We recently journeyed to Pixar to take a look behind the scenes of The Good Dinosaur.
Ryan goes behind the scenes of Pixar’s latest.
The polar opposite of the largely interiorInside Out, The Good Dinosauris about vast, imposing landscapes.
The clouds look have depth.
Trees bend and shake in the wind, their leaves shimmering.
It all looks eerily, tangibly real.
With this greater emphasis on realism comes a palpable sense of danger.
The river is, according to director Peter Sohn, both an antagonist and a help to Arlo.
Westerns and dinosaurs
The Good Dinosaurhas itself endured an eventful path to the silver screen.
Co-director Bob Peterson who came up with the initial premise left the production in 2013.
Through the process of rewriting, the characters themselves also changed.
It was a challenge in the beginning, Sohn says, because we had dinosaurs that were really different.
And we lost that sense of youth to him I definitely wanted to find that boy quality.
There are campfire tales and fights with rustlers.
Sohns recreations of the iconography of classic westerns is affectionate and unabashed.
The Good Dinosauris also uproariously funny, at least in the 30-minute collection of sequences we saw.
Incredibly, this charming character was almost cut from the story, according to production designer Harley Jessup.
Its something Pete brought to this, the Pet Collector, Jessup told us.
He was in and out of the movie, because we werent sure how to use him.
But early on, the reaction was just so strong.
He was such a funny character this crazy guy living out in the woods with these animals.
But he winds up serving an important purpose in the movie.
Research forThe Good Dinosaurinvolved filming and studying the movements of elephants at a local zoo.
Petes great at pitching, and he started acting like a T-rex on horseback, OHara recalls.
As soon as I saw it, I understood what he was going for.
Because you dont want to go all the way dog at certain times.
There have got to be times where you see the human come out.
We looked at squirrel references and raccoons, dogs, wolves.
All that exploration, as you work on it, hones itself.
Then you have a footprint that you’re free to go on.
Its the first little boy gesture.
How soft and rounded should Arlo be?
It had to happen now.
In terms of atmosphere and detail, the films leading light is director of photography Sharon Calahan.
But I think the sum total of all the detail gives the impression of reality.
So I would describe it as a painterly realism.
He didnt want realistic looking characters.
He wanted a world that looked authentic and believable, and one filled with peril.
He wanted wonder, he wanted scale.
So we ended up creating this world that fulfilled all of those needs.
It didnt feel as threatening.
She came at it from a really painterly angle.
Later, we see sunlight shine through a semi-transparent leaf.
Indeed, the echoes ofThe Black Stallions influence extend intoThe Good Dinosaurs story.
Arlo and Spots growing friendship has a similar feel to the first part of that movie.
The Black Stallion,especially the first act, was particularly inspiring, Calahan admits.
Inspired us to be bold, to visually show the connection between the characters.
Plot points and entire story strands are explored, interrogated and thrown away.
Mann shouts, as a sketch of comically startled rodents appears on the screen.
Hundreds of gophers go flying into the air!
I cant stand it when you go to movies and you go, they dont mean that.
Its fake, its surface level.
And thats what we take a stab at do as artists and as writers.
Thats our job to make you guys feel something.
The Good Dinosauris out in cinemas on November 25th.
