Incredible EveningA couple of weeks before The Incredibles opened in theaters, my wife, son and I were fortunate enough to attend a benefit for San Francisco's Cartoon Art Museum. The event was hosted by Pixar, across the Bay in Emeryville. After a tour of the campus, the three of us spoke informally to a group of young men about what kind of education one should pursue to get involved in the kind of animation they create at Pixar. After, we all entered the state-of-the-art theater where four of the Pixar luminaries gave presentations - three of them turned out to be the guys we talked to. Toby took a sketch pad up and got their autographs.
One presentation was by a guy (unfortunately I can't remember his name) who edited the sound in Finding Nemo. He showed how music can set the tone for a scene and help bring the audience in.
Mark Andrews explained the art of the storyboard, and showed how he developed the storyboard art for the final scene where the Incredibles fight the Omnidroid. His autograph:
Angus MacLane is one of the animators who worked on The Incredibles. He apparently spent two years perfecting the scene where Bob battles the Omnidroid on the island. He showed us 14 or 15 versions of the scene where Bob throws his back out, trying to get it just right. His autograph:
Finally, Andrew Stanton, the Oscar winning writer/director of Finding Nemo spoke about the art of storytelling. To illustrate his point, he told the following story.
A guy was hiking through the highlands of Scotland when he came down to a village and stopped in the pub for a brew. As he stood at the bar sipping his beer, he noticed an old codger at the end of the bar.
The old guy looked up and said, "See this bar? I built this bar. I went out into the forest and felled the trees, and I dragged them down to the village and sawed them inot boards, and I planed and polished until I had this beautiful bar. But do they cal me MacNab the Bar builder? No."
He took a drink of his beer and pointed out the door. "See that wall? I built that wall. I went down to the quarry and blasted out the stone, hauled it up here and made the mortar and I built that wall. But do they call me MacNab the Wall Builder? No."
Then he pointed out the window. "See the dock out there on the lake? I built that dock. I sunk the pilings, dragged the logs down and built that dock. But do they call me MacNab the Dock Builder? No."
The old man took a long drink from his glass and set it down.
"But fuck one goat..."
I've since heard a number of different versions of this joke. Stanton's point was that any good story should be like a good joke, with a setup, an exposition, and end with a puchline. He took this audience by surprise, though, considering it was about a third teenagers with their parents.
His autograph:
Santa No. 8
1:32:26 AM 
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