D23: Pixar Doing Our Homework.

From Saturday morning's panel of Pixar directors here is a few fun facts I learned about the research that goes into these amazing films.

For Finding Nemo many of the artist department became certified divers to learn more about the underwater world they were creating including the Director himself.
Research for the obese humans of Wall-E was done by observing sea lions!
UP had research done in Venezuela. While on site the trip to the top of the mountain was supposed to take 1.5 hours but actually took everyone over 10! Also the grandfather of the director was secretly videotaped to have reference for Carl Frederiksen's movements and mannerisms.
Before starting on Brave the Pixar family came together to discuss mother-daughter relationships to make sure that the feud between Merida and Elenor was not made without basis.
The Toy Story series included a lot of bringing in childhood toys to work for the Pixar team and reliving the play habits of their youth. Jonas Rivera admits to being the destructive child much like Sid from the movie by blowing things up and waiting for them to break. Whereas John Lasseter was Andy and played nicely with stories behind everything.

During the Q&A there were a few things that were memorable to me.
When asked about creative license versus following reality a scene from Finding Nemo was recalled by the director. During research the team visited a sewage processing plant and ask what would happen if a fish was flushed and put through the system. The resounding response of "It would die" was all it took for the team to realize, alright we will act like we didn't hear that information.
With inconsistencies and plot holes such as this the production team does their best to cover it up with other information. Their job is to create a refrigerator moment of it. So that when the movie is over and you are back home getting something from the fridge you realize; Oh wait! Did they really do that?
Its brilliant in my opinion that they are able to do that so well and cover the small incongruities that do happen when you are making a complete new world and story. There will always be those small slips with any film but it is impossible to say that Pixar does not go through the extra effort to truly have all the details for their movies.