Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

The Cinematography of "The Incredibles"

floobynooby.blogspot.co.uk

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

21–30 of 39 posts

Re: The Cinematography of "The Incredibles"

#21

Post by loupeabody »

drill_sarge wrote: post #17
bitwize wrote: post #16

Holy shit, look at this: http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-AQTRoWPB3n4/Tbn5O99q6lI/AAAAAAAARG... Though it wasn't mentioned in the movie, Brad Bird described Edna as "half-German and half-Japanese". The walls of this room resemble Japanese rice-paper walls -- but the divisions are arranged as in a Piet Mondrian painting. Mondrian was Dutch, not German, but there's still a sense of Asian and European art styles mixed here. I…

I only see low res shadow maps with an awful filter. Joke aside, I find it always fascinating what detail or references are put in movies which nobody notices.

It's not so much that no one notices these details of composition. If that were the case, who could justify the disproportionate effort applied to engineering every shot? These elements of composition are about emphasizing the storytelling. It's an act of support that takes real craftsmanship and will always serve to make the final product better quality, especially to those who know nothing about composition in a formal sense.

Re: The Cinematography of "The Incredibles"

#22

Post by JetSpiegel »

tamersalama wrote: post #20
bitwize wrote: post #16

Holy shit, look at this: http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-AQTRoWPB3n4/Tbn5O99q6lI/AAAAAAAARG... Though it wasn't mentioned in the movie, Brad Bird described Edna as "half-German and half-Japanese". The walls of this room resemble Japanese rice-paper walls -- but the divisions are arranged as in a Piet Mondrian painting. Mondrian was Dutch, not German, but there's still a sense of Asian and European art styles mixed here. I…

I thought Edna was modeled after Edith Head [1] [1] http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edith_Head

I thought it was the boss from NCIS LA

Re: The Cinematography of "The Incredibles"

#23

Post by bitwize »

tamersalama wrote: post #20
bitwize wrote: post #16

Holy shit, look at this: http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-AQTRoWPB3n4/Tbn5O99q6lI/AAAAAAAARG... Though it wasn't mentioned in the movie, Brad Bird described Edna as "half-German and half-Japanese". The walls of this room resemble Japanese rice-paper walls -- but the divisions are arranged as in a Piet Mondrian painting. Mondrian was Dutch, not German, but there's still a sense of Asian and European art styles mixed here. I…

I thought Edna was modeled after Edith Head [1] [1] http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edith_Head

"Q meets Edith Head" is how she was planned and sketched out, but I'm fond of these little details that make a character unique.

True story: I once was on Maui, and stopped inside a curio shop. The owner of the shop, a little Japanese woman, came out from the back and smiled at me -- and I'll be God-damned if she didn't look exactly like Edna -- perfectly sculptured hair, glasses, and all. I found myself actively looking for a secret lab behind all the blown-glass trinkets. It was only after this incident that I found out Edna was conceptualized as part Japanese; and today I wonder if someone at Pixar didn't visit the same shop, meet the same woman, and incorporate her into Edna's design.

Re: The Cinematography of "The Incredibles"

#24

Post by bitwize »

froo wrote: post #15
wmkn wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I know it is a mainstream movie and everyone has seen it. But try watching Disney's Snow White again, and remember that it was released in 1937. Your statement "defined the animated films" is more applicable to that movie than anything else.

My favourite Disney book is "The Illusion of Life" which is written by Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnson, 2 of Disney's "nine old men" The first chapters deal with the creation of the Snow White film, and the startup culture within the Disney studios at that time. Co-incidentally, both authors are referenced in the film The Incredibles (the original subject of the OP's post)

Not just referenced -- they appeared as themselves!

I can't help but wonder if this is a shout-out/jab to the perennial Stan Lee cameo in films based off Marvel characters, especially considering that The Incredibles was often seen as competing with, and compared favorably against, Fantastic Four (2005).

Re: The Cinematography of "The Incredibles"

#25

Post by bentcorner »

brazzy wrote: post #10

Interesting read, though sometimes it sounds a bit like over-analyzation. Especially the constant mention of "triangular composition" - three points form a triangle (unless they form a line). You'd have to make a conscious effort NOT to have "triangular composition".

Completely agree. I enjoyed reading about framing, how positioning backgrounds to ensure the viewer can easily follow action, the far/medium/full shots, bird/worm's eye view and the like.

Mentioning triangular composition so often was strange. I guess it's a basic filmmaker thing? (don't line up talking characters in a line?) Moving the camera out-of-plane of the conversation allows the viewers to more easily understand the flow of conversation, who the characters are paying attention to, and who we should be paying attention to.

Re: The Cinematography of "The Incredibles"

#26

Post by Anm »

JetSpiegel wrote: post #22
tamersalama wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I thought Edna was modeled after Edith Head [1] [1] http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edith_Head

I thought it was the boss from NCIS LA

Sorry... Pixar did not invent a time travel machine just to get a character reference. (NCIS LA came five years after.)

Re: The Cinematography of "The Incredibles"

#27

Post by gagege »

wmkn wrote: post #14
Jagadeesh1210 wrote: post #8

Check All "hayao miyazaki" films. He defined the animated films.

I know it is a mainstream movie and everyone has seen it. But try watching Disney's Snow White again, and remember that it was released in 1937. Your statement "defined the animated films" is more applicable to that movie than anything else.

The scene right after the hunter gives her a chance to run away, where she's running through the woods and the trees look like they're alive, and then she falls in water and her hair gets wet, is amazing. Also, the shadows in the whole movie are incredible.

Re: The Cinematography of "The Incredibles"

#28

Post by JetSpiegel »

Anm wrote: post #26
JetSpiegel wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I thought it was the boss from NCIS LA

Sorry... Pixar did not invent a time travel machine just to get a character reference. (NCIS LA came five years after.)

Surely Linda Hunt is older than Pixar...

Re: The Cinematography of "The Incredibles"

#30

Post by frooxie »

scrrr wrote: post #5

That's cool, but I think if you want to study film, you should study the likes of Akira Kurosawa, Sergio Leone or Krzysztof Kieslowski [1] first. A lot of what Hollywood is doing has been first done by these guys. Especially computer games and Pixar movies are often directly reusing famous scenes and camera angles. [1] Disclaimer: I'm a big fan of "Three Colors", especially "Red".

Can you recommend any book or instructional movie that analyzes good (or bad) storytelling in film?
Post reply on HN