Disclosure: I attended this event as part of an all-expense paid press trip for Disney. All opinions are completely my own. #GoodDinoEvent #ABCTVEvent
All photo credits to Louise Bishop / MomStart.com
While out in LA last week we got the opportunity to sit down with the masterminds behind The Good Dinosaur – director Peter Sohn and producer Denise Ream. I’ll be the first to tell you that I am not very knowledgeable when it comes to how animated movies are made. Heck I’m an accountant by day. We don’t get to do exciting things like making movies. That’s what made this experience that much sweeter.
At first we chatted back and forth about the weather, which in LA last Monday, was very windy and caused a lot of traffic delays. It almost seems surreal that even famous people have to deal with annoyances like traffic delays. I’m not sure why I’d think they wouldn’t, but this casual conversation makes you a little more comfortable to jump right into questions about The Good Dinosaur, which we had seen the night before.
Peter was asked how he came to be director of The Good Dinosaur after numerous other roles with Pixar.
Peter spoke to us about how he started with The Good Dinosaur, helping out original director Bob Peterson with story and designs. Bob asked Peter to be his co-director. After reaching a little bit of a stumbling block, having a boy and a dog story, a father and son story, and a way to change the community story, but with no way to link them all up, Bob parted ways with the project and Peter stepped up as director as he was familiar with the paths that had already been traveled and from there Peter kept the story as true to Bob’s original pitch as possible.
Peter speaks fondly of Bob being a friend and a teacher along his path to co-director and then to director. However, Peter also speaks to his experiences with other departments while working with Pixar on different projects. Even with all that experience Peter says that there’s nothing quite like directing. There was simply so much he didn’t know, but with the talented Denise Ream as producer along with all the extremely talented people on the project he was able to run with it.
If my opinion counts at all, I must say that Peter Sohn’s directing debut was a huge success and I know that you’ll agree when you head out to see it in theaters this week!
As I said, I am not very knowledgeable about what exactly goes into making an animated movie. Luckily, though Denise was kind enough to tell us more about special technology/animation advancement that was used in the making of The Good Dinosaur.
One of the first things I noticed about The Good Dinosaur was that there were times when the shot was panning over the landscape and it looked like you could reach out and touch the grass. It looked so real, not animated at all. I was excited to learn more about how this was created.
Denise said that while it isn’t exactly new technology, they used Google maps to create a lot of the locations they use in the movie. It’s something called USGS topological survey maps. That was the starting point and from there they populated the terrain with trees, leaves, mulch, and rocks with models to create the image they had in mind.
Denise also spoke to their use of 3-D clouds, volumetric clouds, throughout the movie; this was a first for them. She also said that The Good Dinosaur has a lot more water related scenes then a usual Pixar movie.
To obtain the desired results they gave each animator a run of shots that they felt would make a more consistent performance. This workflow was different for the animation department, but Denise said that they really enjoyed it.
Peter added that when the project picked back up Denise took them ‘out’ – out to go and get lost. Peter is from New York and spoke of the memories of going out into the Rockies, where he had never been before, and how gorgeous it was in comparison to the horizon lines he was used to experiencing in New York of the McDonald’s to the Subway. When he was out in the Rockies he could see 500 miles down this way and that. For Peter this was awe inspiring and soul enriching and something they really wanted to capture in the movie.
Prior to sitting down with Peter and Denise, we got to meet and interview the voice talent of The Good Dinosaur, Raymond Ochoa (Arlo), Jack Bright (Spot) & Marcus Scribner (Buck), who spoke very highly of the direction they received from Peter and how inspiring he was to them all.
Peter, being ever so humble, spoke to his love for them. He spoke of his experiences in working with different directors on Pixar movies and how he took a bit from each of those experiences in how he would direct these young actors. As Peter had been in their shoes in the past, he made their relationship one of trust and having fun.
Peter was asked what sort of direction he gave the actors as they worked on their lines for the movie.
Directing Spot’s role in the movie was different than it was for Arlo as Spot doesn’t say a whole lot, more grunting/acting as a dog. For this Peter would paint the situation for Jack and explain to him how they wanted him to act through the scenes, while staying away from a primate role and keeping Spot in the canine world. Peter achieved this by really painting a picture for Jack and Jack took it from there.
When directing Raymond, it was different for Peter as Raymond is able to get into emotions fast. Peter would paint the picture for him and ask if he was ready to go and Raymond would immediately say, “Yeah, let’s do it.” He was able to get into different emotional scenes very easily, speaking to the talent that he is, and impressing Peter.
When asked about his role in the movie as the Pet Collector, Peter said that he didn’t really choose the role. In fact, he wanted to bring in an actor to do the role. However, Denise said that there was no time to audition someone for the role, so Peter was told he would have to do it. Despite Peter’s objections, he did not want to do the scratch voice for the role, but he did ultimately end up voicing the Pet Collector.
When Denise and Peter were asked about the possibility of a sequel to The Good Dinosaur, Peter chuckled a little, saying they had only just wrapped up this movie two weeks ago. Everything about making The Good Dinosaur was accelerated as they had to have it completed in under two years. Animated movies usually take 4 to 5 years to make, meaning everything about their production was jam-packed.
To end the interview Peter spoke of the two children he has had since 2009. They are now 5 and 3 and he spoke about his wife being a superhero in raising them as he hasn’t been around much. Now that The Good Dinosaur is complete and in theaters (TOMORROW!) he asked us, 25 mom bloggers, what he should do as a gift to thank his wife for all she has done in his absence.
We bantered back and forth about taking his wife to a spa, about if he should get a sitter for his kids or bring them with, some of us said sitter for sure, others said bring the kids with, and I believe it was decided that Peter should make that decision based on his wife’s personality. A possibility could be splitting up a trip to Disneyland for the kids along with time for just him and his wife.
All in all this was a great interview with two very talented individuals that Pixar is lucky to have on board. If there is a sequel to The Good Dinosaur you can bet I’ll be there, but before we get ahead of ourselves, be sure to head out to theaters, starting TOMORROW 11/25 to watch The Good Dinosaur, I cannot wait to take my family!!
Visit the official website here, and make sure you follow along on The Good Dinosaur’s social media pages;
Remember – The Good Dinosaur will be in theaters EVERYWHERE on November 25th!!
I would like to see this movie.The movies here though are much too expensive!
This sounds like a great movie. We will take the 5 year old granddaughter to go see it!