Finding Nemo... Behind The Scenes

                                            Photo Credited to Google

Today, we will move unto one of my favorite Disney movies, Finding Nemo. The film went on to earn a total of $936,743,251 worldwide. The inspiration for the movie began for several moments in the directors life. He chose a clownfish because he saw them in a National Geographic magazine. He remembered that as a boy he would like to go to the dentist to see the pretty fish tank. He also says, that when he took a walk in the park with his son he was very over protective and didn't quite enjoy the moment as much. Sounds familiar? 

To start off this project, the executive producer told every person that was going to work in the Nemo project that they had to get certified in scuba diving and go underwater to observe these animals natural habitat.Sometimes, Bob Peterson (the co-writer of the story) would drive for 6 hours all the way to Los Angeles and would throw out and discuss different ideas with another team member. One of those ideas is the famous initiation scene inside the fish tank. 

The first step to bring the characters about is the sketching and it starts with the art directors. They needed so much scientific input in order to capture what a real fish looks like. The hardest part of their job is to make a believable real-looking animated fish. For example, a real fish has their eyes on the side of their head not in front like Nemo, or Dory or any other character in the movie, also fish don't talk, or blink, or give off any emotion so the art directors had to find a way to do so. Next, they have to give the sculptor a 2D drawing so they can make into 3D. The directors start to give their feedback on it and model it correctly before giving it off to the animators. For the animators, the process is very meticulous. They have to be very aware of how the fish swims, what fins it moves, and finally how to give it human characteristics. The director talks to the animators and would make them think like actors. The scene where Dory didn't want to be left by Marlin came by the animator surrounding himself by things that would remind him of the people he loved and imagined they were going to leave in order to achieve that desperate and sad expression Dory has. 

Art director sketch

Sculptors' results

Animation 

The entire crew worked on Finding Nemo for 3 and a half years!!! That is a very long time to work on a project. Based on the interviews I saw, the first screening of the film is always the one that had the crew on a nervous breakdown in part because of course they want success but imagine working on something so hard for almost 4 years and for it to flop. However, the first two screening Finding Nemo had was the best Pixar animation had during that time.