There was a big effort to make the sets as detailed, as luscious and as complex as possible. The research trips provided the filmmakers with a common language to talk about throughout. 

Pauley says it goes back to the logic of human features they found in rocks. “Even in town, the butte looks like a radiator tap. And the little racetrack that they go around is a hood ornament designed in rock. We also learned about different strata of soil and layers. We didn’t go into Grand Staircase, but understanding how that stratification level is part of that environment became important in constructing Ornament Valley. Maybe the top of it is a little more gray, just like a hood ornament, but the rest of it is warmed color rock.”

Porter adds, “On this show you’re in a lot less sets than in The Incredibles. But there was much more of an effort to make those sets as detailed, as luscious and as complex as possible. It was always good to sit down with John after one of his trips about specific ideas for what he wanted. And when he came back from Route 66, he would talk about the peeled paint, the old time look of something that was vibrant in the ‘40s and ‘50 but lost its luster over time. He was vocal to make sure we stayed true to the world that he had seen out there.”

In other words, “that sense of history, that sadness and beauty, we found visually on the road,” Lasseter relates.

Bill Desowitz is editor of VFXWorld.