PIXAR INTERVIEW
shoe’s on the other foot. There’s this device which everybody can relate to, but now all the characters are analogue and out of date.” “We had more handheld,” he adds. “There’s a scene where Jesse’s confronting this new device, essentially, and we just tried to have it feeling more unlocked, like she’s off her footing.” He also deliberately framed the toys to emphasise how small and vulnerable they are within the human world around them. “We’re always trying to ensure that we’re shooting them as toys versus little people,” he says. “That means getting them more toward the lower part of the frame and having more headroom above them; things that show you they’re dwarfed by the environment they’re in.” The Toy Story franchise completely changed the animation game – and its impact is not lost on Aspbury, who still remembers watching the first film 30 years ago, just as he was starting out in his career. “It got so much buzz for being the first CG animated movie, but once everybody sat down in the theatre, they kind of forgot about that and just enjoyed the story. If it hadn’t had the phenomenal story and characters, it would have just been a blip on the radar; but it had so many things going for it at the same time. It felt so fresh,” he recalls. Since then, CG animation has evolved beyond recognition – so much so that, Aspbury jokes, while the storytelling is timeless, some of Pixar’s early films are ‘hard to go back and watch’ purely from a technical standpoint.
“The evolution of CG animation has gone through the roof; especially with things like occlusion, contact shadows and depth-of-field – so many things have tipped it towards a more photorealistic world,” he marvels. Despite the advances, though, Toy Story 5 still had its share of challenges, mostly because of the sheer scale of what they were trying to do. Some sequences feature upwards of 100 characters on screen at one time. “This is by far the most characters we’ve ever had in a Toy Story movie,” shares Aspbury. “Honestly, it’s the most I’ve ever dealt with in any film and I’ve been doing this 30 years.” This brought about both technical and logistical conundrums. “We had to figure out how to frame them, especially with wide shots, as you don’t want them too small in the frame. On my end, just being able to load all those characters was such a nightmare. We had to do all these optimisations in order to make it physically possible because, ultimately, you never want the technology or the technical hiccups short-changing or compromising your creative side,” he explains. Still, solving those problems is part of what continues to keep him excited about the job. “If we were about to jump into Toy Story 6 right now, we’d know exactly how to crack it because we’ve solved all these things,” he laughs. “But if they make another one, it’ll probably be years away and everything will have changed again.”
KNOW THE ROPES Matt Aspbury (above) has three decades of experience in the industry
Of course, one of the biggest recent accelerations has been driven by the rise of AI tools across the entertainment industry – something that the animation sector in particular is deeply divided on. Aspbury’s fairly sanguine about it though: “There have been innovations the whole time we’ve all been working in this field,” he says. “This one definitely feels bigger though. But at the same time, all of us keep coming back to the fact that it’s still all about the story.” Right now, he’s getting excited by what’s becoming possible in the world of virtual cinematography. “We now have a capture volume which we can use to scout things, and it feels much more like you’re on a physical set,” he shares. “We basically have an iPad that’s a camera and you’re able to move around, which is much more intuitive. With the virtual set-up on a screen, you’re able to miniaturise that camera down, so it’s almost like a toy holding it. All those little things help us get answers quicker, and it feels like we’re all discovering it at the same time. “In the early days, we were so encumbered by the tech side of it,” he reflects. “Now that part has shrunk, and it means the creative side is the dominant piece of the conversation.” With three decades under his belt, Aspbury has no intention of resting on his laurels, and he loves having to problem-solve on each project. “No matter how many movies you’ve done, each film has its own unique challenges, and I feel like it’s a good sign if I’m a little fearful,” he concludes. “That’s exciting.”
17
DEFINITIONMAGS
Powered by FlippingBook