Pixar's Up opened Cannes last week and is due in theaters next Friday. The New York Times sat down with director Pete Docter and production designer Ricky Nierva to talk about the movie's four central characters. These include the 78-year-old curmudgeon Carl Frederickson and Russell, the intrepid explorer 70 years Carl's junior who leads him on an adventure. Docter said:
Russell is like a whirling dervish. He's spinning and moving, so we designed him more like a top or a balloon. He's got multiple levels of clothing on top of each other. All of this is researched down to the detail about what weave of the cloth it is.
Nierva spoke about how his team used simple shapes to reflect character. Since Carl is so stubborn, for example, he was represented with very square features:
The shape symbolism is present in the photo frames within this shot to
tell a snapshot story of Carl's life. Anytime you see Carl in a picture by himself, he's in a square frame. And anytime you see [his deceased wife], she's in an oval frame. And anytime you see them together, we thought of a square frame with an oval matte. So all of these things help balance his world of squares and circles.
The full article, Well-Rounded Boy, Meet Old Square, includes an interactive feature with design photos and audio commentary.