In an exclusive interview given to art director Don Shank and effects supervisor Stephen Marshall shared fascinating details about the highly anticipated film. Elements, by Disney and Pixar. The production promises to delight and captivate audiences with a compelling narrative and stunning visual aesthetics.
With the premiere scheduled for June 15, Elements takes place in a city where inhabitants of fire, water, earth and air coexist harmoniously. In this intriguing scenario, a flamboyant young woman and a guy who lives with the power end up unexpectedly together, discovering something surprising: the amount of similarities they have.
During the interview, a lot of interesting information was shared about the challenges and unique aspects of the film.
Stephen Marshall expressed his initial reaction to the concept of elements that come to life, noting the significant challenges they faced in creating characters that are expressive elements.
I look at it from an effects perspective and think about all the challenges we have to solve when we’re going to try to create expressive characters, [mas] that don’t look scary.
Stephen Marshall, effects supervisor Elements
He also commented on making a character expressive: “Making a character expressive, capable of conveying subtlety and emotion, we knew was going to be a big challenge, and that’s what attracted me to this project.”
When asked if Elements is Pixar’s most challenging film to date, as the film’s producer Denise Ream said in an interview with in December—Marshall agreed, emphasizing the need to revise the effects approach and collaborate with other departments.
He explained, “I mean, it was challenging at first in so many different ways. We had to rethink how we handle effects. We had to work closely with departments that we don’t normally work with, like the character and animation department.”
Also, Marshall reflected on how accustomed we are to the effects. “I think our comfort zone is big effects, you know, like destruction, like explosions, floods, things like that. That’s how we got used to it. But in this, it’s like we have to create effects. We almost had to realign our brains.
He also mentioned the challenges of designing the characters and using the technology for a large number of scenes:
We had over 1600 scenes in the film and how to use our technology for all the characters was another big question. There were so many challenges we had to overcome on this project.
Stephen Marshal
Don Shank, effects supervisor Elementsshared his excitement about the concept of elements coming to life and his inspiration from cartoons like The Flintstones. She stated: “Well, yes. I was really excited because it seemed full of opportunities to do these fun translations of things we know into something that becomes elemental.
Despite the excitement, Shank agreed that the challenges facing the film’s development were formidable.
It was the most challenging thing I’ve ever done and I think most of the people who worked on it felt the same way. Everything in the film had to be invented and transformed. At some point you found yourself out of ideas.
Don Shank, effects supervisor Elements
He also mentioned the intricacies of designing characters to fit their respective elements and maintain consistency between the four elemental cultures. Also, finding the right balance between effects and visual cohesion was another significant challenge.
When asked about the references used to develop the cultures of the four elemental characters, Don Shank explained the need for distinct form languages and design elements for each group.
The difficulty of conveying the flow and movement of characters associated with fire, water and air, while ensuring the solidity of earthly characters. They experimented with different design elements to represent the medium of each element, eventually settling on earth granules for the earth characters.
Don Gambo
The post Equipe de Elementos “realigned their brains” to create the film, says the art director first appeared on Olhar Digital.
Source: Olhar Digital
Rose James is a Gossipify movie and series reviewer known for her in-depth analysis and unique perspective on the latest releases. With a background in film studies, she provides engaging and informative reviews, and keeps readers up to date with industry trends and emerging talents.
