Here is my first look at a bug's life, which was an early incomplete print.... Earlier Review of A BUG'S LIFE This is less of a review and more of a document of what the heck I'm doing out here in Silicon Valley, and what the big Silicon Valley screening was like.
Well here I am having a Northern California adventure. Flown up by the gang at PIXAR to see A BUG'S LIFE. Which I felt was a little odd since I'm allegedly a paid stooge working for DREAMWORKS SKG. It seems somebody somewhere has seen the big 6 ft tall Buzz Lightyear in my bedroom... you could say I am a fan.
Anyway, this is the first trip that I've gone on by myself where they (whomever they is) got me a rental car. So I flew into San Francisco International Airport then got my little Avis DODGE (something spiffy sounding) car and took off for CUPERTINO, which lays somewhere south of San Francisco.
Now being the anal retentive geek that I am, and not having a clue how to navigate in a valley made of melted sand particles, I went to the YAHOO Maps area and began to enter in every single itsy bitsy address to and from where I was going.
So with these printed pages, I was at the will of the computer. Trusting my direction in life to the decree of the web. Hell, why not, the web's treated me pretty good so far.
I put in Jerry Goldsmith's BASIC INSTINCT cd and anticipated a HWY 1 trip south of SAN FRAN.... sigh... Nope, instead it was a big ol 4 lane monstrosity that revealed a few pretty trees here and there. But the music did me good, I just tripped out to pursuing a blonde psychopath to her beachfront house where we would have a nice... cup of tea... extra honey.
Soon I found myself at my hotel, sort of staring at it in disbelief. Wow, not one wrong turn... well there goes adventure. You know everyone should have some sort of wrong turn on a journey. It's just natural.
I check in and think... What do I do now?
I've got hours and hours till the actual screening, so I decide to get in my red forward progression machine and bop about... having no computer to guide me. Soon I was in Santa Clara, which I thought was the town in LOST BOYS, I thought it was the Murder Capitol of the world, and I was searching for the boardwalk. I wanted to find that comic shop that them there vampire hunting geeks ran. I wanted to get the take out of noodles that make you think you were eating maggots. Alas, I did not find them. Bummer.
I wound up eating at an English pub, eating these strange English sausages and drinking Guinness Stout.
After that I found myself in a Japanese strip mall looking for something of the Miyazaki persuasion to get Robogeek for Christmas, alas there was nothing. I then walked into an 'Antiques' shop, but everything was over $500 and probably worth it, but Dad would have to settle for something else. Then the strangest thing to not find in a Japanese strip mall were Chop Sticks. You see my sister collects them, all diffent types, you know the fancy ones, well I couldn't find any anywhere. I saw a Japanese tea set that was cool though, but... well slightly out of my price range... dang it. I run into this one 'pop culture' shop and go through their cds in the vain hopes of finding the CHINESE GHOST STORY soundtrack... I'm never going to find it.
By this time I was tired of walking around so I went back to the hotel. Pretty bored, I decided to see if I could get ahold of any of my friends to get a message to my father that I was ground chuck along a fence in Northern California. YES, Tom Joad was in. Well gosh that took about 50 seconds. Dammit.
So then I decided to look at the Pay View films... Nothing I'm into. Argh! This is what I can't stand, being in a hotel room with nothing to do. So I sign on, sure enough I have email from some Cupertino folks. Cool. I give this one guy a call, I'll call him Mike Myers. He sounded shocked that I called, so we schedule to get together the following day. Groovy.
Finally about two hours before the screening I decide to find the place, and perhaps kick around in that area for a bit. I go into a TARGET. Yeah, I know... exotic, but I figure, "Hey... maybe I'll find them dang McFarlane monster toys (Leatherface, Freddy, Jason, etc)" No luck. So I decide to drive over to the FLINT CENTER, where the A BUG'S LIFE event is happening.
I park up on like the fifth floor and I decide to just sit there, listen to my Blade Runner soundtrack and look at the mountains. I like that. Just sitting and looking at something beautiful, while listening to something beautiful. It's good for the soul. After the soundtrack has played through I decide to head over to the... EVENT.
Perhaps 40 Valet dudes (aka paid carjackers) await famous people, I parked my own car, I don't like turning my car over to someone else. Instead of a red carpet... it's a green astroturf carpet. That gets a smile out of me. Once I get to the end of it, I'm greeted by a couple of nice publicity types, that ask about the plane trip, the drive and my accomadations. That's nice. I ask about the FLINT CENTER, it's this high class performing arts center that Pixar is taking over for the evening. They tell me there is a tent somewhere around here where we will all... party afterwards.
I decide to take a look around. The place is crawling with ushers. There has to be at least one usher per row. I venture out to seat number 1 on the seventh row. The ceiling of this place has that wonderful wood baffles (I think that's what they are called). Man, the acoustics in this place are going to be unreal. I do a quick look at speaker placement, looks like they have a full super duper digital sound set up, the placement is similar to a THX auditorium. Groovy.
As the crowd comes in, I begin realizing that these people. The ones in this room, are the people that not only work for PIXAR, but for all the other animation companies, the people that made Silicon Graphic Workstations, the folks at APPLE... ILM... It's about that time I spot god... I mean Dennis Muren. Wow.. Dennis Muren... Cool. Then I look at all these other faces and begin wondering who made what real when.
That's when the lights began to dim, and Steve Jobs (Moses according to Robogeek who is a rabid MAC fan.) takes the stage to quite loud applause. He informs us that the PIXAR SINGERS will be taking the stage to serenade us with their Wrap Song. No no noooo, not a Rap song, this is the song they sing when the production, in this case A BUG'S LIFE, is done. It's filled with Renderman and Silicon Graphics references and jokes. And... They are very very good. I love their "a DOmm dita dit" bit. I've been going around afterwards just suddenly saying, "A DOmm dita dit!" People think I'm strange. I know I am.
I keep my eyes turned on a pair of boys, about 8 or 9. They'll be my register for the film. I watch them playing with their indigo watches as the different people do their talks. It's funny, watching kids that have... well no clue who Steve Jobs or John Lasseter or even the voice of the character they're dying to see are. But this will be the sort of memory for them, when they are all grown up and their brains are functioning on all cylinders, they'll say, "I remember when I was a wee little chap, I saw Steve Jobs and John Lasseter. Naaa, I don't remember what they said, I wasn't paying attention, but Lasseter had this cool Ladybug tuxedo." And another will respond with, "You did not!" And then they'll be hard pressed to prove it, but it will be their memory, and that is as cool as it gets.
The purpose of this screening, as I saw it, was to give respect and acknowledgment to those in the Silicon Valley, without whom, these wondrous machines could not do what it is PIXAR does with them. It was to salute the technical people and the artists that make computer animation possible. That was basically what Steve was covering.
John Lasseter in his wondrous ladybug tux, did the same. Acknowledging the mountain of talent and effort that goes into a 4 year project like A BUG'S LIFE.
It's stunning. It really is. After the brief talk, the lights dimmed further and...
Geri's Game
To me, the PIXAR shorts are a pure joy. Usually instead of just being a great and wonderful animated short, they all push what you can do with animation. I don't know if GERI'S GAME will be with all the prints of A BUG'S LIFE that go out, but if you see it. You're lucky. It's a wonderful short. Watching the looks and the reactions on Geri's face, the gleam in his eyes... well... I just love it.
Then it was time for...
A BUG'S LIFE
The last time I saw this film, several of the 'action' sequences weren't quite finished yet. The score was temp tracked with FAR AND AWAY and a couple of others. Now... Well now it has the second fantastic Randy Newman PIXAR score. I hope they continue their collaboration for a long long time. It would be nice in twenty years to have a compilation of the Pixar/Newman Experience. He seems to be the perfect tonal expression that we've seen in PIXAR's work.
So, have my problems with A BUG'S LIFE been... cured by the final print. Yes, basically they have. I really can't even begin to tell you exactly how much of an improvement just Newman's score is. As for my whole 'Why are the Ants blue?' bit... well, let's just say that in this final print, perfectly color corrected and sharp.. well, I began to notice little things in them Ants. Specifically I'm going to say the texture and the irridescent sheen the ants have was quite cool. BUT, I still prefer the coloring of the ANTZ in that other film. I think the actual character design in A BUG'S LIFE is far far more memorable. If nothing else, Francis and Heimlich and Hopper and Manny and P.T. Flea and Tuck & Roll are just so strong an example of great character design that I sincerly doubt I'll ever be able to forget their look. Specifically Slim (the stickbug) and Francis (the ladybug), whom I believe to be absolute CLASSIC characters.
It's a different type of story than that Toy one. This film is more about individualism, about changing the norm and it's about friends. It's also about THE MAGNIFICIENT SEVEN or SEVEN SAMURAI or in this case... there are nine. But where those two films focused on the "warriors" this film focuses on the ones that need the help. Why? Because ultimately, I believe the film says we must look to ourselves to cure our own problems. I'm a big believer in this message.
I have to say again how lucky we animation fans are. In the last quarter of this year we are getting ANTZ, A BUGS LIFE and THE PRINCE OF EGYPT. All three quite superior efforts. Oh Joy! So far I've just seen the first two. And I really can't think of a time frame in history where we had feature animation of this calibre, so immediate. And after just witnessing the box office numbers come in from this weekend's release of RUGRATS THE MOVIE, which is quite honestly SHOCKING. I can't believe RUGRATS THE MOVIE beat ENEMY OF THE STATE at the box office. I am just literally at a loss for words. I have had people telling me for months, all the way back at SHOWEST, that RUGRATS was going to be huge... but, to be honest, I thought they were on CRACK. The characters have zero interest for me, I tried to watch an episode once... emphasis on TRIED. I really hope and pray that A BUG'S LIFE and THE PRINCE OF EGYPT perform as they really deserve to.
A BUG'S LIFE is wonderful, personally I still prefer ANTZ, but that is merely a style decision. I loved the more adult angle of ANTZ, but I can say I smiled a lot more during A BUG'S LIFE. Both films are quite honestly superior animated films. I'm very pleased that ANTZ looks like it is going to be successful enough to justify doing many more CG films over there with DREAMWORKS, and A BUG'S LIFE is also going to be quite a winner. And we, animation fans, well we'll be doing flips since what this means is... more cool animation for us.
After the film, I went to THE TENT. While on my way to THE TENT, I met up with the second editor on A BUG'S LIFE... David Ian Salter, who came up to introduce himself, and then we found ourselves talking about films. The conversation quickly drifted to a subject that... well has always been a curiousity with me.
What does an 'editor' do in animation?
Right? I mean, isn't all that stuff up to the storyboard artists, and the animation sequence directors and that sort of thing? Surely an editor gets to just... lay around? Right?
WRONG!
And boy did I feel stupid as soon as Salter began talking to me. An editor on an animated film works from the very beginning of production. They put together the tests, the work prints, they actually have more input to the process then most editors get to on a live action film. And it's a bunch of work. You see, with a normal film, you put together an rough of a film. This print is basically everything you shot for the movie, then you take that and hone and hone till the film breathes. It's a lot like sculpting. You chip the excess away till the film flows better. With an animated film, an editor works with the animators to extablish the timing, the pacing and the rhythm of the film. They put together an entire flick from storyboards and animatics. We've heard about this sort of thing with what Lucas is doing with his new Star Wars films. And well... that's kind of how this works. Then, as the various sequences are delivered you begin assembling the print, making sure the timing works. I'm hoping to learn more about this process tomorrow when I go to Pixar and meet with Lee Unkrich (supervising film editor on A BUG'S LIFE).
Also I was able to talk quite a bit with John Lasseter about the evolution of an animated film. From screenplay to storyboards to story reels (that's when they film the storyboards and assemble that with a reading of the script, but not the final actors) to the polygon versions of the film, through putting on the skins and textures, then lighting all of that till you have a final product. It's a very long process. To put it mildly, getting to actually meet and talk with an animator of the immense talent and vision that John Lasseter has... well, let me put it this way.
Right now there are only three men that are just hands down... well, they are right there with the masters of animation direction. Chuck Jones, Tex Avery, Bob Clampett and Ray Harryhausen. They are joined by, for me anyway, Phil Tippet, John Lasseter and Henry Selick. Each of them are in charge of large groups of very very talented animators. Each of them have this seemingly unreal amount of talent and vision. Henry Selick and John Lasseter have spoken with their films: NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS, TOY STORY, JAMES AND THE GIANT PEACH and A BUG'S LIFE. Meanwhile in the wings with EXPEDITION is Phil Tippet.
I feel so incredibly lucky to have been able to meet two of them now (Lasseter and Tippet). As animation continues we will begin to see more leaders take hold. John is the sort of guy that as soon as you begin talking with him... you can tell "Here's a guy that knows what he is doing.. and loves it."
It is that aspect that I love.
Meanwhile, I continued to make my way around the room, talking to a design fella in marketing that comes up with a lot of that groovy PIXAR tie-in and marketing stuff. He seemed to be a pretty big fan of the site.
Then I talked with this one animator that sort of shed some quite interesting light on the computer animation process. And after listening to him, it sounded alot like the work done in normal animation, but just... different. You see, in a film like A BUG'S LIFE... well here ya go...
First off, it seems everybody works and animates on all the characters. The weird thing is, you have people that just animate the polygon versions, then it goes off to someone that puts skin on the polygons, then to some one that gives that skin texture, then some one that lights it. And I'm sure I'm missing tons of steps, but that's because I'm not as familiar with it as I am with traditional animation.
I also got to meet and talk to the voice of Heimlich (the catepillar) who is Joe Ranft. Now believe it or not, in the real world of cells and tissue, he doesn't sound a bit like his catepillar self. He also is responsible for some of the storyboarding... I think that's what he said, that was after my 4th glass of a really nice red wine, which I hate myself for not making a note of.
Oh, damn. I forgot to describe THE TENT. Well, it's like this... It kinda looked a lot like A BUG'S LIFE. Lots of big oversized flowers and blades of grass. One person I observed trying to leave the party with a giant flower. The security stopped her, but then the security guard and I smiled at one another. But then... hey.. it was one of them nights. You know the type where you have a party with some sort of schmuck net guy like me, and one of the most significant people of the 20th Century like Steve Jobs. This tent housed a lot of talent, and me. I really was quite honored by it all. Plus I got to see a really cool movie. Cool.
I really have to say, before I leave, that I'm a huge computer animation fan. The reason I got into computers at all, was because of TRON. The CG in that film, while some may make fun of it today... well it lit my imagination. As did the Genesis planet stuff in STAR TREK II. I just knew that was something that fascinated me. Through all the shorts like LUXO JR and TIN TOY and THE MIND'S EYE and BEYOND THE MIND'S EYE... well I've followed.
My first and most unfulfilled dream was to be an animator. That's why I did those 'Star Wars Special Editions', it was my chance to... well play a bit. I remember as a kid writing what seemed to be 8 billion lines of POKE statements to make a stick figure walk. And then, if you messed up just one line... well KABLOOIE... it didn't work. Somewhere in there, some people started writing some darn powerful software that... well it's a-mazing.
In about 5 hours I get to see what the machines that make A BUG'S LIFE possible look like. I'm gonna sooooo geek out. I mean, sheeshus, it's PIXAR, I feel like I'm going to the modern day equivalent of TERMITE TERRACE (reference for animation geeks). God I'm a lucky friggin geek!
