Aaron Hartline: UP - Animation Reel

After carefully picking out what shots to put into my 'Decade Demo Reel', thought it might be nice to do a reel for each film I worked on. Show all my shots - the good, bad, and ugly.

To kick this off, I chose UP - my 1st film at PIXAR.

1) CARL COMES HOME - My 1st shots animating at PIXAR. Simple enough, a close up of Carl's feet as he enters frame. That shot kicked my butt!! I kept getting notes on those feet. After I finished those shots, I started to wonder if I could actually make it as a animator at Pixar? Sometimes its the shots you least expect that do you in.

2) CARL PUSHES THE HOUSE - Back to basics. After sweating through those 1st shots, I immediately went outside and started filming me pushing and pulling the Pixar building. I even grabbed one of the chairs and started throwing it around. I kept a eye out for security, didn't want them to see the new guy ruining company property.

3) YOUNG CARL and ELLIE - I was super excited when I got these. After years of animating Scrat, I felt at home being able to do some slap-stick physical comedy. At the same time there was another sequence in the animation department, Married Life. I was a bit bummed I missed out on that beautiful sequence. Each time I watch it, I still get choked up.

4) DUG 'Point!' - In the beginning of the film Scott Clark, the Animation Supe, asked if there was any shots we wanted. I wrote a email back saying "How about shots we don't want? Please, Please, Please - No Dogs!' Welp, sure enough I got some canine animation. Scott was nice enough to say 'We have your back! If you have any problems, we are here to help you' Sometimes that's all a person needs to hear.

5) CARL ANGRY AT RUSSELL - After 2 cartoony shots, I requested this shot. I wanted to show that I can do more then just slapstick. I must've done alright, cause I got some more dramatic acting right after.

6) MUNTZ SUSPICIOUS - I was incredibly excited and scared as hell when I found out I was getting these shots. Excited to animate Muntz, a amazing villian designed by my old college buddy, Mr Daniel Lopez Munoz. It was surreal bringing my Chicago buddy's design to life. On the other hand, scared to be animating right in the middle of a couple of the best animators at Pixar, Michal Makarewicz and Travis Hathaway. I was responsible for taking Michal's lost in the moment and Travis's evil threat - and stitch those two moments together seemlessly

7) CARL CLIMBS THE BLIMP - When you get shots like this, you have to treat it like a game of chess. Carefully plan your moves, don't do to much - just the right amount at the right time. Really enjoyed putting the lil' details in these shots, like a hand adjust or a foot slip. Something that makes it feel grounded in reality.

8) CHASE SQUIRREL - This was a weekend assignment. Who would like to do a few scrapbook images for overtime pay. When posing it out, they didn't have a squirrel model so I posed out Ellie's hamster. The art department painted over hammy to turn him into the scared squirrel you see.