I have some fun activity sheets for The Good Dinosaur that I wanted to share with all of you today! In it are fun craft instructions to make dinosaur balloons, hand puppets, and dinosaur tails!
The Good Dinosaur is Coming to DVD on Feb 23!
You know that I was a BIG fan of the big dinosaur and I just got a copy of the new movie to watch and I wanted to share some thoughts on the movie itself as well as share some fun new Good Dinosaur activities as well as a brand new clip “Finding The Roar”
My Take on the Movie
This was a great movie and the folks at Disney did a great job at putting together a great DVD that you will want to see. There are some great behind the scenes items. After watching the movie for the second time I have to say that the thing that I am most impressed with was the amazing technical details that went behind the making of the movie. As you watch the movie I am continually amazed at how much of the movie does not seem like an animated film. There were many parts that I thought that I was looking at photographs of real places. On top of the place you get a strong story of friendship, adventure and more. If you are a Disney fan you will love to have this as a part of your movie library, I know that I do!
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The Good Dinosaur – Advent Calendar & New Activity Sheets
New family activity sheets inspired by Disney/Pixar’s THE GOOD DINOSAUR (now playing in theatres everywhere!) including an Advent Calendar, an Origami Arlo and a Dino Snowflake are now available!
About the Movie
“The Good Dinosaur” asks the question: What if the asteroid that forever changed life on Earth missed the planet completely and giant dinosaurs never became extinct? Pixar Animation Studios takes you on an epic journey into the world of dinosaurs where an Apatosaurus named Arlo (voice of Raymond Ochoa) makes an unlikely human friend. While traveling through a harsh and mysterious landscape, Arlo learns the power of confronting his fears and discovers what he is truly capable of.
Directed by Peter Sohn and produced by Denise Ream (“Cars 2”), Disney•Pixar’s “The Good Dinosaur” opens in theaters on Nov. 25, 2015.
An Apatosaurus named Arlo and his unlikely human friend travel through a harsh and mysterious landscape, where Arlo learns to confront his fears, discovering what he is truly capable of.
Notes:
- Peter Sohn made his directorial debut with the Pixar short film “Partly Cloudy.” He has worked in the art, story and animation departments, and also has voiced the characters of Emile from Academy Award®-winning “Ratatouille” and Scott “Squishy” Squibbles from “Monsters University.”
- Denise Ream produced the Golden Globe®-nominated film “Cars 2” for Pixar Animation Studios, and served as associate producer for Disney•Pixar’s Academy Award®-winning film “Up.” She also has an extensive background in producing visual effects and animation for live action films.
Learn more about The Good Dinosaur
- Like THE GOOD DINOSAUR on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PixarTheGoodDinosaur
- Follow THE GOOD DINOSAUR on Twitter: https://twitter.com/thegooddinosaur
- Follow THE GOOD DINOSAUR on Instagram: https://instagram.com/thegooddinosaur/
- Follow THE GOOD DINOSAUR on Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/disneystudios/the-good-dinosaur/
- Visit Disney/Pixar on Tumblr: http://disneypixar.tumblr.com
- Follow Disney/Pixar on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/DisneyPixar
- Visit the official THE GOOD DINOSAUR website here: http://movies.disney.com/the-good-dinosaur
THE GOOD DINOSAUR is now playing in theatres everywhere!
A Dad of Divas Review of The Good Dinosaur
About the Movie
“The Good Dinosaur” asks the question: What if the asteroid that forever changed life on Earth missed the planet completely and giant dinosaurs never became extinct? Pixar Animation Studios takes you on an epic journey into the world of dinosaurs where an Apatosaurus named Arlo (voice of Raymond Ochoa) makes an unlikely human friend. While traveling through a harsh and mysterious landscape, Arlo learns the power of confronting his fears and discovers what he is truly capable of.
Directed by Peter Sohn and produced by Denise Ream (“Cars 2”), Disney•Pixar’s “The Good Dinosaur” opens in theaters on Nov. 25, 2015.
An Apatosaurus named Arlo and his unlikely human friend travel through a harsh and mysterious landscape, where Arlo learns to confront his fears, discovering what he is truly capable of.
Notes:
- Peter Sohn made his directorial debut with the Pixar short film “Partly Cloudy.” He has worked in the art, story and animation departments, and also has voiced the characters of Emile from Academy Award®-winning “Ratatouille” and Scott “Squishy” Squibbles from “Monsters University.”
- Denise Ream produced the Golden Globe®-nominated film “Cars 2” for Pixar Animation Studios, and served as associate producer for Disney•Pixar’s Academy Award®-winning film “Up.” She also has an extensive background in producing visual effects and animation for live action films.
A Take on the Movie
I gave a friend the opportunity to review The Good Dinosaur for me on Dad of Divas, these were her thoughts:
Iwas given the opportunity to attend a viewing of The Good Dinosaur with a guest. Because my 11 year old son had seen the trailers and really wanted to see it, I asked him to join me.
The plot of the movie is rather simple. A sweet little dinosaur is born to a loving mom and dad dinosaur, along with a brother and sister. Brother and sister dinosaurs excel in the family expectations but young dinosaur (Arlo) seems to fall short. His father has each of them make a “mark” in a tree when they’ve done their part to contribute to the family. Arlo’s brother and sister make their mark, but Arlo is scared of everything and gets teased for his fearfulness and therefore does not achieve his mark. As Arlo tries (and fails) to make his mark in a special way designed by his father, he meets “Spot” which is essentially a baby cave person. Through chasing Spot, Arlo’s father is killed in a storm and Sad Arlo returns to his home. A little later as the family is trying to cope without Dad Dinosaur, Arlo again spots Spot and starts chasing him seeking revenge. Through the chase, Arlo gets separated and swept away from his home. The remainder of the movie is a mixture of Arlo and Spot becoming friends and facing challenges to try to return Arlo home. During the journey, Arlo grows from being afraid of everything to being able to face his fears and protect himself and others.
The movie was a classic “coming of age” story for Arlo. I asked my son what his thoughts were when the movie was finished. Here were his thoughts:
“It was kind of good and kind of bad. There were too many storms. There were some funny parts but why did the dad have to die? Couldn’t Arlo have gotten his mark by protecting Spot without the dad having to die?”
His concise thoughts were pretty close to my own. There were a few moments where I laughed out loud and the creatures all the way throughout were absolutely adorable with their big innocent eyes. I agreed 100% about the storms though. By the time the third storm came, several people around me said out loud, “Again?” and I was thinking too that couldn’t there be other ways to create conflict? When Spot meets up with his family close to the end, it is a sweet moment but lasts much longer than the actual reunion of Arlo when he reunites with his family, which makes me wonder with which story we were supposed to more closely connect.
The movie had quite a few intense scenes which could be scary for very young children but they always resolved nicely at the end of each one.
The cinematography of this film was beautiful. So many scenes looked as if we were watching photographs rather than animation and I could actually imagine myself looking down the mountain or being rushed away in one of the multiple floods.
The Good Dinosaur was a fun film to see with my son. I asked him if he would want to see it again and he said he wasn’t sure. I’m not quite sure either. Disney/Pixar outdid themselves with the beauty of the film and it was a fun night out but I’m not sure it is one that I would want to watch over and over again.
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Put Your Heart Into It – My Experience at The Good Dinosaur event

THE GOOD DINOSAUR – Spot character study by Peter Sohn. ©2015 Disney•Pixar. All Rights Reserved.
As most of you know I attended a special Disney. Pixar & Disney Junior event from September 29-October 2 in San Francisco to take part in a fun few days of exploring the movies, Inside Out, The Good Dinosaur and Miles From Tomorrowland. It was an amazing few days and it is my pleasure to share some of my experiences with you!
On the second day there we spent all day at Pixar exploring the Good Dinosaur as well as going to the Pixar archive and then going to a special event at GOOGLE for the Disney Junior series, Miles from Tomorrowland. I was really excited to have the opportunity to learn more about The Good Dinosaur, the Pixar Archive and Miles from Tomorrowland.
In the afternoon of the second day we spent time with some of the main leaders of the movie The Good Dinosaur, learning about the process that they took to create the new movie. In each of these sessions we learned something new and over three different posts I will share some of my experiences within these sessions to give you some glimpse into what Pixar and their artists have done to create an amazing film.

THE GOOD DINOSAUR – Arlo character study by Matt Nolte. ©2015 Disney•Pixar. All Rights Reserved.
Today I am sharing with you my thoughts on my conversations with The Good Dinosaur Story Supervisor, Kelsey Mann, and Screenwriter, Meg LaFauve and their presentation: PUT YOUR HEART INTO IT. In this presentation we learned about how how the story of The Good Dinosaur was developed and boarded, and also learned how to draw our own Arlo!

Kelsey Mann is photographed on September 25, 2013 at Pixar Animation Studios in Emeryville, Calif. (Photo by Deborah Coleman / Pixar)
Kelsey Mann started by explaining that the room that we were in was the actual story room used for The Good Dinosaur. He told me that the seat that I was sitting in was the actual seat that Peter Sohn always sat in (talk about cool!)
Kelsey continued to tell us that it is the job of his team to take the writing of Meghan LaFauve and transform and draw it so that it could work on screen. We received a bit of a history lesson of how this was similar to the same process that Walt Disney used, albeit with a lot more technology mixed in.
While the artists use pen and paper, most also use special computers that help them easily draw, erase and manipulate the images that they are creating. The benefit of the computers is that it allows them to quickly draw on something that is very similar to paper, while being able to flip, flop and bring the image to scale very easily.

THE GOOD DINOSAUR – Screenwriter Meg LaFauve and Story Supervisor Kelsey Mann present at the Long Lead Press Days at Pixar Studios. Photo by: Marc Flores. ©2015 Disney•Pixar. All Rights Reserved.
So how does the process work? Well, Kelsey Mann said that in The Good Dinosaur and all movies, Meghan LaFauve as the writer and Peter Sohn as the Director would first sit down to talk about what the movie will be. Part of Meghan’s job is to question Peter and pull out of him more about the vision for the movie. To do this she will find out what Peter cares about in regards to the movie as well as what is the world that Peter wants to create. Once this meeting occurs, Meghan will go and write a first draft of the script. While Meghan was the main writer on The Good Dinosaur, this is not always the case on all films. On some films there can be multiple writers. In the end in this writing process Meghan works to create a script true to the vision of Peter. Both Kelsey and Meghan mentioned that The Good Dinosaur was Peter’s film so their team is trying to dig out.

THE GOOD DINOSAUR – T-Rex character study by Matt Nolte. ©2015 Disney•Pixar. All Rights Reserved.
Once you have a script the team comes together to start drawing. As the team is together in the story room they will typically take one scene at a time and it is the job of one animator to pitch the room. Kelsey Mann made our presentation a ton of fun by pitching us a seen, one that we saw in the movie where Arlo and Spot run into a number of Prairie Dog like creatures. As he pitched us, he got into the pitch and really acted out the screen. Kelsey Mann mentioned that acting out the scene is part of what is called “bringing yourself to it.” Kelsey mentioned that to get at the A+ you have to be there, involved.

A The Good Dinosaur story review, including Kelsey Mann, Meg LeFauve, Erik Benson, Edgar Karapetyan and Director Peter Sohn, as seen on August 1, 2014 at Pixar Animation Studios in Emeryville, Calif. (Photo by Deborah Coleman / Pixar)
At the end of the session Kelsey walked us through the process of drawing Arlo for ourselves. I loved this and it was so much easier than I would have first imagined.
I learned so much in these two sessions and I hope that you did too!
Find out more about The Good Dinosaur
- https://www.facebook.com/PixarTheGoodDinosaur
- https://twitter.com/thegooddinosaur
- https://instagram.com/thegooddinosaur/
- https://www.pinterest.com/disneystudios/the-good-dinosaur/
- https://www.youtube.com/user/DisneyPixar
- http://disneypixar.tumblr.com
- http://movies.disney.com/the-good-dinosaur
- http://www.wdsmediafile.com/walt-disney-studios/TheGoodDinosaur/
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The Good Dinosaur Comes to Disney Infinity!
I have been excited to bring home from The Good Dinosaur to my Disney Infinity set ever since I first saw it while I was at Pixar Studios in September.
Recently the great folks from Disney Infinity sent me the new Spot character and the power disks for me to try and tell you about. I also found the following two videos that I think will change the way that you see this game in general.
As you can see in the above videos, you truly get to take control of Spot, but also interact with Arlo and other characters too. By allowing this, Disney Infinity has changed the way others have and will see the relationship between Spot and Arlo.
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Disney/Pixar’s The Good Dinosaur – New Film Clips
As the release of THE GOOD DINOSAUR approaches, this week is Dino Week! visit Disney.com/DinoWeek all week to celebrate everything you love about dinosaurs & see brand new clips, featurettes, and activities from the movie.
For hump day this week I am sharing three brand new film clips from Disney/Pixar’s THE GOOD DINOSAUR!
“Get Through Your Fear”
“Jobs”
“Butch’s Scar
More great ways to connect with The Good Dinosaur!
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PixarTheGoodDinosaur
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/thegooddinosaur
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/thegooddinosaur/
- Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/disneystudios/the-good-dinosaur/
- Tumblr: http://disneypixar.tumblr.com
- YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/DisneyPixar
- Website: http://movies.disney.com/the-good-dinosaur
This great movie opens in theatres everywhere on November 25th!
The Good Dinosaur – Great New Activity Sheets!
New family activity sheets inspired by Disney/Pixar’s THE GOOD DINOSAUR including a Dino adventure game, a maze and a make your own Dino-rama tutorial are now available via the press site below.
About the Movie
“The Good Dinosaur” asks the question: What if the asteroid that forever changed life on Earth missed the planet completely and giant dinosaurs never became extinct? Pixar Animation Studios takes you on an epic journey into the world of dinosaurs where an Apatosaurus named Arlo (voice of Raymond Ochoa) makes an unlikely human friend. While traveling through a harsh and mysterious landscape, Arlo learns the power of confronting his fears and discovers what he is truly capable of.
Directed by Peter Sohn and produced by Denise Ream (“Cars 2”), Disney•Pixar’s “The Good Dinosaur” opens in theaters on Nov. 25, 2015.
An Apatosaurus named Arlo and his unlikely human friend travel through a harsh and mysterious landscape, where Arlo learns to confront his fears, discovering what he is truly capable of.
Notes:
- Peter Sohn made his directorial debut with the Pixar short film “Partly Cloudy.” He has worked in the art, story and animation departments, and also has voiced the characters of Emile from Academy Award®-winning “Ratatouille” and Scott “Squishy” Squibbles from “Monsters University.”
- Denise Ream produced the Golden Globe®-nominated film “Cars 2” for Pixar Animation Studios, and served as associate producer for Disney•Pixar’s Academy Award®-winning film “Up.” She also has an extensive background in producing visual effects and animation for live action films.
- Like THE GOOD DINOSAUR on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PixarTheGoodDinosaur
- Follow THE GOOD DINOSAUR on Twitter: https://twitter.com/thegooddinosaur
- Follow THE GOOD DINOSAUR on Instagram: https://instagram.com/thegooddinosaur/
- Follow THE GOOD DINOSAUR on Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/disneystudios/the-good-dinosaur/
- Visit Disney/Pixar on Tumblr: http://disneypixar.tumblr.com
- Follow Disney/Pixar on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/DisneyPixar
- Visit the official THE GOOD DINOSAUR website here: http://movies.disney.com/the-good-dinosaur
THE GOOD DINOSAUR opens in theatres everywhere on November 25th!
Creating The Look & Feel of The Good Dinosaur – My Experience at The Good Dinosaur event
As most of you know I attended a special Disney. Pixar & Disney Junior event from September 29-October 2 in San Francisco to take part in a fun few days of exploring the movies, Inside Out, The Good Dinosaur and Miles From Tomorrowland. It was an amazing few days and it is my pleasure to share some of my experiences with you!
On the second day there we spent all day at Pixar exploring the Good Dinosaur as well as going to the Pixar archive and then going to a special event at GOOGLE for the Disney Junior series, Miles from Tomorrowland. I was really excited to have the opportunity to learn more about The Good Dinosaur, the Pixar Archive and Miles from Tomorrowland.
In the afternoon of the second day we spent time with some of the main leaders of the movie The Good Dinosaur, learning about the process that they took to create the new movie. In each of these sessions we learned something new and over three different posts I will share some of my experiences within these sessions to give you some glimpse into what Pixar and their artists have done to create an amazing film.
Today I am sharing with you my thoughts on my conversations with The Good Dinosaur Director of Photography – Lighting, Sharon Calahan as she spoke to us about: CREATING THE VISUAL DESIGN OF THE GOOD DINOSAUR and using color scripts to the final picture progression as well as Sets Supervisor David Munier as he spoke to us about a VIEW FROM ABOVE where we learned about creating the expansive world in the film as well as hearing about how the team used actual USGS data of the northwest United States to create the sets. Finally I will share some insights on EFFCTIVE STORYTELLING with Effects Supervisor Jon Reisch where we learned how the Effects team created different environments using effects to support the storytelling within The Good Dinosaur.

Director of Photography Sharon Calahan is photographed on September 17, 2013 at Pixar Animation Studios in Emeryville, Calif. (Photo by Deborah Coleman / Pixar)
Sharon Callahan took a lot of time talking to us about the process by which she and the entire team went through to develop the lighting and visual design behind The Good Dinosaur. She explained that first they did a lot of looking at other movies that really embodied what she and Peter Sohn wanted to create in the film itself. Some of the movies that she watched to assist with this included:
On top of this the team did a number of research trips to the Jackson Hole Wyoming valley area as well as to the Grand Tetons to gain a better perspective on the vastness of the wild as well as the wilds of a river.
Sharon talked about how curious the Director of the film, Peter Sohn was. As she put it, “He was the most curious person you could meet” when it came to their research trips. He took this curiosity and challenged his team to go beyond what had been done in the past.
Sharon took us step-by-step through theoir trip to the Idaho side of the Grand Tetons into the rural wilderness and shared what they saw and what they did and how this helped them create the look, feel and overall story itself within The Good Dinosaur.

A press day for The Good Dinosaur, including presentations by Director of Photography – Lighting Sharon Calahan, as seen on October 1, 2015 at Pixar Animation Studios in Emeryville, Calif. (Photo by Deborah Coleman / Pixar)
As Sharon was on her trips she would paint by hand. BY doing this she was able to develop quick sketches of light over distance and helped her create strong sounds, smells and sights of the different locations that she was visiting. This also allowed her to explore and try out the different possible settings for the world itself and how the environment and weather would impact the overall story and scenes themselves.
Sharon also explored emotion and color as well as trying to paint for herself the progressions in the story.

THE GOOD DINOSAUR – Color script by Sharon Calahan. ©2015 Disney•Pixar. All Rights Reserved.
I never knew how much pre-planning went into the development of the setting of the story itself and Sharon’s stories truly showed me the depth of the examination that goes into this process.
David Munier had a challenging job in The Good Dinosaur. Peter Sohn had it in his mind that he wanted environmental cinematography throughout the film that offers the audience a expansive view of the world (Peter wanted 50-100 miles at all times). This expanse allows the audience to experience the vastness of the world around Arlo and lets them see that the environment is the Antagonist in many of the scenes within the movie. The problem is that their department had not done this before for long periods of a film. Usually it would instead me in one shot or a handful of shots and not the entire movie.

A press day for The Good Dinosaur, including presentations by Sets Supervisor David Munier, as seen on October 1, 2015 at Pixar Animation Studios in Emeryville, Calif. (Photo by Deborah Coleman / Pixar)
To help make this happen they fell upon a novel idea, using USGS date to build the world that they would use for Arlo. Peter wanted to use the Valley area around Jackson Hole, Wyoming as well as around the Grand Tetons as a start for the world. Because the USGS had height data of all of these areas, Pixar was able to download the data and incorporate this into the computer to then manipulate this and make the world real. Once they imported the data, and in the Good Dinosaur they used 64,000 square mile of actual North America data to create the world around Arlo.
What was amazing was how David Munier and his team could manipulate the data once it was imported. David Munier mentioned that once the data was imported he would sit down with Peter and allow Peter to put things where he wanted them. Once they had the bare bones structures of the world, David Munier’s team would then work to create the detail and the landscape which includes things like trees, grass, rock formations, etc.

A press day for The Good Dinosaur, including presentations by Sets Supervisor David Munier, as seen on October 1, 2015 at Pixar Animation Studios in Emeryville, Calif. (Photo by Deborah Coleman / Pixar)
David Munier and his team also had to work on a new technology, creating 3D clouds that could be manipulated. This had never been done before. Instead, in the past it was the FX department that would work on issues of cloud movement and the painting department would paint on static clouds.
In The Good Dinosaur, things have changed and they are using technology to create the clouds digitally. Now they can build clouds and cloud types for 3D clouds throughout the movie. They also can deal with the shading and lighting as it relates to the clouds that they are entering to the scene.
David Munier mentioned that he also used data from GOOGLE Earth to help them to pre-visualize the world. He also worked closely with Peter Sohn to make sure that some of the other details are dealt with. For example one of the questions that needed to be answered were things like how much wind was needed in each scene, as wind con convey emotion.
The new use of USGS data is something that David Munier thinks will change the way they are creating the environment that is seen in the movie that they are working on.

Jon Reisch on August 6, 2015 at Pixar Animation Studios in Emeryville, Calif. (Photo by Deborah Coleman / Pixar)
Jon Reisch talked to us about how FX trul helps to create the story within The Good Dinosaur. He explained that the job of the FX Department is to heighten the mood, drama of the scene, rain, light, as well as the visual tension experienced in the scene and in the characters. Overall, it is the job of FX to add in the WOW factor within the film.
FX also works to solve equations of motion for every frame. Jon explained that it can take a lot of time and that people in FX are very patient though in what they are creating.
To be able to do what they do they have to have a very diverse group of people working in the FX department. You get people with strong backgrounds in areas such as computer science, but also visual artists too.
On The Good Dinosaur, Jon mentioned that they had 31 FX artists working on the film and this number was definitely needed as what they were being asked to do in The Good Dinosaur was grander than what they had done in the past.
You see, in The Good Dinosaur it was the FX department’s job to assist in showing the journey through nature and making that feel real for Arlo and for you as the viewer. FX in The Good DInosaur was used in 900 shots in the film which is 2X as many as usual.
Jon mentioned that water is the hardest work for FX as the viewer knows how water should look and as he mentioned “If you get it wrong, you know.” With that in mind the river in The Good Dinosaur created some challenges as there were 200 shots just of the river throughout the film. In one scene entitled “Swept Away”, the FX department spent approximately 8 months just on the river alone and another 8 months on the final shot work too.
All-in-all the movie itself was data-heavy and used 300 TB of data which was 10X more than was used on . For the rivers in the scene “Swept Away” alone, there was 17TB of space used, so FX had to make sure that the Pixar Animation systems were updates!
I had no idea that so much went into the making of an animated film, but now that I do, I have such a larger resoect for everyone involved!
Find out more about The Good Dinosaur
- https://www.facebook.com/PixarTheGoodDinosaur
- https://twitter.com/thegooddinosaur
- https://instagram.com/thegooddinosaur/
- https://www.pinterest.com/disneystudios/the-good-dinosaur/
- https://www.youtube.com/user/DisneyPixar
- http://disneypixar.tumblr.com
- http://movies.disney.com/the-good-dinosaur
THE GOOD DINOSAUR – Trailer
THE GOOD DINOSAUR opens in theatres everywhere on November 25th!
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Designing & Acting Like Dinos – My Experience at The Good Dinosaur event
As most of you know I attended a special Disney. Pixar & Disney Junior event from September 29-October 2 in San Francisco to take part in a fun few days of exploring the movies, Inside Out, The Good Dinosaur and Miles From Tomorrowland. It was an amazing few days and it is my pleasure to share some of my experiences with you!
On the second day there we spent all day at Pixar exploring the Good Dinosaur as well as going to the Pixar archive and then going to a special event at GOOGLE for the Disney Junior series, Miles from Tomorrowland. I was really excited to have the opportunity to learn more about The Good Dinosaur, the Pixar Archive and Miles from Tomorrowland.
In the afternoon of the second day we spent time with some of the main leaders of the movie The Good Dinosaur, learning about the process that they took to create the new movie. In each of these sessions we learned something new and over three different posts I will share some of my experiences within these sessions to give you some glimpse into what Pixar and their artists have done to create an amazing film.
Today I am sharing with you my thoughts on my conversations with The Good Dinosaur Production Designer, Harley Jessup as he spoke to us about: DESIGNING A BIG WORLD and how the Art department designed the different dinosaurs in the film and their surrounding environments as well as Animators Kevin O’Hara & Rob Thompson as they talked to us about “ACTING” LIKE DINOS and gave us an animation demo highlighting the reference used by animators to inform the movement of the dinosaurs in The Good Dinosaur.

Production Designer Harley Jessup is photographed on August 4, 2015 at Pixar Animation Studios in Emeryville, Calif. (Photo by Deborah Coleman / Pixar)
Harley Jessup spent about 20 minutes with us talking with us about designing the characters and set for the film. He talked to us about the use of research that he used to be able to create the characters and the world around them. He talked about the research trips that his team took the Jackson Wyoming Valley and to the Grand Tetons. What was interesting though was what his team was looking at when they were on these trips. Harley Jessup talked about that his team would look at things like the Aspen Bark, its’ color and texture. They looked at the tree moss; the quality of the river; even the rock formations. Overall, they were looking for the things you would not always see.
Harley Jessup’s team also worked on the characters. He mentioned that they start with pencil and paper and they they will sculpt the character to see what works. As they try things and years past characters will change which is what we saw on our tour of the Pixar facility. The final model that was created was completely detailed. We got to hold a final model of Spot and what stood out to me were the attention to detail such as leaves and sticks in Spot’s hair.
Harley also mentioned how they would work hand-in-hand with Peter Sohn to create the characters that he wanted to convey in the film. One example of this was the T-Rex family and how they wanted them to be able to have the Posture of a horseback rider. To do this they spent hours watching horseback riders in person or on video to see how they moved and held themselves.
In the end there are 24 unique characters within the Good Dinosaur that all work in concert with the environment (which is considered a character as well) to bring the story to you as the audience.
In the end, Harley Jessup works to create an authentic world that looks and feels like something that you would find in the world that Arlo finds himself.

A press day for The Good Dinosaur, including presentations by Animator Kevin O’Hara and Directing Animator Rob Thompson, as seen on October 1, 2015 at Pixar Animation Studios in Emeryville, Calif. (Photo by Deborah Coleman / Pixar)
Kevin O’Hara and Rob Thompson from The Good Dinosaur Animation department shared with us the large task that they have make sure that the characters that you see on the film come to life in the right way. Both animators mentioned how much they love what they do, especially in the fact that they get to become the characters. The challenge in The Good Dinosaur for animation was answering the question “How do you become a dinosaur?” To do this their team took a trip to start watching elephants to better understand issues of mass and locomotion. By watching, videoing and re-watching again in the future, they were then able to break down the movements of an elephant to help them with the overall movement of Arlo.

Kevin O’Hara on August 5, 2015 at Pixar Animation Studios in Emeryville, Calif. (Photo by Deborah Coleman / Pixar)
Both Kevin and Rob waked us through what they called keys. They showed us 4 keys which were the “key” moves that would base the movements for Arlo, no matter where they took him. By developing these keys they are then able to do a “walk test” which can take about a day to do. Doing the walk test allows them to see if the motion is fluid and whether it works for the character in general.
I asked them the size of their team and they told me that they have about 85 animators total in the show though people came off and came on at different points throughout the creation of the film itself. You see, it used to be that there was only one animator on one character, this is not the case anymore and animators work very collaboratively together to great the magic you see in The Good Dinosaur.

Rob Thompson has his photograph taken on February 16, 2010 at Pixar Animation Studios in Emeryville, Calif. (Photo by Deborah Coleman / Pixar)
So to get to the final product the animation has to go through three phases. The first is Blocking. In this phase, which usually takes about 4 days to create, animators are working to physically convert the character into action. This is very rough and in the example that they showed us we saw that there was even a lack of Arlo’s tail for this phase. The second phase is IP (In Progress). In this phase which can take up to 1.5 weeks the tail in question was added back in. You also are adding in the stage of the scene. The final phase is Polishing, this can take another week, Usually at this point animators will be in their special theatre framing forward and backward to make sure that everything is working smoothly. Usually at this point it is in the final cut of the scene in question, but they will keep working on it until the Director says he does not have to see it again.

A press day for The Good Dinosaur, including presentations by Animator Kevin O’Hara and Directing Animator Rob Thompson, as seen on October 1, 2015 at Pixar Animation Studios in Emeryville, Calif. (Photo by Deborah Coleman / Pixar)
An interesting point that Kevin and Rob mentioned was that quadrupeds are the hardest characters to animate because they are on all four legs. It also was the case that they had never had a human on all four legs so they had to look at other animals for inspiration as they were animating Spot in The Good Dinosaur. Some of the animals they researched included: dogs; wolves and raccoons.

A press day for The Good Dinosaur, including presentations by Animator Kevin O’Hara and Directing Animator Rob Thompson, as seen on October 1, 2015 at Pixar Animation Studios in Emeryville, Calif. (Photo by Deborah Coleman / Pixar)
As you can see it takes a lot to create the magic you see on screen and I hope this gives you a sense of the work that goes into this!
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THE GOOD DINOSAUR – Trailer
THE GOOD DINOSAUR opens in theatres everywhere on November 25th!
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