Article by Jesh Orquina
After 14 years of waiting, Incredibles 2 is finally in cinemas. If you’ve seen it, then you know just how amazing the movie is and why everyone should watch it. If you haven’t, then you really need to get on it.
Pixar Shading Art Director Bryn Imagire, one of the artists behind ‘Incredibles 2’, visited the country for the launch of the movie and we were fortunate enough interview her. Of course, we asked her what it’s like to work on Pixar movies, specifically Incredibles 2.
“We’re happy that we got to bring the Incredibles into this timeframe in technology right now.”
14 years, nearly a decade and a half, is a long time. The technology now is a lot different from how it was when the first Incredibles movie came out so it’s no surprise that the computer graphics used for Incredibles 2 is much more advanced. “We had to be very careful to make this film kind of seamless with the first film so we had to pull back a little bit on detail because technology now is much more sophisticated, you know, 14 years later. Everything looks so fabulous really quickly,” she explained.
“We did utilize all the technology that we have now. Better hair on the characters, it responds to gravity more. In the first film, you’ll notice that the hair is kind of floaty a little bit. It doesn’t respond to gravity as much.”
The characters’ hairs are definitely very detailed, but that’s not all of it. Remember when the Incredibles 2 trailer first came out and everyone was amazed at how detailed Bob’s shirt was?
Imagire explained, “The clothes are actual, constructed garments now on Incredibles 2. The musculature, the articulation of the characters, is much more sophisticated now than it was on the first film but we’re also happy that we got to bring the Incredibles into this timeframe in technology right now because I’m really excited about the way it looks.”
“I’m excited for you all to see it because I really love the way [the movie] looks.”
When asked if there was any specific part that she really enjoyed making, Imagire admits that it’s hard to choose just one. It was also a bit hard for her to give an answer without spoiling anything!
“I really like some of the new sets. I can’t really tell you but some of the new sets are really— it has this heightened sets of reality but also superhero comic book scale. So I’m excited for you all to see it because I really love the way that looks.”
“I feel like Pixar is making a definite effort to make movies, more movies about strong female characters.”
Incredibles 2 features really strong female characters and one might say that the movie is pro-feminist. “For me, as a woman designer in this field, it’s super exciting,” she claimed. Although Incredibles 2 probably wasn’t really set out to be a feminist movie, Imagire thinks that all the female characters in the movie are well-crafted. “They’re very complex, not one-dimensional. They’re not perfect but they’re very fabulous at the same time. I think they are dealing with a lot of issues that we, as women in the world, have to deal with. For me, it’s really exciting. That kind of a thing in CG doesn’t come up very often but I’m also optimistic because I feel like Pixar is making a definite effort to make movies, more movies about strong female characters.”
Bryn Imagire is known for her work on the movies Coco, The Incredibles, Up, Toy Story 2, Monsters, Inc., and other animated films. She is the recipient of the Annie Award for Outstanding Achievement for Production Design in an Animated Feature Production and the Excellence in Production Design Award for Animated Film.
