Stephen Wong has been a part of the Pixar team since the days of “Ratatouille.” Now, the Dunwoody native’s animation work can be seen in the new film “Elio.”
“Elio” is about an 11-year-old boy named Elio who makes contact with aliens in space and goes on an intergalactic adventure, befriending a worm-like alien creature named Glordon. Wong, who attended Georgia Tech for computer science before heading off to the Academy of Art University in San Francisco, worked specifically on the character of Elio.
Rough Draft Atlanta recently spoke with Wong about his career with Pixar and the movies that got him into animation. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
I read that the movies that sparked a love for animation for you were “Jurassic Park” and “Toy Story.” What do you think it was about those two movies that hooked you and made you want to pursue a job in animation?
Stephen Wong: I remember seeing “Jurassic Park” in theaters and just not fully understanding how it was done, and being completely blown away by that. I think “Toy Story” was a similar thing where growing up with animation, seeing the first feature film in 3D, [I was] completely blown away with how this was even being done. It was a similar impact – I didn’t think I’d ever do that kind of a thing, but I remember going, wow – that would be pretty amazing to be a part of.
When did it become a reality that this was something you could do professionally?
Wong: I went to Georgia Tech for computer science, and I remember [laughs] barely surviving Georgia Tech. I kind of went there thinking, you know – I like computers! I like graphics! And not being fully prepared for how much math was involved … I had a friend that I went to Georgia Tech with that came out to art school in California. He was like, you know – it’s actually pretty fun out here. Maybe you should think about giving it a shot.
I remember at the time being in a place I wasn’t super happy with, and just going – what if I don’t go out there? I might just regret this forever. I just thought I’d take the plunge with art school. I had a couple of Pixar animator teachers there, and that was my eye opening experience. This is what I want to do.
What was the first movie you remember working on for Pixar?
Wong: I had started in 2006 on “Ratatouille,” and then I left briefly – I went to a visual effects studio. Then I came back on “WALL-E.”
That would have been the prime stretch for me. We watched “Ratatouille” so many times in middle school, I can’t even tell you.
Wong: I think that’s one of my favorite projects to work on, for sure.
For “Elio,” you helped get the character ready for animation and helped the animators stay on model. Could you elaborate, for those of us who aren’t animation-talk savvy, what exactly that means?
Wong: I was animator number one on “Elio.” Usually what that means is you’re the first animator to come on board. Essentially, we’re digital puppeteers. For every frame, we’re making these poses. 24 frames make one second of animation, and so over time, these poses become movement or performance. The acting is all kind of dialed in from there.
Very early on, before animators come on board, there’s something called the pre-production process. There’s an artist that will come up with the character design. We take these models that are built for us with a skeleton rig on it, and we have to test it out to make sure that the model can do the kinds of things that an animator needs it to do. I came on board early to kind of do animation tests, and test out the rig, and try to do some performance things, just to show the director, is this kind of what you’re thinking about for this character? Is this the way he would move? Is this the way he would act?
[We’re] thinking about situations to put the character into very early on, before we even fully know what the story is. Once we get that dialed in, then I start working with our … artists to hone in on what makes this character appealing. What kind of face shapes, or mouth shapes, eye shapes, body language, makes this character feel unique and feel on model? Then I’ll create a guide and a pose library so that animators could come on and understand, okay – this is what makes this character appealing. This is how we stay on the model. Because there are probably going to be 50 or 60 animators that wind up animating Elio in some capacity. [We want] to keep this character feeling consistent from one animator to another, so that it doesn’t feel like 50 animators are working on it. It feels like a cohesive character.
What sort of unique or appealing characteristics did you think up for Elio?
Wong: He’s obviously obsessed with space, but he’s also an oddball. He’s a hand talker, so that means big gestures. He’s a little bit high energy. If that’s the case, if you put him in a situation where he’s got to get something, he’s probably going to take the path of least resistance. He’s going to just go directly through something, and he’s going to maybe create destruction in the mess behind it.
These are all things that we use as guidelines to come up with how these characters perform. At the same time, this is a character that has dealt with tragedy. Early on in the film, you find out that his parents have died, so he’s being raised by an aunt. So finding this balance of – he doesn’t feel like he fits in the world, how do you portray that? But also, his natural state is this fun, energetic, loveable kid. Toggling those two things is a big challenge for us.
He’s toggling those two things – it’s a big challenge for us.
You mentioned “Ratatouille” earlier, but having been with Pixar for so long, has there been a favorite movie that you’ve worked on, or a favorite character you’ve worked on?
Wong: “Luca” was another one that I felt a really close attachment to. I was on that pretty early as well. I was responsible for the Alberto character, so I did the pre-production for him. That was one where I was able to do the pre-pro and then work on that particular character a lot throughout that whole production.
It was also weird because it was during the pandemic, so that was the first time we were working from home. That was actually the first time my family got to see the process of how we work and realize, oh – you guys are pretty slow [laughs]. I think people don’t realize – we’re animating like, four-to-five seconds per week. It’s a very tedious process. Sometimes, we’re listening to the same audio over and over and over daily. I don’t think they fully realize that part of the process.
Having done all these different projects over the years, what has been unique about working on “Elio?” Has there been anything unique about working on this particular movie?
Wong: I think for me as an animator, typically, we just get assigned shots to work on. So we have a sequence of shots, and then we work on those. We get those approved by the director, and then we move on to our next chunk. But, they did pull me in one time to help brainstorm this “Elio” montage sequence. It was Elio and Glordon playing and having fun in the universe. That was the first time I was part of almost like a story brainstorming session, where we go to pitch ideas of things that we could try in those sequences. Some of those ideas did wind up in the film, which I thought was a pretty neat experience.