In the case of this Up Round-Up I had planned on writing separate posts for each of these articles but they’re so related that I can’t help but to make a conglomerate post.
Ricky Nierva on Designing Up: Creating a world from scratch is a tough job, just ask Up Production Designer Ricky Nierva! In his latest interview, he tackles such questions as why Pixar is so successful and if he wants to direct in the future. Also highlighted was that with his Filipino heritage, Nierva took great pride in having Russell as Pixar’s first leading Asian-American. This great read can be found over at ABS–CBN News. Don’t forget to check out the interview in video form here.
Pete Docter & Bob Peterson’s Spline Cast: It’s been a while since animator Andrew Gordon’s last Spline Cast but he’s back with two very special guests. Recorded on May 29th, it’s the Up directorial team of Pete Docter and Bob Peterson! They talk about everything from how to get to Pixar as a writer or animator, their inspirations for eveyrthing they do and stories from before/during/after production on Up. Check out the latest Spline Cast here and the main Spline Doctors page too.
Composing For Up Characters: We’ll leave you with this featurette covering Up’s soundtrack and how it enhanced the film’s characters. Composer Michael Giacchino and the rest of the Up crew explain the process, look out for Pete Docter playing the contrabass:
[Thanks, Simon]
Update — Up Tops Yahoo! User’s Top 30 Animated Films: I was hesitant to post this list because, frankly, it isn’t the best. I mean, it’s compiled by Yahoo! users which means it has no professional opinion. Of course, most of Pixar’s movies were on Yahoo!‘s Top 30 Animated Films, many of which were at the top and that’s all that matters. Two recent Pixar movies made it to #1 and #2. Up and WALL•E were crowned the best animated movies with Bolt at #3! Other honorable mentions include #24 the Incredibles, #23 Cars, #20 Monsters, Inc., #14 Finding Nemo, #12 Ratatouille, and #9 Toy Story; strangely enough A Bug’s Life and the best reviewed movie ever Toy Story 2 weren’t on the list…
Hope you enjoy these three Up related news bits on your happy 4th of July!!
Last modified: July 4, 2009
Here’s the video version of the Ricky Nierva interview (presented in English): http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/video/pinoy-migration/balitang-america/07/02/09/pinoy-visual-guru-behind-pixars
Pete Docter plays Contrabass, not the cello!
Thanks for those, martini. I paticularly enjoyed the featurette covering the soundtrack, and I hope that makes it to the DVD.
Who puts Bolt at #3 and Incredibles at #24? please!