It is great pleasure to welcome our great friend Victor Navone back to PlanIt3D, It has been while since we last sat down together for a chat, I remember last time we met up with Victor, Wall-E was in production, and it was obvious his excitement at being able to work on the project. So of course this seems a natural starting point. P3D. For the benefit of those readers who are less familiar with your work, can you briefly explain what your production role was on Wall-E? VN. I was an Animator on WALL-E, meaning I was responsible for creating all the character movement within a given scene. I was also given the title of "Character Developer" at the end of the film, because I spent a lot of time figuring out how WALL-E would move and act.
P3D. Were you able to get involved in the project early on? VN. Yes, I was on the film for a total of 2 years, which is about twice as long as normal for an animator in production. I got to do a lot of model testing and experimentation with WALL-E and Eve in preproduction. P3D. How many shots did you get involved in during production? VN. I don't know how many shots, but I produced about 6 minutes of animation for the final film, plus another minute of promotional animation. P3D. The shot where EVE and Wall-E are sitting on a bench together at sunset is my personal favourite, and a great piece of character work. How much creative control did you have in that scene? VN. Quite a bit. The scene was originally much shorter and simpler. My first pass was very similar to what was in the storyboards, but the director, Andrew Stanton, asked me to push it further and make it more like a guy on a first date trying to put his arm around a girl in the movie theater. So I reblocked the scene with that in mind and added a lot of time so I could explore Wall-E being coy and sneaky. I also added the idea of Wall-E falling off the bench as he struggles to free his hand.
P3D. Did it mimic in anyway your own personal "first love" experiences? VN. Not directly, but it's based on the "feeling" I remember. P3D. With so many animators working on this project how did you maintain character continuity on the project? VN. Communication is very important. Once we hit on a style of performance that we think works well for a character we try to make sure everyone is sticking to that. It's up to the Director and Supervising Animators to try to keep everyone on the same page. P3D. Was it more restricting as an animator working on characters in Cars or Wall-E. VN. Good question. I think Wall-E was a little harder, but consequently I enjoyed it more. I like working with limitations and abstract characters. It frees you from audience expectation and makes you think in different ways. P3D. Were you involved in the discussions regarding Wall-E having elbows? VN. I wasn't involved in the discussion, but I was involved in figuring out how to make it work in animation. Luckily that turned out to be pretty easy. P3D. Can you explain your process, and your way of working? VN. It's different on every scene and every character. For humans I might record video reference. For abstract characters like Wall-E I tend to rely more on drawings. For acting shots I usually work pose-to-pose; for more physical shots I may work layered. It all depends on my mood and the requirements of the scene. P3D. What was the most difficult part to animate? VN. The Captain was really hard, and having him pull a bunch of cables out of a computer console was even harder. We don't have a good rig for articulating cables and wires at Pixar, so that kind of stuff usually has to be animated on every frame.
P3D. Do you now prefer the challenge of animating characters with little facial expression or movement? VN. I do. It's kind of like writing haiku. I like having clear boundaries. P3D. You worked with John Lasseter on Cars, how different was it working with Andrew Stanton on Wall-E? VN. Every director has a different style. With Andrew it's more about exploration to find the solution. John usually has more of an idea of what he wants, but he's willing to let you plus it or try different options. I've always found working with John to be like working with your favorite uncle. He's very magnanimous and warm. Andrew tends to be more cerebral. P3D. You have been doing some Directing yourself on Cars Toons. Can you tell us a bit more about this? VN. This was a wonderful, albeit grueling, experience. I really enjoyed being involved in all parts of the production, for storyboarding through final sound mix. Our schedule was very compressed so there was a lot of stress and we had to take some shortcuts, but I don't think you can tell when you watch them, and I'm very proud of our work.
P3D. Was it difficult moving across to Directing rather than being the animator? VN. I really missed animating (and just sitting at my desk!), but I'd had some small experience directing on a commercial for Cars and StateFarm back in 2005, as well as at my previous job, Presto Studios. I think I have a pretty good knack for detail and the big picture, and I was surrounded by lots of artists who are really good at what they do, which helps a lot. We also had John Lasseter there to keep us on track and push us to make them better. I had a great safety net. P3D. Are you still allowed to go to the animators bar at Pixar now you are trying your hand at directing? VN. My office is right next to the bar, so they can't keep me away! P3D. There are of course other studio's in addition to Pixar such as Bluesky and Dreamworks, creating some amazing work. Which studio or film has really impressed you recently? VN. I liked Kung Fu Panda a lot, and I was really floored by Laika's work on Coraline. P3D. So what are your current plans for 2009, We hear you are working on Toy Story 3 already? VN. Yup, Toy Story 3. And after that... I have no idea. Thanks Victor once more for your time. We wish you all the best during production of Toy Story 3 and look forward to speaking to you once again very soon. "Wall-E," recently won all three of the Visual Effects Society Awards devoted to animation -- character animation, effects animation, and outstanding animation. You can get up to date news from Victor by visiting is blog at Copyright 2009, PlanIt 3D | ||||
