The creative team behind Pixar’s “Up” traveled to South America to research some of the critical sequences in the movie.
But inspiration also came from some less extravagant expeditions.
The team formed a Tin Pan Alley-type band and visited a few retirement homes.
“As we played, we were secretly taking mental notes and doing sketches behind our ukuleles,“ says Pete Docter, who co-directed the film along with Bob Peterson. “It was great — we got good research, and they said we were the best act to play there in months!”
Peterson adds the feelings of wanderlust from one of his own relatives helped shape the narrative.
“I had a grandfather who always wanted to go west from Ohio, but never got the chance,” Peterson says.
The older man’s home even helped contribute to the look of “Up,” now available on DVD/Blu-ray.
“I had the foresight to videotape my grandparents’ home after they had passed 20 years ago. There are the side by side chairs – one soft and one hard which absolutely paralleled who they were as people,” he says, just as it appears in the movie.
For Docter, making movies like “Up” is the culmination of a lifelong obsession with animation. But Docter wasn’t a natural artist as a child.
“You know how there are always those kids in your elementary school class that are really good at drawing?” he says. “That was NOT me. I was lousy at drawing. But as soon as I figured out I could make something look like it was moving — and thinking — I was hooked.”
Peterson offers some simple advice for young people who are similarly smitten with animation.
“First of all, just start animating! Don’t wait for someone to say it’s ok,” Peterson says.
He remembers the daily comic strip he drew for his college newspaper. It wasn’t “Peanuts,” but it did get the attention of his fellow students.
“I got to draw a lot and get a ton of feedback from readers. This was invaluable to me as a storyteller today,” Peterson says.
But the single best advice is to simply live an interesting life.
“We draw from our experiences every day in story and animation,” he says.
(Photo: Carl and Russell peer out at their new surroundings in the Pixar animated film “Up.”/Walt Disney Pictures)
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