one (another) day at Pixar

Twelve years have passed since the first time I crossed the gate dominated by a name now sedimented in the collective imagination: Pixar. On that first occasion I was invited to the presentation to the international press of Ribelle – Brave, a feature film which still remains one of my favorite films among those produced by them. Since 2012 I have returned seven more times, in some cases thanks to memorable productions such as Inside Out and The Incredibles 2. The last visit to Pixar took place at the end of April 2024when together with other colleagues from all over the world I was invited toInside Out 2 previewsequel to the animated feature film that many (and not wrongly) consider the best made by Pixar Animation Studios.

If the sense of wonder, trepidation and surprise are now emotions relegated to past visits, what remains intact is the feeling of entering a special placewho has his own specific aura, capable of keeping out everything that happens outside that gate. Pixar continues to be a place where you feel welcome, where you can spend a working day dedicated to productivity but also relaxation in the true sense of the term. Returning after five years, that is, after having experienced the numerous problems and uncertainties that the pandemic has created to the role of journalist/correspondent, and finding the same human warmth and the same professional competence, was something that humanly can give you that pinch of extra confidence that is needed every now and then. Trust in others as much as, ultimately, even a little in yourself.

The so-called “Country Day” dedicated to an upcoming film is organized by Pixar’s publicists according to a program that has remained unchanged over the years: the shuttle that collects the foreign press usually housed in a hotel in San Francisco arrives at the Studios around eight in the morning. From the car park you walk along a short tree-lined avenue up to the main clearing, where the gigantic reproductions of the legendary lamp and ball, symbols of the company, welcome visitors. To their right is the Steve Jobs Building, the main building of the complex completed in 2000, where guests are accommodated while waiting to start the work day. Jobs himself personally designed it: the enormous central nave was conceived as a meeting place, a common space where employees are encouraged to share ideas as well as personal experiences. On the two floors built on the sides, however, there are the actual offices, where the films come to life: on one side the so-called “creatives” work, divided into teams dedicated to the various films in production, on the other the technicians predisposed to the numerous aspects of implementation.

After the usual, abundant breakfast that the group of guests can enjoy in the large meeting room on the right side of the building, they usually move to the screening room located in the adjacent building, renamed Brooklyn. Here it is in fact found the screening room where, in the case of Inside Out 2, director Kelsey Mann and producer Mark Nielsen presented the first thirty-five minutes of the film. They were introduced by today’s creative head of Pixar and director of the first Inside Out Pete Docter: “Over the years we have built huge universes like the ocean of Nemo and Dory, or the deep space of Wall-E. But none of them compare to the greatness of the mind of a twelve-year-old girl. We knew after the first film that we had left out so many other possibilities, that there was still so much to explore about Riley. Inside Out 2 represents a small but great attempt in this direction.” “When I decided to digitize my childhood photos – says Mann – I noticed that over the years the ones relating to my birthday showed me smiling less and less. The emotions that come when you grow up make you too self-conscious, you start to only see your flaws. While it is an age that should be appreciated, celebrated, and this is what we wanted to do with Inside Out 2. Teenagers should look in the mirror and love what they see, both inside and out.” The producer instead remembered the cast of actors who lent their voices to the various characters, from Amy Poehler (Joy) to Tony Hale (Fear), from Adèle Exarchopoulos (Ennui) to Maya Hawke (Anxiety) to Ayo Edebiri (Envy). And it was in one of the dubbing rooms of the building that we spent the rest of the morning: the journalists were in fact granted the “divertissement” of lending their voices to Joy in one of the key scenes of the film, precisely the one in which the protagonists discovers the arrival on the scene of other powerful emotions, first of all that of anxiety.

As usual, the lunch break is spent almost entirely in the Pixar Store, where they can be found items that are not usually marketed elsewhere. It is in this little shop full of wonders that my credit card finds its moment of glory, but at least this time I can say that I didn’t spend (only) for my personal pleasure. The main novelty of this last visit to Pixar is in fact the new role with which I arrived, that of father. My daughter is not yet four years old, we don’t allow her to watch films, we let her sit in front of the TV for sporadic occasions and for no more than ten, fifteen minutes at most. This obviously doesn’t mean that I’m not trembling at the idea of ​​introducing her to Pixar’s masterpieces. Some characters are already quite familiar to her, especially the rebellious princess Merida and the emotions of Inside Out. Whenever I can I tell her about figures dear to me such as the handyman robot from Wall-E, the family of superheroes from The Incredibles or of an old man who can fly inside his little house hanging from hundreds of colored balloons. After careful evaluations regarding sizes, favorite colors and everything else that concerns a girl of that age, the choice fell on a baseball cap with a rose with the Pixar logo, a Sulley soft toy, a Brave puzzle and above all Inside Out 2 t-shirts for the whole family, so as to once again claim our (my) nerd pride…

The afternoon is organized entirely for interviews: Members of the international press take turns chatting with some of the artistic directors of Inside Out 2. The first person I was able to talk to about the film was the director of photography Adam Habib, who already held this role for the previous Onward in 2020: “For this film the biggest challenge was having to create two different worlds, the real one where Riley lives and the ideal one inside his head. We chose to represent the first by building the small imperfections of real life by working both on slightly dirtier and faster camera movements and on a photograph with more opaque, soft lights. The world of Joy and the other emotions is instead clear, stylized, full of bright colors and chromatic contrasts. And the movements of the shots in this case are soft, like those of a classic Hollywood comedy. For example, when Anxiety is in command in the protagonist’s mind, in the real world we have used something that is very similar to the hand-held camera. The same goes for fire: in scenes where Riley is under the most stress, everything around her becomes a blur, as if to underline how extreme the world can often seem at that age. Our concept is that, while working entirely through computer creation, our cameras and lenses function entirely like those of real feature films.”

The second interview of the afternoon was with production designer Jason Deamer, specialized in character characterization: Brave, Luca and Toy Story 4 are some of the Pixar films for which he held this role: “Pete Docter, who directed the first Inside Out as everyone knows, created the characters starting from the idea of ​​giving shape to the various colors , a concept as simple as it is extraordinary in the performance of the five protagonists. The idea was to create figures closer to the human form when emotions were more tangible and positive, like Joy obviously, while we got closer to geometry and stylization with emotions like Anger or Fear. With the new emotions I followed the same principle, but pushed it a little more towards the extremes: Anxiety, for example, resembles the shape of lightning, as electricity always relates to the idea of ​​stress or anxiety. Another fundamental aspect for the creation of the various characters was the levels of brightness that they had to emanate depending on the situations. The rendering work basically consists of producing various layers, various levels of light for each figure in the scene. Joy especially has several in moments when she is in command of the situation.”

After the interviews, the day at Pixar always ends with some time to relax, perhaps enjoying yet another handcrafted coffee produced inside the building, or having a chat with colleagues and publicists. The visit ends as usual with receiving a gift bag with various gadgets from the film for which you were invited. Finally all that remains is to get into the car, in my case headed to San Francisco airport, where the “red eye” headed to New York awaits me. As written, the working day spent at Pixar is always organized according to the same program.

And every time it gives the same, incomparable joy.