Elemental Is Pixar’s Most Technically Challenging Film to Date

Pixar is known for its animation expertise and pushing the boundary of what is capable of digital worlds. From Toy Story to Cars, Pixar has successfully invented new worlds again and again. 

Elemental is a new animated film from Pixar where land, air, fire and water residents all live together. The story follows Ember (Leah Lewis), a fiery young woman, and her friendship with go-with-the-flow Wade (Mamoudou Athie) as they challenge their beliefs of the world they live in. The film also features an original song from multi-platinum singer, songwriter, and producer Lauv.

Director Peter Sohn revealed at a press conference that Elemental was Pixar’s most technically challenging animation project to date. “The average Pixar character has about 4,000 controls… but both Ember and Wade were close to double that at 10,000. Meaning you needed this control to try to get them to move like the element while there was an effect going on top of it. And there's so many layers of effects going on with these characters that they kept multiplying the challenges in every direction that we would go,” Sohn explained. Not only were the characters a heavy lift, but they created an entirely original world segmented by each individual element. They had to create four different worlds inspired by air, fire, water, and land. 

“I think the details that were exposed in the 3D have been really exciting for me,” said Sohn.  “Ember's fire in 3D is a whole new thing because she's transparent, but when she moves her head, all of those transparencies start to parallax and give you a depth that we didn't see when we were working in the 2D version.”

Sohn shared the best way to view the film in all its animation glory: “I would say, check it out in 3D. You'll be really mesmerized by the effects that we have on these characters.” 

If you look closely, hiding in Element City is one of the characters from Pixar’s upcoming film Elio. “That's a really fun little detail that every time I see it, I smile,” shared producer Denise Ream. 

Elemental hits theaters June 16.