Join Us as We Go to Infinity and Beyond with the Crew of Disney-Pixar's 'Lightyear'

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Recently, we got to enjoy the long lead day for the highly anticipated upcoming film ‘Lightyear’ from Disney-Pixar. We learned some incredible things about production and can’t wait to share them with you!

We joined Moderator Jack Smart (AV Club), Pixar’s Angus MacLane (Director/Screenwriter) & Galyn Susman (Producer, Greg Peltz (Sets Art Director), as well as Fran Kalal (Tailoring and Simulation Supervisor), Jane Yen (Visual Effects Supervisor) and Jeremy Lasky (Director of Photography) as they shared insight on developing the film and the new filming technology, as well as some design inspirations from the folks at NASA!

One question that has been on everyone’s mind is “Where does ‘Lightyear‘ fit in with the Toy Story films? We are happy to report that Pixar has shared that “Lightyear” (as we will view it) is Andy’s favorite movie and what drove him to want his very own Buzz Lightyear toy back in 1995 for his birthday. How sweet!

So what does this mean for the Buzz we know and love? This means that Tim Allen’s voice would have been the toy production voice actor for the hit action figure and not the “actor” who plays Buzz in the film “Lightyear”.

When referencing the film’s star-studded cast, the studio shared that Chris Evans’ casting was fully intentional and that it was important to honor where the toy got his personality from while also wanting a clear and defined character for us to meet, just like Andy did in 1995.

One of the most exciting stories we got to hear was how a select crew of production members, including space-enthusiast Galyn Susman, got to tour a NASA base and live out her dream by getting a close personal look at the equipment, suits, and aerospace vehicle designs to help shape the rendered “interstellar world” of Lightyear. Notably, Galyn shared one fact she adored while on the tour was that the commands rarely change from craft to craft and year to year for ease of use, and the bigger the button or switch the more important it is. How cool is that!

We had the pleasure of asking the crew about an exciting new first for Pixar. Lightyear will feature the first IMAX shots “filmed” with a digital camera inside the rendering space! Meaning, that a portion of the film (approximately 1/3) features IMAX footage! WOW! From a film student and fan aspect, this is absolutely incredible and I just had to ask the team:

KAITLYN: What challenges did the team at Pixar face while filming an animated film as if they were using an IMAX camera in a digital world? And should we expect to see more IMAX-style animated feature films from Pixar in the near future (and beyond)?

ANGUS: Well, I can answer the second one first. I have no idea.

ALL: [Laughs]

ANGUS: As to how we did it, we had a parallel pipeline. So when we were looking at the shots, we looked at the sequence in IMAX, and the sequence in 2.39 one after the other. We just made sure that the staging worked for both 2.39 (standard) and 1.43 (IMAX).

ANGUS: The creative challenge would be “When do we get it in and out of IMAX?” “What’s the right time?” [Lightyear’s] a third in IMAX, so at the right time, you can utilize the format (similar to live-action features) for when you have a big scene or when you want to have a dynamic change to use [IMAX] as another tool in the toolbox. What was interesting technically was that rendering a 1.43 image gives you different lighting cues than a 2.39 image.

ANGUS: For example, if there’s an overhead light and it’s rendered in a 1.43 image, it ends up affecting the character in a different way than with 2.39. It gives you some interesting byproducts that I found to be quite appealing. As for the lenses, Jeremy’s shared that the lenses we used were different too. They give different depths with various lens flares. Jeremy is much smarter about all of this.

GALYN: Yeah, that is a Jeremy kinda question. I do have to say, from a different perspective, just sitting in for the first IMAX review, we saw the first mission of Buzz. It was the first time we went to see how everything was working and when he presses the launch button and you shoot into IMAX, it was-it was breathtaking. I was stunned by what I saw. I just… I hope everybody gets an opportunity to see [Lightyear] in IMAX.

ANGUS: Yeah, it’s really cool in IMAX.

Thanks to the crew we also have a closer look at some of the incredible and cinematic shots from the film, including another look at “The Dream Team”! Check out the new images below:

You can learn more about our lovely hosts below and check out the official trailer at the bottom of this post!

ANGUS MACLANE (Director/Screenplay by/Story by) joined Pixar Animation Studios as an animator in 1997. He has since worked on a number of Pixar’s feature films including “Toy Story 2,” “Monsters, Inc.,” and the Academy Award®-winning films “The Incredibles,” “WALL•E” and “Toy Story 3.” For his work on “The Incredibles,” MacLane won an Annie Award from ASIFA-Hollywood for outstanding achievement in character animation.

MacLane directed the short films “BURN•E” and “Small Fry.” He won an Annie Award for outstanding achievement in direction for his work on the television special “Toy Story of TERROR!” and co-directed “Finding Dory.”

MacLane grew up in Portland, Ore., and received his Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from Rhode Island School of Design. He is a huge LEGO fan and designed the LEGO Ideas WALL•E set released in 2015.

MacLane resides in Berkeley, Calif., with his wife, their two children and two cats.

GALYN SUSMAN, P.G.A. (Producer) joined Pixar Animation Studios in November 1990 to work in its television commercial production department as technical director, animator and producer. Soon after, she worked on Pixar’s first feature film, “Toy Story,” as a character technical director and lighting supervisor.

Susman continued her work building character models on “A Bug’s Life,” then served as supervising technical director on “Toy Story 2” and as simulation and effects supervisor for “Monsters, Inc.” In 2007, she worked as the associate producer for the Academy Award®-winning animated film “Ratatouille.” Susman went on to become the producer for Pixar’s DVD-Promo Department and oversaw the production of the DVD and Blu-ray bonus features and original animation promotional content for five years.

From 2013 to 2014, she produced two of Pixar’s first-ever ABC television specials, “Toy Story of TERROR!” and “Toy Story That Time Forgot.”

Before arriving at Pixar, Susman conducted graphics research and development at Apple where she was on the team that created a short film entirely on Macintosh computers.

Originally from Park Forest, Ill., Susman is a graduate of Brown University. She and her husband reside in Piedmont, Calif., where they raised their three children.

JANE YEN (Visual Effects Supervisor) joined Pixar Animation Studios in August 2001 as a tools engineer on the Academy Award^®-winning film “Finding Nemo.” She has worked as a technical director in various departments at the studio including simulation, global technology, FX and crowds. Her work has been featured on a number of Pixar titles including “Cars,” “Cars 2” and “Finding Dory,” as well as Academy Award^®-winning films “Ratatouille,” “Up,” “Toy Story 3” and “Brave.”

Yen has also worked on many of Pixar’s shorts and TV specials including “La Luna,” “Day & Night,” “The Blue Umbrella,” “Piper,” “Toy Story of TERROR!” and “Toy Story That Time Forgot.” In 2017, she worked as the crowds technical supervisor on Pixar’s Academy Award®-winning film “Coco.”

Raised in Pacific Grove, Calif., Yen earned a bachelor’s and master’s degree from the University of California, Berkeley.

JEREMY LASKY (Director of Photography) began his film career at Pixar Animation Studios in 1997 as a layout artist on “A Bug’s Life.” He then worked in the layout department on “Toy Story 2” and “Monsters, Inc.” Lasky served as director of photography on Academy Award^®-winning films “Finding Nemo,” “WALL•E” and “Toy Story 3,” Golden Globe^®-winning feature “Cars,” as well as “Cars 2,” “Finding Dory” and “Cars 3.”

In addition to his work on feature films, Lasky directed the “Tales from Radiator Springs” interstitials “Hiccups,” Bugged” and “Spinning,” featuring characters from the world of “Cars,” as well as three mock commercials that appear on the “Toy Story of TERROR!” in-home release.

A native of St. Louis, Mo., Lasky received a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from Rhode Island School of Design before joining Pixar. He resides in the California Bay Area with his wife and two children.

FRAN KALAL (Tailoring and Simulation Supervisor) joined Pixar Animation Studios in July 2007. She began working as a prop and sets shading artist for the short film “Presto” and moved on to work as a character shading artist for some of the background robots in the Academy Award®-winning feature “WALL•E.” For another Oscar® winner, “Up,” Kalal worked as a shot simulation artist and tailored all of the costumes and outfits for Ellie. She also tailored the dress for Merida in the Academy Award®-winning feature “Brave” and worked as the character tailoring lead on “Incredibles 2.”

As the tailoring and simulation supervisor, Kalal leads the team that digitally tailors outfits and simulates outfits, hair and vegetation in shots throughout “Lightyear.”

In addition to her work on Pixar’s films, Kalal was a lead instructor of the Pixar Undergraduate Program for six years. In this role, she taught undergraduate interns the technical pipeline in Pixar production through a 10-week program.

While in high school, Kalal had great art and science teachers. Through a summer camp, she gained early exposure to some of the staff and faculty at the Advanced Computing Center for the Arts and Design (ACCAD) at The Ohio State University. She knew that she wanted to pursue a career in film, and through ACCAD, she realized she could do so through 3D computer animation.

Born and raised in Columbus, Ohio, Kalal earned undergraduate and graduate degrees from The Ohio State University. She lives in the San Francisco Bay Area.

GREG PELTZ (Sets Art Director) joined Pixar Animation Studios in June 2009. He has worked in the sets department on a number of Pixar films including “Cars 2,” “The Good Dinosaur,” “Finding Dory,” “Incredibles 2” and “Onward,” as well as Academy Award®-winning features “Up,” “Inside Out” and “Coco.”

As the sets art director, Peltz is involved with developing and directing the look of the environments, vehicles, structures and other technology in “Lightyear.” He works with the director and production designer to collaborate on concepts and looks that are aesthetically compelling and fit the director’s vision. He then leads a team of artists to create specific designs, drawings, sketches, paintings and models that inform other departments on the production crew as they build digital assets for the film.

Peltz grew up in Mechanicsburg, Pa. He attended Ringling College of Art and Design in Sarasota, Fla., where he received a Bachelor of Fine Arts in computer animation. He lives in Oakland, Calif.