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Irish Examiner
15 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Irish Examiner
'It's four or five seconds a week per animator': The maker's of Pixar's new film, Elio
Three decades ago, a new animation studio prepared to release their first-ever feature film in cinemas, a buddy movie featuring a quirky cowboy and a space superhero. The fledgling studio was called Pixar and their first release — Toy Story —broke the mould for animated storytelling and changed the course of movie history. Almost thirty years after the world fell in love with Andy's toys and other Pixar classics, their 29th feature film comes to our big screens. Elio, the tale of a space-obsessed boy who finds himself accidentally beamed into outer space — where he's mistaken for Earth's chief ambassador — sends its protagonist on a intergalactic voyage of self discovery. While it might not quite scale the heights of classics like Monsters, Inc, Up or Wall-E, Elio again blends the intimate with the universal in a richly detailed tale. It all comes about through years of story building and preparation, attention to detail and animators who spend dozens of hours creating just a few seconds of film footage over the course of their work at Pixar's studios in California. 'The logistics are a big part of my job,' says Elio's producer Alice Mary Drumm. 'For Elio, we probably had about 250 people at the peak of the crew, but we had over 400 people involved throughout the film. Almost everyone at Pixar touches the film in some way, and there are 1,200 of us. The average animator is animating about five, five and a half feet a week, which is basically one shot. It's four or five seconds a week per animator, maybe a little less. At our peak, we are probably going through one or two minutes of animation a week.' It's the kind of painstaking craftwork that makes Pixar best in show in a golden era for animated filmmaking. Featuring subtle nods to sci-fi classics like Alien and Close Encounters, and a backstory involving Nasa's Voyager space probe, Elio tells the story of a recently orphaned boy who has a loving but testing relationship with his aunt. He's a space-obsessed boy with a lively imagination who has long dreamed of encountering alien life - so he's thrilled when he's accidentally beamed up into outer space. Elio arrives at the Communiverse, an interplanetary organisation with representatives from various galaxies, and is mistaken as Planet Earth's leader. But when he's tasked with helping prevent the fearsome and powerful Lord Grigon from seizing control of the Communiverse, he needs to get savvy fast with the help of his eccentric sidekick, Glordon. When Elio's wish to be abducted by aliens actually comes true, he meets an array of space inhabitants, including Glordon, the tender-hearted son of a fierce warlord ruler. Taking on a sci-fi movie means creating two very different worlds within one movie, and Pixar's production team got to work, says director Domee Shi. 'Tackling a sci-fi movie, you can basically design the alien world to look like anything, the sky's the limit, and that's kind of daunting. Production designer Harley Jessup and his art team did such an amazing job with finding the look and feeling of the Communiverse. He really challenged himself and the team to design a space that we've never seen before in any of our movies at Pixar, but also in other sci fi movies from other studios. 'A good North Star for us was thinking about space as this aspirational wish fulfilment for Elio, a lonely boy on Earth who feels like an alien. The moment that he arrives in space, it has to be the opposite feeling of how he felt on Earth. If Earth was desaturated, cold, and he felt visually boxed in, then space is huge, colourful, vibrant, full of organic shapes and alien designs that are not humanoid at all, but still feel quite friendly and appealing.' From the antics of superhero family The Incredibles to the happy/sad emotional rollercoaster that was Inside Out, as the studio approaches its 30th year, almost everyone has an opinion on the former movie they hold closest to their hearts, which tale resonated with them the most as they watched on the big screen for the first time. They include, it emerges, the filmmakers themselves. 'I grew up watching Pixar movies, and they were some of the first times I experienced cinema that could change me,' says Madelaine Sharafin, making her feature directorial debut with Elio, who was a toddler when Toy Story debuted in cinemas. 'I hadn't realised that a person can watch a movie and come out feeling incredibly different about themselves and about the world, or even that a movie could make somebody cry. 'The one that really changed things for me was watching Monsters Inc, which I think is one of my favourite movie endings of all time (when Sully and his best friend Boo are reunited). I think it's brilliant. I would finish the movie, and then I'd immediately restart it, because I was so moved. I didn't want to leave that feeling.' Mary Alice Drumm, Domee Shi and Madeline Sharafian attend the UK gala screening of Elio. Picture: Tim P Whitby/Getty Looking back for director Domee Shi, it was the opening moments of Up, in which a grumpy and heartbroken widower takes to the skies — not knowing he had a stowaway on board — that first resonated. 'Pixar films, they just felt different than other animated films,' says Shi. 'Because they always have such an emphasis on good story, and they really treat animation like a medium, not a genre. They never shy away from telling stories with deeper or more adult themes, and you always walk away from a Pixar film feeling a little bit changed in some way, and that's our hope with Elio too. 'The film that impacted me the most was probably Up just because I bawled my eyes out when I watched the first 10 minutes of it. There were no words spoken, but you got the sense of an entire relationship, marriage, a life. It was just amazing to see, like pure visual storytelling on the big screen.' For producer Alice Mary Drumm, it was the studio's imagination in bringing audiences a movie where the central character was a rat that resonated. 'There are so many great movies,' she says. 'Ratatouille, for me, was one — it's just incredible that any studio would make a movie about rats in a kitchen. It's such a crazy idea, and I think that encapsulates Pixar for me, that there's such creative freedom and such belief, while also holding the bar. It's about story and character, whether it's a rat, whether it's aliens, as long as we're focusing on that, and then we use animation, because we can do anything in animation. Those are the things that I think help us keep our compass at Pixar.' Elio is in cinemas from Friday, June 20
USA Today
21 hours ago
- Entertainment
- USA Today
'This is just who I am': Pixar's new 'Elio' explores loneliness
'This is just who I am': Pixar's new 'Elio' explores loneliness Show Caption Hide Caption Zoe Saldaña talks new Pixar movie 'Elio' Zoe Saldaña reveals why she can relate to the emotional message in her new Pixar film 'Elio.' 'Elio' is the latest Pixar animated adventure to explore friendship, loneliness and the importance of human connection. Our 11-year-old hero just to has to go out of this world to find his best pal. In the sci-fi family film (in theaters June 20), Elio (voiced by Yonas Kibreab) is an orphaned youngster who lives with his Air Force major aunt Olga (Zoe Saldaña) but the quirky kid has a hard time getting along with her or other children. So much so that he yearns to be abducted by aliens. Wanting to belong and thinking one's place is somewhere else are themes that touched Saldaña about the project. 'Kids can be pretty rough with each other. And adults, because we're juggling so many things and also dealing with our own sorrow, it's hard to completely understand children or give them time and space,' says the recent Oscar winner. Join our Watch Party! Sign up to receive USA TODAY's movie and TV recommendations right in your inbox Elio's dream comes true and he gets beamed up to a spaceship of the Communiverse, an organization with representatives from across the galaxy, and the kid has his mind blown by so many colorful and interesting creatures. They think he's the leader of Earth – and he doesn't go out of his way to correct them – but Elio really comes out of his shell when he makes fast friends with the blobby and gregarious Glordon (Remy Edgerly). 'Elio' takes the 'Are we alone?' question that we ask about our place in an uncharted universe and the possibility of alien life, and then riffs on it being something we ask ourselves when feeling isolated or unloved. One of 'Elio' filmmaker Domee Shi's favorite moments is in the beginning, with Elio stretched out on the beach in the middle of a sandy crop circle that reads: 'Aliens! Abduct me!!!' 'It's like you want him to achieve his goal, but then you also feel bad that he wants to leave Earth,' says Shi, who wrote and directed the movie alongside Madeline Sharafian. 'He's tenacious. He's got one of the crazier drives out of any of the Pixar characters." 'Elio' trailer: Boy meets alien BFF in Pixar's sci-fi movie A lonely 11-year-old boy dreams of being abducted by aliens and winds up on a spaceship in Pixar's animated sci-fi comedy "Elio." The fact that this kid is pretty much done with our planet is "a tragic reflection of what's going on in the world today,' Sharafian adds. 'We've seen it maybe with Carl Fredricksen (in 'Up') and some other of our adult characters that there's this kind of bah-humbug feeling about the people around them. But to see it in a character so young is sort of heartbreaking. 'It was up to us to decide: Why does he feel this way about Earth and how can we change his mind?' But it wasn't just Elio feeling forlorn. Olga, who dreams of being an astronaut, and her nephew get in arguments, and it's because she's worried about Elio, though he doesn't see that. 'She's doubting she even has the ability to be a good parent for him,' she says. 'And instead of him seeing that as this almost cry for help, he sees it as 'She doesn't want me.' ' From a more cosmic perspective, Glorgon's dad Lord Grigon (Brad Garrett) also wants to feel part of a community, specifically the Communiverse, but his aggressive nature is alienating. Because Hylurgians are a race of soft, squishy worm aliens, Grigon wears battle armor to shield himself and make him look strong and tough. 'Elio also has this internal armor that he's put up in himself, too, after his parents passed away,' Shi says. 'And this turning point for his relationship with Gordon is he lets his armor down.' 'Elio' reminded Kibreab, 14, of feeling lonely during COVID lockdown. 'It was sad because you couldn't really see friends, couldn't hang out with them,' he says. 'It was mostly on FaceTime. I couldn't see my sister often like I do now. And it was hard to find friends and find things to do during that time.' Also, it's sometimes difficult for Kibreab to find peers because he does online school. 'I don't see kids that often. And when I do, maybe sometimes they'll think I'm strange because of being me,' he adds. 'A very important part that this movie talks about is just being yourself and to never change because of someone else. And I think that's kind of how I tapped into Elio.' Saldaña also sympathized with Elio because she lost a parent when she was 9. Discovering and bonding with like-minded people in the art community helped Saldana face moments of loneliness. 'It turned out that there are people that feel lonely, too, (and) misunderstood that were really extroverted in their artistic selves but very introverted in their personal selves,' Saldaña says. 'I was able to realize that, one, I wasn't alone. And two, there's nothing wrong with me. This is just who I am.'
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Cambrian News
a day ago
- Business
- Cambrian News
Blaenau Ffestiniog student represents Wales in pool championship
Troy is on the Life and Work Skills course at Coleg Meirion-Dwyfor's Dolgellau campus, and has been offered a job at the Lakeside Café in Blaenau Ffestiniog, having completed work experience there as part of his course. He plans to return to college next year to progress to the Step Up to Work programme.
New York Post
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- New York Post
‘Elio' review: Pixar goes sweet and simple for its original outer space adventure
movie review ELIO Running time: 99 minutes. Rated PG (some action/peril and thematic elements). In theaters June 20. Like the 11-year-old title character of 'Elio,' Pixar's latest original is small and cute. Nothing wrong with that. Advertisement It's time to accept that gone are the days of 'WALL-E,' 'Up' and 'Ratatouille,' when the Disney-owned animation studio had a stratospherically imaginative and artful vision that once put it firmly in the Best Picture conversation. Now that the bouncing lamp's bulb is dimming, they're pumping out modest, but nonetheless charming movies such as 'Onward,' 'Luca' and 'Elio.' The new one is more likable than blobby 'Elemental' or pointless 'Lightyear' were. 'Inside Out 2' sure felt like a '2.' ET won't phone home about it, but 'Elio' is a nice, frequently rewarding 100 minutes. Advertisement There's a simple focus on feeling in the outer-space tearjerker about a lonely orphan boy who dreams of being abducted by aliens so he can finally make friends. Staring up at the stars is a powerful, timeless idea. Good enough for Galileo. 3 In Pixar's 'Elio,' a boy dreams of traveling to outer space to make friends. AP 'Is life really out there?' Elio asks his Aunt Olga (Zoe Saldaña), an orbital analyst who works on a military base while raising her nephew, after he stumbles into a museum exhibit about the Voyager satellite. Lost and confused, he becomes obsessed with finding extraterrestrials. Advertisement One night, they find him. He's beamed up to a kind of United Nations of species — called the Communiverse — and they ask Elio to become Earth's representative, believing him to be the leader of the third rock from the sun. A couple of the aliens, an effete beetle dweeb and a ballet-dancing dragon, are cloying. I wanted Will Smith to come and punch them — a la 'Independence Day,' not the Oscars. The space station looks like a Las Vegas hotel built by a narcissistic jellyfish. 3 When he arrives, a group of aliens believe he's the leader of Earth. AP The story of mistaken identities is basically a kid-friendly 'Galaxy Quest.' Elio desperately wants to join the intergalactic club, but they'll only make him a member if he can talk scary Lord Grigon (Brad Garrett), the chief of a warrior species, out of attacking the Communiverse. Advertisement Plenty of familiar bases are covered: Making your dad proud, the true meaning of family, friendship, purpose and courage, among others. In the final scene, Pixar forces us — effectively — to cry like a boot camp officer. Beyond the requisite lessons, there are some witty touches. A subplot involving a creepy Elio clone nods to the horror genre in a funny way for adults. And the twist with Grigon and his slug son Glordon is smart. 3 Elio finds a pal in wormy Glordon. AP During one bizarre montage, I'm pretty sure the 11-year-old and his friend Glordon go on a booze-soaked bender around the Communiverse and hurl into a hedge. But the drink is called 'glorg,' so who's to say what the alcohol content is? Elio travels lightyears away from home, and 'Elio' lands comfortably in the middle of the Pixar pack.
USA Today
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- USA Today
Cardi B shares insanely adorable photos of baby girl for first time
Cardi B shares insanely adorable photos of baby girl for first time Show Caption Hide Caption Cardi B spends thousands a month on her children to fund lifestyle Cardi B says she spends thousands a month on her children to fund their lavish lifestyle. She alleges that estranged husband Offset does not help out. Bang Showbiz Blossom is in bloom as Cardi B reveals her baby girl to the world. In adorable new photos posted on Instagram June 16, the rapper showed her 9-month-old's face for the first time. Blossom, whose name was revealed earlier this year, sported a toothless grin, hot pink onesie, tiny diamond bracelets and a silk scarf from Louis Vuitton's Takashi Murakami cherry blossom collaboration. "It is you Miss Blossom Belles," Cardi B, 32, captioned the carousel. The photos also included a poolside family photoshoot with siblings Kulture and Wave. Kulture, 6, and Cardi match in tan one pieces, diamond bracelets and carrying two Louis Vuitton cherry blossom purses; meanwhile Wave, 3, wears a white tank top, jean shorts and Timberland boots. Celebrities tell all about aging, marriage and Beyoncé in these 10 bingeable memoirs "Baby feverrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr," fellow rapper Latto commented. Cardi B gave birth to her third child with former Migos member Offset in September. She revealed her pregnancy a month prior, the same day a representative for the "Up" rapper confirmed that she had filed to divorce her husband. The former couple has had a tumultuous split, including allegations from Cardi that her one-time husband was unfaithful, and that he has threatened and harassed her after she sought a divorce. Cardi B has appeared to move on, with NFL wide receiver Stefon Diggs. Following their Instagram debut, the football player posted a new photo of himself with the rapper, holding out his hand as she exits a sports car, wearing a platinum blonde and pink two-tone wig.
