This is the first installment of Visiting Pixar: Stories & People, a detailed five-part look at my experiences at Pixar and Skywalker Sound earlier this spring, where I got a very special look at Pixar's latest masterpiece Toy Story 3 and accompanying short film Day & Night. Enjoy.
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The Four Seasons is one of the finest luxury hotels in San Francisco, located right in the heart of the city. It has a five-star rating from Forbes Travel Guide, which named it “one of the finest properties in the world” for 2010.
Just as soon as everybody had introduced themselves, we were on our way to our first stop, lunch at the Primo Patio Cafe, an authentic, hole-in-the-wall Caribbean restaurant a few minutes away. Too bad nobody had told me beforehand that lunch was part of the itinerary, I had already eaten.
Following lunch, we headed for Skywalker Ranch in Marin Country, about an hour’s drive away. (By the way, it’s pronounced “ma-rinn”, not “marr-in” like Cheech.) Our destination was supposed to be a surprise “field trip”, but early on I was pretty sure I had figured out where we were going. No other bloggers were invited.
George Lucas’s 4000 acre Skywalker Ranch is home to Skywalker Sound and other parts of the Lucasfilm empire. The ranch has its own barn and vineyards and a magnificent library, guest inn, fitness centre, and store spread across several buildings. Our visit, though, was to be limited to Skywalker Sound.
After crossing the Golden Gate Bridge, we travelled north on the Redwood Highway (stretch of U.S. Route 101 in California). The further we went on the narrowing roads, the more remote the surroundings got.
Unless you’re aware of your location, you could easily drive past 5858 Lucas Valley Road (coincidentally named after a 19th-century rancher, John Lucas, no relation to George) without noticing it. There’s no enormous gate like at Pixar. No sign announcing SKYWALKER RANCH. Only the number, barely visible: 5858.
Driving into the property, past the security barrier and a wild turkey, we headed for the Technical Building. I have a feeling we were being watched.
When the lights went up, we moved on to the Scoring Control Room and Scoring Stage (pictured below), one of the best music recording facilities in the world, right up there with EMI’s Abbey Road Studios in London.
We walked through the building, cool in both ambiance and temperature, to the Akira Kurosawa Stage, the main dubbing stage at Skywalker. On the door, a handmade sign: Sunnyside Mix; a smart allusion to Sunnyside Daycare in Toy Story 3. Inside, Academy Award-nominated sound designers Tom Myers and Michael Semanick and others were hard at work mixing sound on ‘3’.
Just as soon as everybody had introduced themselves, we were on our way to our first stop, lunch at the Primo Patio Cafe, an authentic, hole-in-the-wall Caribbean restaurant a few minutes away. Too bad nobody had told me beforehand that lunch was part of the itinerary, I had already eaten.
Following lunch, we headed for Skywalker Ranch in Marin Country, about an hour’s drive away. (By the way, it’s pronounced “ma-rinn”, not “marr-in” like Cheech.) Our destination was supposed to be a surprise “field trip”, but early on I was pretty sure I had figured out where we were going. No other bloggers were invited.
George Lucas’s 4000 acre Skywalker Ranch is home to Skywalker Sound and other parts of the Lucasfilm empire. The ranch has its own barn and vineyards and a magnificent library, guest inn, fitness centre, and store spread across several buildings. Our visit, though, was to be limited to Skywalker Sound.
After crossing the Golden Gate Bridge, we travelled north on the Redwood Highway (stretch of U.S. Route 101 in California). The further we went on the narrowing roads, the more remote the surroundings got.
Unless you’re aware of your location, you could easily drive past 5858 Lucas Valley Road (coincidentally named after a 19th-century rancher, John Lucas, no relation to George) without noticing it. There’s no enormous gate like at Pixar. No sign announcing SKYWALKER RANCH. Only the number, barely visible: 5858.
Driving into the property, past the security barrier and a wild turkey, we headed for the Technical Building. I have a feeling we were being watched.
Looking very much like an old winery, the 155,000 square foot Tech Building houses Skywalker Sound. (The official website has a nice 360° QuickTime tour of most of the building, including areas I wasn't allowed to photograph. Be sure to check that out.)
Inside, the first stop on our tour was the main theatre/screening room, know as the Stag Theater. We were given a brief history of Skywalker Sound by our guide, then shown a couple of reels to demonstrate the earthshaking sound system.
The first reel was made up of clips from various films recorded and mixed at Skywalker, followed by one of scenes from Pixar films (Finding Nemo, Toy Story 2, Up, WALL-E) remixed in the new, state-of-the-art Dolby Surround 7.1 audio format. The 7.1 sound is the best I’ve ever heard.
The first reel was made up of clips from various films recorded and mixed at Skywalker, followed by one of scenes from Pixar films (Finding Nemo, Toy Story 2, Up, WALL-E) remixed in the new, state-of-the-art Dolby Surround 7.1 audio format. The 7.1 sound is the best I’ve ever heard.
When the lights went up, we moved on to the Scoring Control Room and Scoring Stage (pictured below), one of the best music recording facilities in the world, right up there with EMI’s Abbey Road Studios in London.
Staff recording engineer Dann Thompson showed us around and explained various aspects of the studio, like the adjustable acoustic system, achieved using sound-absorbing panels on the walls and ceiling of the stage that are extended and retracted to change the reverb time.
We walked through the building, cool in both ambiance and temperature, to the Akira Kurosawa Stage, the main dubbing stage at Skywalker. On the door, a handmade sign: Sunnyside Mix; a smart allusion to Sunnyside Daycare in Toy Story 3. Inside, Academy Award-nominated sound designers Tom Myers and Michael Semanick and others were hard at work mixing sound on ‘3’.
They played us the scene from the movie where Buzz overhears the Sunnyside toys’ conversation in their snack machine clubhouse and discovers that the daycare is not what it seems. First they played the scene with only the dialogue track audible, then only sound effects, then only score, then all the tracks together, everything properly mixed. Sound really is fifty percent of the movie.
Something else the team talked about in detail was how closely they work with the director (in this case Lee Unkrich) when designing and mixing sound on a film. It was like DVD/Blu-ray bonus material, live!
Something else the team talked about in detail was how closely they work with the director (in this case Lee Unkrich) when designing and mixing sound on a film. It was like DVD/Blu-ray bonus material, live!
Chris Wiggum at Skywalker Sound
With that our tour of Skywalker Sound winded down. We made our way to the main doors and waited for our ride, rain pouring outside. We were driven back to our hotel to get ready to finally watch Toy Story 3 in the place where it was made.Visiting Pixar: Stories & People continues tomorrow
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8 comments:
When you say 'no other bloggers were invited', did you mean that you were the only Pixar blogger - or possibly even the only journalist allowed to go???
"No other bloggers" except the other Pixar bloggers and myself.
Awesome! Can't wait for the next intallment!
Thanks...
winded down=wound down
Thanks for the tour!
Is not "winded down" grammatically correct?
Really looking forward to the push for more 7.1 theatrical tracks. This will mean more discrete 7.1 for home on Blu-ray. Way to push things forward Pixar. Also, Skywalker Sound rocks. That doesn't need to be said.
These is cool
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