for public viewing, that offered a taste of the general mood and tone. Here’s a description of what they saw:

A character lights a candle in a cemetary, as fireworks go off in the sky. An old woman drops flower pedals as she limps toward a colorfully decorated grave.

Cut to colorfully dressed skeletons dancing and playing music in a long, store-lined alley way. The skeletons detach their heads and legs during the course of the dance.

A mariachi band is playing. A boy drops his skull mask and the music stops for a second. Then the music resumes, and as fireworks go off, we see an aerial view revealing that the block is shaped like a skull.

Coco has not yet set a release date, though Pixar has slots reserved in November 2017 and November 2018.

Looking forward to this one.

[Disonoid 3000]

Coco's protagonist, Miguel, apparently (I'm not sure if it's been outright stated or if people are assuming).

I was hoping for something cuter, but I have no complaints. I like the simplicity in him, and how that guitar looks like it's at least as tall as his chest.

Edit: It's concept art. But, well, they bothered to display it, so everyone's assuming it's at least close to the finally product.

Edited August 15, 2015 by Disonoid 3000

[Johnny Boy]

And of course Tumblr is already tearing the movie apart because it's "ripping off" the book of life. God, that site never ceases to amaze me with its stupidity.

[Disonoid 3000]

After the Herman's Head crap and the few Ice Age rip off accusations I've seen thrown at Good Dinosaur, I'm used to the stupid rip off cries, people seem just really desperate to label things they make as rip offs. Coco was actually announced to the public first (as in, back when it was "the Pixar film about the Day of the Dead holiday"), but clearly only a tiny handful of people over there want to bother with research.

I'm more focused on the people complaining because Lee Unkrich isn't Mexican. Because it's bad now for people to be display an interest in other cultures, apparently. But only certain cultures, cause it's okay to have non-French and non-Scottish people make films about those countries. 

Edit: Unkrich has already made several trips to Mexico to do research, for the record. 

Edited August 16, 2015 by Disonoid 3000

[JezMM]

To be honest I'm looking forward to Coco because while The Book of Life had it's heart in the right place, I feel everyone patted it's back too much just for being representative of non-white culture.  yeah that's great but... the movie was patronising (oh no a character death, quick cut back to the kids going "oh no" so it doesn't have too much emotional impact!), had mixed messages (love conquers all - prove your love by running away from this giant boulder in this death maze), the characters were boring and inconsistent (forget her name but the way the main girl went back and forth on the guys' antics on a near scene by scene basis of being woo'd to "oh these boys of mine" to "you guys are literally the worst how dare you" really ticked me off) and it literally never made me laugh once, completely uninspired kids movie fodder humour.  Visuals were amazing, but that was about it.The themes were completely undermined by it's completely typical good guy vs bad guy action storyline imo.

Pixar have more than proven themselves capable of making awesome movies without typical good guy vs bad guy structures and stuff, especially with Inside Out, so I'm looking forward to see what they do with the culture.  They really did their research on medieval scotland for Brave, I trust them to do mexican culture justice too.

Edited August 16, 2015 by JezMM

[Milo]

 

And of course Tumblr is already tearing the movie apart because it's "ripping off" the book of life. God, that site never ceases to amaze me with its stupidity.

Especially since Pixar had been planning its own Day of the Dead adaptation for a while now, what is now Coco was first announced in 2012. Hell, it was actually announced a mere couple of months The Book of Life was first announced by Reel FX (though director Gutierrez first pitched the idea to DWA in 2007, it never got greenlit due to "creative differences".).

Speaking of which...

To be honest I'm looking forward to Coco because while The Book of Life had it's heart in the right place, I feel everyone patted it's back too much just for being representative of non-white culture.  yeah that's great but... the movie was patronising (oh no a character death, quick cut back to the kids going "oh no" so it doesn't have too much emotional impact!), had mixed messages (love conquers all - prove your love by running away from this giant boulder in this death maze) and it literally never made me laugh once, completely uninspired kids movie fodder humour.  Visuals were amazing, but that was about it.  The themes were completely undermined by it's completely typical good guy vs bad guy action storyline imo.

The Book of Life is really a strange film to me. Like I can't agree enough about how damn anvilicious its narrative is and how far it goes in exposition with how its characters develop through said narrative (I'm hesitant to blame the "story within a story" approach the bulk of the film is presented in; like some clarification would be necessary to frame under that context and I do like how everything in the main story is styled after dolls), but the thing that really annoys me is that if they just fixed those two aspects of the film I think it could had easily been a really good (if not great) movie. The characters themselves and their motivations I feel are fine, the visuals are obviously fantastic (really, not much elaboration here), the music I think is pretty good and culture appropriate-aside from using music that obviously came decades after its setting for a few brief gags, and the general Day of the Dead setting / lore they had to work with provides a lot of interesting background detail for a fair amount of the themes the film puts forward. It's like the film got overloaded with said themes it was pushing around; and in trying to settle on something, the film's writing got focused grouped into something really predictable and safe.

Edited August 16, 2015 by Señor Gabe

[ElectricAngel]

So, I finally got to watch Inside Out yesterday and I was really surprised with how good it was. I still feel it's a bit overrated though. Just a tad. 

Starting off, the short that played before the film was nice. I didn't find it all that impressive, aside the nice visuals. But I'm not really big on Pixar shorts, so whatever. It was a nice opening act, I guess.

The movie though, wow. I was loving it from the first second. I just had this huge smile on my face when watching the film. And I believe it was in IMAX.. The screen was ginormous and filled my entire vision, so I assume it's IMAX. So that really helped with the whole immersion, I think. But anyway, keeping it as spoiler free as I can, I'll say that this movie blew me away with both the writing and the animation. 

The animation was just amazing. The emotions especially felt very two dimensional, in the sense that it was like watching a 2D cartoon but animated in 3D. There's a good use of squash and stretch and fast, bouncy movements. In particular when Joy is super excited and before she runs down some stairs, her feet make this spinny loop. And at one point where Fear caught on fire and was just panicking all over the place. Moments like this make me really impressed and intrigued, to the point where I wouldn't mind animating in 3D if this is now possible to do. In fact, now I kinda wanna study 3D animation because of it. But um, not to give the wrong idea. The movie isn't always this lively. It's more or less just inside Riley's head. The animation in the human world is nice too, but with more realistic movements and a cartoony look. Kind of like UP, or Toy Story. 

Now in terms of writing, I liked pretty much everything. The plot was something we have seen before but the way they piece things together is what makes it really work. The way it shows the emotions controlling Riley's thoughts, and how her actions require them to do a certain task is really great. The jokes as well are all fantastic. I was laughing so hard at a lot of them. It was super fun and clever. The way they just explain things like how we remember certain things, or how dreams work is done so creatively. And perhaps my favourite part of the writing was how accurate it was in terms of how kids think. I don't know about you guys, but I've moved around 4 times in my life so far and every time, I swear life just gets worse. In fact, when I was 8, I had to move to a crummy apartment that looked just like the place Riley was staying at. So I could relate to her a lot. There's also this one idea Riley gets later on that I also had, and executed it in a similar way. I believe it was said that the writers did a lot of research on how the mind works and talked with psychiatrists, and it shows. It's a really, really smart movie. And also, I completely forgot to talk about the emotions. Instead of being this one character with one sort of thinking process or emotion, the emotions actually have.. emotions. The one they represent is the strongest, but they do have moments where they are much deeper than what you usually see in stories like this. Now, if I have to find one problem is that the movie was a bit weird with how it ended. It was heartwarming, and I guess I was expecting something sadder since people said this movie was sad. And don't get me wrong. It's sad. I cried around 4 times, but the ending could have had a more stronger emotional impact, I feel. Other than that though, I don't have many complaints. I probably have to watch the movie a few more times to analyze the plot more, but after a first viewing, I was really satisfied.

How can I even close my thoughts on this film? I really don't know what to say other than it's really good. It kinda felt like they made a movie about me, but I've heard other reviewers say the same. It's probably because it's so relatable. If you haven't watched it yet, then it means you've been waiting for a chance to see it, or the movie hasn't come out yet where you live. In any case, if an opportunity arises to see this movie, do yourself a favour and go see it. And hopefully you enjoy it as much as I did (and maybe have the luck of not having kids flash their phones and babies crying while the movie is playing). 

[Nepenthe]

So! I was lucky enough to get invited to a special presentation about The Good Dinosaur hosted by the film's technical producer Sanjay Bakshi, who's been working with Pixar since Finding Nemo. We were given mainly a tech demonstration of some of the problems and feats of the film interspersed with a general synopsis of the film and four lengthy clips from the film. First the scenes, in spoilers naturally:

 

The first scene I saw was when Arlo had just been separated from his father. He's swept down river and an extended sequence with barely any music- just the water rushing- and he gets knocked out by being dunked underwater and slammed into a boulder. After that, he wakes up- with very visible injuries- at the far end of the river and realizes he's exceedingly far from home. Standard introduction.

The second scene we saw was the one that ether'd everyone. Arlo has found Spot the boy at this point. They're resting at the riverbed for the night, playing with fireflies, and upon settling down Arlo remarks that he misses his family. Spot doesn't understand English, so Arlo demonstrates the concept by placing sticks in the sand to represent each member, naming them aloud and reiterating "family." Spot again doesn't know the word and Arlo kinda gives up, laying upon the stick that represents his dad and tearing up saying "I miss him." Spot then decides to do the same with three sticks, yet knocks the two tallest ones over and buries them. After that, they begin howling together. It probably sounds really cheesy typing it up like this but it got a good part of the audience audibly crying. What's fascinating is that it's done mostly in silence- little talking or music- and Spot proves himself to be a really empathetic being, not understanding language but knowing the pain and emptiness of losing at least one parent. Arlo's grief is also nicely handled. It was just perfect.

The third scene we had introduced us to the rancher T-rexes who take care of buffalo. They're country as shit, using traditional cowboy phrases like "giddy up" or "roll out," and when they get up to full running speed they actually gallop (or more appropriately since they're on two legs, they skip) like horses, and with all of them doing it together it sounds like the hooves of a running horse. xD I've never seen a T-rex skip, much less thought it'd be that funny. Unique and amazing physical characterization. <3 The plan that the scarred T-rex mumbles to Arlo in the trailer is that he must get a rock in the middle of the herd and scream out in order to distract some raptors who've already eaten one buffalo. Arlo is naturally terrified and upon climbing the rock basically can't scream- it's just a pathetic whimper. Spot then bites his leg to cause him to scream which draws the raptors to them like sharks. One emerges before the scene cuts- we were told in an interview that their feathers are styled like hair, and the one I saw has this kind of oily, long-hair, emo dude look.

The final scene is Arlo and Spot in perfect sync, running through the landscape, messing with a flock of birds, and Arlo tossing Spot up into the clouds. After this, they emerge through the clouds and find the three-peaked mountain, which is presumably where Arlo's home is.

The overall theme of Arlo's character is overcoming fear. Arlo is basically a scared and tiny child in the beginning, freaking out at everything, and through Spot's courageousness does he learn to find his own inner strength as a person.

Now tech stuff. First, this film is probably the biggest CGI animated film in existence and one reason for that is water. The river Arlo travels down and then back up is a major feature of the film and was made to be both a navigational guide and a parallel to the tone of the scenes; lots of rapids, moving water, still ponds, all of that stuff. So instead of waiting on story to be finished to be given the greenlight to make the assets that will be seen, a bunch of strips of river with different dynamics were made throughout production, and whichever one the story called for was thrown into the shots and tweaked appropriately. All in all, the rivers- the water dynamics, mist, rocks, silt, etc.- required 17x more computational power than the entirety of Monster's U alone.

The landscape itself was also heavy. The idea was to stick Arlo into the true wilderness. Peter Sohn (director) didn't want environments that were too hand-made or looked like a park with convenient paths, but simply random-ass wilderness and huge expanses of land. So basically the team downloaded the longitude, latitude, and elevation data of Wyoming from the government's databases, along with using Google Maps, to have low-res 100 sq. km digital maps. These were then populated with procedurally-generated assets like grass, trees, rocks, bushes, etc. using a mapping technology to know what kind of plant life would occur at which level of elevation. Finally, for shots with very specific points of interests such as Arlo's village, an environment team came in to customize the areas and landscape a tad. Ultimately what this means is that if Pixar were to give you the coordinates of their shots, you could literally visit those same exact place in Wyoming. =P In a film-making sense, not only is the land basically as realistic as possible, but the team was given the freedom to move the camera around more than normal as basically any place you staged it would capture some beautiful stretch of land. Looking back on it, the trailers are honestly not doing the scale of the setting justice. It's beautiful. In fact, it's so beautiful that Wyoming is using the film in tourism advertising. <3

Furthermore, this is the first film where all of the clouds will be volumetric versus matte paintings as it takes place entirely outside. This will further affect the lighting and make it easier to reflect the tone on the fly. Lots of shots where clouds can move in front of or past the sun to change the lighting dynamically, and since they're actually physical and not painted they will properly affect the color of the scenes as well.

And the last random factoid:... This film was literally finished this Tuesday. Yep! It's been done for just two days or so. =D After ditching a third of the film, recasting, and everything else they went through, the Dino team must be fucking exhausted.

[PickleBrows]

On a slightly different note, I just want to draw a little attention to this. 

Creating an animated film takes a lot of work, from the texture of a character's hair to the shot sequence of a high-speed car chase. This Pixar-branded sketchbook provides a single volume in which to record the incredible journey of the making of an animated film. It covers the full preproduction process with discrete sections for Concept, Color, Story, Characters, and Worlds. Each section includes an introduction, a handful of inspiring quotes from some of the best artists working at Pixar, and a few key examples of related art. Useful and inspiring, this journal provides a structured space for aspiring filmmakers to workshop their ideas through all phases of development.

https://wordery.com/the-animators-sketchbook-disney-pixar-9781452142166#full-description

If you're doing anything arty for your education then there's a good chance you might have had to make one of those sketchbook things with pictures and colours and it's all very exciting!

I've been hoping Pixar would release some things aimed at students who are working towards becoming animators so this is quite nice to see. It's a recent release too, literally only having come out on Tuesday (going by publication dates).

The aided structure as well as all the little nifty things could make this a nice option for things like short films. I've ordered one so I'm quite excited to see how it turns out.

I know there's a lot of creative types on the forum so I figured this might be of interest to someone else too.