Cars 3 – From Concept to Completion

Yes, I am still gabbing about my trip to San Francisco because a lot happened. Get an inside look into the creation of Cars 3 from concept completion. The behind-the-scene on how the film was made from the geniuses involved. We met the team in March and at that point, they were still working on the film which is coming to theaters on June 16th. So you can imagine the pressure on them.

Inside Cars 3 – From Concept to Completion – An Insider’s View Into The Visual Arts & Design

Supervising Technical Director – Michael Fong

Story is King 
We all know with Pixar is really passionate about the stories they share with the world. It’s evidence by the film they produce. However, the final story isn’t done until the film actually comes out. What do I mean by that? While the film is in production, the story is still being worked on.  So it’s important for all the department involved to work cross functionally and continue communicating to make sure they are all in sync. A change in the story affects all the departments. As the supervising technical director, Michael Fong put it, the details are super important for all of us but the main thing to note is that if it’s not done before June 16 we all get fired.

Production Designer –  Jay Shuster

Digital Imaging
It’s important to the team that all the images used are realistic. The cars should behave like cars. That means using steel and plastic and every material you would see in a real car. For example, in designing McQueen’s rival – Jackson Storm. The team consulted with Jay May, a former head of design at Ford Motor company. At the end, they infused DNA of stock car and NASCAR.

The “Cars 3” Long Lead Press Days, held at Sonoma Raceway, including presentations by Production Designer Jay Shuster, held on March 28, 2017 in Sonoma, Calif. (Photo by Deborah Coleman / Pixar)

Character Rigging
All the characters go through rigging, which is a way to make sure the characters expected/act as expected. The character goes through vigorous testing which consists of setting up the wheels, the suspension, the mouth, the eyebrows, the lips, etc. Another important step on the character assembly line is character rigging. The character assembly line is similar to that of real cars. Starting with an art form, then they sculpt it, model the car, create a digital sculptor, paint the car, shading, and digital paint.

Directing Animator – Jude Brownbill

Character Animation
Pixar thrives on making sure all their films are visually and emotionally tangible.  So one of the things they did for Cars 3 was watching a lot of demolition derbies, to get ideas on what it’s like to be in the audience at the demolition derby. After that, they sat down with the story artist, Scott Morris, and his team afterward they head back and starts to build layer, upon layer, adding effects and shots and layouts, etc.

Special Effects Supervisor – Jon Reisch

Special Effect
Another critical element of Cars 3 production is the special effect. This is the department that’s responsible for the basically anything the characters interacts with. For Cars 3 that means, mud, water, fire, smoke, sand, dust, debris, etc. Their goal is to make it look as realistic and believable as possible.

A lot of hard work went into putting this film together. It’s a labor of love and it shows in every scene and all the story lines.

Cars 3 Trailer

“Cars 3” opens in U.S. theaters  on June 16, 2017

Disclaimer: I received an all expense paid trip from Disney/ABC to attend #Cars3Event #PuppyDogPalsEvent #ABCTVEvent #TheToyBox #BornInChina. However, all opinions are 100% mine.