Pixar mini-documentaries: behind the scenes, making the movies

March 31, 2020 2:33 PM

With 22 feature-length films released to date, Pixar has made significant technological and logistic advancements in the 25 years since Toy Story was released. With each movie, they've also documented some of their lessons learned, from how they went from making shorts and commercials to their first full film in "Black Friday," to re-creating the flaws in physical cameras to make WALL·E look faux-photo-realistic in "The Imperfect Lens." Come along for even more docu-shorts!

1995 - Toy Story (there's some repeated clips in these 3 documentaries)
-- The Making of Toy Story (1995 30 minute television special)
-- The Story Behind Toy Story (27 minutes, taken from Toy Story: The Ultimate Toy Box Collector's Edition)
-- Making Toy Story (20 minutes, taken from the 10th anniversary edition of Toy Story)
+ Toy Story Bonus Features, a playlist of 132 (!!) clips from various releases of the movie (including some excerpted bits from longer behind-the-scenes segments, plus some features from sequels, snuck in).
1998 - A Bug's Life
-- Living A Bug's Life (30 minute documentary, VHS recording from Australian TV)
-- Research (5 minute clip on looking at the world from a bug's point of view, from A Bug's Life: Two-Disc Collector's Edition)
-- Sound design (3:07; taken from 2-Disc Set Collector's Edition home video release)
-- Reframing (4:27; re-producing the film for smaller home screens, taken from the 2-Disc Set Collector's Edition home video release)
+ A Bug's Life Bonus Features, a playlist of 64 video clips
1999 - Toy Story 2
-- Making Toy Story 2 (7:52; from the Toy Story 2 DVD)
-- Toy Story 2 - Why a Sequel? (2:39; from the Toy Story 2 DVD)
+ Toy Story 2 Bonus Features, a playlist of 163 related clips and shorts
2001 - Monsters, Inc.
-- Monsters, Inc. - Behind the Screams Special (28:48, full VHS recording)
-- Monsters, Inc. - CGI making of (9:19; looking at early design iterations)
+ Monsters, Inc. Bonus Features, a playlist of 112 related clips and shorts
2003 - Finding Nemo
-- Finding Nemo - The Making Of (52:17, from LightsCameraAction)
+ Finding Nemo Bonus Features, a playlist of 77 related clips and shorts
2004 - The Incredibles
-- Making of The Incredibles (27:25; taken from the Widescreen 2-Disc Collector's Edition DVD)
+ The Incredibles Bonus Features, a playlist of 69 related clips and shorts
2006 - Cars
-- The Inspiration for Cars (16:04)
+ Cars Bonus Features, a playlist of 21 related clips and shorts
2007 - Ratatouille
-- The Making of Ratatouille (18:46)
+ Ratatouille Bonus Features, a playlist of 18 related clips and shorts
2008 - WALL-E
-- Thomas Newman - Notes on a Score Interview (10:14)
-- Animation Sound Design: Building Worlds from the Sound Up (18:44; from the Wall-E collector's edition DVD, with a look at the history of Disney sounds, and a focus on Jimmy MacDonald [Wikipedia])
+ Wall-E Bonus Features, a playlist of 56 related clips and shorts
2009 - Up
-- Inside Up: Discovering a Lost World (2:44; official Walt Disney Studios clip)
-- UP Behind the Scenes (5:16)
+ Up Bonus Features, a playlist of 10 related clips and shorts
2010 - Toy Story 3
-- The Making Of Toy Story 3 (9:52)
+ Toy Story 3 Bonus Features, a playlist of 15 related clips and shorts
2011 - Cars 2
-- International Versions — Tokyo Party Scene (4:16; possible fan-made compilation of race car localization)
+ Cars 2 Bonus Features, a playlist of 7 related clips and shorts
2012 - Brave
-- Extended Behind the Scenes Featurette (5:53)
-- Behind The Scenes - Filming Process (4:31)
-- Behind-The-Scenes B-Roll (Part 1) & (Part 2) & (Part 3) (~14 minutes in total from the Disney Vault)
-- CGI Making of HD Making of Pixar Brave (5:10)
+ Brave Bonus Features, a playlist of 7 related clips and shorts
2013 - Monsters University
-- Inside Pixar Animation Studios with Monsters University (7:45; The Verge)
-- Cast Recording Sessions Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3 (~16 minutes)
+ Monsters University Bonus Features, a playlist of 12 related clips and shorts
2015 - Inside Out
-- Blu-Ray/HDX Bonus Features & Making of Inside Out (12:34)
The Creators of Inside Out: On Animation (5:26; BAFTA Guru interview)
-- CGI Making of Pixar Animation Inside Out (4:23)
+ Inside Out Bonus Features, a playlist of 19 related clips and shorts
2015 - The Good Dinosaur
-- How “The Good Dinosaur” Raised the Bar for Natural-World CGI (4:05; Wired on YouTube, or on Wired.com with a transcript)
-- The World of The Good Dinosaur (11:41; from the Blu-ray)
-- Every Part of the Dinosaur (6:09; from the Blu-ray)
-- The Filmmakers' Journey (7:55; from the Blu-ray)
+ The Good Dinosaur Bonus Features, a playlist of 35 related clips and shorts
2016 - Finding Dory
-- Go Behind the Scenes of Finding Dory (13:42)
-- How Pixar created its most complex character yet for Finding Dory -- Pixar says Hank the Octopus wasn't possible with the technology available 13 years ago for "Finding Nemo." Find out how he came to life in "Finding Dory." (3:53; CNET)
-- DVD/Blu-Ray Release Bonus Features (7:00)
2017 - Cars 3
-- Generations: The Story of Cars 3 (11:20; from the Blu-Ray)
-- Behind the Sounds of Cars 3 (3:52, from Skywalker Sound)
+ Cars 3 Bonus Features, a playlist of 29 related clips and shorts
2017 - Coco
-- A Thousand Pictures A Day (20 minute documentary)
-- All Release Bonus Features (12:55)
2018 - Incredibles 2
-- Behind the Incredibles 2 Characters (25:42)
-- Behind the Scenes (11:12; Making of Incredibles 2 B-Roll)
-- All Release Bonus Features
2019 - Toy Story 4
-- How Pixar’s Toy Story 4 Was Animated (13:10, Movies Insider)
-- The Making Of Toy Story 4 Movie Behind The Scenes (18:27)
-- Behind The Scenes on Toy Story 4 - Voice Cast Clips & Bloopers (10:26)
2020 - Onward
-- Pixar Cinematographers Deconstruct Onward - Exclusive Behind the Scenes Video
-- Behind the Scenes of Tom Holland & Chris Pratt Pixar Movie

posted by filthy light thief (5 comments total)

um, thank you for this. I am stoked!
posted by Busithoth at 4:08 PM on March 31, 2020 [1 favorite]

Wow!
posted by not_that_epiphanius at 6:42 PM on March 31, 2020

Nerdwriter did a fascinating piece on Pixar's use of camera lens effects in Toy Story 4. Basically they emulated the look of different lens types that traditional filmmakers use to compose different kinds of shots. Concepts like focal plane are entirely arbitrary in a CG film, since there are no real lenses involved. But audiences are so used to the distortions created by lenses that their absence makes a movie appear less realistic. So Pixar added them purely to evoke the look of traditional film.
posted by dephlogisticated at 9:15 PM on March 31, 2020 [1 favorite]

I think that's something they started with WALL-E, as covered in the clip "The Imperfect Lens" above the fold. Pixar invited Roger Deakins (Wikipedia) to talk about how a bit of the history of shooting and lighting film. He also said something along the lines of "people have been trying to eliminate these distortions for decades, and they're trying to re-create them."

And I forgot that Pixar was first a hardware company and they started making demo videos to promote their hardware. It's fun to see them change and grow over time, and see people move up the ranks through their changing roles in these documentaries.
posted by filthy light thief at 8:11 AM on April 1, 2020

There’s no behind the scenes movie about how Pixar treats women like shit?
posted by w0mbat at 8:24 AM on April 1, 2020 [1 favorite]