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C G W Ja n u a r y / Fe b ru a r y 2 014 ■ 31 gush of wind to break loose, and he soars into the air above the street. When Blue falls, the city helps him survive, but still, he lands in the gutter. Then, magically, his now soaking- wet owner finds him, and as Blue and his owner try to recover, Red and her owner appear and lend a hand. At the end, Blue and Red lean toward each other, as do their own- ers, and look in a window. As with many creative successes, the film juxtaposes contradictions. It's an animated film shot like a documentary, which makes it feel real. Simple characters with cartoon faces – the blue and red umbrellas – perform within a ren- dered CG city that looks real. So real, in fact, viewers often ask if the CG film is live action with 2D morphs. Animated objects in the city become a supporting cast, a kind of Greek chorus that comes alive in the rain and interacts with the blue umbrella. Yet, although the best description of the film is "photoreal," thanks to the rainy atmosphere, the short animated film has an abstract, almost painterly quality. "The Blue Umbrella" is a triumph of 3D modeling, animation, cinematography, lighting, and rendering. And, of course, story. Perfect Pitch "I didn't think about the visual style when I figured out the story," Unseld says. "I just wanted the heart and soul of the film. When you pitch, you have to tell the complete story. The only visuals I had were four collages I had made from photos to underline main story points – a sea of umbrellas with a tiny blue umbrella and one with a red umbrella in the middle. The umbrella in the gutter. And, the happy ending." At Pixar, anyone can pitch short film ideas. It's a two- round process. First, the hopeful director talks through three complete story ideas with a panel of Pixar veterans in the development department who, in Unseld's experience, in- cluded Directors Peter Sohn and Pete Docter, Story Supervi- sor Jason Katz, and others. At a second meeting, successful candidates, such as Unseld, incorporate notes from the first round in preparation for a presentation to Pixar's Chief Creative Officer John Lasseter. "They loved 'The Blue Umbrella,' " Unseld says. "They didn't have any notes for changes. So, I made some chang- es. They said, 'Naw. The first time felt more relaxed.' I was overthinking it." Unseld still hadn't created visuals beyond the four col- lages, so during his pitch session with John Lasseter, Las- seter asked how the film might look visually. Unseld calls his answer the "subconscious" part of his pitch. "I hadn't given it much thought," Unseld says. "But, at the end of my pitch, I said, 'Oh, by the way, I did this test that might be interesting to look at. It might be one way to bring the city to life.'" Sometime earlier, the then layout and camera artist had shot short video clips of faces he had seen on build- ing facades, mailboxes, fire hydrants, and so forth in San Francisco. "I thought I could make a music video," Unseld says. "So, I did a 3D track of the footage in [Autodesk's] Maya. Then I did a 2D morph to animate the faces to the lyrics of a Sarah Jaffe song. Because the flat morph was tracked to the cam- era movement, it had a magical quality; every time I showed it to people, I'd see a sparkle in their eyes as the city comes to life. They [the Pixar directors] said, 'It would be so great to have that magic from you, from thinking the city is real to it being alive.'" But for "The Blue Umbrella," Unseld wouldn't be able to work with 2D morphs of live-action footage. Shutting down several city blocks for filming, hiring dozens of extras and drivers, and, most importantly, controlling the rain, was not an option. Thus, creating magical animated faces in what first appear to be static objects depended on creating a realistic, believ- able CG city. ■ A PHOTOREALISTIC CG CITY comes alive in Pixar's stylish short animated film "Blue Umbrella." ©2013 Pixar Animation Studios.