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My name is Pete Docter. I'm the CCO,
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the Chief Creative Officer,
of Pixar Animation Studios.
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I've been at Pixar over 30 years now,
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but I've done all sorts of stuff from
storyboarding to animation to directing.
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Pixar's changed a lot,
but at its core, not at all.
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When we started, we were in this,
like, shack of a building.
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We had 112 people, I think,
making Toy Story,
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and yet it was a very personal story.
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We were, as storytellers,
telling our own experiences
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in the world and figuring out,
"What is jealousy?
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"What do we do when confronted
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"by someone who's better than me?"
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And all these things
that were tied up in that film.
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I mean, I grew up in Minnesota,
in a boring suburban town.
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I realized that all the films
that I worked on, about monsters,
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about an old man who flies his house
to South America,
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a little girl who moves to San Francisco,
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these are all very personal stories.
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They've come from my own life experience.
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And so we thought,
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"How can we allow some new ideas into this
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"and take the chance with people
that we just have an intuition, like,
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"'There's something about that person.
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'They would have
something interesting to say.'"
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LINDSEY COLLINS:
The SparkShorts program is relatively new.
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We wanted to give different storytellers
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a shot in a very short
amount of time that tells us,
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"Who are they? What stories do they tell?"
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The history of shorts at Pixar
is a pretty interesting one
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because Pixar kind of sprung from shorts
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and specifically,
a short called Andre and Wally B,
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which is really
the first animated CG piece.
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Shorts became something
that was in the DNA of the company.
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We would make them
to try new technological ideas
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as computer graphics was evolving,
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all this even before Toy Story was made.
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Ha!
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COLLINS: Part of the initial thinking
behind the short film projects,
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it was a lot about risk-taking.
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There was a bit of,
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"We don't have much to lose,
'cause nobody knows who we are,"
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and so we can take some risks
and gamble a lot.
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So we were like, "What if we did
something that was much lower budget
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"than our traditional short films?"
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We let the filmmaker tell
whatever story they wanted to tell
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and we give the person
six months to do it.
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We started the SparkShorts program
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really because we didn't know
what kind of talents we were skipping over
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by not giving people
a chance to tell their story.
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We want an unfiltered view
of what these storytellers are bringing,
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and we don't want to get in the way.
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COLLINS: The only way we'll evolve
the types of stories at the feature level
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is if we're engaging that next generation.
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We can't wait 20 years
to engage that generation.
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We have to be engaging them now.
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My name is Aphton Corbin.
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I'm a story artist here
at Pixar Animation Studios.
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I just always was really drawn
to writing and sharing stories.
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As a kid, I would do little drawing books
and staple them together
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and make out a whole little scenario
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and give them to people
as a birthday gift.
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And when I was younger,
I would direct playtime with my sister.
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I'd be like, "The character
wouldn't say it that way.
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"We need to do it again this way."
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Ever since I got hired here at Pixar,
I knew I wanted to be a director.
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I guess it's a big statement,
"I wanna be a director."
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I didn't know how long it was gonna take,
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but I knew I wanted
to eventually direct something.
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Aphton made such an impression on
the studio from the minute she got here.
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She just got this reputation very quickly
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as somebody who had something
to say that everybody wanted to hear,
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no matter what room she was in.
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I got to work with Aphton on Soul.
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She came up with the way we visualize
the counselors in the Soul universe.
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She's just a very talented story artist
with these quirky ideas that you're like,
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"Where did that come from?
That's just brilliantly bizarre."
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My name's Louis Gonzales and
I've been at Pixar almost 20 years now.
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From the moment
I've gotten into animation,
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I've always felt like
I've been challenged constantly.
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I was always excited to take
on all kinds of work at Pixar
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because it was an experience
rather than just a job.
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Over time, I've been very lucky
to be a part of some very special films
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that a lot of people love,
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and I had my small little part in it.
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But now, almost 20 years later,
I was like, "What else do I need?
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"Where's my career going?"
Like, "What am I doing?
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"Maybe making stuff as a director
isn't what's gonna happen for me."
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MORRIS: Louis has been around
for a long, long time.
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He's a statured story artist
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and fantastic creative mind.
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DOCTER: Louis worked on films
with Brad Bird, like The Incredibles.
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He's brought
a really unique point of view.
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And he's brought these
really amazing characters to life.
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COLLINS: I think
he's a great idea generator.
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So, you're always curious of,
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"What is this guy gonna do
when he's given the opportunity?
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"What story is he gonna tell?"
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CORBIN: A good year or so into working
on my first film, Toy Story 4,
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my focus was only about, "How do
I do this job of storyboarding well?"
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One day, I got an email saying, like,
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"We just wanted you to know that
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"your name got brought up
for directing a SparkShort."
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GONZALES: A little while back,
Lindsey and Jim reached out to me.
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I thought they were gonna tell me
I'm fired, really.
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But they were like,
"So, what do you wanna do next?"
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And I was like,
"I have the option to even say that?"
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Like, it was not even...
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It didn't dawn on me that
I had a choice in my future.
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Then they floated it out to me, like,
"What do you think about a SparkShort?"
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MORRIS: One of the great things
about the SparkShorts is
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it puts you in a place
of enormous vulnerability.
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You kind of have nowhere to hide,
like, "You're the show,"
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and the pressure of that is significant,
weighing on you,
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and trying to figure out,
"How do you show up in that?
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"And how do you let your guard down enough
to let others contribute?"
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COLLINS: When we start
to walk directors through
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what the rules are to do a SparkShort,
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we tell them,
"It needs to be a narrative story...
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(BLOWS)
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"It can be CG, it can be 2D,
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"and it needs to be for all audiences."
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We try to get it done in about six months.
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But beyond that,
there really aren't any rules.
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WOMAN: So, we've selected our 2020
SparkShort directors and they are...
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-Louis Gonzales...
-(ALL CHEERING)
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GONZALES: When they announced us
in the company meeting,
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I didn't expect that kind of
outpouring of love.
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It just felt, "Oh, my God,
the people here at this company
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"are rooting for us to succeed."
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"They want to see us tell stories."
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That, to me, was amazing, truly.
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And it also added, like, pressure.
(LAUGHS)
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When people support you like that,
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it's like,
"I don't wanna let anyone down."
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Because when I was initially asked,
"What do you think about a SparkShort?"
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I said, "You know,
probably not, I'll think about it."
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But eventually I realized that
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I was just genuinely
afraid that I would suck
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and smash face-first into the wall,
teeth everywhere.
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I was afraid of failure.
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And once I realized that
I was afraid to fail in this regard,
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in a creative regard, in the thing that
I pride myself on as a story artist,
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I was like, "I need to run head-first
at this wall 'cause I'll break through."
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CORBIN: It was kind of crazy
when they announced us on that day.
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I was still really insecure
about being chosen.
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I knew the fear of it happening too soon,
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also I was a little uncertain
of how I was gonna lead a team.
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And I was like,
"What are people gonna think?
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"Are they gonna be like, 'Aphton?
She hasn't even been here that long.
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"'What is she even gonna make?'"
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And then Louis is, like,
such an amazing story artist,
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and he's worked on a bunch of movies
that I grew up watching,
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it's like, "We're going at the same time?
That's cool. No pressure there."
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DOCTER: Lots of times people are curious,
"How do we make films?"
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The answer is, "There's no one way."
Every film is different.
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They all, of course, start from an idea,
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but from there, it might be that
you try to write it up as a script
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or an outline.
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It might be that the artist sits
and draws the idea, as a storyboard,
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even just single images
that are enough to convey the concept.
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CORBIN: After being surprised
and freaking out,
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I was coming up with ideas for my short.
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For a minute, I was like,
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"Maybe I should do something scary,
a horror-related thing."
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And there's very few
animated horror shorts.
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So, I was like,
"Now, this will be fun and edgy."
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But I was like,
"It's hard enough to make a film.
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"I don't think I need to challenge myself
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"with an entirely different genre
that I haven't dabbled in quite yet."
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I always knew it was gonna be
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a story about becoming an adult
and how awkward it is.
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For me, I guess, as a 20-something,
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the feeling of, "I'm not doing it right
at all" is so prevalent sometimes.
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I had made a comic about it forever ago.
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Sometimes, when you're 26,
you feel like an adult,
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and sometimes you feel like
two kids stacked in a trench coat.
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But that's just a one-line comic,
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how do I make that
into a full fleshed-out story?
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I thought about that feeling of,
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"Okay, today everyone sees me
as a little kid with thick shoulder pads
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"and I'm not living up
to my adult potential."
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Or the moment at work
where I snap at someone
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and I was like, "I could've said that
so much more eloquently,"
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and instead I just went back
to that teenage part of myself.
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Those little sparks
kept popping up in my head.
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"I think there's a story here."
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(MACHINE WHIRRING)
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GONZALES: I love having parameters.
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When you have a short window of time,
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you have minimal amount of people,
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there's a real strategy
to how you approach every Spark.
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The safest thing I could've done
is went for a big concept.
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Like, the parents drink the potion
and they become stuffed animals,
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and in the end, they'd learn how
to be better parents to their kids.
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"Wow, animating teddy bears.
Love it. Cute."
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But I wanted to go somewhere deeper.
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I knew I wanted to do a story
with a grandmother.
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Like, grandmothers that I grew up with.
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There was a grit and a toughness,
but a lot of love.
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They'd give you the shirt off their back,
do anything for you,
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but they don't look like they're
completely approachable. (CHUCKLES)
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So, I started circling around
this idea of generational divide.
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For me, it was really important
to pull from my people.
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I want my family and friends
to be representative of the world,
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of how the world moves and breathes.
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Which is gonna be different than,
you know, you or anybody else, right?
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Our worlds are different.
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I remember my grandma Pearl,
who passed, had a lot of attitude.
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And my daughter wasn't old enough
to really have
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a relationship with my grandma.
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But my daughter,
when she was young, also had attitude.
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Oh, I would've loved to have seen what,
together, they would've been like.
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I love the juxtaposition of the complete
innocent with the experienced.
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But characters that are vulnerable
in a real way
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have to come from the artist
in a real way.
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The artist has to be vulnerable.
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And this is the hard thing for me to do.
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There was a hundred questions that come up
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to try and corral this big,
nebulous idea that seems simple,
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so I needed that true north.
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I needed something that gave me
a sense of, "It could be done."
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And that's when I went to London
to go visit a friend of mine,
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and they took me to a play,
Death of a Salesman.
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This life and time of this husband,
and his relationship with his family.
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It's that simple, but it's that clear.
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And I thought, "Oh, my God,
if my short could even scratch the surface
229
00:14:33,247 --> 00:14:37,042
"of what the actors in that play are doing
and have that kind of impact?
230
00:14:37,126 --> 00:14:38,919
"Man, this is where I wanna go."
231
00:14:40,087 --> 00:14:41,839
The brochure, I have it on my board
232
00:14:41,922 --> 00:14:44,300
to remind me that
this is about characters.
233
00:14:46,176 --> 00:14:48,429
"What can I do with a grandmother
and a granddaughter
234
00:14:48,512 --> 00:14:50,973
"and the grandma's old dog
in an apartment?"
235
00:14:51,056 --> 00:14:54,643
I can just wring every drop of personality
out of these three,
236
00:14:55,394 --> 00:14:57,271
'cause it's basically a stage play.
237
00:15:03,694 --> 00:15:05,321
CORBIN: It's interesting when people say,
238
00:15:05,404 --> 00:15:08,032
"I was never good at drawing,
so I didn't draw."
239
00:15:09,283 --> 00:15:11,744
I don't think I necessarily knew
that I was good or not.
240
00:15:11,827 --> 00:15:13,203
It's something I had to do.
241
00:15:15,122 --> 00:15:17,458
It was like my own way of therapy almost.
242
00:15:17,541 --> 00:15:19,793
If I'm frustrated,
I'm like, "I gotta go draw,"
243
00:15:19,919 --> 00:15:22,087
or "I'm happy,
I'm gonna sit down and draw."
244
00:15:24,006 --> 00:15:25,507
But I remember, growing up,
245
00:15:25,591 --> 00:15:28,761
there wasn't a lot of content
with Black little girls.
246
00:15:29,637 --> 00:15:33,015
The two Disney princesses that
me and my sister would dress up as were
247
00:15:33,098 --> 00:15:36,685
Pocahontas and Jasmine
'cause it was like, "They're brown-ish."
248
00:15:37,603 --> 00:15:39,772
So, when I was really young,
249
00:15:39,855 --> 00:15:43,233
I would automatically draw
blonde hair, blue eyes,
250
00:15:43,317 --> 00:15:47,071
you know, if you don't specify character,
I guess that's what we're doing.
251
00:15:48,656 --> 00:15:52,701
And I was always challenged
by a family member that's like,
252
00:15:52,785 --> 00:15:54,954
"How come you only draw white characters?"
253
00:15:59,249 --> 00:16:02,503
And the frustration of trying
to explain to your family,
254
00:16:02,586 --> 00:16:04,338
"I don't even know why you're asking me.
255
00:16:04,421 --> 00:16:05,798
"You know the answer to this."
256
00:16:06,882 --> 00:16:08,258
"I'm drawing what I see
257
00:16:08,342 --> 00:16:11,303
"and people don't want anything
other than white people,
258
00:16:11,387 --> 00:16:14,014
"'cause if they did, they'd be on TV."
259
00:16:15,391 --> 00:16:19,228
It was hard, incredibly hard
to break past that
260
00:16:20,813 --> 00:16:23,899
and it took a while, a lot of unlearning.
261
00:16:26,276 --> 00:16:27,861
It just took a leap of faith.
262
00:16:32,032 --> 00:16:35,285
I was like, "Yeah, I'm gonna draw
more characters of different ethnicities."
263
00:16:36,078 --> 00:16:39,832
And it felt right, and it felt truthful
because it's what I know.
264
00:16:41,583 --> 00:16:43,919
Then it turned into,
"Unless anyone says otherwise,
265
00:16:44,003 --> 00:16:45,879
"I'm drawing mainly Black characters,
266
00:16:45,963 --> 00:16:48,090
"and then anything else will be a POC,
267
00:16:48,549 --> 00:16:52,136
"and let's just see how long it takes
before a teacher says something."
268
00:16:53,929 --> 00:16:55,514
They didn't, 'cause that would've been
269
00:16:55,639 --> 00:16:58,142
an extremely interesting conversation
to have had.
270
00:16:59,309 --> 00:17:01,353
And then it just became a norm.
271
00:17:13,657 --> 00:17:16,201
When I got to Pixar,
they had seen my work.
272
00:17:17,244 --> 00:17:20,205
So, in my mind, I'm like,
"You know what you're getting."
273
00:17:21,373 --> 00:17:24,418
DOCTER: Working on Soul
was kind of a revelation to me
274
00:17:24,501 --> 00:17:27,504
because as a white kid in America,
275
00:17:27,588 --> 00:17:31,675
I saw thousands of characters
that represented my experience.
276
00:17:33,594 --> 00:17:37,222
Joe Gardner in Soul is our first
African-American lead.
277
00:17:38,098 --> 00:17:41,477
So, trying to see the world
through his perspective,
278
00:17:41,560 --> 00:17:43,645
it took a lot of learning on my part,
279
00:17:44,730 --> 00:17:48,984
and Aphton was a huge contributor
to the storytelling of that.
280
00:17:51,028 --> 00:17:54,406
CORBIN: Just going here and continuing
to challenge that level of diversity
281
00:17:54,490 --> 00:17:57,076
of voices and characters is important.
282
00:17:57,910 --> 00:17:59,286
Asking questions...
283
00:18:00,120 --> 00:18:03,540
"Why is this character white?
Is there any specific reason?"
284
00:18:04,041 --> 00:18:07,044
'Cause sometimes it's not,
a lot of times it's honestly just
285
00:18:07,503 --> 00:18:09,963
somebody drew two dots and a smiley face,
286
00:18:10,047 --> 00:18:14,051
and then it went downstream
and they autofilled a white character,
287
00:18:14,134 --> 00:18:17,805
and just, like, challenging that
and having people be more open to, like,
288
00:18:17,888 --> 00:18:21,350
"Oh, absolutely, let's find some way
to add some more diversity here."
289
00:18:23,143 --> 00:18:26,355
We all have relatable
emotions and experiences.
290
00:18:27,898 --> 00:18:31,819
I am excited about people
getting used to seeing common stories
291
00:18:31,902 --> 00:18:34,321
through the lens of a Black character.
292
00:18:35,489 --> 00:18:37,533
So, that's what I hope to do
through my film.
293
00:18:40,369 --> 00:18:44,373
The initial story was of a day in the life
of this character, Gia,
294
00:18:44,456 --> 00:18:46,542
on her 21st birthday.
295
00:18:47,209 --> 00:18:48,877
In my head, the idea is,
296
00:18:48,961 --> 00:18:52,089
instead of getting older
and more mature,
297
00:18:52,172 --> 00:18:54,508
more kids are coming into
this trench coat.
298
00:18:55,425 --> 00:18:57,177
So, it should be 21 of them in there.
299
00:18:57,970 --> 00:19:01,849
But I was like, "That's ridiculous.
I'm gonna be lucky if I get a few."
300
00:19:01,932 --> 00:19:05,978
And so I was trying to narrow down
what ages were pivotal.
301
00:19:07,563 --> 00:19:11,275
And so it became the One-Year-Old
that encompassed that baby,
302
00:19:11,358 --> 00:19:12,985
just, like, raw emotion.
303
00:19:13,652 --> 00:19:17,990
And then Ten, who in my mind,
she kind of represents that confidence,
304
00:19:18,073 --> 00:19:19,366
"Things are good,"
305
00:19:19,449 --> 00:19:22,286
and just how you think
you know everything at that age.
306
00:19:22,369 --> 00:19:25,998
And Sixteen is, like, smack in
your teenage years, that felt right.
307
00:19:26,790 --> 00:19:29,668
And for me, being 16 is
about being super-emotional
308
00:19:29,751 --> 00:19:31,753
and insecure about everything.
309
00:19:33,505 --> 00:19:36,466
Felt like they balanced each other out
in a nice way.
310
00:19:50,314 --> 00:19:54,735
GONZALES: I think that you can't divorce
the experience of the storyteller
311
00:19:54,818 --> 00:19:57,946
from the types of stories that
they're gonna tell, it's innate.
312
00:19:58,906 --> 00:20:01,074
That's something
we all do as storytellers.
313
00:20:01,158 --> 00:20:03,452
We gravitate towards the things
that we grow up around,
314
00:20:03,535 --> 00:20:04,745
the things that we like.
315
00:20:04,828 --> 00:20:06,496
I almost feel like that doesn't go away.
316
00:20:10,542 --> 00:20:12,711
Growing up,
I had a strong group of friends.
317
00:20:12,794 --> 00:20:15,464
They were my crew, you know,
that was a graffiti crew.
318
00:20:17,299 --> 00:20:19,593
I loved them a lot
because it was all about art.
319
00:20:20,928 --> 00:20:23,513
Those crews were made up
of different nationalities,
320
00:20:23,597 --> 00:20:27,226
you know, just different cultures,
and it was us against the world.
321
00:20:29,228 --> 00:20:32,606
I loved how
art was this beacon for sharing.
322
00:20:32,689 --> 00:20:35,984
And it didn't matter who you were,
it was all about the art.
323
00:20:36,777 --> 00:20:39,404
It was just this fun life
of running around LA,
324
00:20:39,488 --> 00:20:42,282
spray paintin' and runnin' from the cops,
and gettin' up on buses,
325
00:20:42,366 --> 00:20:45,410
and jumpin' out of windows in case
the bus driver stopped or whatever.
326
00:20:45,494 --> 00:20:47,204
It was fun 'cause it was mischievous,
327
00:20:47,287 --> 00:20:49,248
but it was also art-related,
and I loved that.
328
00:20:50,499 --> 00:20:52,417
The thing was, is that this was an outlet
329
00:20:52,501 --> 00:20:55,796
to kind of see yourself
bigger than anyone sees you.
330
00:20:57,798 --> 00:21:00,133
You're talkin' about LA
in the '80s and '90s.
331
00:21:00,217 --> 00:21:03,428
It's rife with gang activity
on every other corner.
332
00:21:04,137 --> 00:21:06,306
No one's looking at a brown kid
back then and going,
333
00:21:06,390 --> 00:21:08,392
"My God, you know,
you're going to Harvard."
334
00:21:08,475 --> 00:21:10,352
They're going,
"Oh, God. You're going to jail.
335
00:21:10,435 --> 00:21:12,646
"'Cause look at you,
you're a graffiti artist."
336
00:21:12,729 --> 00:21:15,607
And we're just going,
"Look, we just wanna be seen."
337
00:21:20,320 --> 00:21:24,116
I tried to apply to art colleges,
but my parents, we couldn't afford it.
338
00:21:24,866 --> 00:21:27,786
And I tried to get
some sort of scholarship or somethin',
339
00:21:27,869 --> 00:21:30,080
but I was a terrible student.
I'll be honest.
340
00:21:30,163 --> 00:21:33,292
I wasn't as focused on my studies
as I should have been
341
00:21:33,375 --> 00:21:35,002
because I drew all the time.
342
00:21:35,544 --> 00:21:36,545
My parents were awesome.
343
00:21:36,628 --> 00:21:38,380
They were always supportive of me drawing.
344
00:21:39,131 --> 00:21:41,508
But they drove buses for a living.
345
00:21:41,591 --> 00:21:44,136
My parents would be like,
"Totally. Drawing is great.
346
00:21:44,219 --> 00:21:45,387
"We're gonna support you.
347
00:21:45,470 --> 00:21:47,222
"However, think about driving a bus?"
348
00:21:48,098 --> 00:21:50,392
And I was like,
"I'm not gonna be a bus driver
349
00:21:50,475 --> 00:21:53,270
"'cause that feels like
I'm settlin', Mom."
350
00:21:53,353 --> 00:21:56,148
But the thing is that it always
kind of pushed me into trying
351
00:21:56,231 --> 00:21:58,317
to hustle up drawing for a living.
352
00:21:59,109 --> 00:22:01,236
My spectrum of what it could've been was
353
00:22:01,320 --> 00:22:04,531
doing designs for T-shirts,
storefronts with graffiti,
354
00:22:04,614 --> 00:22:06,533
like, it was like this,
you know, airbrushing.
355
00:22:06,616 --> 00:22:09,411
It was a small thing
that you could maintain a business.
356
00:22:09,911 --> 00:22:12,414
I don't know if you could
support a family with that.
357
00:22:13,457 --> 00:22:14,958
I was looking for the right fit,
358
00:22:15,042 --> 00:22:17,085
and I figured comic books
was gonna be my fit.
359
00:22:18,837 --> 00:22:21,423
I started getting into comic books
in high school.
360
00:22:22,215 --> 00:22:26,053
I loved the Brothers Hernandez.
Jaime, Berto and Mario,
361
00:22:26,553 --> 00:22:28,972
and I loved their work
because it was this great mash-up
362
00:22:29,056 --> 00:22:31,975
of these characters that lived
in an area like I did.
363
00:22:32,059 --> 00:22:33,977
They were Latin, mostly.
364
00:22:34,061 --> 00:22:36,938
It was grounded in a world like mine,
but they'd have adventures.
365
00:22:37,022 --> 00:22:38,648
They would go into outer space.
366
00:22:39,524 --> 00:22:41,568
It was like,
"This is fantastic, different."
367
00:22:42,277 --> 00:22:45,489
Comic books made me double down and go,
"I want to tell stories."
368
00:23:00,629 --> 00:23:03,382
My daughter loved costumes
when she was younger.
369
00:23:03,465 --> 00:23:05,133
She had this Tigger costume.
370
00:23:05,217 --> 00:23:08,053
And she loved dancing around,
being Tigger.
371
00:23:08,136 --> 00:23:10,138
She would wear it for days on end.
372
00:23:10,972 --> 00:23:14,142
When I started to explore ideas
of this little girl,
373
00:23:14,226 --> 00:23:19,689
I initially started her as a little girl
that dressed up in a cat costume.
374
00:23:19,773 --> 00:23:22,567
I just wanted her to be
a pure little 4-year-old
375
00:23:22,651 --> 00:23:25,070
with the energy
and excitement and imagination
376
00:23:25,153 --> 00:23:27,406
that kids of that age usually have.
377
00:23:27,489 --> 00:23:29,533
Little kids, their emotions are unbounded,
378
00:23:29,616 --> 00:23:33,370
so you can have, "I'm happy, I'm sad,
and I'm angry and I'm playful"
379
00:23:33,453 --> 00:23:35,497
all within five or 10 minutes.
380
00:23:36,790 --> 00:23:38,291
I knew I had this tough grandma
381
00:23:38,375 --> 00:23:41,837
who was gonna be visited by
her granddaughter, who is super energetic.
382
00:23:41,920 --> 00:23:45,382
I wanna engage, engage,
engage with my grandma.
383
00:23:46,133 --> 00:23:49,761
And the grandma's like, "Yes, I love you,
but I'm trying to do something right now."
384
00:23:50,053 --> 00:23:52,389
I had to kind of figure out
why she would go to
385
00:23:52,472 --> 00:23:54,933
the lengths to keep
the little girl away from her.
386
00:23:56,935 --> 00:23:58,937
As I was exploring the grandmother,
387
00:23:59,020 --> 00:24:03,900
not baking cookies and not doing
the '80s TV show version of a grandma,
388
00:24:03,984 --> 00:24:05,277
but someone that I know.
389
00:24:06,319 --> 00:24:09,865
So, like, that grit that
I remember in my grandmas,
390
00:24:09,948 --> 00:24:12,117
it was kind of like
trying to pull off of them,
391
00:24:12,200 --> 00:24:13,785
you know, glean pieces of them.
392
00:24:14,661 --> 00:24:17,747
Thinking about it, I was kind of like,
"What if she loved wrestling?"
393
00:24:18,582 --> 00:24:20,584
But that comes with the trappings of,
394
00:24:20,667 --> 00:24:22,502
"Oh, you're Hispanic. Is she Hispanic?
395
00:24:22,586 --> 00:24:25,589
"Oh, luchadores, am I right?
She was a luchador, am I right?"
396
00:24:25,672 --> 00:24:30,510
And I'm like, "No.
She loves wrestling like soap operas."
397
00:24:31,261 --> 00:24:33,472
It's no different.
It's just more athletic.
398
00:24:34,639 --> 00:24:36,683
It's the thing that she loves to watch.
399
00:24:37,559 --> 00:24:39,603
So I was like,
"Okay, this is sitting right."
400
00:24:40,854 --> 00:24:43,982
Because it's not some sort of arbitrary
decision that makes her interesting.
401
00:24:44,107 --> 00:24:46,485
It's something that's rooted
in something real.
402
00:24:46,568 --> 00:24:49,654
So I'm like, "Okay, that's what it is."
That's how it started.
403
00:25:00,999 --> 00:25:02,834
CORBIN: I mostly board digitally,
404
00:25:02,918 --> 00:25:07,839
but when I'm brainstorming ideas,
I will draw them on paper first sometimes,
405
00:25:07,923 --> 00:25:09,257
more like thumbnails.
406
00:25:09,341 --> 00:25:13,845
Just so I can start to try and figure out
these shots that are in my head
407
00:25:13,929 --> 00:25:18,308
and they help me visualize
some of the key scenes
408
00:25:18,391 --> 00:25:20,560
I wanna portray in my short.
409
00:25:22,145 --> 00:25:27,108
And I'm working on the intro conversation
with Gia and her sister Nicole.
410
00:25:27,901 --> 00:25:32,864
The creation of this sister character
is based off of my sister.
411
00:25:34,241 --> 00:25:37,035
My sister is my best friend,
and we're only two years apart,
412
00:25:37,118 --> 00:25:41,414
and so it's nice to have someone who
is not too far away from you in age,
413
00:25:41,498 --> 00:25:43,333
who knows what you're going through.
414
00:25:45,752 --> 00:25:49,339
The idea of going out with your sister
for your 21st birthday
415
00:25:49,422 --> 00:25:52,342
felt so gettable and so adorable.
416
00:25:52,842 --> 00:25:55,887
I just got really excited
about their relationship.
417
00:25:59,349 --> 00:26:01,476
Then I started thinking about settings.
418
00:26:02,310 --> 00:26:04,646
I initially thought of an office.
419
00:26:06,773 --> 00:26:10,068
And it started with talking to friends
by the water cooler
420
00:26:10,151 --> 00:26:13,071
as three characters stacked up
on top of each other.
421
00:26:13,780 --> 00:26:18,243
And then what if some of her friends
take her out to this club,
422
00:26:18,326 --> 00:26:20,662
and that's when she has this meltdown.
423
00:26:23,206 --> 00:26:25,750
But as a person
who doesn't work in a typical office,
424
00:26:25,834 --> 00:26:27,961
it kind of felt untruthful.
425
00:26:29,421 --> 00:26:32,465
And then I was like, "Okay,
what if I cut the entire office part out
426
00:26:32,549 --> 00:26:35,343
"and just have it happen
entirely in the club?"
427
00:26:37,304 --> 00:26:39,723
Being more of a homebody introvert,
428
00:26:39,806 --> 00:26:42,684
there's something so truthful
about going to a place
429
00:26:42,767 --> 00:26:45,854
where you're supposed to be having
a fun time, but you're really not.
430
00:26:45,937 --> 00:26:49,399
It felt right. It was like
one setting, it was concise,
431
00:26:49,482 --> 00:26:52,277
and it really tightened up
the rest of the story.
432
00:26:58,283 --> 00:27:02,329
GONZALES: So, the grandma, she's gonna be
in her early 50s, you know?
433
00:27:02,412 --> 00:27:05,040
So, not too old where
she's like, "My hip and my stuff."
434
00:27:05,123 --> 00:27:07,375
Your thoughts around hair?
It's complicated.
435
00:27:07,459 --> 00:27:08,627
Well, we're... (CHUCKLES)
436
00:27:09,252 --> 00:27:11,463
MORRIS: The director
is the key storyteller.
437
00:27:11,546 --> 00:27:14,716
And their wing-person is their producer,
438
00:27:15,550 --> 00:27:18,678
they get a lot of stuff thrown at them
that they aren't expecting,
439
00:27:18,762 --> 00:27:20,472
and they have to be thinking of,
440
00:27:20,555 --> 00:27:22,807
"How can I do this better,
faster, cheaper?"
441
00:27:23,308 --> 00:27:26,728
I needed my partner in the short to be
someone who's gonna check me,
442
00:27:26,811 --> 00:27:28,688
because I don't wanna have blind spots.
443
00:27:28,813 --> 00:27:31,274
But I wanted to know who Courtney was.
444
00:27:31,358 --> 00:27:33,777
You've worked in
a ton of departments, right?
445
00:27:33,860 --> 00:27:35,153
How do you like to work?
446
00:27:35,236 --> 00:27:36,946
I think one of the biggest things for me,
447
00:27:37,030 --> 00:27:38,990
to help pull up the pace,
is collaboration.
448
00:27:39,491 --> 00:27:41,326
My name is Courtney Kent.
449
00:27:41,409 --> 00:27:44,162
I've been at Pixar
a little over 13 years now.
450
00:27:44,245 --> 00:27:45,789
How many editors do we have?
451
00:27:45,872 --> 00:27:46,873
How does that work?
452
00:27:46,956 --> 00:27:49,209
I've got a list of people
that are open to it,
453
00:27:49,292 --> 00:27:51,336
and I think we can sit and talk
to all of them.
454
00:27:51,419 --> 00:27:54,464
Along the way, I got to help
on the development
455
00:27:54,547 --> 00:27:58,218
of the very first SparkShort,
Smash and Grab.
456
00:27:59,969 --> 00:28:01,805
And since then, I have been saying,
457
00:28:02,055 --> 00:28:06,309
if there's ever an opportunity for
a Spark producer, I would love to do it.
458
00:28:07,769 --> 00:28:10,772
Louis and I got partnered together,
not knowing each other,
459
00:28:10,855 --> 00:28:13,775
which was intimidating
and exciting at the same time.
460
00:28:13,858 --> 00:28:15,944
It feels a little bit
like a blind marriage.
461
00:28:16,319 --> 00:28:17,696
I was very nervous.
462
00:28:17,779 --> 00:28:20,240
I think I felt like I had a lot to prove.
463
00:28:20,365 --> 00:28:23,118
I think, having never been a producer
before, you go into it, like,
464
00:28:23,243 --> 00:28:24,911
"I don't know what I'm doing."
465
00:28:25,787 --> 00:28:28,289
But as soon as we started
talking about the story
466
00:28:28,373 --> 00:28:30,333
being really focused on family,
467
00:28:30,959 --> 00:28:32,669
and I have a young daughter,
468
00:28:34,421 --> 00:28:36,881
we were able to find some fast connections
469
00:28:37,048 --> 00:28:39,592
that gave us some great momentum
going forward.
470
00:28:42,220 --> 00:28:44,848
COLLINS: The producer is very much
the partner for the director,
471
00:28:44,973 --> 00:28:47,517
but also the kind of leader of the crew.
472
00:28:48,017 --> 00:28:50,729
So, we'd ask that producers on SparkShorts
473
00:28:50,812 --> 00:28:53,314
find people that they trust
474
00:28:53,398 --> 00:28:58,153
and use them to get the director's vision
up on the screen.
475
00:28:59,279 --> 00:29:03,867
CORBIN: I think I was told, "You have
a producer now and he is Erik."
476
00:29:05,076 --> 00:29:09,789
I didn't really know him,
and my initial reaction was like,
477
00:29:09,873 --> 00:29:11,708
"I can handle it myself."
478
00:29:11,791 --> 00:29:14,711
I just didn't know what
that relationship even meant.
479
00:29:15,211 --> 00:29:18,882
And then I started to get
what our dynamic was going to be.
480
00:29:19,299 --> 00:29:20,884
My name is Erik Langley.
481
00:29:20,967 --> 00:29:24,220
I've been with Pixar since 2004.
482
00:29:24,304 --> 00:29:25,805
That's about 16 years now.
483
00:29:26,598 --> 00:29:29,684
And it's my first time
producing a SparkShort.
484
00:29:31,686 --> 00:29:36,107
From the beginning, Aphton knew what
the story was that she wanted to tell,
485
00:29:36,191 --> 00:29:38,693
and there's nothing better
that a crew can have
486
00:29:38,777 --> 00:29:40,945
than a director that knows
what he or she wants.
487
00:29:41,863 --> 00:29:46,826
The biggest crew that we're gonna have
on a film is gonna be the animation crew.
488
00:29:46,910 --> 00:29:50,121
I feel like I could see animators
asking about, like,
489
00:29:50,205 --> 00:29:51,956
"What's going on in that coat?" And like,
490
00:29:52,040 --> 00:29:54,083
"Do you have any vision of how,
you know...
491
00:29:54,209 --> 00:29:55,919
"How often are we gonna cut in..."
492
00:29:56,002 --> 00:29:58,713
We wanted to pitch to animation
so they could have some context,
493
00:29:58,797 --> 00:30:02,217
see what the story was gonna be,
the characters were gonna be, the style...
494
00:30:02,300 --> 00:30:04,260
-That's all you guys.
-Stuff like this. Yeah.
495
00:30:04,344 --> 00:30:06,262
-You can decide. Get 'em all excited.
-Exactly.
496
00:30:06,387 --> 00:30:10,183
CORBIN: Sometimes the animators
have an option on what show to go on,
497
00:30:10,308 --> 00:30:12,894
and so you want to convince them
that your idea is
498
00:30:12,977 --> 00:30:15,730
really exciting, and that
they'll have a fun time on it.
499
00:30:19,067 --> 00:30:22,111
GONZALES: All 70 animators were
in this one screening room,
500
00:30:22,195 --> 00:30:26,783
and animators have the reputation
of being kind of hard.
501
00:30:26,866 --> 00:30:29,035
Like, "Here we are now,
entertain us" kind of vibe.
502
00:30:30,703 --> 00:30:33,915
This was my first big pitch
to a group that size.
503
00:30:33,998 --> 00:30:36,167
It's scary, it's nerve-racking,
it's a big deal.
504
00:30:36,292 --> 00:30:38,336
'Cause how your movie
lives and breathes
505
00:30:38,419 --> 00:30:42,006
is gonna be that relationship
between you and the animators.
506
00:30:42,090 --> 00:30:44,843
LANGLEY: Anytime you have to get up
in front of a hundred-plus people
507
00:30:44,926 --> 00:30:46,427
and do a little presentation,
508
00:30:46,511 --> 00:30:49,180
you're always gonna be,
I guess, a little bit anxious.
509
00:30:52,684 --> 00:30:54,310
All right, hello, animation.
510
00:30:54,394 --> 00:30:58,857
Thanks for having us, letting us crash
your meeting. So, I'm Erik, I'm producing.
511
00:30:58,940 --> 00:31:02,360
I'm Aphton and I'm directing.
So I hit this to get going?
512
00:31:02,443 --> 00:31:03,444
-Yes.
-Aha!
513
00:31:03,528 --> 00:31:06,447
The working title we're going
with right now is Twenty Something.
514
00:31:06,531 --> 00:31:10,493
I was like, "Okay, I hope I just remember
everything I had planned to say."
515
00:31:10,577 --> 00:31:12,579
This is every time I go out, by the way,
516
00:31:12,662 --> 00:31:15,582
and being overwhelmed by all these people
who've got it together.
517
00:31:15,665 --> 00:31:17,375
I mean, just those moments in the office
518
00:31:17,458 --> 00:31:19,669
where you feel like
you didn't say the right thing.
519
00:31:19,752 --> 00:31:21,921
I had some embarrassing pictures
of me as a kid.
520
00:31:22,005 --> 00:31:23,298
I was like, "They'll like that."
521
00:31:23,381 --> 00:31:24,632
(CROWD CLAPPING, LAUGHING)
522
00:31:24,716 --> 00:31:26,467
"I'll hate it, they'll love it."
523
00:31:27,594 --> 00:31:30,054
Note the mesh-fingerless gloves.
524
00:31:30,138 --> 00:31:31,890
-(CROWD LAUGHING)
-We'll just move on.
525
00:31:32,932 --> 00:31:35,310
GONZALES: I think Aphton has
a really interesting concept.
526
00:31:35,435 --> 00:31:39,022
She was funny, she had her characters
and stuff like that. It was a good pitch.
527
00:31:39,147 --> 00:31:40,273
Please.
528
00:31:40,356 --> 00:31:43,818
But it was that time in the process
where I knew my characters
529
00:31:43,902 --> 00:31:46,279
and I knew my setting,
but I didn't know my story.
530
00:31:46,362 --> 00:31:48,823
"What would best represent me in a story?"
531
00:31:48,907 --> 00:31:52,076
And I thought,
"About a 50-year-old grandmother
532
00:31:52,201 --> 00:31:53,536
-"with her granddaughter."
-(CHUCKLES)
533
00:31:53,661 --> 00:31:57,123
And I'm just going, like, "Man, no one's
gonna wanna work on this short."
534
00:31:57,206 --> 00:31:58,625
Because it doesn't sound exciting.
535
00:32:00,126 --> 00:32:04,005
So, I figured I need to go into this
and present myself.
536
00:32:04,130 --> 00:32:09,510
-Here it is. Come on! Come on! Yeah.
-Yes, she loves wrestling.
537
00:32:09,636 --> 00:32:12,847
GONZALES: I wanna make sure I emphasize
who I am and how I go about stuff.
538
00:32:12,972 --> 00:32:15,141
Little girl's dropping elbows and leg.
539
00:32:15,224 --> 00:32:16,726
Get someone excited to work on this.
540
00:32:16,809 --> 00:32:19,687
Grandma's pullin' her down,
swinging around, upside down.
541
00:32:19,771 --> 00:32:22,231
Really stuff that we shouldn't
be doing with little kids,
542
00:32:22,315 --> 00:32:24,025
Grandma's probably gonna be doing.
543
00:32:24,108 --> 00:32:25,777
All right. Thank you!
544
00:32:25,902 --> 00:32:28,821
KENT: There was a great reception.
People seemed pretty excited.
545
00:32:28,905 --> 00:32:31,491
We both had animators after come up
546
00:32:31,616 --> 00:32:34,661
and talk about how fun
they thought the story was.
547
00:32:35,078 --> 00:32:36,621
-GONZALES: Daniel.
-Good job.
548
00:32:36,704 --> 00:32:38,665
GONZALES: Hey, right on, bro.
549
00:32:38,748 --> 00:32:39,749
LANGLEY: Nice job, guys.
550
00:32:39,832 --> 00:32:41,334
GONZALES: Hey, same with you guys, man.
551
00:32:41,417 --> 00:32:43,753
LANGLEY: After we pitched,
it got a good response.
552
00:32:43,878 --> 00:32:46,089
People were excited,
they wanted to be a part of it.
553
00:32:51,386 --> 00:32:54,764
GONZALES: My whole career has been gettin'
thrown into the deep end of the ocean
554
00:32:54,847 --> 00:32:56,891
and havin' to make my way back to shore.
555
00:32:58,935 --> 00:33:00,812
I didn't go to art school,
and I don't have
556
00:33:00,895 --> 00:33:02,397
this "get in, fit in" mentality
557
00:33:02,480 --> 00:33:04,857
that you kind of develop
when you go through schools
558
00:33:04,941 --> 00:33:06,651
and you grow up a certain kind of a way.
559
00:33:08,069 --> 00:33:12,699
It was very much about trying to see
how I can figure stuff out.
560
00:33:14,617 --> 00:33:17,787
Early on, when I was hanging out
at the back of this comic book store
561
00:33:17,870 --> 00:33:21,666
with a few other friends of mine,
I met this guy, Johan,
562
00:33:21,749 --> 00:33:23,710
and he has mentorship, and he's like,
563
00:33:23,793 --> 00:33:26,421
"Do you ever think about animation?"
564
00:33:26,504 --> 00:33:30,008
And I said, "You mean, like, watch it?"
And he's like, "No, working."
565
00:33:30,091 --> 00:33:31,592
"I don't know if I can do it."
566
00:33:31,676 --> 00:33:33,845
He was like,
"We'll put a portfolio together
567
00:33:33,928 --> 00:33:35,263
and get you a job in animation."
568
00:33:35,346 --> 00:33:38,224
I was like, "I got nothin' to lose
and I wanna draw for a living."
569
00:33:38,349 --> 00:33:40,727
I hunkered down
and woke up at 7:00 in the morning.
570
00:33:40,810 --> 00:33:43,896
I was on my little desk
next to my bed doing these tests
571
00:33:43,980 --> 00:33:46,607
and doing these drawings
every day for about eight months.
572
00:33:46,691 --> 00:33:49,193
You know, puttin' together this portfolio.
573
00:33:51,779 --> 00:33:54,157
Going out into the zoo and drawing.
574
00:33:56,200 --> 00:33:58,286
And going to museums.
575
00:33:58,411 --> 00:34:00,496
Wherever I can figure out
how to scoot my way in
576
00:34:00,580 --> 00:34:02,123
to get some free gesture drawing.
577
00:34:03,624 --> 00:34:07,045
When it was all said and done, I had
a portfolio. I was like, "Whoa!"
578
00:34:11,132 --> 00:34:12,800
I applied to several studios.
579
00:34:12,884 --> 00:34:14,969
Some of them were like,
"Thanks, but no, thanks."
580
00:34:15,053 --> 00:34:16,888
But Warner Bros. Feature,
they were like,
581
00:34:16,971 --> 00:34:19,098
"Yes, we want you
to come here as a trainee."
582
00:34:19,182 --> 00:34:21,059
And I was like, "Well, does it pay?"
(LAUGHS)
583
00:34:24,187 --> 00:34:26,481
Warner Bros. Feature Animation
was my art school.
584
00:34:26,564 --> 00:34:29,942
It was where I cut my teeth,
got a lot of opportunity on Iron Giant.
585
00:34:30,026 --> 00:34:31,819
Because there was always learning.
586
00:34:32,737 --> 00:34:33,863
Working on Iron Giant
587
00:34:33,946 --> 00:34:36,699
was one of the best experiences
I ever had in my career.
588
00:34:37,992 --> 00:34:41,454
Brad Bird was this geyser of energy,
589
00:34:41,537 --> 00:34:44,123
and he was a force
that was just moving this along.
590
00:34:44,207 --> 00:34:48,086
And everyone was just holding on
for dear life to try and stay with him.
591
00:34:48,169 --> 00:34:51,547
Brad and the crew
gave me a chance to prove myself.
592
00:34:53,466 --> 00:34:54,926
It wasn't a judgment. It was like,
593
00:34:55,009 --> 00:34:56,844
"Here's the work,
you keep doing good work,
594
00:34:56,928 --> 00:34:58,304
"I'm gonna keep giving you work."
595
00:34:58,387 --> 00:35:00,056
And I'm like, "Please, give me more."
596
00:35:00,139 --> 00:35:02,517
'Cause the last thing I wanna do
is not be in animation
597
00:35:02,600 --> 00:35:04,560
'cause I love it.
If it wasn't for Iron Giant,
598
00:35:04,644 --> 00:35:08,147
I wouldn't have worked with Brad, right?
And I wouldn't be up at Pixar.
599
00:35:10,358 --> 00:35:13,444
Pixar was really weird for me
when I first started.
600
00:35:14,821 --> 00:35:20,118
Because when I came in, everyone
was so nice that I was kind of like,
601
00:35:20,243 --> 00:35:23,788
"You guys are all fake. And I..."
You know, "And I'm on to you."
602
00:35:25,331 --> 00:35:31,337
People here were into making great stuff,
and I loved that.
603
00:35:32,380 --> 00:35:34,799
But, you know, when you walk
into an animation studio,
604
00:35:34,882 --> 00:35:37,385
it's, like, action figures
are all up on their desks,
605
00:35:37,468 --> 00:35:40,471
and all kinds of fun stuff.
And I was like, "Yo, that's so not me.
606
00:35:40,596 --> 00:35:44,559
"I'm not that kind of guy."
It just felt like a different world.
607
00:35:47,145 --> 00:35:51,315
And so it just started this long process,
for me, of trying to figure out how I fit.
608
00:35:52,191 --> 00:35:56,195
On top of that, I would work, like,
14-hour days, six days a week, at least.
609
00:35:57,113 --> 00:35:59,907
And when you have kids,
you have a responsibility.
610
00:36:00,783 --> 00:36:02,618
Family is everything to me.
611
00:36:06,873 --> 00:36:10,793
And trying to find a balance there is,
you know, it was difficult.
612
00:36:12,128 --> 00:36:15,923
Either, do I choose my career,
or do I choose my kids?
613
00:36:20,887 --> 00:36:22,305
That's what makes it hard.
614
00:36:40,031 --> 00:36:41,824
CORBIN: When I had the idea of having
615
00:36:41,908 --> 00:36:44,869
three kids stacked on top of each other
in a trench coat,
616
00:36:44,952 --> 00:36:47,622
I was like, "I'm gonna have to sell this
617
00:36:47,705 --> 00:36:49,457
"as an idea that's not gonna be expensive
618
00:36:49,540 --> 00:36:51,584
"and hard to do,
and the best way to do this,
619
00:36:51,667 --> 00:36:55,504
"and have it look appealing and gorgeous,
is going to be 2D."
620
00:36:58,799 --> 00:37:01,385
The difference between 2D and 3D animation
621
00:37:01,469 --> 00:37:06,349
is that 3D is computer-generated
and can show depth in three dimensions.
622
00:37:08,601 --> 00:37:11,520
And 2D is flat, hand-drawn.
623
00:37:13,064 --> 00:37:15,274
There were two 2D SparkShorts
624
00:37:15,358 --> 00:37:18,319
that were done before, Kitbull and Burrow.
625
00:37:20,154 --> 00:37:22,949
And so I think there was enough
collective knowledge to be, like,
626
00:37:23,032 --> 00:37:25,618
"Why can't we do it 2D?
Let's give it a shot."
627
00:37:26,869 --> 00:37:28,746
CORBIN: I really like this, Rachel.
This is so fast.
628
00:37:28,829 --> 00:37:30,665
-I gave you what I wanted...
-(RACHEL XIN LAUGHING)
629
00:37:30,748 --> 00:37:33,167
...and then you were like,
"Yeah. Here you go, here you go."
630
00:37:33,251 --> 00:37:35,044
RACHEL: This is my job. (LAUGHS)
631
00:37:35,127 --> 00:37:36,128
CORBIN: I know.
632
00:37:36,212 --> 00:37:38,422
I'm working with Rachel,
my character design artist.
633
00:37:40,049 --> 00:37:42,802
I had thought about doing
the character design myself,
634
00:37:42,885 --> 00:37:46,889
but I also really wanted to work
on my new job as a director.
635
00:37:46,973 --> 00:37:48,641
And directing someone in art
636
00:37:48,724 --> 00:37:51,602
felt like another important thing
that I needed to learn.
637
00:37:51,686 --> 00:37:53,854
-I'm really liking this one.
-XIN: Ah!
638
00:37:53,980 --> 00:37:58,567
I think we found something fun
with the hair choice.
639
00:37:58,693 --> 00:38:00,820
I think I'm more drawn
to this face shape as well.
640
00:38:00,903 --> 00:38:05,324
Figuring out my own voice
as a director became really important
641
00:38:05,408 --> 00:38:08,119
in this crazy Spark process.
642
00:38:08,202 --> 00:38:10,079
-Should we...
-(CHUCKLES) The sticker?
643
00:38:10,162 --> 00:38:12,999
-CORBIN: The director Post-its.
-Yeah. Do you wanna... Yeah. You do it.
644
00:38:13,082 --> 00:38:15,293
-Do you mind if I have my moment?
-Have your moment.
645
00:38:15,376 --> 00:38:18,004
-XIN: This is a really enjoyable moment.
-It is. I like this one!
646
00:38:18,087 --> 00:38:21,257
This one. I'm really liking this.
I love this head.
647
00:38:21,340 --> 00:38:23,426
So, I started to go back
and look at those things
648
00:38:23,509 --> 00:38:26,178
that made me "me" and brought me here.
649
00:38:27,513 --> 00:38:30,850
Growing up, I always loved
animation and cartoons.
650
00:38:31,475 --> 00:38:34,020
Especially Disney cartoons.
651
00:38:35,313 --> 00:38:38,858
When I got to high school,
I took an animation class.
652
00:38:39,525 --> 00:38:44,405
And I would just sit in my room and try
to draw stuff and staple paper together.
653
00:38:45,948 --> 00:38:50,661
Seeing a drawing come to life
grabbed me, and from there,
654
00:38:50,745 --> 00:38:52,830
I learned about different schools
that taught it.
655
00:38:53,331 --> 00:38:55,458
I really gravitated towards CalArts
656
00:38:55,541 --> 00:38:58,502
because it was a school
founded by Walt Disney.
657
00:39:00,254 --> 00:39:02,214
And so I was like,
"I gotta go to this school."
658
00:39:02,882 --> 00:39:06,177
As soon as I graduated,
I applied to CalArts,
659
00:39:07,136 --> 00:39:11,849
but I didn't get in. Instead,
I went to a community college.
660
00:39:12,516 --> 00:39:17,021
And I wound up working a lot of hours
at McDonald's to earn income for myself.
661
00:39:17,104 --> 00:39:20,649
And I was like, "Oh, my goodness!
Am I ever gonna make it into animation?"
662
00:39:21,692 --> 00:39:24,070
But I was still working on my portfolio.
663
00:39:24,945 --> 00:39:28,824
And during that year-and-a-half,
I thought a lot about who I was
664
00:39:28,908 --> 00:39:30,534
as an artist.
665
00:39:31,452 --> 00:39:34,830
I was really inspired by Japanese anime.
666
00:39:34,914 --> 00:39:36,290
And so I tried to draw
667
00:39:36,374 --> 00:39:40,294
these very delicate anime line drawings
with a mechanical pencil,
668
00:39:40,378 --> 00:39:41,754
and then on the other side,
669
00:39:41,837 --> 00:39:45,341
I was trying to do really beautiful,
rough Disney style.
670
00:39:46,801 --> 00:39:47,802
Every once in a while,
671
00:39:47,885 --> 00:39:50,012
I'd kind of just do little
scribbles or something
672
00:39:50,096 --> 00:39:52,348
for myself, a silly comic,
673
00:39:53,641 --> 00:39:55,684
and people would be like,
"We really like that."
674
00:39:55,768 --> 00:39:57,686
I'd be like, "No,
that's not how I wanna draw.
675
00:39:57,770 --> 00:39:59,146
"That's, like, not good." (CHUCKLES)
676
00:39:59,897 --> 00:40:03,234
But people kept reacting to it
and, like, really loving it.
677
00:40:04,402 --> 00:40:07,613
And that's when I started to get more okay
with where I was at.
678
00:40:07,696 --> 00:40:12,076
And I put together a portfolio
and I applied to CalArts again.
679
00:40:13,828 --> 00:40:16,622
They really responded to it
and I got into CalArts.
680
00:40:22,420 --> 00:40:24,964
The plan was to get out
as fast as possible
681
00:40:25,047 --> 00:40:27,883
because the tuition was crazy expensive.
682
00:40:27,967 --> 00:40:30,845
And so I was like, "I'm gonna
be there for, like, a year.
683
00:40:30,928 --> 00:40:31,929
"Maybe two years.
684
00:40:32,012 --> 00:40:35,766
"And Pixar's just gonna love my stuff,
I'm gonna get swept up,
685
00:40:35,850 --> 00:40:39,854
"and then that'll be that."
But that's not what happened.
686
00:40:39,937 --> 00:40:43,607
And I was, like, just sweating
that entire whole four years thinking,
687
00:40:43,691 --> 00:40:46,735
"How come I'm not getting noticed?"
Like, "What am I doing wrong?"
688
00:40:46,819 --> 00:40:48,612
And, "What do the studios want?"
689
00:40:49,071 --> 00:40:51,115
I really needed to grow some more.
690
00:40:51,240 --> 00:40:56,495
I needed time to actually learn how
to be more of myself in my artwork.
691
00:40:56,579 --> 00:40:59,582
And I needed to find my own voice.
692
00:41:01,584 --> 00:41:04,962
One of my teachers was like, "Get a Tumblr
and start putting art on there."
693
00:41:05,045 --> 00:41:06,464
So I kind of used Tumblr as, like,
694
00:41:06,547 --> 00:41:08,507
"I'm gonna upload
something on here every week,
695
00:41:08,591 --> 00:41:11,093
"and who cares if it's ugly.
It's going on there."
696
00:41:16,849 --> 00:41:19,101
And that's when I started drawing myself
697
00:41:19,185 --> 00:41:20,936
in comics for the first time.
698
00:41:21,020 --> 00:41:24,106
And my experiences growing up
in the Sacramento area
699
00:41:24,190 --> 00:41:26,692
which is majority white.
700
00:41:26,817 --> 00:41:29,153
Living there as a Black family,
701
00:41:29,236 --> 00:41:34,158
there was a lot of weird awkwardness
that comes along with that.
702
00:41:34,241 --> 00:41:37,870
These comics were really
rough and scribbly.
703
00:41:39,622 --> 00:41:42,124
And I would post them
at the stroke of midnight.
704
00:41:44,210 --> 00:41:47,838
And then go hide in my dorm room,
like, "Oh, my God, what did I just post?
705
00:41:47,922 --> 00:41:50,466
"That was so, like, revealing."
706
00:41:54,053 --> 00:41:56,138
People who'd message me back
707
00:41:56,222 --> 00:41:57,681
or stop me in the hallway
708
00:41:57,765 --> 00:42:02,937
and feel the need to share their story
with me was a lot larger than I expected.
709
00:42:04,480 --> 00:42:08,651
And just being like,
"I felt the same way" and "I agree"
710
00:42:08,734 --> 00:42:10,986
and "Here's something
that happened to me,"
711
00:42:11,070 --> 00:42:14,114
and I thought that was something
that was very powerful and unexpected.
712
00:42:16,075 --> 00:42:21,121
It just continued to give me courage
to share my own stories in my own way.
713
00:42:23,123 --> 00:42:26,293
I just felt like, "Oh, why have I been
wasting my time trying to be
714
00:42:26,377 --> 00:42:28,254
"anything else but myself?"
715
00:42:30,965 --> 00:42:34,051
And that's how I actually
was noticed by Pixar.
716
00:42:35,386 --> 00:42:37,555
They reached out to me.
And I was like,
717
00:42:37,638 --> 00:42:40,683
"Of all things that I thought
Pixar would be interested,
718
00:42:40,766 --> 00:42:42,935
"I didn't think it would be
my Black girl comics."
719
00:42:45,521 --> 00:42:48,482
But I was able to tap
into a truthful story
720
00:42:48,566 --> 00:42:51,110
and help people see my point of view,
721
00:42:51,193 --> 00:42:53,445
and that's what Pixar
is really passionate about,
722
00:42:53,529 --> 00:42:56,365
is telling stories
from an authentic place.
723
00:42:59,827 --> 00:43:01,412
(WATER SPRINKLER WHIRRING)
724
00:43:14,842 --> 00:43:19,096
GONZALES: When I'm telling a story,
I wanna make something that feels honest.
725
00:43:22,474 --> 00:43:25,311
The story was gonna be
the granddaughter comes over
726
00:43:25,394 --> 00:43:27,396
and wants to be around the grandmother.
727
00:43:27,813 --> 00:43:29,690
And the grandmother
is trying to do something
728
00:43:29,773 --> 00:43:31,567
that the granddaughter interrupts.
729
00:43:33,027 --> 00:43:34,778
So, how does that play out?
730
00:43:34,862 --> 00:43:37,740
And I wanted the grandma having
some sense of imagination,
731
00:43:37,823 --> 00:43:39,617
because we know little kids do.
732
00:43:39,700 --> 00:43:42,661
So, I wanted to find that bridge of...
Yeah, they're alike.
733
00:43:42,745 --> 00:43:45,247
And how we can do that visually
without them saying, like,
734
00:43:45,331 --> 00:43:47,291
"Oh, boy." You know, like,
"You like wrestling?
735
00:43:47,374 --> 00:43:50,919
"I like wrestling. This is great, we're
such great grandma and granddaughter."
736
00:43:51,003 --> 00:43:54,173
I didn't want dialogue. No,
I wanted to just play it out and see
737
00:43:54,256 --> 00:43:58,135
what I can do. 'Cause, like, I've made
so many movies that have dialogue,
738
00:43:58,218 --> 00:44:00,846
it's kind of like,
"Can we just stop the talking?"
739
00:44:01,180 --> 00:44:02,973
I love animation that says less.
740
00:44:04,600 --> 00:44:06,602
COLLINS: One of the truisms here
is the belief
741
00:44:06,685 --> 00:44:10,356
that you should be able to turn the sound
off on any of our films and follow it.
742
00:44:12,399 --> 00:44:17,446
The storytelling should be that clear
and the visual should be that impactful.
743
00:44:17,529 --> 00:44:18,572
(CHIRPS)
744
00:44:20,032 --> 00:44:21,992
COLLINS: For WALL-E,
we were always being told,
745
00:44:22,076 --> 00:44:23,869
"Oh, kids won't sit and watch
746
00:44:23,952 --> 00:44:27,623
"a dialogue-free
25-minute beginning of a movie,
747
00:44:27,706 --> 00:44:30,334
"they'll lose interest."
But the reality is,
748
00:44:30,417 --> 00:44:34,713
kids spend their first four or five years
of their life just observing and watching
749
00:44:34,797 --> 00:44:37,341
and trying to understand what's happening.
750
00:44:38,258 --> 00:44:39,510
(WARBLES)
751
00:44:39,593 --> 00:44:44,098
And they have no problem understanding
the language coming their way.
752
00:44:46,266 --> 00:44:48,102
So, it's kind of this handshake
753
00:44:48,185 --> 00:44:51,271
you have to make
between the story and the visuals,
754
00:44:51,355 --> 00:44:54,191
which is like,
"This should work without dialogue."
755
00:44:54,274 --> 00:44:56,735
WALL-E: WALL-E!
EVE: WALL-E!
756
00:44:56,819 --> 00:44:59,363
Now, it might work better
when you have dialogue to it.
757
00:44:59,446 --> 00:45:01,198
But it should work without it.
758
00:45:03,575 --> 00:45:05,494
LANGLEY: When we kicked off, we were told,
759
00:45:05,577 --> 00:45:09,123
"On a SparkShort, you probably
wanna just do two characters,
760
00:45:09,206 --> 00:45:13,127
"minimal dialogue, and keep it to,
you know, a set or two."
761
00:45:14,336 --> 00:45:17,840
But Aphton's short
has five speaking roles.
762
00:45:19,007 --> 00:45:22,010
I knew that to sell this idea,
it would need some dialogue
763
00:45:22,136 --> 00:45:25,639
because you get so much personality
out of how people speak.
764
00:45:25,723 --> 00:45:28,183
Whoo! Let's party!
765
00:45:28,308 --> 00:45:31,729
CORBIN: So, I asked Erik, "Can you give me
a rough idea of how much dialogue
766
00:45:31,812 --> 00:45:34,523
"have been in the past shorts?"
And he was like,
767
00:45:34,606 --> 00:45:38,694
"Oh, you know, just, like, four pages."
And I was like, "Okay." (CHUCKLES)
768
00:45:39,737 --> 00:45:42,072
"I think mine's gonna be longer."
769
00:45:43,073 --> 00:45:48,162
Because the idea of feeling insecure about
being an adult, it's a little complex.
770
00:45:50,748 --> 00:45:51,790
MORRIS: When we make a film,
771
00:45:53,417 --> 00:45:57,045
we go through a process of making
what are called story reels,
772
00:45:57,129 --> 00:46:00,758
which is basically a rough,
hand-drawn version of the film
773
00:46:00,841 --> 00:46:04,511
that has temporary voices
and temporary music in it.
774
00:46:06,472 --> 00:46:10,350
We screen those and then try to identify
what's working and what's not.
775
00:46:12,728 --> 00:46:15,689
They start out and you think,
you know, "This is gonna be great."
776
00:46:16,148 --> 00:46:18,984
And then you put it up in reels
and look at it and you go, like,
777
00:46:19,067 --> 00:46:20,986
"Huh. Not as great as we thought."
778
00:46:21,069 --> 00:46:24,156
Reads to me like Joe knows
exactly where he's going,
779
00:46:24,239 --> 00:46:25,824
and he's done this before. (SMACKS LIPS)
780
00:46:25,908 --> 00:46:27,826
So, I feel like we need to adjust it.
781
00:46:27,910 --> 00:46:30,704
And then you try to tear it down
and see what's not working about it
782
00:46:30,788 --> 00:46:31,997
and put it together again.
783
00:46:45,844 --> 00:46:47,596
KENT: Louis came from stories,
784
00:46:47,679 --> 00:46:50,849
so he was comfortable drawing
all of the storyboards himself.
785
00:46:52,184 --> 00:46:54,478
And so that's kind of him sitting
and really thinking
786
00:46:54,561 --> 00:46:56,480
about the story that he wants to tell.
787
00:46:58,065 --> 00:47:03,111
And creating kind of key moments that
he feels like would help tell the story.
788
00:47:05,823 --> 00:47:10,160
So, you have a grandmother sitting down
to watch her wrestling show,
789
00:47:12,204 --> 00:47:14,832
and then the next key moment,
her granddaughter shows up.
790
00:47:18,377 --> 00:47:20,087
They have some conflict.
791
00:47:23,048 --> 00:47:24,550
The TV falls.
792
00:47:28,303 --> 00:47:33,225
They kind of wrestle on the floor
and then they hug.
793
00:47:34,893 --> 00:47:37,437
And once he has some
of those things fleshed out,
794
00:47:37,521 --> 00:47:40,691
those drawings would
get sent over to editorial
795
00:47:40,774 --> 00:47:43,360
and they would cut them together
and kind of time them out.
796
00:47:45,028 --> 00:47:49,867
I just wanted to throw some boards up
really fast, to see if we had something.
797
00:47:50,993 --> 00:47:54,162
Gave it to my editor,
so I can get a sense for the story.
798
00:47:55,247 --> 00:47:57,624
And then problem-solve, in the cut.
799
00:47:59,251 --> 00:48:02,588
I was, like, excited to see
what we had,
800
00:48:04,715 --> 00:48:09,553
but we watched the cut
and it was terrible.
801
00:48:18,353 --> 00:48:19,813
(CHUCKLING) And my heart sinks.
802
00:48:21,315 --> 00:48:24,484
I had lot of ideas that were kind of,
you know, jockeying for position.
803
00:48:25,193 --> 00:48:27,571
So, the story wasn't clear.
804
00:48:29,907 --> 00:48:32,826
But I could tell, even as bad as it was,
805
00:48:32,951 --> 00:48:34,494
that there was something here.
806
00:48:34,578 --> 00:48:40,918
I just needed to find it,
and that's when I kind of went away.
807
00:48:44,379 --> 00:48:46,590
KENT: Louis went radio silent,
808
00:48:46,673 --> 00:48:50,302
and when you don't have your director
having a defined vision,
809
00:48:50,385 --> 00:48:52,304
it's very, very challenging.
810
00:48:54,097 --> 00:48:58,685
I was like, "Oh, okay.
Are we gonna make this film?"
811
00:49:01,855 --> 00:49:04,399
GONZALES: I set my brain
on findin' the story.
812
00:49:05,651 --> 00:49:08,820
So, my brain's trying to figure it out
and it doesn't stop.
813
00:49:10,155 --> 00:49:12,991
I'm waking up at 3:00 in the morning
and sittin' in the dark.
814
00:49:13,408 --> 00:49:16,787
You're just mining
your soul for things that,
815
00:49:16,870 --> 00:49:19,039
on a different level, will resonate.
816
00:49:21,625 --> 00:49:24,294
It's the level that none of us see,
but we all feel.
817
00:49:24,753 --> 00:49:25,879
That human truth.
818
00:49:34,054 --> 00:49:37,307
Write that down,
explore it throughout the day,
819
00:49:37,391 --> 00:49:39,685
watch it go from, like,
in the morning it's glorious
820
00:49:39,768 --> 00:49:44,898
and, like, this solved everything,
to, like, noon, I'm not so sure,
821
00:49:44,982 --> 00:49:48,610
I'm scratching my head,
to, like, right before you go to bed,
822
00:49:48,694 --> 00:49:52,739
put your head on the pillow, and
it's like, "Oh, my God. This is terrible.
823
00:49:52,823 --> 00:49:55,283
"That's not gonna work.
What am I gonna do?"
824
00:50:02,124 --> 00:50:06,378
Based on the story and where I was at,
it was seismic in terms of
825
00:50:06,461 --> 00:50:09,172
feeling like,
"I'm gonna make the best short ever,"
826
00:50:09,256 --> 00:50:13,218
to, (CHUCKLES) "I am going to look like
the biggest fool in the world."
827
00:50:16,763 --> 00:50:19,474
It blew up more and more
each time I wrote it.
828
00:50:20,308 --> 00:50:22,352
I was in a super downward spiral.
829
00:50:22,769 --> 00:50:26,690
Writing, creating, felt very isolating,
and you feel alone.
830
00:50:27,858 --> 00:50:30,360
It was the darkest period I had.
831
00:50:31,028 --> 00:50:34,865
I was like, "I don't know what to do.
Just give me some more time, Courtney."
832
00:50:35,532 --> 00:50:39,745
KENT: The fear of not knowing what's
going on in his mind was really hard,
833
00:50:39,828 --> 00:50:43,206
and I thought,
"Do we have a story to tell?"
834
00:50:48,962 --> 00:50:52,132
MORRIS: Story is at the heart
of what we do.
835
00:50:52,215 --> 00:50:53,967
And since I've been at Pixar,
836
00:50:54,051 --> 00:50:58,388
I've seen the unfaltering
intestinal fortitude to pursue it
837
00:50:58,472 --> 00:51:01,141
until we get it right.
838
00:51:03,810 --> 00:51:07,481
It's not like you sit down
and figure the story out all at once.
839
00:51:08,356 --> 00:51:10,650
It takes a long, long, long, long time.
840
00:51:10,734 --> 00:51:13,737
And when we realize
the thing isn't quite working
841
00:51:13,820 --> 00:51:15,989
and we need to tear things down,
change it,
842
00:51:16,073 --> 00:51:18,283
that's just part of the process.
843
00:51:19,242 --> 00:51:21,745
Because if things are going smoothly,
844
00:51:22,871 --> 00:51:25,582
you're probably not trying hard
to do something great.
845
00:51:27,876 --> 00:51:30,253
COLLINS: You're just going back
and through something
846
00:51:30,337 --> 00:51:33,215
and trying to perfect something
again and again and again.
847
00:51:34,341 --> 00:51:37,260
On Finding Nemo, for the longest time,
848
00:51:37,344 --> 00:51:39,679
nobody liked Marlin, who's the dad.
849
00:51:39,805 --> 00:51:41,973
Whoa, whoa, whoa!
Hold on, hold on. Wait to cross.
850
00:51:42,057 --> 00:51:43,975
COLLINS: They're like, "He's annoying."
851
00:51:44,059 --> 00:51:45,894
(GRUNTS) You were about
to swim into open water!
852
00:51:45,977 --> 00:51:47,104
No! I wasn't gonna go out!
853
00:51:47,187 --> 00:51:48,313
-It's just a good thing I was here.
-But, Dad...
854
00:51:48,396 --> 00:51:51,358
And so we were like,
"Okay, rewrite, rewrite, rewrite."
855
00:51:51,441 --> 00:51:54,111
And the initial conceit of that movie
856
00:51:54,194 --> 00:51:59,241
was that the traumatic moment
of the barracuda coming in
857
00:52:00,075 --> 00:52:01,910
wasn't at the front of the movie.
858
00:52:03,078 --> 00:52:07,415
It was spelled out in flashbacks
throughout the film.
859
00:52:07,499 --> 00:52:09,709
CORAL: We still have to name them.
MARLIN: I haven't forgotten.
860
00:52:09,793 --> 00:52:12,587
CORAL: You know what name
I've always liked? Nemo.
861
00:52:12,671 --> 00:52:15,257
MARLIN: Great! One down.
Only 99 more to go.
862
00:52:15,549 --> 00:52:18,260
COLLINS: The problem was
you had no sympathy for this dad,
863
00:52:18,385 --> 00:52:20,262
because you're like,
"What is his deal?" (CHUCKLES)
864
00:52:20,345 --> 00:52:23,598
And so it was very late in the game,
865
00:52:24,307 --> 00:52:27,686
before it was like, "You guys,
this flashback thing is not working.
866
00:52:27,769 --> 00:52:29,271
"You have to put that story upfront."
867
00:52:29,938 --> 00:52:30,939
(GASPS)
868
00:52:32,065 --> 00:52:33,984
COLLINS: Because you're not sympathetic
869
00:52:34,067 --> 00:52:36,236
with the main character
and you have to be.
870
00:52:36,319 --> 00:52:37,404
Coral!
871
00:52:39,614 --> 00:52:41,032
Daddy's got you.
872
00:52:43,618 --> 00:52:47,164
When you go to tell a story,
there's a lot of reflection.
873
00:52:48,123 --> 00:52:50,375
'Cause I'm really asking myself,
874
00:52:50,458 --> 00:52:52,961
"Why do these characters
in this idea matter,
875
00:52:53,044 --> 00:52:56,631
"why is it always present in the back
of my brain? Why do I like this?"
876
00:52:57,048 --> 00:52:59,968
And you have to ask yourself
the hard questions.
877
00:53:01,511 --> 00:53:03,847
"What does this mean to you?
What is it trying to say?
878
00:53:03,930 --> 00:53:05,891
"What are you going through right now?"
879
00:53:07,142 --> 00:53:10,645
One of the things that inherently
was a game changer for me
880
00:53:10,729 --> 00:53:13,231
was a moment in the short
when the TV breaks.
881
00:53:15,108 --> 00:53:18,820
The grandma used to always be
super pissed off at the little girl.
882
00:53:22,699 --> 00:53:26,203
And I thought, "What a jerk.
Like, who wants to watch that character?"
883
00:53:27,704 --> 00:53:30,165
I realized with that,
it can't just be a character
884
00:53:30,248 --> 00:53:34,085
that wants to watch wrestling over
her grandchild. That just makes no sense.
885
00:53:36,087 --> 00:53:40,175
And so we had to dig deeper and find out
what wrestling means to her.
886
00:53:40,258 --> 00:53:42,844
Because we needed to know
on an emotional level
887
00:53:42,969 --> 00:53:44,638
why wrestling was the thing that she
888
00:53:44,721 --> 00:53:46,598
was shutting the world out for,
on this day
889
00:53:46,681 --> 00:53:49,476
and why it's an annoyance
when anybody comes over.
890
00:53:51,269 --> 00:53:55,982
And the question, to me, was like,
"What's a scary reaction in that moment?"
891
00:53:56,066 --> 00:53:59,319
And for me, her being vulnerable
892
00:53:59,402 --> 00:54:01,738
was the most scary thing
that I could put out there.
893
00:54:01,905 --> 00:54:03,240
(SIGHS)
894
00:54:03,323 --> 00:54:04,699
(CRYING)
895
00:54:04,783 --> 00:54:08,203
If she just starts to break down
and bawl, you know, just cry,
896
00:54:08,286 --> 00:54:11,957
and just, you know,
be genuinely upset by this
897
00:54:12,040 --> 00:54:13,708
interruption with her routine...
898
00:54:16,127 --> 00:54:18,213
That was a really big moment for me
899
00:54:18,296 --> 00:54:21,383
because it was like,
everything in my gut tells me it's right,
900
00:54:21,466 --> 00:54:25,095
but I'm hesitant because
I don't want her to seem weak.
901
00:54:26,763 --> 00:54:29,057
I was like, "Okay, we have to do it,"
902
00:54:29,140 --> 00:54:31,851
'cause it's about being vulnerable
with the characters.
903
00:54:31,935 --> 00:54:34,813
And I don't see how you can tell
a story if there isn't an aspect
904
00:54:34,896 --> 00:54:37,524
of vulnerability from yourself as well.
905
00:54:38,984 --> 00:54:42,529
Nona needed to have a reason
why this was special
906
00:54:43,071 --> 00:54:46,783
and I had flirted with the idea
of a deceased husband.
907
00:54:48,535 --> 00:54:52,247
Like, "Maybe wrestling is something
that she celebrated with her husband."
908
00:54:52,414 --> 00:54:54,457
But he's passed away,
909
00:54:55,458 --> 00:54:57,460
and so now we're starting
to lean into, like,
910
00:54:57,585 --> 00:55:01,548
this was her taking a day
to celebrate the love of her life.
911
00:55:02,257 --> 00:55:06,303
Now we're digging a little bit further
to find what this meant.
912
00:55:07,220 --> 00:55:09,681
And so once I brought the husband in,
913
00:55:09,764 --> 00:55:13,601
we now understand that
this is about him and her.
914
00:55:14,269 --> 00:55:16,521
And now there is an emotional weight to it
915
00:55:16,604 --> 00:55:19,274
that it didn't have
when it was just wrestling.
916
00:55:22,652 --> 00:55:25,905
DOCTER: The advice that I have
for SparkShorts filmmakers is,
917
00:55:26,072 --> 00:55:29,492
"Remember that
this is not for your benefit.
918
00:55:29,576 --> 00:55:31,995
"You're not here
making a movie for yourself.
919
00:55:32,078 --> 00:55:34,664
"You're making the movie for the audience.
920
00:55:34,748 --> 00:55:39,502
"And so if you think it's great,
but the audience doesn't, guess who wins?"
921
00:55:39,586 --> 00:55:40,628
(CHUCKLES)
922
00:55:40,712 --> 00:55:42,630
-(DOOR CLOSES)
-(FOOTSTEPS RECEDING)
923
00:55:43,465 --> 00:55:44,591
(OWL HOOTING)
924
00:55:44,674 --> 00:55:48,136
DOCTER: Every one of our films
try to present the characters
925
00:55:48,219 --> 00:55:50,972
and a situation
that immediately grabs your attention.
926
00:55:51,931 --> 00:55:53,767
DOCTER: Like the beginning
of Monsters Inc.,
927
00:55:53,850 --> 00:55:55,685
you know, there's a kid going to bed,
928
00:55:56,227 --> 00:56:00,648
and then immediately you start to see
strange things happening in the room.
929
00:56:01,608 --> 00:56:02,734
(GASPS)
930
00:56:02,817 --> 00:56:05,195
DOCTER: You're drawn in
because this is something
931
00:56:05,278 --> 00:56:08,573
that everybody has experienced
as a kid or even as an adult.
932
00:56:09,491 --> 00:56:10,492
(SCREAMING)
933
00:56:10,575 --> 00:56:12,035
(SCREAMING LOUDER)
934
00:56:14,621 --> 00:56:16,331
DOCTER: And then we reverse it by saying,
935
00:56:16,414 --> 00:56:21,294
"Wait a minute, yes, there are monsters,
but that's their job, to scare kids."
936
00:56:24,547 --> 00:56:27,884
And so it's got this
intrinsic kind of tie-in
937
00:56:27,967 --> 00:56:30,845
with what we know to be true with a twist.
938
00:56:32,222 --> 00:56:34,265
(ELECTRONIC MUSIC PLAYING)
939
00:56:35,767 --> 00:56:39,104
Uh, she's legit.
In fact, it's her birthday today!
940
00:56:39,187 --> 00:56:40,230
Congrats.
941
00:56:40,772 --> 00:56:45,151
CORBIN: When you're doing
an animated film, there's an excitement
942
00:56:45,235 --> 00:56:49,447
of, "How far can we push this
and still be believable?"
943
00:56:49,531 --> 00:56:51,950
Get whatever you want. I'm buying.
944
00:56:52,033 --> 00:56:54,619
Oh, milk then. (CHUCKLES) Kidding.
945
00:56:54,702 --> 00:56:57,205
CORBIN: Gia is very ambiguous
in the beginning,
946
00:56:57,705 --> 00:57:00,625
and there's a long period
before you realize,
947
00:57:00,708 --> 00:57:04,546
"Oh, it's just a woman
having a freak-out about her adulthood."
948
00:57:04,629 --> 00:57:06,923
-(BABY COOING)
-(GASPS)
949
00:57:07,006 --> 00:57:09,175
No! You had sweets earlier!
950
00:57:09,259 --> 00:57:13,221
-Uh, Gia, are you feelin' okay?
-Yeah, yeah. (CHUCKLES) Totally fine.
951
00:57:13,304 --> 00:57:16,349
LANGLEY: We had two screenings
and people came back with opinions...
952
00:57:16,433 --> 00:57:19,769
GIA: I gotta go potty... I mean, restroom.
I gotta go to the restroom.
953
00:57:20,562 --> 00:57:22,814
LANGLEY: And almost everybody asked,
954
00:57:22,897 --> 00:57:26,526
"Is she literally three kids
and a trench coat or is it a metaphor?
955
00:57:26,609 --> 00:57:28,653
"I think you need
to really make that clear,"
956
00:57:29,237 --> 00:57:31,072
and, "How's the audience gonna take that?"
957
00:57:35,285 --> 00:57:38,538
DOMEE SHI: Is it everything you imagined,
being a director?
958
00:57:38,621 --> 00:57:40,582
-CORBIN: I guess.
-(CHUCKLES)
959
00:57:40,665 --> 00:57:45,044
CORBIN: Think, overall, people
are getting what I'm trying to say.
960
00:57:45,128 --> 00:57:48,715
SHI: Have you gotten any notes
that have been not that?
961
00:57:50,175 --> 00:57:53,052
CORBIN: It's important to be clear,
there's a time and a place for it,
962
00:57:53,136 --> 00:57:58,183
but also knowing that some ambiguity
can be fun and more mysterious.
963
00:57:59,267 --> 00:58:01,853
I knew it was something
I really wanted to try.
964
00:58:01,936 --> 00:58:03,688
SHI: Just being
in the audience in the dark
965
00:58:03,771 --> 00:58:07,817
and hearing them
laugh and gasp, it's kind of cool.
966
00:58:07,901 --> 00:58:08,943
-Yeah.
-It--
967
00:58:09,027 --> 00:58:11,529
And then you get kind of addicted to that,
968
00:58:11,613 --> 00:58:17,118
and you wanna keep making audiences
feel things and react and scream.
969
00:58:17,202 --> 00:58:23,041
CORBIN: Domee is a director here at Pixar
and she directed the short Bao.
970
00:58:23,124 --> 00:58:25,710
She's just someone
I wanted to get advice from,
971
00:58:25,793 --> 00:58:30,423
because she was able to take risks
which were very interesting in her short.
972
00:58:30,507 --> 00:58:32,967
SHI: I always feel like, working here,
973
00:58:33,051 --> 00:58:36,304
they kind of hammer it into you,
like, "It's all about clarity."
974
00:58:36,387 --> 00:58:38,598
But it's mostly about feeling.
975
00:58:38,681 --> 00:58:40,683
I remember on Bao,
976
00:58:40,767 --> 00:58:44,395
there was always some people that were
a little bit confused by the ending.
977
00:58:46,064 --> 00:58:48,733
Bao is about a lonely old Chinese lady
978
00:58:48,816 --> 00:58:52,153
who one day discovers
that one of her dumplings
979
00:58:52,237 --> 00:58:54,572
has come to life as a dumpling boy.
980
00:58:54,656 --> 00:58:57,534
And of course, she immediately adopts it
981
00:58:57,617 --> 00:58:59,661
and goes through
the trials and tribulations
982
00:58:59,744 --> 00:59:02,038
of motherhood with the dumpling.
983
00:59:02,121 --> 00:59:07,126
It's semi-autobiographical based on my own
life growing up as a smothered only child.
984
00:59:07,210 --> 00:59:08,211
(CHUCKLES)
985
00:59:10,296 --> 00:59:12,840
I just felt like,
I just needed to make this.
986
00:59:13,967 --> 00:59:16,678
At that time, I was living away from home
987
00:59:16,761 --> 00:59:20,765
and I was feeling guilt
of being far away from my mom,
988
00:59:20,848 --> 00:59:23,851
and I just needed something
to work through that dynamic.
989
00:59:24,936 --> 00:59:29,774
I remember when I first pitched
the idea to Pete Docter just casually,
990
00:59:30,608 --> 00:59:32,902
when I got to the part
where the Mom character
991
00:59:32,986 --> 00:59:36,114
eats the baby dumpling
'cause she didn't want him to leave her,
992
00:59:37,448 --> 00:59:39,659
he was so shocked by it,
but he loved it so much,
993
00:59:39,742 --> 00:59:41,452
and he was like, "Keep this ending.
994
00:59:41,536 --> 00:59:44,038
"It's so unique and weird and cool."
995
00:59:44,122 --> 00:59:46,374
That gave me the confidence
to defend that ending,
996
00:59:46,457 --> 00:59:49,335
even when I would get notes of, like,
"That's dark." "That's weird."
997
00:59:49,460 --> 00:59:51,879
Or like,
"Don't you think you'd scare some kids?"
998
00:59:51,963 --> 00:59:53,881
(AUDIENCE APPLAUDING)
999
00:59:54,007 --> 00:59:56,926
And the Oscar goes to Bao.
1000
00:59:57,093 --> 00:59:58,928
-(ALL CHEERING)
-Yes!
1001
01:00:00,096 --> 01:00:01,389
SHI: Thank you to the Academy.
1002
01:00:01,472 --> 01:00:05,059
To all of the nerdy girls out there
who hide behind their sketchbooks,
1003
01:00:05,143 --> 01:00:08,146
don't be afraid
to tell your stories to the world.
1004
01:00:08,229 --> 01:00:09,272
(ALL APPLAUDING)
1005
01:00:10,481 --> 01:00:12,066
You don't have to explain everything.
1006
01:00:12,150 --> 01:00:15,486
As long as the feeling
that people have at the end of your short
1007
01:00:15,570 --> 01:00:17,947
is the feeling
that you want to leave them with.
1008
01:00:18,865 --> 01:00:20,366
That's a scary thing to do.
1009
01:00:21,284 --> 01:00:22,785
Sometimes you just gotta go for it.
1010
01:00:22,869 --> 01:00:25,955
And, you know,
seeing your reels, I feel it.
1011
01:00:26,039 --> 01:00:28,458
So, I wouldn't sweat it.
1012
01:00:28,541 --> 01:00:30,293
CORBIN: Getting that affirmation of, like,
1013
01:00:30,376 --> 01:00:33,463
"Yeah, go for it. Don't be afraid
to have it be a little weird."
1014
01:00:33,546 --> 01:00:35,006
It was very helpful.
1015
01:00:35,089 --> 01:00:36,591
Like, nope, that's the point.
1016
01:00:36,674 --> 01:00:40,053
It's just like
we're enjoying this abstract adventure.
1017
01:00:41,304 --> 01:00:43,389
And then, at the end, we come to clarity.
1018
01:00:52,649 --> 01:00:54,817
DAVID LALLY: I'm curious
about the garments.
1019
01:00:54,901 --> 01:00:57,195
What's the thought with sim?
1020
01:00:57,278 --> 01:00:58,863
I feel like, when I was talking to Ana
1021
01:00:58,946 --> 01:01:02,533
about like the idea
of prioritizing movement, right?
1022
01:01:02,617 --> 01:01:03,910
LALLY: Mmm-hmm.
1023
01:01:03,993 --> 01:01:06,204
GONZALES: What's Nona's priority?
It's her T-shirt.
1024
01:01:06,287 --> 01:01:08,122
With the little girl, her primary symbol
1025
01:01:08,206 --> 01:01:10,333
will probably be
whatever you do with her hair.
1026
01:01:10,416 --> 01:01:12,543
I was even going, like,
"The dog moves so slow."
1027
01:01:12,627 --> 01:01:15,338
-I don't know if I need something on it.
-KENT: You have the collar.
1028
01:01:15,421 --> 01:01:18,216
-If it has a dangly piece...
-Or we could probably animate it.
1029
01:01:18,299 --> 01:01:20,051
-I think... Okay.
-We can lose the collar.
1030
01:01:21,052 --> 01:01:23,888
I love animation
because of the collaboration.
1031
01:01:24,555 --> 01:01:29,352
And I really, truly think
that if you have your team invested
1032
01:01:29,435 --> 01:01:31,813
and you have a story that you wanna tell,
1033
01:01:31,896 --> 01:01:33,690
I just think that it can only be good.
1034
01:01:34,774 --> 01:01:36,025
But there's a difference
1035
01:01:36,109 --> 01:01:39,278
with how you wanna approach
the SparkShort versus a feature.
1036
01:01:39,362 --> 01:01:41,197
Bold lines are gonna help direct the eye.
1037
01:01:41,280 --> 01:01:42,365
Feature films,
1038
01:01:42,448 --> 01:01:45,827
they're all about having time and money
to smooth out imperfections.
1039
01:01:47,704 --> 01:01:48,830
And I want imperfections.
1040
01:01:48,913 --> 01:01:50,581
LACAZE: If we simplify the models a lot,
1041
01:01:50,665 --> 01:01:53,042
we might be able to be
more graphical and more,
1042
01:01:53,126 --> 01:01:55,253
-have intent on what the wrinkles are.
-Right.
1043
01:01:55,336 --> 01:01:58,131
GONZALES: I want us
to be like a band starting out.
1044
01:01:58,214 --> 01:02:00,425
And they have a rawness,
you know what I mean?
1045
01:02:00,508 --> 01:02:03,302
(ROCK MUSIC PLAYING)
1046
01:02:03,386 --> 01:02:05,138
GONZALES: I kept relating
our short to that.
1047
01:02:05,221 --> 01:02:07,932
I'm like, we are the best
garage band in the business.
1048
01:02:08,516 --> 01:02:11,310
So, let's do our thing and make it dirty.
1049
01:02:11,394 --> 01:02:12,478
Don't polish it.
1050
01:02:15,523 --> 01:02:17,859
Let's be broad and bold with our choices.
1051
01:02:18,818 --> 01:02:20,528
And then we'll see what happens.
1052
01:02:24,782 --> 01:02:26,117
Story is problem solving.
1053
01:02:26,492 --> 01:02:28,244
So, I always feel like,
1054
01:02:28,327 --> 01:02:31,539
whatever falls in your lap
is there for you to make something with.
1055
01:02:31,622 --> 01:02:33,958
But it's more than that.
There's an alchemy.
1056
01:02:34,041 --> 01:02:36,377
There's a sense of magic to it.
1057
01:02:36,586 --> 01:02:39,756
The screen has gotta move
and dance in front of your eyes
1058
01:02:39,839 --> 01:02:43,301
to really concoct something
that evokes an emotion
1059
01:02:43,384 --> 01:02:46,596
that takes you on a ride somewhere,
and when it's all said and done,
1060
01:02:46,679 --> 01:02:48,598
it reaffirms the beautiful things in life.
1061
01:02:49,849 --> 01:02:53,144
KENT: Some of the earlier
iterations of the wrestling scene
1062
01:02:53,227 --> 01:02:55,396
between Nona and Renee,
1063
01:02:56,105 --> 01:02:59,817
they took a moment to go around
and get things from the apartment
1064
01:02:59,901 --> 01:03:01,861
to make themselves look like wrestlers.
1065
01:03:03,696 --> 01:03:05,865
And they'd wrestled there on the floor.
1066
01:03:06,783 --> 01:03:09,911
It was all in this real world.
1067
01:03:11,204 --> 01:03:14,832
But Louis felt like the scene
wasn't pushing it enough.
1068
01:03:14,916 --> 01:03:18,085
-(CROWD CHEERING)
-ANNOUNCER: Welcome to the main event!
1069
01:03:18,169 --> 01:03:21,881
In the blue corner, Nona the Hammer!
1070
01:03:21,964 --> 01:03:26,093
GONZALES: I wanted to see what it feels
like for them to play wrestling.
1071
01:03:27,178 --> 01:03:29,096
Not make it literal.
1072
01:03:29,180 --> 01:03:31,891
We get to see it
how the little girl sees it.
1073
01:03:33,309 --> 01:03:36,145
And we know that Nona
has that kind of imagination too.
1074
01:03:37,313 --> 01:03:39,315
KENT: We were really trying to see,
1075
01:03:40,024 --> 01:03:43,110
how far can you push it
before you start to lose your audience
1076
01:03:43,194 --> 01:03:46,906
with how unusual
and crazy this imagination can get.
1077
01:03:48,241 --> 01:03:52,411
But some of the ideas felt like
they were just a little bit too much.
1078
01:03:54,372 --> 01:03:56,541
It should feel like a kid's playground.
1079
01:03:56,624 --> 01:03:58,793
But yet still feel grounded and real.
1080
01:03:59,877 --> 01:04:03,089
KENT: And so then I think we tried
to find what's in the middle.
1081
01:04:03,172 --> 01:04:06,592
It was still Renee
bringing in her stickers
1082
01:04:07,593 --> 01:04:11,013
and then Nona getting
to do her big wrestling move.
1083
01:04:12,223 --> 01:04:15,434
GONZALES: So, now the two worlds
that were bumping off each other
1084
01:04:16,394 --> 01:04:18,980
have now harmonized in this scene.
1085
01:04:24,360 --> 01:04:27,446
And they're both sharing a place
in time that made 'em both better,
1086
01:04:27,530 --> 01:04:29,156
that made 'em both stronger.
1087
01:04:37,874 --> 01:04:41,752
LALLY: ...from up here, just paying
attention more to the eye, so...
1088
01:04:41,836 --> 01:04:43,796
MORRIS: When I think about
what's different between
1089
01:04:43,880 --> 01:04:46,424
an animation director
and a live-action director,
1090
01:04:47,133 --> 01:04:49,760
I've often thought
that a great live-action director
1091
01:04:49,844 --> 01:04:52,471
has a script and then
they bring their actors on the set,
1092
01:04:52,555 --> 01:04:54,807
just kind of working like a jazz musician.
1093
01:04:54,891 --> 01:04:57,351
(JAZZ MUSIC PLAYING)
1094
01:04:57,435 --> 01:05:01,022
MORRIS: And sort of taking the pieces
and making it fit and improvise.
1095
01:05:04,817 --> 01:05:08,946
And by contrast, an animation director
is more like a classical composer
1096
01:05:09,030 --> 01:05:12,033
who is going
and painstakingly writing that score
1097
01:05:12,116 --> 01:05:15,077
and changing that note
from a 16th note to an eighth note,
1098
01:05:15,161 --> 01:05:17,079
and that process is very long.
1099
01:05:18,539 --> 01:05:20,249
DOCTER: Just takes a lot of work.
1100
01:05:20,333 --> 01:05:23,419
And oftentimes
what it is, is making mistakes.
1101
01:05:24,003 --> 01:05:27,131
You know, trying something
and going, "Well, that didn't work.
1102
01:05:27,214 --> 01:05:29,425
"They didn't laugh at that at all.
Why was that?
1103
01:05:29,508 --> 01:05:31,093
"Let's go back and figure it out."
1104
01:05:31,177 --> 01:05:33,721
And then you do it again
and again and again.
1105
01:05:34,305 --> 01:05:35,640
JOY: Let's do this.
1106
01:05:35,723 --> 01:05:37,475
DOCTER: By the time you see it on screen,
1107
01:05:37,558 --> 01:05:41,395
you're seeing probably
the 10th version of that film.
1108
01:05:41,479 --> 01:05:42,730
FEAR: Oh, potential friend spotted.
1109
01:05:43,272 --> 01:05:46,108
-JOY: Not this again.
-Maybe we should talk to them.
1110
01:05:46,192 --> 01:05:48,152
Riley's been at the school
for over two months,
1111
01:05:48,235 --> 01:05:50,738
-she doesn't have a single friend.
-What about Bing-Bong?
1112
01:05:50,821 --> 01:05:52,281
FEAR: Bing-Bong's imaginary...
1113
01:05:52,365 --> 01:05:54,951
DOCTER: A version of Inside Out
that we had for a long time
1114
01:05:55,034 --> 01:05:58,204
is that Joy was paired
with Fear throughout the entire journey.
1115
01:05:58,287 --> 01:05:59,872
FEAR: You're not coming back
to headquarters.
1116
01:05:59,956 --> 01:06:02,249
-Riley's better off without you.
-Wait, I...
1117
01:06:02,333 --> 01:06:03,668
Get her, boys.
1118
01:06:09,674 --> 01:06:11,968
DOCTER: And late along the way,
1119
01:06:12,051 --> 01:06:14,679
we realized for this story to make sense,
1120
01:06:16,138 --> 01:06:17,890
Joy has to be paired with Sadness.
1121
01:06:18,557 --> 01:06:20,726
(SNIFFLES) I miss home.
1122
01:06:20,810 --> 01:06:22,186
(SOBBING)
1123
01:06:26,691 --> 01:06:28,651
DOCTER: Well, that meant
we had to go back,
1124
01:06:28,734 --> 01:06:31,779
retool the whole film,
throw out a ton of stuff.
1125
01:06:34,657 --> 01:06:38,953
Thousands of drawings, hundreds of hours
spent recording and editing.
1126
01:06:39,036 --> 01:06:41,372
But they were all very valuable in that
1127
01:06:41,455 --> 01:06:43,666
they taught us things
about the characters,
1128
01:06:43,749 --> 01:06:46,794
the world and the story,
and what it was supposed to be.
1129
01:06:55,511 --> 01:06:57,638
LANGLEY: Yeah, so this is great.
So, this is the first time
1130
01:06:57,722 --> 01:06:59,640
we're seeing this
with all the scratch cut in.
1131
01:06:59,724 --> 01:07:01,767
RIZK: Yeah. This is all scratch
temp dialogue,
1132
01:07:03,936 --> 01:07:05,688
LANGLEY: All right. Let's take a look.
1133
01:07:06,981 --> 01:07:10,776
NICOLE: Okay, hurry back.
After this, we're hitting the dance floor!
1134
01:07:10,860 --> 01:07:13,154
GIA: I can't wait. Whoa!
1135
01:07:13,237 --> 01:07:15,531
CORBIN: One of the challenging
parts about this short
1136
01:07:15,614 --> 01:07:20,036
was selling the idea
of these characters being certain ages.
1137
01:07:20,870 --> 01:07:22,788
TEN: Jeez, we're a mess.
What happened?
1138
01:07:22,872 --> 01:07:25,499
SIXTEEN: Hey, first off,
who died and made you boss?
1139
01:07:25,583 --> 01:07:27,251
CORBIN: Ten being 10,
1140
01:07:27,334 --> 01:07:28,753
Sixteen being 16.
1141
01:07:30,004 --> 01:07:33,215
But while using scratch voice talent.
1142
01:07:33,299 --> 01:07:35,843
TEN: Way to go, Sixteen.
How stupid could you be? (GASPS)
1143
01:07:35,926 --> 01:07:37,094
SIXTEEN: Can't believe you blew it.
1144
01:07:37,178 --> 01:07:39,847
And scratch
is your rough draft voice actors
1145
01:07:39,930 --> 01:07:41,724
who are reading lines,
1146
01:07:41,807 --> 01:07:46,479
so that we all get an idea
of what it sounds like and how it plays.
1147
01:07:46,562 --> 01:07:49,023
I have a question about Ten's audio.
1148
01:07:49,106 --> 01:07:52,068
Like, do you feel... It's definitely
not reading as a 10-year-old.
1149
01:07:52,151 --> 01:07:53,152
Right.
1150
01:07:53,235 --> 01:07:55,780
We didn't have any kids
to do a scratch recording,
1151
01:07:55,863 --> 01:07:59,533
and so selling the idea
of Ten being 10 was kind of hard.
1152
01:08:00,034 --> 01:08:01,243
I was thinking that too.
1153
01:08:01,327 --> 01:08:04,789
And I'm not sure how much of it to, like,
be nitpicky about because it is scratch.
1154
01:08:04,872 --> 01:08:08,334
But it would be nice
if it sounded a little bit off.
1155
01:08:09,043 --> 01:08:12,046
Like, if she sounded a little younger
and it's like, "Oh," "Uh..."
1156
01:08:12,254 --> 01:08:13,380
LANGLEY: In the screenings,
1157
01:08:13,464 --> 01:08:17,009
people were having trouble believing
that the Ten-year-old was a 10-year-old
1158
01:08:17,093 --> 01:08:21,514
because we had a 30-year-old
woman doing the temporary dialogue.
1159
01:08:21,597 --> 01:08:22,848
TEN: We're an adult.
1160
01:08:22,932 --> 01:08:27,061
We have to keep it together
'cause that's what adults do.
1161
01:08:27,144 --> 01:08:28,354
-SIXTEEN: All right!
-Yeah!
1162
01:08:28,437 --> 01:08:30,064
CORBIN: The voice I knew was really gonna
1163
01:08:34,527 --> 01:08:37,863
The minute we had
Kaylin do the voice of Ten...
1164
01:08:37,947 --> 01:08:41,534
LANGLEY: Okay, so count us down
three, two, one. Record.
1165
01:08:41,617 --> 01:08:44,036
And press the button record
as you're saying, "Record."
1166
01:08:44,120 --> 01:08:45,121
Okay!
1167
01:08:45,204 --> 01:08:49,416
CORBIN: She brought so much charm
and innocence to the character.
1168
01:08:49,500 --> 01:08:54,296
We are a beautiful, strong, mature,
21-year-old woman!
1169
01:08:54,380 --> 01:08:56,841
We are going to go shake
our bottom on that dance floor,
1170
01:08:56,924 --> 01:08:59,677
-we're gonna stay up past our bedtime...
-SIXTEEN: Yeah!
1171
01:08:59,760 --> 01:09:01,887
...and we are going to kiss
our youth goodbye.
1172
01:09:01,971 --> 01:09:03,681
'Cause this is Gia's night!
1173
01:09:03,764 --> 01:09:04,932
-Yeah!
-Yeah!
1174
01:09:05,015 --> 01:09:07,351
-(ONE GURGLING)
-(SIGHING GRIMLY)
1175
01:09:10,813 --> 01:09:14,024
KENT: So, I think we've finally gotten
somebody to come on for sets.
1176
01:09:14,108 --> 01:09:16,277
GONZALES: Oh, good. Yeah.
KENT: Trianne's gonna jump in,
1177
01:09:16,360 --> 01:09:18,821
-to start doing the modeling. So...
-Okay.
1178
01:09:18,904 --> 01:09:20,573
-Um...
-(CHUCKLES)
1179
01:09:20,656 --> 01:09:22,616
What does she have to get started with?
1180
01:09:22,700 --> 01:09:24,618
-Okay, well, we need a map, right?
-Yeah.
1181
01:09:24,702 --> 01:09:26,787
I have the floor plan,
I know how that works.
1182
01:09:26,871 --> 01:09:28,622
I'm picturing like a... (CLICKS TONGUE)
1183
01:09:28,706 --> 01:09:31,000
Like LA villa-style homes,
you know what I mean?
1184
01:09:31,083 --> 01:09:33,294
The white stucco walls
so you have that texture,
1185
01:09:33,377 --> 01:09:35,087
so we don't have to have flat walls.
1186
01:09:35,171 --> 01:09:38,174
But I do like the idea of the lived-in
space kind of being curated.
1187
01:09:38,257 --> 01:09:41,677
Trying to find a couple
of the right details to make it feel full.
1188
01:09:42,344 --> 01:09:44,847
There's an energy to it that
you want to get it right.
1189
01:09:44,930 --> 01:09:47,141
Because to me
it's how legit the world feels,
1190
01:09:47,224 --> 01:09:49,059
or how that the character fits into it.
1191
01:09:51,979 --> 01:09:56,609
There's cultural details that we have
to put in to make it feel true.
1192
01:09:56,734 --> 01:09:58,152
I know it's West Coast,
1193
01:09:58,235 --> 01:10:00,779
and that has a rhythm
and vibe to it, you know?
1194
01:10:00,863 --> 01:10:03,115
And I kind of wanna
make sure I pay attention to that.
1195
01:10:03,199 --> 01:10:06,202
We brought in a set designer
to make Nona's apartment right,
1196
01:10:06,285 --> 01:10:07,953
'cause we manufactured that apartment.
1197
01:10:08,037 --> 01:10:09,538
That's the only set we built.
1198
01:10:09,622 --> 01:10:11,916
I gave her some broad details, like,
1199
01:10:11,999 --> 01:10:16,086
I want it to feel like
in the Spanish revival style in LA.
1200
01:10:16,420 --> 01:10:21,091
So, warm wood floors, arches,
stairs with wrought-iron railing.
1201
01:10:21,967 --> 01:10:25,221
And she got the tone.
She got the heart and soul into it.
1202
01:10:26,764 --> 01:10:28,724
She's like,
"Oh, my granny has this in her house.
1203
01:10:28,807 --> 01:10:30,684
"Like, a cutting board hanging."
1204
01:10:30,768 --> 01:10:32,102
And I'm like, "I love that."
1205
01:10:33,270 --> 01:10:37,358
She just put herself into it.
All the decor, all the frames.
1206
01:10:41,862 --> 01:10:44,073
So, it feels lived in
and the details are there
1207
01:10:44,156 --> 01:10:47,785
without detailing everything out,
'cause we couldn't afford it.
1208
01:10:55,793 --> 01:10:57,419
CORBIN: When the rubber meets the road,
1209
01:10:57,503 --> 01:11:01,090
the people who make
the film shine are the animators.
1210
01:11:03,634 --> 01:11:04,969
This is what you see on screen.
1211
01:11:05,052 --> 01:11:07,179
You don't see
my crude stick figure drawings,
1212
01:11:07,263 --> 01:11:09,139
you see the beautiful animation.
1213
01:11:11,517 --> 01:11:16,647
This film was set in a club,
so that means crowds.
1214
01:11:20,734 --> 01:11:23,862
Because we're a CG studio,
1215
01:11:23,946 --> 01:11:25,239
if you're doing CG,
1216
01:11:25,322 --> 01:11:28,367
there's a whole department
dedicated just to do crowds for you.
1217
01:11:28,450 --> 01:11:30,869
-(INDISTINCT CHATTER)
-(SIREN WAILING)
1218
01:11:30,953 --> 01:11:35,457
CORBIN: But for us in the Spark program
doing 2D animation,
1219
01:11:35,541 --> 01:11:40,004
we had to come up with creative ways
to make this club feel full and lively
1220
01:11:40,087 --> 01:11:42,923
without animating over 70 people.
1221
01:11:44,258 --> 01:11:46,760
LANGLEY: She was inspired
by old cartoons,
1222
01:11:46,844 --> 01:11:50,514
like the UPA films where
the environments in the backdrops
1223
01:11:50,597 --> 01:11:52,433
would just be a couple lines,
1224
01:11:52,516 --> 01:11:55,185
just to indicate that something was there.
1225
01:11:55,269 --> 01:11:58,605
So we decided
to have a lot of background characters,
1226
01:11:58,689 --> 01:12:00,482
but they're not moving.
1227
01:12:01,108 --> 01:12:03,986
But we strategically
put a few characters here and there
1228
01:12:04,069 --> 01:12:06,655
that were moving to give
the audience the impression
1229
01:12:06,739 --> 01:12:09,908
that there were a bunch of people
dancing and the club was populated.
1230
01:12:15,497 --> 01:12:16,582
(PANTING)
1231
01:12:16,665 --> 01:12:18,042
CORBIN: I feel like I really threw
1232
01:12:18,125 --> 01:12:20,002
the kitchen sink
at the animation department.
1233
01:12:20,085 --> 01:12:22,296
-(GROANING)
-Woah!
1234
01:12:22,379 --> 01:12:24,882
CORBIN: There's so much
going on with these characters.
1235
01:12:25,341 --> 01:12:27,551
There's some scenes with six different
1236
01:12:27,634 --> 01:12:29,636
characters that one animator had to do.
1237
01:12:29,720 --> 01:12:30,804
(GROANING)
1238
01:12:30,888 --> 01:12:33,015
CORBIN: And they're pretty
complicated characters.
1239
01:12:33,098 --> 01:12:34,099
Sorry
1240
01:12:34,183 --> 01:12:36,435
CORBIN: I felt like it was kind of
like a trial by fire.
1241
01:12:37,061 --> 01:12:38,729
Uh, well, I...
1242
01:12:40,189 --> 01:12:42,149
So, my animation supervisor, Lucas,
1243
01:12:42,232 --> 01:12:45,361
would ask me
if I was willing to modify some things,
1244
01:12:46,195 --> 01:12:48,530
like extra earrings and bags,
1245
01:12:48,614 --> 01:12:51,700
things that the animators would
have to account for over and over,
1246
01:12:51,784 --> 01:12:55,704
that could end up being very
challenging over a large course of time.
1247
01:12:55,788 --> 01:12:58,374
But one of the things
I really wanted to keep
1248
01:12:58,916 --> 01:13:02,044
was the different hair
that the characters had.
1249
01:13:03,128 --> 01:13:05,130
It's a huge thing in Black culture.
1250
01:13:05,214 --> 01:13:07,591
There's a lot
of different, unique hairstyles.
1251
01:13:07,674 --> 01:13:11,220
And I feel like it's a very good
indicator of how old you are.
1252
01:13:11,303 --> 01:13:12,846
It's like the difference between
1253
01:13:12,930 --> 01:13:15,182
your mother doing
your hair for you as a child
1254
01:13:15,265 --> 01:13:17,726
and then you getting it done at a salon.
1255
01:13:17,810 --> 01:13:21,772
I was like, I know that some of these
braids and hairstyles are gonna be a lot,
1256
01:13:21,855 --> 01:13:25,692
but I think it's a huge
story point for these characters.
1257
01:13:25,776 --> 01:13:26,777
TEN: The plan, remember?
1258
01:13:26,860 --> 01:13:31,073
CORBIN: We did some things to modify
the hair so it wasn't as challenging.
1259
01:13:31,490 --> 01:13:33,409
Girl, where are you? Gia?
1260
01:13:33,492 --> 01:13:35,327
CORBIN: But these animators are amazing,
1261
01:13:35,702 --> 01:13:39,039
and I was so excited
because we were so crunched on time...
1262
01:13:39,248 --> 01:13:40,999
I know you are, but what am I?
1263
01:13:41,083 --> 01:13:43,001
CORBIN: ...but it looks so good.
1264
01:13:43,085 --> 01:13:44,503
SIXTEEN: You don't know what you're doing.
1265
01:13:44,586 --> 01:13:46,088
(WHIMPERING)
1266
01:13:54,430 --> 01:13:56,932
GONZALES: Now, being
in the industry for 20 years,
1267
01:13:57,558 --> 01:14:00,436
for the first time,
I'm really feeling like the older cat.
1268
01:14:01,895 --> 01:14:04,815
And there's a lot of youngsters
coming up underneath me that are,
1269
01:14:04,898 --> 01:14:07,693
you know,
got great ideas, lot of great energy,
1270
01:14:07,818 --> 01:14:10,362
and I'm realizing
that I don't have as much energy.
1271
01:14:10,446 --> 01:14:13,824
But this short is about
how the generations influence each other.
1272
01:14:14,867 --> 01:14:17,786
I always use the example of my dog,
you know, before she passed.
1273
01:14:17,870 --> 01:14:19,079
I had a dog named Pica.
1274
01:14:19,997 --> 01:14:23,584
Pica was a smaller Pitbull
and she was about 12.
1275
01:14:23,667 --> 01:14:25,002
She had hip issues.
1276
01:14:25,085 --> 01:14:27,796
She was old
and she was not wanting to move.
1277
01:14:29,089 --> 01:14:32,926
Around the same time,
we got my daughter a Yorkie for Christmas.
1278
01:14:34,136 --> 01:14:35,345
My daughter was happy,
1279
01:14:35,429 --> 01:14:37,973
but I actually think
the old dog was happier.
1280
01:14:38,307 --> 01:14:40,934
Because all of a sudden
she was like, "I'm gonna play."
1281
01:14:42,728 --> 01:14:45,856
This little puppy brought her
back to life, it gave her a spark.
1282
01:14:46,523 --> 01:14:50,110
And that's how I wanted the relationship
of the little girl and the dog to be.
1283
01:14:51,278 --> 01:14:53,947
When I present it
to the team to have this dog,
1284
01:14:54,031 --> 01:14:56,617
they'll be in there, like,
"You probably can't have a dog
1285
01:14:57,201 --> 01:14:59,912
"and you can't have a dog
with a hoodie, for sure."
1286
01:15:00,954 --> 01:15:02,956
KENT: Quadrupeds, things on four legs,
1287
01:15:03,040 --> 01:15:06,043
are notoriously
difficult to do in animation.
1288
01:15:06,835 --> 01:15:10,172
And the grandma had to pick up
the dog and move the dog around,
1289
01:15:10,255 --> 01:15:12,716
which is also a very
complicated thing to animate.
1290
01:15:14,218 --> 01:15:18,805
At the same time, seeing the image
that Louis drew was so sweet
1291
01:15:18,889 --> 01:15:21,934
and made it just
so much more personal to the story
1292
01:15:22,726 --> 01:15:25,229
that we wanted to figure out
how to make it happen.
1293
01:15:27,356 --> 01:15:29,274
GONZALES: My team brought so much.
1294
01:15:30,317 --> 01:15:33,237
Sculpting the shapes, simming the dog
1295
01:15:33,320 --> 01:15:35,447
with a real legit
terrycloth hoodie and...
1296
01:15:37,824 --> 01:15:39,826
touches of the dog on the couch.
1297
01:15:42,079 --> 01:15:43,539
In the end, we got all of it.
1298
01:15:46,458 --> 01:15:49,127
And the exciting thing
is I can't wait to show it.
1299
01:15:49,962 --> 01:15:51,505
I don't know what it's gonna yield,
1300
01:15:51,588 --> 01:15:54,883
but it's done and I'm proud of it,
so let's see what happens.
1301
01:16:05,102 --> 01:16:08,230
DOCTER: The first thing I think that
you're looking for when you go to a movie
1302
01:16:08,313 --> 01:16:10,315
is to just be entertained.
1303
01:16:10,399 --> 01:16:13,819
But that's sort of surface level,
it's like the candy coating.
1304
01:16:14,778 --> 01:16:17,406
Our job as filmmakers is to figure out,
1305
01:16:17,489 --> 01:16:20,117
"What are you giving the audience
to take home?
1306
01:16:20,200 --> 01:16:23,203
"What are you giving them
to continue to think about?"
1307
01:16:23,287 --> 01:16:26,290
So that that night when they're eating
dinner, they're like, "Huh."
1308
01:16:27,583 --> 01:16:30,294
And I think the only way you can do that
1309
01:16:30,377 --> 01:16:34,715
is by having filmmakers who have something
interesting to say in a unique way,
1310
01:16:34,798 --> 01:16:40,554
and hopefully in ways, ideas,
concepts that have never been said before.
1311
01:16:43,098 --> 01:16:47,394
CORBIN: Overall, I'm super pleased
with the entire film
1312
01:16:47,769 --> 01:16:49,771
and extremely proud of it.
1313
01:16:50,772 --> 01:16:54,484
And I was very emotional.
Erik and I both were,
1314
01:16:54,568 --> 01:16:59,239
just because it felt like
such a crazy road from beginning to end.
1315
01:16:59,323 --> 01:17:01,783
I just wanted to tell a story
1316
01:17:01,867 --> 01:17:05,662
that I felt like I was going through
and I know everyone else goes through.
1317
01:17:05,746 --> 01:17:08,707
No matter what age, race, gender,
1318
01:17:08,790 --> 01:17:12,002
this felt like a story
that touched a lot of people,
1319
01:17:12,085 --> 01:17:15,589
and then the specificity of it
being told through a Black character,
1320
01:17:15,672 --> 01:17:18,967
I think makes it special
and new and exciting.
1321
01:17:20,636 --> 01:17:23,180
LANGLEY: The story is funny, emotional,
1322
01:17:23,263 --> 01:17:26,850
and it's coming from a voice
that has been underrepresented
1323
01:17:26,933 --> 01:17:31,980
and I'm excited for people to see that,
and to see themselves in that,
1324
01:17:32,064 --> 01:17:33,482
because I think we all can.
1325
01:17:34,650 --> 01:17:36,860
CORBIN: I can't wait
for the African-American community,
1326
01:17:36,943 --> 01:17:39,488
specifically Black little girls,
to see it.
1327
01:17:40,739 --> 01:17:43,241
There's a huge want for representation,
1328
01:17:43,325 --> 01:17:45,619
and just to be able to watch this
and see yourself
1329
01:17:45,702 --> 01:17:47,829
means a whole lot to a lot of people.
1330
01:17:48,497 --> 01:17:51,875
And so I'm really excited
for people to feel seen
1331
01:17:51,958 --> 01:17:54,628
and know that this one is, like,
specifically for them.
1332
01:17:56,963 --> 01:17:59,841
I'm very excited
for my family to see this film as well.
1333
01:18:01,176 --> 01:18:02,803
Especially my sister.
1334
01:18:03,470 --> 01:18:04,930
And when I told her,
1335
01:18:05,013 --> 01:18:08,141
"There's a character in here
that I, like, loosely based after you."
1336
01:18:08,225 --> 01:18:09,726
Whoo! Let's party!
1337
01:18:09,810 --> 01:18:12,062
She's like, "Oh!"
and she's excited about that.
1338
01:18:12,145 --> 01:18:15,691
Okay, okay, back up, back up.
Nothin' to see here. Go on.
1339
01:18:15,774 --> 01:18:18,568
-Oh, Gia.
-Just leave me alone.
1340
01:18:18,652 --> 01:18:21,071
CORBIN: It's a film about being an adult
1341
01:18:21,154 --> 01:18:25,951
and accepting the messiness
that comes along with it.
1342
01:18:26,034 --> 01:18:27,703
NICOLE: Are you in here
crying on the toilet?
1343
01:18:27,786 --> 01:18:28,787
No.
1344
01:18:28,870 --> 01:18:30,372
Yes.
1345
01:18:30,997 --> 01:18:34,126
CORBIN: And I wanted to put in this idea
of Nicole being like,
1346
01:18:34,209 --> 01:18:37,754
"Nah, you're being super dramatic,
everything's going to be just fine."
1347
01:18:37,838 --> 01:18:39,631
All right. Let's do this.
1348
01:18:39,715 --> 01:18:42,092
That's my girl. Let's go.
1349
01:18:42,175 --> 01:18:43,760
CORBIN: I think kind of like the short,
1350
01:18:43,844 --> 01:18:47,973
I think I'm just learning
more and more to trust myself,
1351
01:18:48,056 --> 01:18:51,226
that I am doing things right.
(CHUCKLES) Or close enough.
1352
01:18:51,309 --> 01:18:53,645
And that I'm gonna
keep growing and learning
1353
01:18:53,729 --> 01:18:56,898
and that's not a bad thing,
that's all part of the process.
1354
01:18:58,191 --> 01:19:02,612
And I think that just is attributed
to the fact that I did the short,
1355
01:19:04,364 --> 01:19:06,283
I've made it, and I survived.
1356
01:19:09,077 --> 01:19:12,247
GONZALES: This is my first time
actually really finishing something.
1357
01:19:12,330 --> 01:19:15,792
I've never finished a short film,
and I've tried for a long time.
1358
01:19:16,585 --> 01:19:20,213
You know, I've tried to figure out a way
to break it up and have a team,
1359
01:19:20,297 --> 01:19:22,883
and it wasn't until now
that I could actually do that.
1360
01:19:25,302 --> 01:19:27,053
It's important to finish.
1361
01:19:27,137 --> 01:19:29,097
'Cause you can't grow unless you finish.
1362
01:19:30,140 --> 01:19:33,435
KENT: We are so excited to finally
get to share Nona with the world.
1363
01:19:34,269 --> 01:19:37,230
And I'm very excited
for my family to get to see it.
1364
01:19:37,939 --> 01:19:41,735
My daughter is also a 5-year-old
little girl just like Renee.
1365
01:19:42,277 --> 01:19:43,320
To actually get to sit
1366
01:19:43,403 --> 01:19:45,906
and watch the whole thing
with her in the final state
1367
01:19:45,989 --> 01:19:49,618
will be also really exciting.
I hope it doesn't give her any bad ideas.
1368
01:19:51,328 --> 01:19:53,789
GONZALES: Making the short
has been a real beautiful experience.
1369
01:19:55,832 --> 01:19:57,918
Stories honor life, right?
They honor people
1370
01:19:58,001 --> 01:20:01,171
and when I tell my stories,
I'm honoring my family and friends.
1371
01:20:01,254 --> 01:20:03,381
And that's something that I love.
1372
01:20:05,008 --> 01:20:09,429
I love the fact that I'm doing it now.
But I also had to wait 20 years to do it.
1373
01:20:11,139 --> 01:20:12,766
When I could have had the chance
1374
01:20:12,849 --> 01:20:15,018
to really try and work
my way towards directing,
1375
01:20:15,602 --> 01:20:18,647
I stopped because
I wanted to be with my kids,
1376
01:20:19,231 --> 01:20:20,565
'cause I couldn't choose both.
1377
01:20:21,983 --> 01:20:24,236
I was working after work
and on the weekends.
1378
01:20:24,319 --> 01:20:27,072
And I have a very clear memory
of this one morning,
1379
01:20:27,155 --> 01:20:29,783
I remember my kids telling me,
"Why don't you come play with us?
1380
01:20:29,866 --> 01:20:32,160
"Play catch."
I'm like, "I'll be right there."
1381
01:20:32,828 --> 01:20:36,373
I'm thinking, "Yeah, I'm gonna draw
a few things and be done with it."
1382
01:20:38,083 --> 01:20:40,460
They came in and said good night to me.
1383
01:20:41,253 --> 01:20:44,881
I missed them the whole damn day,
and it hit me so hard.
1384
01:20:45,715 --> 01:20:47,801
They only have this time once,
so I wanna make sure
1385
01:20:47,884 --> 01:20:50,136
that they get as much as possible from me.
1386
01:20:53,557 --> 01:20:57,686
As I made the story
and as it gets more and more specific,
1387
01:20:58,520 --> 01:21:00,939
you start to really realize
what it means to you.
1388
01:21:01,022 --> 01:21:02,983
And for me, it's like, "Oh, my God.
1389
01:21:03,066 --> 01:21:05,944
"This is my kids
wanting me to play with them,
1390
01:21:06,027 --> 01:21:08,154
"while I'm trying
to move my career along."
1391
01:21:09,698 --> 01:21:12,492
I was letting them down
because I wasn't paying attention,
1392
01:21:12,576 --> 01:21:14,286
which is basically what my short's doing.
1393
01:21:16,454 --> 01:21:17,956
I needed that awakening.
1394
01:21:19,124 --> 01:21:22,377
And it's funny how the short
completely kind of turned that way.
1395
01:21:23,837 --> 01:21:25,505
And that's when it found its honesties,
1396
01:21:25,589 --> 01:21:28,008
because I could relate to it
in a very specific way,
1397
01:21:28,675 --> 01:21:30,093
in a truthful way.
1398
01:21:30,176 --> 01:21:32,387
COLLINS: There's something about
the more personal you get,
1399
01:21:32,470 --> 01:21:34,347
the more universal the story becomes.
1400
01:21:34,431 --> 01:21:38,184
And I think for my kids' generation,
their kids' generation,
1401
01:21:38,685 --> 01:21:45,150
those stories are less and less
your typical fantasy fairytale stories
1402
01:21:45,233 --> 01:21:47,027
in terms of what makes them feel
1403
01:21:47,110 --> 01:21:49,863
like they lean forward and it's...
And it speaks to them.
1404
01:21:50,822 --> 01:21:53,450
DOCTER: Audiences are always
looking to be surprised,
1405
01:21:53,533 --> 01:21:55,702
when they sit down, they turn on a movie.
1406
01:21:55,785 --> 01:22:00,415
If we can get filmmakers who come from
different and diverse backgrounds,
1407
01:22:01,082 --> 01:22:02,792
I think we have a better chance
1408
01:22:02,876 --> 01:22:05,378
of giving them that surprise
that they're looking for.
1409
01:22:05,462 --> 01:22:07,547
MORRIS: Given the director's newness
to these roles,
1410
01:22:07,631 --> 01:22:09,716
given the constraints
they've had in their budgets,
1411
01:22:09,799 --> 01:22:13,261
given the time
they've had to make them in,
1412
01:22:13,970 --> 01:22:17,349
I'm always blown away
when I see the films that get finished,
1413
01:22:17,432 --> 01:22:21,353
and I'm always amazed
how much they pull it off,
1414
01:22:21,436 --> 01:22:23,730
and how good they are.
1415
01:22:25,190 --> 01:22:27,484
COLLINS: I see SparkShorts evolving only
1416
01:22:27,567 --> 01:22:31,363
in that I see
the filmmakers themselves evolving.
1417
01:22:31,780 --> 01:22:34,074
And as we look into the future,
1418
01:22:34,157 --> 01:22:37,577
we need to continue
to get new voices out there,
1419
01:22:37,661 --> 01:22:40,288
to give them an opportunity,
to give them the platform,
1420
01:22:41,539 --> 01:22:46,127
and to challenge ourselves
to be open to hearing them
1421
01:22:48,088 --> 01:22:50,548
as a studio, as a world, as an audience.
1422
01:22:51,132 --> 01:22:57,097
This program's gonna give us
a preview of our filmmakers to come.
1423
01:22:59,975 --> 01:23:04,145
And it's gonna be the best opening act
to ultimately what is hopefully
1424
01:23:04,229 --> 01:23:06,773
the next couple decades
of Pixar filmmaking.