Pixar Blasts Off
The animation studio's latest film, WALL-E, takes the company to new heights
WALL-E examines an artifact left behind when humans left Earth. (Photo courtesy Disney/Pixar)
Every summer, movie production companies release their most appealing kids' movie. This year's major production from Pixar is WALL-E.
WALL-E is about the last robot on earth. Humans are tired of seeing trash everywhere they go, so they retreat to a spaceship that takes them across the galaxy. A big company tries cleaning up the trash by sending WALL-E robots (Waste Allocation Load Lifters Earth-Class) to clean the trash. However, the robots overload and shutdown before their job is finished.
Hundreds of years later, a spacecraft drops EVE, a high-tech robot, off on Earth. EVE is on a top-secret mission. She's followed around by WALL-E, and realizes WALL-E holds the key to her mission. When the spaceship returns for EVE and she flies into space, WALL-E hitches a ride on her shuttle. That's when WALL-E's real adventure begins. To find out the rest of the story, watch WALL-E in theaters this summer.
Behind the Scenes
Believe it or not, WALL-E might only be about two hours long yet it took about four years to make. Each step had to be done carefully to ensure a quality movie.
First, professional artists draw out the characters. They draw many versions of each character with different emotions and positions. They also draw various scenes in the movie. Characters and scenes are the two major components of animation movies.
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| WALL-E directing animator Angus MacLane (Photo courtesy Disney/Pixar) |
Animators then convert drawings into computer files. The directing animator checks that every animated character and scene is looking its best. If everything is OK, they start "shooting."
Unlike regular movie shooting where actors act, animators move the characters in sequence on computers, just like 3D puppets. Computers record the action movement by movement.
After that, shots are combined into sequence. Lights, effects, and sounds are added. The animation is edited and copied into films. The movie is ready to go to theaters.
Pixar has been following this same process to make summer hit movies in recent years. This may sound a bit boring, but, Angus MacLane, directing animator from Pixar, doesn't think so. "It is challenging making the best that the animations can be," he told Scholastic News.
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