FogHorn , October 3, 2018 - Michael O'Brien of Pixar - Doing Art with 600 People

Michael called his work in art for Pixar something he very much cares about. He defines an "artist" as someone who has to practice art, which is a learned skill. You have to continue to learn and work at art, he maintains, and he has worked at art all his life.

 

He spoke of recent travels to Spain, specifically Madrid and Barcelona, and of the influences of Picasso and his painting "Guernica," a work which defined art for future generations. He spoke of, and showed slides of, breathtakingly beautiful sites in Spain including the Sagrada Familia church, and the more modern and awe-inspiring church of Notre Dame. Its art, he said, invokes nature and inspires reverence in viewers.

He showed slides that blazed with color and displayed the intricacies of architecture. He spoke of famed artist Antonin Gaudi whose work reflects Barcelona and has inspired church and conventional art.  Michael likened his work through Pixar to "building a cathedral."

He spoke of artist Etsuro Sotoo, who was born in Japan and later became fascinated with Barcelona when he traveled to Europe. Sotoo became a chief sculptor working on the Sagrada Familia and his work, said Michael, is what Gaudi would want.

Returning to his work with Pixar, Michael said he had been with  Pixar since "Monsters, Inc." (2001)  and had made "a lot" of pictures for the company. Illustrating the amount of work that goes into any film, he noted that a two-hour film involves some 180,000 individual pictures. He has worked with a few departments at Pixar, and of the people with whom he worked, combining talents and effort, he said "We are making something together," relying on positive communication as a group.

 

The artisans did not approach their work in a corporate way, he said. The goal is to find people who fit in with the group as a whole and in a kind way.

He showed a third-act clip from "Incredibles II,"  which involved a superhero trying to stop a boat on a disastrous trajectory aimed at a city, by manipulating its rudder. He showed how through the drawings viewers will see the action. What he does is key to capturing the feeling and essence of what the scene is about, he said.

He showed a slide of a column of figures with pictures and plans for each piece of art. Some of the proposed clips are unbelievable, he said, such as a boat traveling at ridiculously high speed, but he finds the challenges of rendering such improbable scenarios to be exciting. An example is a suspenseful clip of kids freeing obstacles from that boat by diving underwater to the trouble spot. By the time he has finished with individual portions of a film he is  working on, he will  have seen that clip hundreds of times.

When you're involved with supervising such work, old-fashioned pencil and paper turn out to be the  easiest and cheapest tools to form and develop  ideas and start the process of refining art into film. Always, he said, if conflicts arise, the director has the final say.

What does he look for in the process? An understanding of what the filmmakers are asking, a group joining to make art with passion for what they are doing, and excitement about the picture and expressing what they envision.

 

He talked about the process of sketching at one end and creating a technical production at the other.

In answer to a question from John Evans about lighting design, he noted that a lot of time and energy is spent on lighting, and that lighting effects can be added later on in the process. He illustrated how lighting is used to guide the viewers' eyes to where the filmmaker wants them to look, given both computer-savvy and artistic input.

In answer to further questions, he admitted to "fond memories of all (Pixar) movies"  and though they have brought him awards, what moved him more were people telling him how his work has personally affected  them. He admitted that, like any artist, when  he looks back on  his work he  can always see details he might  have done differently, and dryly noted how if there were no deadlines the works would not leave the building.

He mentioned Indiana Jones and Star Wars among his favorites, and the upcoming "Toy Story 4."  Software, he said, is for him "not what makes you an artist." Asked about holographic imagery, he fired back "I'm in. Let's go." He tries to make his work realistic, with details like lighting. He recalled being in Mexico City where "Coco" was released a little before "Day of the Dead" observances.