Pixar's Emotional Cameras, from Toy Story to Luca 

PIXAR VIDEO BY SCOTT??? THIS IS THE BEST DAY OF MY LIFE!! (i loved this video so much i made my mum watch it too)

Rememeber, Scott: You took the trash out. Don't let it back in!

What's even more amazing is seeing Pixar's animation evolve from the 1990s up until now. It's simply amazing to see.

A couple people on twitter said the title and thumbnail of this video were mean-spirited, describing "art doing what art is supposed to do" in a way that feels accusatory and negative. So while I was supposed to be traveling to a wedding and relaxing this weekend, I instead spent a couple hours panicking and coming up with alternate titles and thumbnails that felt nicer, only to be told by fellow creators that my original title and thumbnail was actually okay and good. So, I reset it to how it was. And all of that back and forth probably wrecked this video's SEO. So, idk, I'm sorry if you feel like I'm being mean to Pixar here. Hopefully the actual video shows how I am being nothing but sincere and complimentary. Art is supposed to hack into your emotions. That's not a negative trait of art. It's the defining trait of art, and I hope this video shows the absolutely brilliant ways that Pixar movies accomplish deep emotion through stellar cinematography!

This video was so interesting to watch. I love how much a camera angle can change the story.

As a fellow soon-to-be-30, I was really shocked to learn how the Pixar controls the "cameras" of their films! I've been watching these movies most of my life and never noticed (which probably means they were doing it right!) Thanks for always diving into such interesting, niche topics! Love this channel!

I'm not even 3 minutes in "soft bones" 😂

Even the 1980's, changing the Center Of Projection (COP) in computer graphics (i.e. the "camera" location) was pretty simple. It's just 3 numbers (copX, copY, copZ) in the math calculations. Keeping the camera stationary was probably a little easier for the programmers -- less work, less code -- and it helped to highlight the ever changing light sources in the video. Therefore, in Luxo Jr., a fixed center of projection (keeping the camera locked down) was a choice. It wasn't a technology limitation. I know this, because I studied computer graphics in the 1980's... before Scott was born. So, Scott, please don't feel old, and thank you for the awesome videos!

I always had the same problem with pixar, I'm bussy watching all the amazing animations and tried to figure it out how they do some random thing that I can't feel properly the story. But after seeing the movie a couple time I focus more on the story and the emotions than the design of everything.

Finally, somebody else we brings up the beauty of Inside Out! I was blown away by that film, it's honestly not talked about enough for one of the best Pixar films.

Wow only 35 min, Scott I am impressed.

18:02 "Just because we're the generation of self-deprecation humor, doesn't mean we have to live it every day of our lives!" That hit hard. And I'm not even really sure why...

I appreciate the use of "sea person/people" over "sea monster/monsters." As this video makes clear, framing is important.

idk if this counts as a Hot TakeTM or not, but i dont think Jessie's flashback in Toy Story 2 is sadder than the opening of UP. i mean i know everyone gushes over Up's opening, and its kind of beating a dead horse at this point but, as heartbreaking as Jessie being forgotten about for years, and then abandoned is, i think there is something so much more real about Carl and Ellie just montaging through life.

Yes! This studio managed to make me cry since Toy Story 2, and I want to know how!

This was an awesome video as always Scott, really enjoyed learning about the camera work in some of my favorite Pixar movies, and the jokes you made were still funny to me! 🙂

One thing i realised watching this video is that somehow the animation quality in pixar movies imo seems to peak in toy story 4. The way the lights reflect off of the woody and bo in the final scenes looks beautiful. Soul and onward seem to dip a bit in quality and luca again looks gorgeous because of the way it is lit. the scene shown in the video looks stunning in the twilight sun. Lighting and background blur pay a key role in how good a scene looks.

That's not the saddest sequence in Pixar. The first 10 minutes of Up is.

10/10 thumbnail

NerdSync: im almost 30!! Me, 33 and pregnant: I feel it.

Amazing video! It's really fascinating how pixar manages to produce these shots digitally. It really show how much thought they put into each scene.

Only 35 Minutes I See You Decided To Keep It Quick This Week.

Even by Pixar standards, Inside Out has no business being as good as it is

Pixar have made best use of not having to have a physical camera, and have framed shots where a physical camera would have been impractical intentionally, for artistic effect.

I've ben a fan of yours for a while. I've loved most of your vedios but I will ALWAYS be here for you talking about the incredibles. Just cuase you seem so happy about it . Thank you so much for explaining things in a easy to understand.

Scott: Is this funny? Me: *laughs* Also I did cry at the 2 seconds you could legally play of That Clip™. You Monster* *You actually seem quite delightful but you did make me cry so...

I'm OK with Pixar manipulating me. Make feel my feelings. Lol

Thanks for being vulnerable and making the content you want.

10:51 something tells me that you're more qualified than most RU-vidrs who like to talk about this stuff.

Thank you luca needs more love

I think up also has some amazing camera views.

I still need to see Luca. As soon as I see it I'll be back.

Ummm Scott I'm pretty sure you pointing out the chair was unused was enough to satisfy Chekhov lol

I love how right before Leron says "a lot of bad editing attempts" there's an editing glitch wherein his box appears before the camera shifts. Perfect Editing!

Oh dang the cat does have a moustache 10/10

4:59 Congratulations Scott, I just turned 33 two days ago. Enjoy youth while you can.

Scott talking about how Pixar movies make you cry is making me cry.

You mentioned how each Pixar movie technologically gets better, and I just had to mention that back when Disney+ first became a thing, I went to the bottom of Pixar's page on it and watched everything in order because that's where the Pixar Through the Years section is, and I noticed that the shorts released before every movie act as test beds for the next technological leap they do in the next movie. Excluding the first shorts done by the company, you begin with Geri's Game, and that may have been a test to get better looking humans, also there are leaves. Leaves are in a Bug's Life, but notice that there are more human characters on screen in Toy Story 2 and the animation is way better than anything they had in Toy Story. For the Birds is about getting better textures on creatures, and it's paired up with Monsters Inc. Could have also been an experiment to make the scales and fins work more in Finding Nemo with translucency and such. Boundin' takes place in the Desert and was placed before The Incredibles, but you know what takes place after that? CARS! Which is in the Desert! One Man Band takes place somewhere in Europe with a bunch of older buildings and cobblestone roads, oh, would you look at that, the next year we're in Paris with Ratatouille. Partly Cloudy is clearly an experiment to do better with clouds and weather, and then you have Up which is in the stratosphere multiple times, okay, maybe not the stratosphere, but you get what I mean, they're up in the sky. Eventually, everything gets to a point where there is no discernible lead up between short and movie, everything just progresses like all technology does, anything is feasible, it's now just a matter of how realistic or stylized you want to be. But I think for a good stretch in the late 90s and through the 2000s, the people over at Pixar would have an idea for a movie, but they wanted to see if it could be done and how well, so they would test it with a short first, and once they knew they could see what they were testing in the short would work, they would fully finish it, slap it on the next movie, and really get going on the movie with the new information they gathered so it to be ready in another year or two. Notice how there wasn't a short for Coco(Disney forced it to be their Frozen thing so if there was one we didn't know), Toy Story 4, Onward, and presumably there wasn't a short planned for Luca as they were either absorbed by the Sparkshorts program for Disney+ or they decided to just let the tradition end because the shorts served no practical purpose for the technology (not that there aren't still new things that can be done), and now are more for storytelling opportunities for filmmakers. There is an exception though, the short Burrow was released at the same time as Soul, and had the movie been released in the theaters, I could have seen Burrow being placed before it. This was wholly 2D animation, it's adorable though, I get big We Bare Bears vibes from it, but there have been a few 2D shorts over the years, so maybe Pixar is planning to do some big throwback to 2D animation one day once they pick an aesthetic. Anyway, probably ever since Piper, every short is more like Luxo Jr. where it's more an emphasis on telling a story in the short (not that they never did), and the technological achievements seem to have less of a focus to my eye, although Piper is a standout in photorealism and it did get released not too long before Cars 3 which has a beach scene. Anyway, this is just an observation of mine.

Yes Scott You Forgetting The Term Gut Was Funny I'm Just Not Sure If It's For The Reason You Wanted It To Be funny.

I just watched Brokeback Mountain last night. I'm not in the mood to cry at another cowperson kept from the one person who makes them feel alive, Scott!

This was a great breakdown! And as a growing animator, I must say this was very educational and I took notes!!! Thank you for this!

Not my usual media, but I love breakdowns like this 💖

THANK YOU FOR COVERING LUCA here for a bit🙌🙌🙌🙌 Always appreciate it when someone shows genuine appreciation for a great piece of media and you my friend always do these topics justice👌

I think Scott could have been a great cinematographer if he finished his film school

Loved it Scott 💜

I absolutely love Pixar! Thank you so much for this incredible video, and for completely understanding Luca!

the luca scene is pure art

15:05 I wasn’t born when Wall-E came out :D

i'm not crying youre crying is just the sea water in my eyes

Scott: "Cause I'm almost THIRTY!" Me, almost 40. "Ah... shit."

I went into this video wanting to learn more about how Pixar uses cinematography, but I left with all the feels.

Luca deserve more love! ♡♡♡

I'm excited to see Scott's video on Scott Pilgrim Edit:Wow Scott is Scott pilgrim how crazy is that????

I see your Pixar sad moment, and raise you Up's opening sequence.

Me: Huh I didn't know that, this is interesting. Scott: I know this is incredibly basic stuff

Ok why the HELL does this have so few views?? This is such an interesting and well done video. I hate the algorithm man.

Took me forever to get to this one. But damn was it worth it! Such a good one Scott! Thank you for your amazing work! I finally got around to watching Luca cause I really wanted to watched this hahaha, it was amazing as well.

Magnificently Outstanding Video Scott.

This was fascinating AF.

I love this. Thank you for such great context, Scott.

Just great! A loveletter to the film camera, Pixar and filmmaking as a whole. Loved it ❤️

That you sooo much Scott, I love your videos ... You help me see things, that brighten my world everyday !!!! 😊

Fun fact: the canyon from the opening scene from Toy Story 2 is actually the canyon from A Bug's Life. They just used the same model.

Loved the metacommentary on your own humour in this one, and the little thumbs up you gave La’Ron at the end. Great video!

Great work as always!

This video was awesome and was really great to see/hear you get nerdy about this subject. Pixar films are amongst my favourite films of all time and this is something that I hadn't ever really given much thought about so now when I inevitably rewatch all of them I will do so with this in mind so thank you for not only giving me a reason to watch them all again through a different perspective (pun intended) but I always love finding out a piece of information that reframes or deepens your affection for something you already love so thanks for that as well 😊👏

This was so great and interesting!

Love this analysis!

Nice. Love these men. Excellent video 💜✨

Love the content!!!!

Scott is so much smarter than me that I may never get the chance to correct him again: those are harpoons in the scene in question, not spears. Yes, I know, it's completely besides the point of this video, but I gotta shoot my shot.

Brilliant video!!

This is amazing! I discovered this channel yesterday!! Great insight new sub! Really enjoying the content Ive seen so far

I didn't see this at first, thx for reminding us.

Yo thanks for putting up that post thingy, I didn’t even see this in my sub feed

I don't have money for patreon, but PLEASE talk about Scot Pilgrim!

I always found humor in your videos but this was the first out loud laugh. Good one. The streak continues.

Gods this video is brilliant

ALMOST thirty? Are you kidding me? Well, you're younger than me

Wowww it felt so good to see La'Ron in your video. I was having fun, but the collab made thr video 1000 times better

What an informative video! I learned so much from this video, I feel like you have saved me from having to ever re-read The Five C’s of Cinematography. Outstanding!

Anyone else getting Frame by Frame vibes on this video, because I do and I love it.

Great video, as always.. of course the opening to Up gets me more than Jessie's story, but there are so many powerful scenes that Pixar has given us over the years!

Looooove, love this ⬆️...This⬆️ ...love it

Yay new Nerdsync vid!! AND IT’S PIXAR?!????!???!?!

Man, i watched this movie twice, at first on me own, than with my family, but than over the corse of its release, my little brother binged this movie constanty and now its dead to me

Good analysis, I want to learn more about cameras, focus and this

23:26 I was thinking "Oh, sh*t, here we go again" ... Up! prologue incoming ... and I was so wrong :-D

Hearing you talk about camera angles and how it gives a sense of scale, makes me want to hear your view on the Star Wars franchise. I feel Disney have done a fantastic job of portraying the scale of the starships, better than Star Wars did before. Regardless of your view of the sequel trilogy (RoS killed it for me) it just has this habit of making you go "wow!". I've noticed this difference researching clone wars comparing it to the last season. Even playing through Jedi Fallen Order had this effect on me! I would love to hear your take on it!

Ok Scott, I'm gonna go watch La'Ron's video now, but it BETTER give me a nice happy feeling in my soft bones too!

Love You Scott

90% of the emotion comes from the music, im realizing this watching this video, that shows off the awesome camera work, but none of the music, and noticing the utter lack of emotion.

Much better title now

Yay NerdSync!

I had softbone aches watching this

I remember being in film school and meeting the technology fetishists by that I mean people that were more interested in what you could do with new film tech rather than the why. I remember feeling those people were stupid because you can’t do anything meaningful with the new tech without an artistic meaning behind it. It’s great to see that Pixar had the same philosophy it seems

Pixar is like the new ghibli for making films too emotional

Every time I hear Pixar since watching Twisted, I hear it pronounced as Peeeeksarrrr. Twisted: The Untold Story of a Royal Vizeer, it's really good, watch it.

Really good video! I AM going to call all of my organs “my soft bones” from now on, though

Scott Pilgrim? Yes, please!!!