1 00:00:02,000 --> 00:00:07,000 Downloaded from YTS.MX 2 00:00:05,338 --> 00:00:11,177 When I come up with ideas, they'll just start from a very primal, 3 00:00:08,000 --> 00:00:13,000 Official YIFY movies site: YTS.MX 4 00:00:11,261 --> 00:00:14,139 "I just want to see this cute thing on screen," 5 00:00:14,139 --> 00:00:17,600 and then I'll find the meaning and the metaphor and the themes 6 00:00:17,684 --> 00:00:20,562 to justify why it should be that. 7 00:00:20,562 --> 00:00:23,773 But really, it just came from a place of "Oh, they're so cute," 8 00:00:23,857 --> 00:00:26,818 and "Wouldn't it be awesome if they were gigantic?" 9 00:00:28,028 --> 00:00:29,362 I'm excited. 10 00:00:29,487 --> 00:00:31,698 What's the panda's name again? Tenzin. 11 00:00:31,698 --> 00:00:34,451 And then the girl was the older one, right? 12 00:00:36,369 --> 00:00:38,121 Didn't realize they'd be so small. 13 00:00:38,830 --> 00:00:41,624 Real red pandas are really cute. 14 00:00:41,708 --> 00:00:45,587 And I think that's the main reason why I was drawn to making a story about them. 15 00:00:45,587 --> 00:00:47,505 It's got kind of a belly sometimes. 16 00:00:47,589 --> 00:00:51,676 They're very tubular and they have very long, fluffy tails, 17 00:00:51,760 --> 00:00:53,428 more pointed snouts. 18 00:00:53,428 --> 00:00:55,096 The tail's about 18 inches. 19 00:00:55,555 --> 00:00:56,973 Oh. 20 00:00:57,140 --> 00:01:01,811 They feel a little cat-like, kind of raccoon, kind of bear. 21 00:01:01,895 --> 00:01:04,147 Maybe a little splash of monkey or something. 22 00:01:05,940 --> 00:01:06,983 Look at it. Aw! 23 00:01:07,901 --> 00:01:09,736 They're totally solitary. 24 00:01:09,736 --> 00:01:11,863 They don't really communicate with one another. 25 00:01:11,863 --> 00:01:13,865 They're kind of like teenagers. 26 00:01:13,990 --> 00:01:16,451 - I like the long... - That one's like an old one. 27 00:01:16,451 --> 00:01:18,203 I found a lot of parallels 28 00:01:18,203 --> 00:01:20,914 between red pandas and Mei and her story. 29 00:01:20,914 --> 00:01:23,458 Like, red pandas are very attached to their mom. 30 00:01:24,334 --> 00:01:25,710 They sleep all day. 31 00:01:25,794 --> 00:01:28,797 They eat bamboo, but they're not supposed to eat bamboo, 32 00:01:28,797 --> 00:01:31,382 bamboo doesn't give them enough nutrients. 33 00:01:31,466 --> 00:01:33,885 So I imagine it's just like a lazy teenager, 34 00:01:33,885 --> 00:01:35,887 just eating chips and sleeping all day. 35 00:01:35,887 --> 00:01:37,847 They're native to China. 36 00:01:38,681 --> 00:01:41,226 And then also, it's like red and white. 37 00:01:41,226 --> 00:01:45,271 It's like Chinese, but also like the colors of the Canadian flag, too. 38 00:01:45,438 --> 00:01:47,982 So it felt like the perfect animal 39 00:01:48,066 --> 00:01:51,986 to tell this story about this - Chinese- - Canadian teenage girl. 40 00:01:53,822 --> 00:01:55,073 I'm Meilin Lee. 41 00:01:55,073 --> 00:01:58,368 And ever since I turned 13, I've been doing my own thing. 42 00:01:58,368 --> 00:02:02,122 Making my own moves, 24/7, 365. 43 00:02:02,455 --> 00:02:04,999 Turning Red is about Mei, 44 00:02:05,083 --> 00:02:09,337 - a Chinese- - Canadian girl living in Toronto in 2002. 45 00:02:09,337 --> 00:02:10,797 It's very specific. 46 00:02:10,797 --> 00:02:12,215 It's a mother-daughter story. 47 00:02:12,715 --> 00:02:16,469 At its most base level, this film is about growing up 48 00:02:16,553 --> 00:02:19,180 and figuring out who you are and embracing that. 49 00:02:19,264 --> 00:02:20,473 Mei- - Mei... 50 00:02:20,557 --> 00:02:21,766 Coming! 51 00:02:23,393 --> 00:02:27,480 Everything changes for Mei when she wakes up one morning 52 00:02:27,564 --> 00:02:32,402 and discovers she's a giant, eight-foot-tall furry red panda, 53 00:02:32,402 --> 00:02:36,364 and she realizes "Oh, I can control this transformation. 54 00:02:39,033 --> 00:02:44,038 "If I just stay completely calm and even for the rest of my life, 55 00:02:44,622 --> 00:02:46,791 "I will stay human and it'll be A-okay." 56 00:02:46,875 --> 00:02:48,168 Yes. 57 00:02:50,211 --> 00:02:51,880 But that's not how life works. 58 00:02:53,006 --> 00:02:54,132 Oh, crap. 59 00:02:55,717 --> 00:02:56,801 Mom! 60 00:03:00,263 --> 00:03:03,892 So the red panda is basically a metaphor for magical puberty. 61 00:03:06,144 --> 00:03:08,062 Just seeing how this girl 62 00:03:08,146 --> 00:03:10,523 who thought she had everything under control, 63 00:03:10,607 --> 00:03:13,443 suddenly big and hairy and smelly, 64 00:03:13,443 --> 00:03:15,695 an emotional wreck. 65 00:03:15,695 --> 00:03:17,238 4*TOWN forever? 66 00:03:17,322 --> 00:03:20,366 This panda is incredibly cute. 67 00:03:20,450 --> 00:03:23,703 It's also true to that time in a girl's life. 68 00:03:23,703 --> 00:03:25,538 In some ways, it's the worst time. 69 00:03:25,622 --> 00:03:29,000 You're not a kid, and you're not an adult. 70 00:03:29,000 --> 00:03:31,753 This poor girl, she's looking in a mirror 71 00:03:31,753 --> 00:03:36,257 and seeing that she's got hair everywhere and she stinks, 72 00:03:36,341 --> 00:03:39,636 and she's big and doesn't fit through the doorway. 73 00:03:39,636 --> 00:03:41,846 Panda Mei is only half in control. 74 00:03:41,930 --> 00:03:45,558 She's having a great time, but then she's like "Auughhh." 75 00:03:45,642 --> 00:03:46,935 And like, I don't know, 76 00:03:46,935 --> 00:03:49,979 that feels very much like what my teenager years were like. 77 00:03:50,730 --> 00:03:51,773 Ah OOGa! 78 00:03:51,773 --> 00:03:54,651 It's bodily, it's emotional. 79 00:03:54,651 --> 00:03:58,905 It's all about, "Can I embrace this? Can I grow into it? 80 00:03:59,614 --> 00:04:01,491 "Can I still love who I am 81 00:04:02,242 --> 00:04:05,536 "knowing that I've become someone that I'm not used to?" 82 00:04:06,246 --> 00:04:09,874 It's all going according to plan. This is about right. 83 00:04:09,958 --> 00:04:12,335 It's the first time in my career 84 00:04:12,335 --> 00:04:16,422 where all of the key leadership on the show are women, 85 00:04:16,506 --> 00:04:19,259 and I feel like that sets a very different vibe. 86 00:04:19,259 --> 00:04:21,469 It's completely amazing 87 00:04:21,469 --> 00:04:24,722 to have this all-women leadership team. 88 00:04:24,806 --> 00:04:28,268 I have spent the entirety of my career in meetings 89 00:04:28,268 --> 00:04:30,478 where I was one of very few women. 90 00:04:30,478 --> 00:04:34,065 Now sitting there and making plans and it's all women in the room 91 00:04:34,065 --> 00:04:37,610 has been this really crazy thing and very different for me. 92 00:04:37,694 --> 00:04:39,279 Everything's different about this film. 93 00:04:39,279 --> 00:04:42,824 I don't know how to answer that question without starting with Domee. 94 00:04:42,824 --> 00:04:45,868 She's a good girl. Just like I was. 95 00:04:45,952 --> 00:04:47,578 I first heard of Domee 96 00:04:47,662 --> 00:04:52,166 through seeing one of her ten-second animation clips. 97 00:04:52,250 --> 00:04:57,046 I was in college, and it was something that she posted on her blog. 98 00:05:01,634 --> 00:05:07,890 It was this dancing, twerking hamster to a K-pop song. 99 00:05:10,101 --> 00:05:11,436 "Who is this girl? 100 00:05:11,436 --> 00:05:15,565 "She's probably going to be a really funny director one day." 101 00:05:17,233 --> 00:05:19,485 When I first started this movie, 102 00:05:19,569 --> 00:05:22,780 I was really determined to make something different. 103 00:05:22,864 --> 00:05:26,242 We're going to be spending four or five years of our life on this, 104 00:05:26,326 --> 00:05:27,702 we've got to go big. 105 00:05:28,077 --> 00:05:30,288 I'm Domee Shi, the director of Red, 106 00:05:30,288 --> 00:05:32,373 and ever since we started making this movie, 107 00:05:32,457 --> 00:05:38,504 we've been breaking convention and making people laugh 24/7, 365. 108 00:05:38,755 --> 00:05:41,883 Ah, legally, it's nine-to-five, 261. 109 00:05:43,051 --> 00:05:44,052 Whoo! 110 00:05:44,052 --> 00:05:46,429 On this show, we wear what we want, 111 00:05:46,429 --> 00:05:47,722 say what we want, 112 00:05:47,722 --> 00:05:50,350 and we will not hesitate to do spontaneous cartwheels 113 00:05:50,350 --> 00:05:51,434 if we feel so moved. 114 00:05:51,434 --> 00:05:53,811 Domee is a force of nature. 115 00:05:53,895 --> 00:05:56,397 She is a first-time feature director. 116 00:05:56,481 --> 00:05:59,484 It's been a while since I've worked with a first-time director before, 117 00:05:59,484 --> 00:06:00,568 and I'm loving it. 118 00:06:00,568 --> 00:06:03,363 In conclusion, welcome to Red! 119 00:06:07,408 --> 00:06:09,827 Lights? Pitch. 120 00:06:11,245 --> 00:06:13,247 Did that actually change anything? Yes, it did. 121 00:06:13,331 --> 00:06:18,044 - So, welcome, everyone. - Just ignore the camera, everyone. 122 00:06:18,044 --> 00:06:22,215 - It's not there. - Don't look right here. 123 00:06:22,215 --> 00:06:26,135 Making the film, it's just been like a long marathon. 124 00:06:26,219 --> 00:06:29,847 But in the first couple of years, it was mostly me, 125 00:06:29,931 --> 00:06:32,600 and Julia, our screenwriter, 126 00:06:32,600 --> 00:06:35,353 head of story, Rosie Sullivan, 127 00:06:35,353 --> 00:06:38,564 the story team, and then Nick, our editor. 128 00:06:38,648 --> 00:06:40,441 And we were just working on the reels. 129 00:06:41,192 --> 00:06:44,362 Yeah, it feels like you're part of a pirate ship. 130 00:06:46,823 --> 00:06:51,369 Because you're all kind of just working and sweating for these drawings, 131 00:06:51,369 --> 00:06:55,540 and you're all aiming to make the director react or respond. 132 00:07:00,920 --> 00:07:03,464 I started working with her, and pretty quickly, 133 00:07:03,548 --> 00:07:07,218 I felt like this woman is really impressive. 134 00:07:07,218 --> 00:07:10,054 Also, incredibly clear in her vision. 135 00:07:10,138 --> 00:07:11,889 And then ta-da, and like, 136 00:07:11,973 --> 00:07:15,309 imagine it to look like a comic book background. 137 00:07:15,393 --> 00:07:17,520 Thank you, Margaret. Great work. 138 00:07:20,189 --> 00:07:22,733 She is so unique in how she thinks about movies, 139 00:07:22,817 --> 00:07:24,444 how she communicates her vision, 140 00:07:24,444 --> 00:07:26,362 her humor, her tone. 141 00:07:26,446 --> 00:07:30,116 I just thought I'd get this in front of you to see if it lives within our world. 142 00:07:30,116 --> 00:07:32,827 - Is that what we're looking for? - Yes. Yes. Sorry. 143 00:07:34,287 --> 00:07:37,582 I feel like I have to be more of a director now for the camera. 144 00:07:37,582 --> 00:07:39,959 The crew slowly grew bigger and bigger. 145 00:07:39,959 --> 00:07:43,546 To give you a general sense of the BG buildings. 146 00:07:43,546 --> 00:07:47,216 This reminds me of Toronto a lot, a lot of these old buildings. 147 00:07:47,300 --> 00:07:51,095 And then last year, it just exploded. 148 00:07:51,179 --> 00:07:53,973 And that was during the pandemic. 149 00:07:53,973 --> 00:07:55,391 It just so happens that 150 00:07:55,475 --> 00:07:59,854 the busiest time on the show was when we were all working from home. 151 00:07:59,854 --> 00:08:02,482 Hi, Frankie. Hi, bubba. 152 00:08:03,649 --> 00:08:05,276 It may not be obvious, I don't know, 153 00:08:05,276 --> 00:08:08,154 but making films is a huge team effort, 154 00:08:08,154 --> 00:08:12,116 and so, the more you can collaborate with the people around you, 155 00:08:12,200 --> 00:08:14,035 the better the movie is going to be. 156 00:08:15,161 --> 00:08:19,707 As we were leaving to walk out the door for getting sent home, 157 00:08:19,707 --> 00:08:24,420 Domee said, "Well, maybe I could do like a coffee time or something 158 00:08:24,504 --> 00:08:26,881 "just so we can keep in touch with the crew. 159 00:08:26,881 --> 00:08:29,300 And we all went, "Oh, what a great idea." 160 00:08:29,300 --> 00:08:31,177 And in the beginning, it really was 161 00:08:31,177 --> 00:08:33,846 kind of this awesome thing of just being able to see 162 00:08:33,930 --> 00:08:36,516 more than like three people in your life. 163 00:08:36,516 --> 00:08:39,644 And also getting to hear from the director weekly is pretty cool. 164 00:08:39,644 --> 00:08:42,396 ...Mei's struggle throughout act two... 165 00:08:42,480 --> 00:08:44,649 Even if sometimes it's just a little update, 166 00:08:44,649 --> 00:08:47,026 it felt like some kind of connection. 167 00:08:47,026 --> 00:08:52,281 We are starting with a couple of nominations from our dailies team. 168 00:08:53,407 --> 00:08:54,742 I've been really surprised 169 00:08:54,742 --> 00:08:59,080 because we routinely get a hundred and something people coming to it. 170 00:09:02,917 --> 00:09:05,169 Oh! Thank you! 171 00:09:05,253 --> 00:09:10,383 Exceptionally bad and so out of key. But I really love it. 172 00:09:10,758 --> 00:09:12,635 Here's to a better 2021. 173 00:09:12,635 --> 00:09:16,639 We're coming together in some of the best way you can do during a pandemic 174 00:09:16,639 --> 00:09:19,100 with a giant movie crew, so it's been pretty cool. 175 00:09:28,234 --> 00:09:32,238 My job is Visual Effects Supervisor on the film. 176 00:09:32,238 --> 00:09:34,991 First woman in 20 years at Pixar to have that job. 177 00:09:35,449 --> 00:09:38,369 For almost 15 years, I was a lighting DP, 178 00:09:38,369 --> 00:09:41,581 and so most of my career at Pixar has been about lighting, 179 00:09:41,581 --> 00:09:44,500 thinking about how to make the most beautiful movie possible, 180 00:09:44,584 --> 00:09:46,961 how to make a great experience for the lighting team... 181 00:09:47,086 --> 00:09:49,755 A little bit of this, even though that would catch the light. 182 00:09:49,839 --> 00:09:51,424 How to engage with the director, 183 00:09:51,424 --> 00:09:54,844 how to coordinate with other departments, how to do groundbreaking stuff. 184 00:09:54,844 --> 00:09:56,470 And now I'm in this new role, 185 00:09:56,554 --> 00:09:59,515 overseeing heavily tech and some of the creative, 186 00:09:59,599 --> 00:10:02,518 and I am now in the leadership group of running the movie. 187 00:10:05,104 --> 00:10:08,941 And then at the same time, I became a mother for the first time. 188 00:10:09,734 --> 00:10:11,611 I have twins, a boy and a girl. 189 00:10:12,612 --> 00:10:13,946 Ah! 190 00:10:14,322 --> 00:10:17,241 I don't know that I ever thought I was going to have kids. 191 00:10:18,826 --> 00:10:22,580 You know, there's days where it feels completely overwhelming, I would say. 192 00:10:22,913 --> 00:10:25,333 Yay! Yay! 193 00:10:28,044 --> 00:10:31,922 But I also am now a year and a half into being a mother. 194 00:10:35,593 --> 00:10:37,803 And I'm two years into this position. 195 00:10:39,722 --> 00:10:43,392 I love both things dearly, and it's hard to imagine not having them now. 196 00:10:45,686 --> 00:10:48,356 And I got married to my amazing wife. 197 00:10:49,106 --> 00:10:50,566 Hello. Hello. 198 00:10:50,983 --> 00:10:53,486 You guys, it's Mommy! 199 00:10:53,986 --> 00:10:55,404 Hi, guys. 200 00:10:56,072 --> 00:11:00,242 Paige is a battalion chief for the Alameda County Fire Department. 201 00:11:00,326 --> 00:11:03,120 She's the highest ranking woman of that department, 202 00:11:03,204 --> 00:11:05,581 which I'm neverendingly proud about. 203 00:11:05,665 --> 00:11:08,834 She would not love that I'm bragging about her, but I love to brag about her. 204 00:11:08,918 --> 00:11:10,503 It's one of my favorite topics. 205 00:11:11,671 --> 00:11:14,131 Are you gonna be able to jump into the end credit? 206 00:11:14,215 --> 00:11:15,925 We're moving it up to 2:30, I think. 207 00:11:15,925 --> 00:11:19,512 This is Lindsey Collins. She is the producer of Turning Red. 208 00:11:20,513 --> 00:11:24,725 The producer is the one orchestrating this giant circus. 209 00:11:24,809 --> 00:11:27,186 - The ringmaster? - She is the ringmaster. 210 00:11:28,646 --> 00:11:33,067 When people are going "Auggghhh" Lindsey is like, "Okay, let's make a plan. 211 00:11:33,067 --> 00:11:34,985 "Let's figure out how to make this happen." 212 00:11:35,069 --> 00:11:36,487 So in the race to get this done, 213 00:11:36,487 --> 00:11:40,282 we're probably just going to be working on top of each other, which is great. 214 00:11:40,366 --> 00:11:43,703 Lindsey is so smart, I think she's always like a million steps ahead, 215 00:11:43,703 --> 00:11:47,707 so that I can worry about what's happening in the present. 216 00:11:47,707 --> 00:11:51,669 I'm really good at working within boxes and limitations 217 00:11:51,669 --> 00:11:55,005 and she was really good about drawing them out for me 218 00:11:55,089 --> 00:11:57,508 to be crazy and push up against. 219 00:11:57,508 --> 00:12:01,345 Just to draw the storyline together maybe a little bit clearer... 220 00:12:01,429 --> 00:12:05,433 I feel like I learned so much just by watching her and working with her 221 00:12:05,433 --> 00:12:07,768 and I see it as the partner to the director. 222 00:12:07,852 --> 00:12:12,148 So that includes being a creative partner, but also managing the crew 223 00:12:12,148 --> 00:12:14,734 and surrounding her with all the right people. 224 00:12:14,734 --> 00:12:16,610 You're in every meeting, 225 00:12:16,694 --> 00:12:20,364 you always offer ways to move story along 226 00:12:20,448 --> 00:12:25,286 and you help production through, not just by managing it, 227 00:12:25,286 --> 00:12:29,206 but also just from an emotional, creative side as well. 228 00:12:29,290 --> 00:12:30,583 - You do. - Thank you, Rona. 229 00:12:30,708 --> 00:12:32,334 I kind of like it when... 230 00:12:32,418 --> 00:12:33,794 This is Rona Liu. 231 00:12:33,878 --> 00:12:36,505 She's the production designer of Turning Red. 232 00:12:36,589 --> 00:12:41,093 The production designer is the first person brought on the show 233 00:12:41,177 --> 00:12:42,928 after the producer and director. 234 00:12:43,012 --> 00:12:46,348 You know, we're talking about the values being super, super crunched. 235 00:12:46,432 --> 00:12:49,185 And that's basically because from the very beginning, 236 00:12:49,185 --> 00:12:52,813 their job is to figure out what the movie is going to look like. 237 00:12:52,897 --> 00:12:57,985 And that is everything from characters to sets to color to tone and style. 238 00:12:57,985 --> 00:13:01,697 My role is to collaborate closely with the director, 239 00:13:01,781 --> 00:13:04,408 and make sure that her vision translates 240 00:13:04,492 --> 00:13:07,244 throughout all of the department and onto the screen. 241 00:13:08,454 --> 00:13:09,872 Welcome, everyone. 242 00:13:09,872 --> 00:13:11,624 Today, we're going to kick it off 243 00:13:11,624 --> 00:13:15,169 with Athena and the panda costume shaping. 244 00:13:15,169 --> 00:13:16,545 For her tail, 245 00:13:16,629 --> 00:13:19,006 the lighter part can take on some of that red. 246 00:13:19,006 --> 00:13:24,178 I know I'm providing information that other people need to get their work done. 247 00:13:24,178 --> 00:13:29,433 Let's tone the two sides where there is the star and the heart. 248 00:13:29,517 --> 00:13:33,395 I feel like that's the most important part of my job, is to just make sure 249 00:13:33,479 --> 00:13:37,107 that everybody else feels good about the work that they're doing. 250 00:13:37,191 --> 00:13:38,317 Okay. 251 00:13:38,317 --> 00:13:39,985 Good job, everyone. Thank you. 252 00:13:40,069 --> 00:13:41,612 - Thank you. Bye. - - - Thanks. 253 00:13:45,241 --> 00:13:47,785 Being pregnant while we're in the crunch of things 254 00:13:47,785 --> 00:13:51,789 definitely made me have to just trust my team a lot more. 255 00:13:51,789 --> 00:13:53,541 It's the first time in my life 256 00:13:53,541 --> 00:13:56,752 where I was comfortable telling my manager, Sophia, 257 00:13:56,836 --> 00:13:58,629 I need to take some time to nap. 258 00:13:59,505 --> 00:14:01,131 So that does make sense. 259 00:14:01,215 --> 00:14:03,175 Hey, Rona, where are we? 260 00:14:03,551 --> 00:14:06,220 We're in the living room area. 261 00:14:06,220 --> 00:14:08,597 This is the entrance to our house. 262 00:14:08,681 --> 00:14:11,350 This is our kitty. 263 00:14:11,350 --> 00:14:13,853 And this is my soon-to-be-husband. 264 00:14:13,853 --> 00:14:16,814 - We're getting Zoom-married on Friday. - Mmm-hmm. 265 00:14:16,814 --> 00:14:20,818 We've been engaged for so long, we figured now's a good time to do it. 266 00:14:20,818 --> 00:14:22,611 Yeah. 267 00:14:26,156 --> 00:14:27,825 Being able to step away, 268 00:14:27,825 --> 00:14:31,829 touch base with a loved one and to say, "Hey, how's your day going?" 269 00:14:32,454 --> 00:14:36,458 and just being really connected in both of our lives for the first time, 270 00:14:37,626 --> 00:14:40,004 that's been really comforting. 271 00:14:44,550 --> 00:14:45,885 I'm an only child, 272 00:14:45,885 --> 00:14:48,637 and my dad had to go away to work a lot. 273 00:14:48,721 --> 00:14:50,973 So a lot of the time, it was just me and my mom. 274 00:14:52,725 --> 00:14:55,769 We'd go on Chinese bus tours. 275 00:14:57,104 --> 00:14:59,523 Like she'd pick the locations. 276 00:14:59,607 --> 00:15:02,192 And she would take us to Atlanta, 277 00:15:02,276 --> 00:15:04,778 or Halifax, 278 00:15:04,862 --> 00:15:05,863 Prince Edward Island. 279 00:15:05,863 --> 00:15:08,991 Maybe not like, upfront, the most exciting places, 280 00:15:08,991 --> 00:15:13,537 but we would spend a good ton of time just together on the bus talking. 281 00:15:13,621 --> 00:15:15,539 It was good at first, 282 00:15:15,623 --> 00:15:18,834 but like everybody, you grow up and you change 283 00:15:18,918 --> 00:15:21,670 and you want to have your own friends and your own life, 284 00:15:21,754 --> 00:15:26,008 and it's kind of just about how that transition happens. 285 00:15:27,760 --> 00:15:29,470 I love the lighting. 286 00:15:29,470 --> 00:15:31,430 I love everything in this sequence. 287 00:15:31,430 --> 00:15:32,806 Great work, you guys. 288 00:15:35,184 --> 00:15:37,227 It's been a long time since I was 13. 289 00:15:38,020 --> 00:15:41,774 But I just remember it being a lot of highs and lows. 290 00:15:41,774 --> 00:15:45,194 It's such a turbulent time in a person's life, 291 00:15:45,194 --> 00:15:47,446 especially a girl's, I think. 292 00:15:47,446 --> 00:15:50,324 Small things can feel super, super important, 293 00:15:50,324 --> 00:15:54,119 and you could love something one day and hate it the other. 294 00:15:54,203 --> 00:15:56,080 I didn't even like 4*TOWN last year, 295 00:15:56,080 --> 00:15:58,958 but now they're literally the greatest thing 296 00:15:58,958 --> 00:16:00,584 that's ever happened to me. 297 00:16:00,668 --> 00:16:04,004 This film is very personal to me in that 298 00:16:04,088 --> 00:16:08,592 it was very much inspired by my own life growing up in Toronto 299 00:16:08,676 --> 00:16:13,222 and being the only child of my overprotective mom and dad. 300 00:16:15,224 --> 00:16:18,602 We are about to hop onto a Zoom call with my parents 301 00:16:18,686 --> 00:16:22,272 and they are going to dig through all of the artwork and things 302 00:16:22,356 --> 00:16:24,692 that I've ever created in my life. 303 00:16:24,692 --> 00:16:26,235 They've collected all of it. 304 00:16:26,235 --> 00:16:27,903 Yeah, everything. Everything. 305 00:16:27,987 --> 00:16:29,154 It's my parents! 306 00:16:29,947 --> 00:16:30,948 Hi! 307 00:16:33,450 --> 00:16:37,287 How's it going? Is it weird having a whole camera crew in the house? 308 00:16:40,833 --> 00:16:42,918 They live in Toronto, Canada. 309 00:16:43,002 --> 00:16:46,088 Still in the same house that I grew up in, 310 00:16:46,088 --> 00:16:48,924 pretty much looks exactly the same every time I go back. 311 00:16:53,804 --> 00:16:56,974 Yeah. And then you replied as Santa Claus. 312 00:17:02,563 --> 00:17:05,941 Why would Santa Claus ever say that? 313 00:17:13,741 --> 00:17:17,161 She wrote a table of contents, a foreword. 314 00:17:17,161 --> 00:17:19,997 Can you read some of your foreword? 315 00:17:28,714 --> 00:17:31,425 So my dad would be like my art tutor, 316 00:17:31,425 --> 00:17:33,886 but my mom would encourage my writing. 317 00:17:41,018 --> 00:17:42,895 - Aw, the Wi- - Fi sucks. 318 00:17:45,147 --> 00:17:47,399 He's saying nice things about me, and I can't hear it. 319 00:17:47,483 --> 00:17:50,319 He's never this generous with his praise. Come on! 320 00:17:53,197 --> 00:17:55,032 Yeah. Why is it... It's so big. 321 00:17:55,157 --> 00:17:56,658 In the living room, 322 00:17:56,742 --> 00:18:01,038 there's like an ever-growing shrine dedicated to me. 323 00:18:01,663 --> 00:18:03,457 It looks like they really love me 324 00:18:03,457 --> 00:18:06,919 and that I'm dead or something. 325 00:18:12,633 --> 00:18:13,967 Yeah, I remember the judge. 326 00:18:14,051 --> 00:18:17,262 I heard you guys collected all of my sketchbooks. 327 00:18:17,346 --> 00:18:19,014 Let's look through them together. 328 00:18:20,182 --> 00:18:21,642 - Pokémon. - - - Yeah, Pokémon. 329 00:18:21,642 --> 00:18:23,435 That's middle school. 330 00:18:23,519 --> 00:18:27,314 And then high school is when I started drawing a lot of beautiful people. 331 00:18:27,773 --> 00:18:30,776 It's boys. If there's boys, then it's close to high school. 332 00:18:31,735 --> 00:18:33,904 - - - Oh, my God. 333 00:18:35,864 --> 00:18:37,116 This is so embarrassing. 334 00:18:37,116 --> 00:18:39,827 There was this fan art contest that I entered, 335 00:18:39,827 --> 00:18:42,955 where it's like draw Draco's children. 336 00:18:43,664 --> 00:18:46,125 Okay, maybe we can look at another sketchbook. 337 00:18:48,377 --> 00:18:50,671 Mmm. Devon. 338 00:18:50,671 --> 00:18:53,715 Ugh! May I remind you what real men look like? 339 00:18:53,841 --> 00:18:55,676 4*TOWN! 340 00:18:57,553 --> 00:19:01,348 There's just so much comedy in female adolescence 341 00:19:01,473 --> 00:19:04,852 that I don't see a lot of, and I just can't wait to show people 342 00:19:04,852 --> 00:19:07,062 just how weird girls can be, 343 00:19:08,564 --> 00:19:11,024 because I was totally that as a teen 344 00:19:11,108 --> 00:19:13,402 and a young adult and now. 345 00:19:14,736 --> 00:19:19,283 I love how Mei is just a confident dork, 346 00:19:19,283 --> 00:19:22,119 and she's unapologetic about it. 347 00:19:22,661 --> 00:19:25,414 I feel like she was the girl that I wanted to be. 348 00:19:25,414 --> 00:19:29,376 There's so many elements of me in Mei. 349 00:19:29,376 --> 00:19:34,882 Spunky, loud, doesn't care what anyone thinks. 350 00:19:35,007 --> 00:19:36,717 I accept and embrace all labels. 351 00:19:36,717 --> 00:19:38,552 Even though I was a total nerd. 352 00:19:39,344 --> 00:19:42,097 I was so oblivious to that, and I think that helped me. 353 00:19:42,723 --> 00:19:45,559 She herself never questions who she is, 354 00:19:45,559 --> 00:19:49,271 and I think she fights what is expected of her. 355 00:19:49,271 --> 00:19:52,649 But deep down, she always knew who she was, 356 00:19:52,733 --> 00:19:55,944 and she was always so accepting of herself. 357 00:19:56,028 --> 00:20:00,073 I remember being that at some point, and then, you know, hitting that age 358 00:20:00,157 --> 00:20:04,870 and then suddenly turning very, very shy when I got acne. And then I was 359 00:20:04,870 --> 00:20:09,499 very aware of my body and all that stuff, and that's what I wanted to explore, 360 00:20:09,583 --> 00:20:12,419 with Mei turning into a red panda. 361 00:20:13,378 --> 00:20:15,255 She's this girl that has her life together, 362 00:20:15,339 --> 00:20:18,258 and then all of a sudden, magical puberty hits. 363 00:20:18,342 --> 00:20:19,551 It's going to be okay. 364 00:20:19,635 --> 00:20:21,803 No, it's not! Will you just get out? 365 00:20:21,887 --> 00:20:23,138 Excuse me? 366 00:20:23,222 --> 00:20:26,725 Are you serious? 367 00:20:26,725 --> 00:20:30,103 For Mei, I really wanted her to sound unique. 368 00:20:30,729 --> 00:20:33,440 I wanted her to feel like a real girl. 369 00:20:33,440 --> 00:20:35,525 Oh, my gosh, that was the best thing ever. 370 00:20:36,109 --> 00:20:37,945 And so we found Rosalie Chiang. 371 00:20:37,945 --> 00:20:42,741 It's like you feel bad about turning her down because she's your mom. 372 00:20:42,741 --> 00:20:44,493 She just had this really great voice. 373 00:20:44,493 --> 00:20:47,246 There was just like a charming imperfection to it. 374 00:20:48,372 --> 00:20:54,378 For Mei, it was important to design her the way that we saw ourselves. 375 00:20:54,378 --> 00:20:57,714 Her face is round, her ankles are thick. 376 00:20:57,798 --> 00:21:01,343 We definitely embraced her chunky cute. 377 00:21:01,343 --> 00:21:05,055 It's kind of our design aesthetic for our characters and for our sets. 378 00:21:06,473 --> 00:21:09,309 We were looking at each other's faces and were like, "We got moles. 379 00:21:09,393 --> 00:21:10,519 "She should have moles." 380 00:21:10,519 --> 00:21:13,897 - Then you're like, "Rona, you have..." - "You have funny lips." 381 00:21:13,981 --> 00:21:17,317 "You have that dip in your lip. Let's put that in. 382 00:21:17,401 --> 00:21:20,320 "Hey, Rona, you have really patchy eyebrows." 383 00:21:21,488 --> 00:21:25,492 When that part of myself gets celebrated and the director's like, 384 00:21:25,492 --> 00:21:27,995 "Hey, I like that. Let's put it in our main character," 385 00:21:27,995 --> 00:21:30,789 you're like, "Hey, why did I hate that for so long?" 386 00:21:31,206 --> 00:21:33,834 Jin. Jin! It's happening! 387 00:21:36,086 --> 00:21:37,254 What are you doing? 388 00:21:38,422 --> 00:21:43,135 For me, this story is so much my day-to-day life. 389 00:21:44,553 --> 00:21:46,722 I hate to admit, I'm much more the mom 390 00:21:46,722 --> 00:21:51,601 than the main character because I actually have three kids who are teens. 391 00:21:51,685 --> 00:21:56,231 I am surrounded by teenagers and hormones and puberty at work. 392 00:21:56,315 --> 00:21:59,401 And then I go home, and I am equally, if not more, 393 00:21:59,401 --> 00:22:01,820 surrounded by puberty and hormones at home. 394 00:22:02,404 --> 00:22:04,239 Are you guys going to walk the dog? 395 00:22:05,907 --> 00:22:09,202 Will you take them together or are you gonna take them separate? 396 00:22:10,203 --> 00:22:11,496 Bye. Thank you. 397 00:22:11,580 --> 00:22:13,373 They've been very well-behaved. 398 00:22:13,790 --> 00:22:17,294 It does not normally go that smoothly. 399 00:22:18,545 --> 00:22:24,384 The number one rule in my family? Honor your parents. 400 00:22:25,135 --> 00:22:27,387 They're the supreme beings who gave you life... 401 00:22:27,471 --> 00:22:29,681 The least you can do in return is... 402 00:22:29,765 --> 00:22:32,267 every single thing they ask. 403 00:22:33,435 --> 00:22:36,480 I think both of us probably grew up under a lot of pressure 404 00:22:36,480 --> 00:22:39,024 - to, you know, make our parents proud. - Yeah. 405 00:22:39,024 --> 00:22:40,859 I had that pressure on myself. 406 00:22:40,859 --> 00:22:43,070 Like, I was very high-strung. 407 00:22:43,070 --> 00:22:44,988 I was really into good grades. 408 00:22:45,989 --> 00:22:50,118 I was into the image of the perfect girl. 409 00:22:50,202 --> 00:22:51,912 I never ask for anything. 410 00:22:51,912 --> 00:22:55,957 My whole life I've been her perfect - little Mei- - Mei. Temple duties, grades... 411 00:22:56,041 --> 00:22:57,834 - Violin! - Tap dancing. 412 00:22:57,918 --> 00:23:00,170 Yeah. We've been so good. 413 00:23:00,170 --> 00:23:02,672 If they don't trust us anyway, then what's the point? 414 00:23:03,548 --> 00:23:05,550 Mei's struggle in this film is 415 00:23:05,634 --> 00:23:09,554 she's torn between being her mom's good little daughter, 416 00:23:09,638 --> 00:23:13,517 and embracing her wild inner beast. 417 00:23:16,561 --> 00:23:19,898 That is the universal struggle that a lot of kids go through, 418 00:23:19,898 --> 00:23:24,444 especially, I think, immigrant kids, there's definitely more of this obligation 419 00:23:24,528 --> 00:23:30,367 to carry on your family's legacy and make sure that their sacrifices 420 00:23:30,367 --> 00:23:34,704 in coming to a new country aren't in vain. But also, you're in a new country, 421 00:23:34,788 --> 00:23:37,707 you're experiencing all of this crazy, awesome stuff 422 00:23:37,791 --> 00:23:41,294 that maybe your parents didn't get to grow up with. 423 00:23:41,878 --> 00:23:43,296 You're caught between two worlds, 424 00:23:43,380 --> 00:23:45,757 and that's kind of what I wanted to explore in Mei 425 00:23:45,841 --> 00:23:50,512 and also, like, literally caught between being like a human girl and a panda. 426 00:23:51,555 --> 00:23:54,599 I immigrated to the U.S. when I was 10, 427 00:23:54,683 --> 00:23:59,604 and my mom is very much in her Eastern roots. 428 00:23:59,688 --> 00:24:01,481 And when I came here, you know, 429 00:24:01,565 --> 00:24:05,652 I was the good little Chinese girl that I knew how to be, 430 00:24:05,652 --> 00:24:09,781 and then as I get more and more exposed to the Western culture 431 00:24:09,865 --> 00:24:13,118 and what it means to be an American teenager, 432 00:24:13,118 --> 00:24:15,704 my mom and I started to butt heads. 433 00:24:15,704 --> 00:24:20,959 I had to discover how to bridge the gap 434 00:24:20,959 --> 00:24:24,671 between being a dutiful daughter, 435 00:24:24,671 --> 00:24:28,049 faithful to myself, and a good friend. 436 00:24:29,384 --> 00:24:33,388 In eighth grade, I met my best friend, Aya Alaadel. 437 00:24:33,472 --> 00:24:36,016 She really taught me 438 00:24:36,016 --> 00:24:40,520 that girls can burp the alphabet. 439 00:24:43,482 --> 00:24:45,525 Girls can want to play video games. 440 00:24:46,443 --> 00:24:50,405 If you trip and you fall on your face, you can learn to laugh at yourself. 441 00:24:50,489 --> 00:24:53,617 You don't have to be embarrassed for your decisions, 442 00:24:53,617 --> 00:24:55,911 for your mistakes, for who you are. 443 00:24:56,536 --> 00:24:59,623 She really opened my eyes to all of that. 444 00:25:00,874 --> 00:25:02,125 This is Bao. 445 00:25:02,209 --> 00:25:04,711 - This is... - Your first baby. 446 00:25:04,711 --> 00:25:06,880 - Our first baby. - Our first. 447 00:25:06,880 --> 00:25:08,298 Our first baby. 448 00:25:09,382 --> 00:25:12,093 Rona designed this cute little nose for him. 449 00:25:12,552 --> 00:25:13,762 Used our own noses. 450 00:25:13,762 --> 00:25:16,556 You look like your mother. 451 00:25:16,973 --> 00:25:20,227 I had this short film that I was developing, that became Bao, 452 00:25:20,227 --> 00:25:24,105 and Rona was one of the first people that I roped into the story. 453 00:25:24,189 --> 00:25:27,526 I was like, "Dang, she can really paint and she has really good taste 454 00:25:27,526 --> 00:25:29,110 "and she seems really cool." 455 00:25:29,194 --> 00:25:32,989 "I really need an art person to like take this to the next level." 456 00:25:33,448 --> 00:25:37,035 To be honest, I will follow you to the ends of the Earth. 457 00:25:37,035 --> 00:25:40,830 I think Domee is just a brilliant, brilliant mind. 458 00:25:40,914 --> 00:25:44,376 I just feel like we click and we can be so open 459 00:25:44,376 --> 00:25:46,169 in communicating with each other. 460 00:25:46,253 --> 00:25:50,924 We're different enough in certain areas of our tastes 461 00:25:50,924 --> 00:25:54,511 that we can collaborate and create something even better together 462 00:25:54,511 --> 00:25:56,930 than if we worked on something separately. 463 00:25:59,558 --> 00:26:01,351 Hey, Bart. Hey, Lisa. 464 00:26:01,351 --> 00:26:06,356 In the movie, Mei and her family own and take care of a family temple. 465 00:26:07,190 --> 00:26:09,317 We took several trips 466 00:26:09,401 --> 00:26:13,071 to different historic temples around California 467 00:26:13,071 --> 00:26:16,866 that were built by early Chinese settlers 468 00:26:16,950 --> 00:26:20,370 just to get a feeling of what these grassroots temples are like. 469 00:26:21,454 --> 00:26:25,792 I also spent time living behind a temple with my grandma in China, 470 00:26:25,792 --> 00:26:30,297 and I just remember it being just a really lovely memory. 471 00:26:31,464 --> 00:26:36,511 I'd make candles, and we would sell them to visitors of the temples. 472 00:26:36,595 --> 00:26:40,307 And I'd learned how to pray properly with my grandma. 473 00:26:41,850 --> 00:26:45,937 When we got to building the set of the temple and dressing it, 474 00:26:46,021 --> 00:26:50,483 it was really cool seeing those details that we saw at the temples 475 00:26:50,567 --> 00:26:52,569 kind of pop up in the background. 476 00:26:52,569 --> 00:26:54,946 Like, there's just a bottle of vegetable oil. 477 00:26:55,030 --> 00:26:58,283 Like, cleaning supplies tucked away in the corner. 478 00:26:59,618 --> 00:27:01,536 They've been around since the Gold Rush era. 479 00:27:01,620 --> 00:27:04,164 All these immigrants who came with so little 480 00:27:04,164 --> 00:27:07,208 were able to cobble together a little piece of home. 481 00:27:07,292 --> 00:27:09,502 That kind of felt like the immigrant spirit. 482 00:27:09,586 --> 00:27:11,463 That kind of felt like me and Rona, 483 00:27:11,463 --> 00:27:13,632 and how we, in our art, 484 00:27:13,632 --> 00:27:16,926 we are inspired by Eastern and Western stuff. 485 00:27:17,052 --> 00:27:21,181 Should we try to match their face shapes? You know, like a bell shape? 486 00:27:21,181 --> 00:27:24,726 I remember you saying, "Rona, this is not a Chinese film. 487 00:27:24,726 --> 00:27:27,395 "This is a coming of age film, 488 00:27:27,479 --> 00:27:31,483 "but it just happens to be about a Chinese girl." 489 00:27:32,400 --> 00:27:37,781 We need to really tap into the mind of a 13-year-old growing up in 2002, 490 00:27:37,781 --> 00:27:39,949 growing up in Toronto. 491 00:27:40,075 --> 00:27:43,578 - What did we like when we were 13. - Yeah. 492 00:27:43,662 --> 00:27:47,248 And we liked Sailor Moon. We liked anime. 493 00:27:48,333 --> 00:27:51,670 The fandoms are what got me really into anime. 494 00:27:52,170 --> 00:27:56,424 I was drawing fan art passionately. I had a secret sketchbook. 495 00:27:56,508 --> 00:28:00,345 You join an online community, you draw fan art, 496 00:28:00,345 --> 00:28:02,097 and other people would comment on it, 497 00:28:02,097 --> 00:28:05,141 and that would encourage you to draw more, produce more. 498 00:28:05,225 --> 00:28:08,770 And that's kind of just what encouraged me to keep drawing. 499 00:28:09,771 --> 00:28:12,774 I think, as a kid, it was such an escape. 500 00:28:12,774 --> 00:28:16,444 I know I'm Asian, but I'm in a very white school. 501 00:28:16,528 --> 00:28:20,782 It kind of was nice to be connected to that Asian side of myself. 502 00:28:20,782 --> 00:28:22,409 I didn't have a boyfriend, 503 00:28:22,409 --> 00:28:24,494 so then it's nice to read about boyfriends. 504 00:28:24,494 --> 00:28:27,789 Yeah, and a lot of them are drawn and written by women too. 505 00:28:27,789 --> 00:28:30,834 There was a lot of stories told from a girl's point of view, 506 00:28:30,834 --> 00:28:32,293 and they're the heroes, 507 00:28:32,377 --> 00:28:37,424 they save the day or they change the hearts of all the boys 508 00:28:37,424 --> 00:28:39,718 and make them fall for her. 509 00:28:39,718 --> 00:28:42,887 This is my house. This is my boyfriend, Darren. 510 00:28:46,933 --> 00:28:49,519 My many game consoles. 511 00:28:49,519 --> 00:28:53,857 I've been using these to de-stress over quarantine. 512 00:28:53,857 --> 00:28:59,487 This is this awesome Miyazaki art book I got 513 00:28:59,571 --> 00:29:01,614 about the Ghibli Museum. 514 00:29:01,698 --> 00:29:03,700 I got this rug over quarantine. 515 00:29:04,409 --> 00:29:06,035 Diane really likes this rug. 516 00:29:06,119 --> 00:29:07,912 Where's Diane? Diane? 517 00:29:08,288 --> 00:29:10,206 Don't be scared, don't be scared. 518 00:29:10,290 --> 00:29:12,041 Don't be scared. Come over here. 519 00:29:12,125 --> 00:29:13,293 I got you! 520 00:29:13,793 --> 00:29:15,336 She'll come out, she's shy. 521 00:29:15,420 --> 00:29:18,089 I think I'm craving even more speed 522 00:29:18,173 --> 00:29:21,885 as she poofs into a panda and shoots forward. 523 00:29:21,885 --> 00:29:25,346 We're paying homage to anime throughout the entire movie. 524 00:29:25,889 --> 00:29:29,350 You can see it in the expressions and the acting, 525 00:29:29,434 --> 00:29:31,144 the starry eyes in Mei 526 00:29:31,144 --> 00:29:33,938 when she sees a boy that she really, really loves. 527 00:29:35,148 --> 00:29:36,149 Uh, Mei? 528 00:29:36,149 --> 00:29:38,109 Why are you staring - at Carter Murphy- - Mayhew? 529 00:29:38,193 --> 00:29:40,820 We definitely have a lot of expertise on the movie 530 00:29:40,904 --> 00:29:43,782 about being 13-year-old girls, for sure. 531 00:29:43,782 --> 00:29:46,910 There is definitely a lived experience there 532 00:29:46,910 --> 00:29:48,995 that we get to bring to the movie-making, 533 00:29:48,995 --> 00:29:50,747 maybe in a different way 534 00:29:50,747 --> 00:29:54,334 than I would have been able to, say on a movie like WALL•E. 535 00:29:56,336 --> 00:29:58,880 That scene with Mei going under the bed, 536 00:29:58,880 --> 00:30:01,257 and all of a sudden she's sort of gripped by things, 537 00:30:01,341 --> 00:30:05,220 and she's drawing these sexy pictures and the conflict there 538 00:30:05,220 --> 00:30:07,222 and "Why did I draw those things?" 539 00:30:07,222 --> 00:30:09,641 I mean, I wasn't under my bed drawing things, 540 00:30:09,641 --> 00:30:13,561 but when I was 11, I had a little wooden clothes pin, 541 00:30:13,978 --> 00:30:17,065 and I had this mad crush on this woman that was older than me, 542 00:30:17,065 --> 00:30:20,568 but I did not know that I was gay at the time. 543 00:30:21,444 --> 00:30:23,071 And I remember drawing her name 544 00:30:23,071 --> 00:30:25,657 on the clothes pin and then flipping it over. 545 00:30:25,657 --> 00:30:28,827 And she played a sport so I put her number down, 546 00:30:28,827 --> 00:30:31,746 and that sat on my desk and I would look at it sometimes. 547 00:30:31,830 --> 00:30:34,165 You know, these things, these silly things you do. 548 00:30:34,249 --> 00:30:37,085 I definitely get what Mei is doing. 549 00:30:39,379 --> 00:30:41,339 From the side, would it look like this? 550 00:30:41,339 --> 00:30:44,759 Did you know that I was like, "Oh, my God, am I ready?" 551 00:30:44,843 --> 00:30:47,470 - To be a production designer? - Yeah. "Will I be good?" 552 00:30:47,554 --> 00:30:52,183 We both did it on a short. But you're a first time feature... 553 00:30:52,267 --> 00:30:54,727 I will be a first-time feature production designer. 554 00:30:54,811 --> 00:30:58,606 I figured because I was nervous about directing for the first time 555 00:30:58,690 --> 00:31:01,317 that you would be nervous about production designing, 556 00:31:01,401 --> 00:31:03,570 but I naively thought, 557 00:31:03,570 --> 00:31:06,364 "How much harder could it be directing a feature?" 558 00:31:07,866 --> 00:31:11,411 I was really scared, honestly, at the beginning. 559 00:31:11,411 --> 00:31:14,038 I mean, you know, Domee was intimidating, right? 560 00:31:14,122 --> 00:31:17,625 I mean, she's... Seriously, you were, like, super talented and... 561 00:31:17,709 --> 00:31:18,710 I'm gonna be a diva. 562 00:31:18,710 --> 00:31:20,461 No, I was never worried about that. 563 00:31:20,545 --> 00:31:21,546 It was good, too, 564 00:31:21,546 --> 00:31:24,716 because you also made me, kind of having done this for a while, 565 00:31:24,716 --> 00:31:27,468 you questioned things that I hadn't questioned in a while. 566 00:31:29,679 --> 00:31:35,101 So I started in May of '97 at Pixar on A Bug's Life. 567 00:31:35,101 --> 00:31:37,061 I had worked in traditional animation, 568 00:31:37,145 --> 00:31:40,148 but at the time, CG animation was a completely different ball game. 569 00:31:40,690 --> 00:31:44,736 I just remember I would have this notepad and I would just write down questions. 570 00:31:45,194 --> 00:31:47,196 I was like, "Is the render farm a zoo? 571 00:31:47,280 --> 00:31:48,907 "What's a cookie? Can I have a cookie?" 572 00:31:48,907 --> 00:31:51,743 They're like, "No. You cannot." A cookie is not a cookie. 573 00:31:51,743 --> 00:31:55,246 It was kind of like, "Here we go, welcome to my questions." 574 00:31:56,205 --> 00:31:58,708 Danielle was definitely somebody that I sought out, 575 00:31:58,708 --> 00:32:02,378 as she would not judge you and give you a nice, clear and concise answer. 576 00:32:02,462 --> 00:32:05,548 When we export act three, 577 00:32:05,632 --> 00:32:09,135 is there a way to do one that just has music... 578 00:32:09,135 --> 00:32:11,721 One of the things I love most about Pixar 579 00:32:11,721 --> 00:32:13,932 is that I'm still asking questions 580 00:32:14,599 --> 00:32:19,604 with the same amount of freedom and safety as I did on the first day I got here. 581 00:32:19,604 --> 00:32:21,689 It's just a philosophy that I've kept. 582 00:32:21,773 --> 00:32:25,318 It's something I encourage other people to do as they're starting on something. 583 00:32:25,318 --> 00:32:26,402 If you don't know, 584 00:32:26,486 --> 00:32:29,614 you're probably not the only one in the room who doesn't know, so ask. 585 00:32:29,614 --> 00:32:31,658 We basically started these this morning. 586 00:32:31,658 --> 00:32:34,243 So be gentle. 587 00:32:35,995 --> 00:32:39,707 A little bit before I was asked to be the DP on WALL•E, 588 00:32:39,791 --> 00:32:42,669 I thought, "I don't know if I could ever be a DP, 589 00:32:42,669 --> 00:32:44,879 "maybe like in 10 or 15 years." 590 00:32:44,963 --> 00:32:46,255 Wow, that's great. 591 00:32:46,339 --> 00:32:49,759 This one we lit in five minutes. 592 00:32:49,759 --> 00:32:53,137 And then Andrew Stanton asked me to be the DP on WALL•E, 593 00:32:53,221 --> 00:32:57,141 and I was terrified because I didn't think I knew how to do that at all. 594 00:32:57,725 --> 00:33:00,770 I think we both credit Andrew to a big degree, frankly. 595 00:33:01,646 --> 00:33:06,025 We both had this encouragement neither one of us would have asked for 596 00:33:06,109 --> 00:33:09,237 until he kind of said, "No, I want you to come do this." 597 00:33:09,237 --> 00:33:10,780 It was an amazing experience. 598 00:33:10,780 --> 00:33:13,658 It was also, half the time, terrifying 599 00:33:13,658 --> 00:33:17,829 of just trying to figure out how to hang on to who I was 600 00:33:17,829 --> 00:33:19,080 and make it through, 601 00:33:19,080 --> 00:33:22,375 even though a lot of times I felt like I didn't know what I was doing. 602 00:33:25,128 --> 00:33:27,338 But what we then decided to do 603 00:33:27,422 --> 00:33:29,590 is some look stuff that's sort of like, 604 00:33:29,674 --> 00:33:33,344 "How do we get out of the Pixar look? How do we get into some new thing?" 605 00:33:34,721 --> 00:33:37,473 We were trying to push the boundaries of style 606 00:33:37,557 --> 00:33:39,559 in both storytelling, in the camera, 607 00:33:39,559 --> 00:33:41,144 the look of things, 608 00:33:41,144 --> 00:33:43,521 using some hand-drawn elements, 609 00:33:43,521 --> 00:33:47,066 but then you sprinkle in Asian art influences. 610 00:33:47,150 --> 00:33:49,736 It's been so interesting to take those pieces 611 00:33:49,736 --> 00:33:53,698 and figure out how you can apply them to a 3D computer-animated film. 612 00:33:55,116 --> 00:33:59,203 For me, I really wanted to be a VFX supervisor 613 00:33:59,287 --> 00:34:01,956 that was making sure that people had the room 614 00:34:02,040 --> 00:34:03,833 to bring their very best. 615 00:34:03,833 --> 00:34:05,293 Not telling people what to do 616 00:34:05,293 --> 00:34:07,545 but making space for them to shine. 617 00:34:07,545 --> 00:34:10,923 And I have to say, honestly, a lot of that has started with Rona 618 00:34:11,007 --> 00:34:14,302 because she is the most collaborative production designer 619 00:34:14,302 --> 00:34:16,471 I have ever worked with, far and away. 620 00:34:16,929 --> 00:34:19,182 I think it's made a huge difference to the movie 621 00:34:19,182 --> 00:34:21,601 and to people's enjoyment of making the movie. 622 00:34:23,644 --> 00:34:26,481 And this is the trust and the confidence I gain. 623 00:34:28,191 --> 00:34:30,610 This isn't just our first concert. 624 00:34:31,069 --> 00:34:34,197 This is our first step into womanhood. 625 00:34:34,197 --> 00:34:37,033 And we have to do it together. 626 00:34:37,033 --> 00:34:41,537 Mei's friends are Miriam, Abby, and Priya. 627 00:34:41,621 --> 00:34:43,289 And they're her dork squad. 628 00:34:44,749 --> 00:34:47,043 They accept her no matter what. 629 00:34:47,043 --> 00:34:48,711 Red panda or no panda. 630 00:34:49,337 --> 00:34:52,924 I always saw that as a metaphor for when I found my squad. 631 00:34:52,924 --> 00:34:54,884 4*TOWN, here we come! 632 00:34:56,219 --> 00:34:59,138 I love that Mei has these key friendships. 633 00:34:59,222 --> 00:35:01,432 I very much am that person myself. 634 00:35:02,141 --> 00:35:06,312 I always was the kid who had two or three best friends. 635 00:35:06,312 --> 00:35:09,690 Those kind of quirky, dorky people who made you laugh, 636 00:35:09,774 --> 00:35:13,027 equally insecure about what was going on. 637 00:35:13,111 --> 00:35:15,988 And in high school, we'd get invited to the party 638 00:35:16,072 --> 00:35:17,406 and we'd be like, "Okay, cool." 639 00:35:18,533 --> 00:35:22,161 And then we drive over to the party and we'd sit outside for a minute, 640 00:35:22,245 --> 00:35:24,872 and then we were like, "Let's go get a cake." 641 00:35:26,332 --> 00:35:30,545 Then we'd eat a cake, like a whole cake, in the car, and then go home. 642 00:35:32,880 --> 00:35:35,299 It was about friends that listen to that moment 643 00:35:35,383 --> 00:35:37,552 when you were like, "I'm not comfortable going in. 644 00:35:37,552 --> 00:35:39,178 "I'm not confident enough to do this, 645 00:35:39,262 --> 00:35:41,848 "and all I really want to do is go hang out with you guys." 646 00:35:43,891 --> 00:35:45,726 Hi. Sorry I'm late. 647 00:35:47,061 --> 00:35:49,438 Figuring out how to be comfortable in the room 648 00:35:49,522 --> 00:35:51,482 and finding my voice took a while. 649 00:35:52,150 --> 00:35:55,069 When I first started, I was definitely more nervous. 650 00:35:55,153 --> 00:35:59,115 I was one of the few women in the story department. 651 00:35:59,115 --> 00:36:01,367 What helped a lot for me 652 00:36:01,367 --> 00:36:03,703 was a female story artists support group 653 00:36:03,703 --> 00:36:05,746 called the Story Artistas, 654 00:36:05,830 --> 00:36:09,125 led by Mary Coleman, and Nicole Grindle. 655 00:36:09,125 --> 00:36:12,128 They were like, "I want you guys to get comfortable," 656 00:36:12,128 --> 00:36:14,589 like, stating out loud what your goals are. 657 00:36:15,047 --> 00:36:18,092 And I think there was one lunch where I meekly said out loud, 658 00:36:18,176 --> 00:36:21,679 "I want to be a director." Oh! 659 00:36:21,679 --> 00:36:24,307 Cool. Yeah, really feeling that anger. 660 00:36:24,307 --> 00:36:27,393 She's like launching herself up, "Sorry, I'm not..." 661 00:36:27,810 --> 00:36:30,605 You could play Ming a little bit more in slo-mo as well. 662 00:36:30,605 --> 00:36:32,607 - Yeah. - Otherwise it's looking good. 663 00:36:32,607 --> 00:36:34,942 Anyone else have thoughts? Notes? 664 00:36:35,026 --> 00:36:36,277 - Mei- - Mei, there you are. 665 00:36:36,277 --> 00:36:37,945 - Hey, Mom... - You're ten minutes late. 666 00:36:38,029 --> 00:36:40,364 What happened? Are you hurt? Are you hungry? 667 00:36:40,448 --> 00:36:44,577 - Um... - Ming is a force to be reckoned with. 668 00:36:46,037 --> 00:36:48,289 She's just a sweet innocent child. 669 00:36:48,289 --> 00:36:50,541 How dare you take advantage of her! 670 00:36:50,625 --> 00:36:54,003 When Sandra Oh became the voice of Ming, 671 00:36:54,003 --> 00:36:57,924 it just felt like her character was starting to flesh out. 672 00:36:57,924 --> 00:36:59,967 I knew you were trouble. 673 00:37:00,384 --> 00:37:03,638 Sandra's so funny, but she also has so much range. 674 00:37:03,638 --> 00:37:07,600 She added that missing piece to the puzzle of Ming. 675 00:37:07,600 --> 00:37:11,020 I have a double-jointed elbow! Look! I can make a perfect circle! 676 00:37:11,520 --> 00:37:12,521 That was great. 677 00:37:12,605 --> 00:37:14,357 I think in terms of design, 678 00:37:14,357 --> 00:37:17,526 you wanted her to have the really powerful shoulders 679 00:37:17,610 --> 00:37:18,903 with these thin eyebrows, 680 00:37:18,903 --> 00:37:21,447 kind of like Chinese ladies from like the '60s, 681 00:37:21,447 --> 00:37:24,992 - with the qipao and stuff. - I wanted traditional Chinese 682 00:37:25,076 --> 00:37:27,411 mixed with Working Girl. Yeah. 683 00:37:32,583 --> 00:37:37,338 We definitely couldn't have written Ming without input from Lindsey 684 00:37:37,338 --> 00:37:40,132 and other moms on the show. 685 00:37:42,385 --> 00:37:47,348 I came at it purely from the point of view of the oppressed teenage daughter. 686 00:37:48,224 --> 00:37:51,435 So it was really helpful hearing that other side. 687 00:37:51,519 --> 00:37:54,522 You don't know everything, you're making it up as you go along. 688 00:37:55,106 --> 00:38:00,236 What I love about Ming is that she's not one sided, cookie cutter character 689 00:38:00,236 --> 00:38:01,862 and certainly not as a mom. 690 00:38:01,946 --> 00:38:05,741 And as a mom myself, I can appreciate those moments. 691 00:38:06,450 --> 00:38:07,451 Hey, Sloane? 692 00:38:08,452 --> 00:38:12,873 So will you remind me before we sit down to dinner to RSVP for your... 693 00:38:12,957 --> 00:38:14,959 Fall festival? Yeah. 694 00:38:16,043 --> 00:38:18,879 You're having conversations that you are like, 695 00:38:18,963 --> 00:38:21,173 "Is this even the right conversation to be having? 696 00:38:21,257 --> 00:38:23,384 "Am I supposed to be playing more of a mom role? 697 00:38:23,384 --> 00:38:24,844 "I don't even know what that is." 698 00:38:24,844 --> 00:38:31,600 You're talking about heartbreak and dating and insecurity and body image. 699 00:38:31,684 --> 00:38:33,561 I know how I feel about all those things, 700 00:38:33,561 --> 00:38:36,314 yet I don't know what I'm supposed to say about any of them. 701 00:38:36,314 --> 00:38:39,317 I don't know if I'm supposed to pretend I don't have those issues 702 00:38:39,317 --> 00:38:41,694 or if I'm supposed to say I had all of them. 703 00:38:42,069 --> 00:38:45,406 We always joke that your poor oldest kid is like the first pancake. 704 00:38:45,406 --> 00:38:46,907 You're like "Oof. 705 00:38:46,991 --> 00:38:49,452 "Sorry, dude, I'm pretty sure we're messing this up." 706 00:38:49,452 --> 00:38:51,245 The third one we should be good. 707 00:38:51,329 --> 00:38:53,581 She's gonna have nothing to complain about 708 00:38:53,581 --> 00:38:54,790 You guys... 709 00:38:55,750 --> 00:38:57,668 The RSVP thing is closed. 710 00:38:57,752 --> 00:38:59,170 Mom! 711 00:38:59,170 --> 00:39:00,379 Okay. Is it too late? 712 00:39:00,463 --> 00:39:02,256 Yeah, apparently. But that's okay. 713 00:39:02,923 --> 00:39:04,175 Ready? Yeah. 714 00:39:07,345 --> 00:39:11,307 In a way, parenting overwhelms me much more than my job does. 715 00:39:13,142 --> 00:39:17,396 And I think it's just because I feel like the stakes are so much higher. 716 00:39:19,482 --> 00:39:21,984 Every choice you make as a parent 717 00:39:22,068 --> 00:39:24,779 has equal chances of being this great memory 718 00:39:24,779 --> 00:39:27,031 and a success in your relationship with them, 719 00:39:27,031 --> 00:39:30,034 or alternatively, this huge disaster 720 00:39:30,409 --> 00:39:32,745 that they will talk about for the rest of their lives 721 00:39:32,745 --> 00:39:35,706 as the most embarrassing thing that ever happened to them. 722 00:39:41,003 --> 00:39:43,381 Okay. Who wants to get dressed? Me! 723 00:39:48,594 --> 00:39:51,430 We both have worked very hard at our careers, 724 00:39:51,514 --> 00:39:54,058 and we are late mommies. 725 00:39:54,058 --> 00:39:56,894 And so I think both of us have a huge amount of regard 726 00:39:57,019 --> 00:39:59,105 for how important our work and career is, 727 00:39:59,105 --> 00:40:01,524 and so we try to protect that for one another. 728 00:40:01,982 --> 00:40:05,236 On Fridays, Paige is here with the kids. We don't have the nanny. 729 00:40:05,236 --> 00:40:07,571 And, you know, I sort of have this like, 730 00:40:07,655 --> 00:40:10,616 any spare moment I have I should be running out to help, 731 00:40:10,616 --> 00:40:13,202 and she has zero expectation of that. 732 00:40:14,120 --> 00:40:15,871 That's made it so much more doable 733 00:40:15,955 --> 00:40:18,457 to be able to balance the two things. 734 00:40:18,541 --> 00:40:22,628 Not that it's always easy or something but it, that makes a huge difference. 735 00:40:24,422 --> 00:40:27,091 Boy, you guys really destroyed the house this morning. 736 00:40:28,592 --> 00:40:31,637 You know, it's really amazing those kids right now, 737 00:40:31,637 --> 00:40:33,681 they're almost 17 months. 738 00:40:33,806 --> 00:40:36,225 Maybe you can hear Jack crying in the other room. 739 00:40:36,225 --> 00:40:39,228 That's a little heartbreaking because I want to go run and help. 740 00:40:40,146 --> 00:40:43,482 It is a massive luxury to be able to see my kids 741 00:40:43,566 --> 00:40:46,277 as much as I have during this last year-plus. 742 00:40:46,277 --> 00:40:49,363 I never ever would have been able to see them as much. 743 00:40:49,447 --> 00:40:53,159 I would have been racing home from work just to catch them going to bed. 744 00:40:53,159 --> 00:40:57,037 Sometimes I get to catch them for dinner. I always get to put them to bed. 745 00:41:00,541 --> 00:41:03,377 You know, it's not like you can ever get that time back. 746 00:41:08,466 --> 00:41:10,551 Yeah, I think it's working really well. 747 00:41:11,093 --> 00:41:12,511 Okay. - Final! 748 00:41:15,139 --> 00:41:19,685 I think it took until screening six for us to finally have an ending. 749 00:41:19,685 --> 00:41:23,564 And that, I think, was because it took a long time for me 750 00:41:23,564 --> 00:41:26,484 to process my own relationship with my mother, 751 00:41:26,484 --> 00:41:30,988 and just trying to figure out how to be a good daughter for them. 752 00:41:31,822 --> 00:41:35,993 I also don't know what the solution is in real life. 753 00:41:35,993 --> 00:41:39,830 Is it about being true to yourself, or is it about honoring your parents? 754 00:41:39,914 --> 00:41:40,998 I don't know. 755 00:41:40,998 --> 00:41:44,877 It's some messy mix of both. There's no clear answer. 756 00:41:48,672 --> 00:41:49,965 Before I was a mom, 757 00:41:50,841 --> 00:41:55,638 it just didn't occur to me how hard it would be. 758 00:41:55,638 --> 00:41:59,683 I don't know how people do it, and I don't even know how I'm doing it right now. 759 00:42:02,394 --> 00:42:08,067 My mom has been such a huge supporter of what I want to do, 760 00:42:08,067 --> 00:42:12,446 and she just always believed that I know what's best. 761 00:42:12,530 --> 00:42:17,076 That gave me so much freedom to be the artist that I am today. 762 00:42:18,953 --> 00:42:20,329 Happy baby. 763 00:42:24,208 --> 00:42:27,419 Growing up, my parents separated, 764 00:42:27,503 --> 00:42:31,423 and striving for perfection came from this feeling of like, 765 00:42:31,507 --> 00:42:37,179 I just want to be good enough to keep my dad and my mom. 766 00:42:37,263 --> 00:42:38,764 And maybe... 767 00:42:38,764 --> 00:42:42,726 Maybe if I was a perfect little girl, my parents would be together. 768 00:42:44,311 --> 00:42:45,354 Yeah. 769 00:42:45,980 --> 00:42:48,107 And... Hmm! 770 00:42:48,107 --> 00:42:51,318 It worked out in the best possible way for me. 771 00:42:51,402 --> 00:42:55,614 I feel like it made me ambitious. 772 00:42:55,698 --> 00:42:58,867 Ever since I had a baby, my worth, 773 00:42:58,951 --> 00:43:02,621 who I am, is no longer so much tied to others. 774 00:43:03,163 --> 00:43:06,500 I just feel like I am a whole being 775 00:43:07,209 --> 00:43:08,586 and I'm solid. 776 00:43:12,798 --> 00:43:16,552 I think anyone being able to tell kids as they're 777 00:43:16,552 --> 00:43:18,971 growing up and going through this sort of chaos, 778 00:43:18,971 --> 00:43:22,016 of emotion or feeling out of control 779 00:43:22,016 --> 00:43:23,517 or "Do my parents love me?" 780 00:43:23,601 --> 00:43:26,228 or "Can I be who I want to be and they'll still love me?" 781 00:43:26,312 --> 00:43:28,814 or "Who am I and what do the other kids want me to be?" 782 00:43:30,524 --> 00:43:32,526 We need art in general, 783 00:43:32,610 --> 00:43:35,362 especially things that go on a screen that kids can see 784 00:43:35,446 --> 00:43:37,156 that tell them that it is okay. 785 00:43:37,156 --> 00:43:41,744 And I think it's also for parents, it's okay to see all of that craziness, 786 00:43:41,744 --> 00:43:44,622 and that's a natural part of life you've got to wade through 787 00:43:44,622 --> 00:43:46,123 to form who you really are. 788 00:43:47,041 --> 00:43:50,294 Meilin says she's not like her mom, and that's okay. 789 00:43:51,670 --> 00:43:54,798 And then she realizes, "I am my own person. 790 00:43:54,882 --> 00:43:57,134 "I want to embrace this thing 791 00:43:57,134 --> 00:44:00,512 "that every other member of my family has tried to lock away." 792 00:44:02,848 --> 00:44:05,142 When she becomes this red panda, 793 00:44:05,142 --> 00:44:08,354 it at first glance, represents everything she doesn't want to be, 794 00:44:08,479 --> 00:44:13,192 her being different and standing out and feeling like she can't control herself 795 00:44:13,192 --> 00:44:15,653 or the situation the way she used to be able to. 796 00:44:16,320 --> 00:44:20,991 You can't go through life and become the amazing person you're supposed to become 797 00:44:21,075 --> 00:44:24,119 if things don't conspire to rock that sense of stability. 798 00:44:24,662 --> 00:44:26,580 When you say to embrace the red panda, 799 00:44:26,664 --> 00:44:30,668 I think that represents being okay with that part of yourself. 800 00:44:31,251 --> 00:44:33,420 It's okay not to be in control all the time. 801 00:44:33,504 --> 00:44:35,798 It's okay to be messy. It's okay to be loud. 802 00:44:35,798 --> 00:44:37,508 It's okay to be noticed. 803 00:44:38,884 --> 00:44:41,303 If you don't accept it, it's a curse. 804 00:44:41,387 --> 00:44:46,058 And then if you embrace it, then it's a gift that keeps on giving. 805 00:44:46,058 --> 00:44:50,062 I mean, for Mei, once she embraced it, her whole life opened up to her. 806 00:44:51,355 --> 00:44:53,607 The last year-plus with the pandemic 807 00:44:53,691 --> 00:44:57,528 has been unlike anything any of us have experienced. 808 00:44:57,528 --> 00:45:00,239 It's been incredibly difficult, it's been very stressful, 809 00:45:00,239 --> 00:45:03,701 and for me, this is the funniest movie I've ever worked on, 810 00:45:03,701 --> 00:45:09,832 and so, if even at just that level people get to have some laughs, 811 00:45:09,832 --> 00:45:11,542 I think that would be amazing. 812 00:45:12,126 --> 00:45:14,044 But it also has this much deeper thing 813 00:45:14,128 --> 00:45:17,297 of really being able to reach out and say, "It's okay." 814 00:45:17,423 --> 00:45:20,634 If you're confused and feeling crazy and you don't know who you are 815 00:45:20,759 --> 00:45:23,262 and you might let your parents or yourself down, 816 00:45:23,262 --> 00:45:25,222 that's a natural part of growing up. 817 00:45:25,222 --> 00:45:28,559 And if that could be what we provide for, 818 00:45:28,559 --> 00:45:32,563 I think even one kid out there, that would be really amazing. 819 00:45:40,779 --> 00:45:42,698 Come on. Good Cornflake. 820 00:45:45,617 --> 00:45:49,246 Darren made a quiche yesterday. 821 00:45:49,705 --> 00:45:51,707 Look, your quiche is on camera. 822 00:45:51,707 --> 00:45:54,251 So cool. I like how you guys designed it. 823 00:45:55,586 --> 00:45:56,670 In there? Yes. 824 00:46:01,008 --> 00:46:03,844 When these dogs come in here and start snoring so loudly, 825 00:46:03,844 --> 00:46:06,388 to the point where they're like... 826 00:46:16,440 --> 00:46:19,735 Do you, Rona, take Dylan to be your lawfully wedded spouse? 827 00:46:19,735 --> 00:46:20,903 I do. 828 00:46:20,903 --> 00:46:22,821 Congratulations, you may kiss. 829 00:46:27,367 --> 00:46:28,744 Good boy. Got it? 830 00:46:29,369 --> 00:46:30,579 Great job. 831 00:46:48,013 --> 00:46:50,474 Final!