JPP: What do you think about the competition between visual effects supervisors now that the VES has opened up this new category for animated features? Does it make your job more challenging?

JC: To me it doesn't matter one way or the other because I don't do (my job) with awards or categories in mind. It should be pretty clear because with Beowulf for a while we weren't sure how to categorize it earlier on. Was it an animated movie? Was it live action? There are still debates going on. The animation branch (of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences) considered it eligible for Animated Features. So, I'm not doing it for categorization. I'm doing it basically just for the work.

I think what people still need to understand is the tremendous amount of artistry (involved in visual effects). People are talking about technology. But for anybody who works in the field knows that it doesn't go into the computer and come out beautiful at the push of a button. I've been with 450 people working on this movie for three years. So, there's a lot of passion that went into it.

No doubt that Ratatouille will receive a VES nomination. It is one of the most innovative animated features this year. All Rataouille images ©Disney Enterprises Inc. and Pixar Animation Studios. 

One of the most innovative animated features this year has been Ratatouille, the story of Remy, a young rat from the French countryside with extraordinary culinary skills. Apurva Shah, the visual effects supervisor, is obviously pleased that VES has added a category for animated features. "We're very excited about the new category and being able to recognize some of the artists who worked on the film." But what pleases Shah the most is the different set of challenges that Ratatouille presented. "I think what is exciting from my standpoint is that the visual effects in the film, as is the case with a lot of other Pixar films, are very closely tied with the story, itself, and with the performance. All the cooking stuff that we did is really very integral to the story and to believing in Remy's quest. The actually exciting part is that this particular area of effects hasn't really been explored much, like actually doing cooking. So, we had some very interesting challenges there, and it was great to be able to work on that aspect of it. Then, of course, we had lots of environmental effects as well: water -- there's a rapids sequence in the movie -- and lots of rain, and wet fur and wet cloth, and all those kinds of things. They were really fun to work on. I think the cooking, and the fact that it's really closely tied to the story and the performance, is one of the things that makes effects in this animated film really exciting."

JPP: As far as visual effects are concerned, do you think the line has been blurred between live action and animation?

Apurva Shah: I gave a talk at the VES seminar at Big Sur. What is fundamentally similar or different about effects between these two media? I guess we should think about it fundamentally from the standpoint of what function the effects might be serving. I think they're very similar. They're motivated by some story need. They tend to be used like an artist's matte painting that is used in live action. It's used to extend sets and create worlds that would be too expensive or difficult to build out and also to add visual punch. In the case of Ratatouille, for example, the rapids at the beginning of the movie are meant to do exactly that -- get the audience engaged in the developing of this character and to do that with a visual punch. So, in the sense of function, it is certainly very similar. And a related question is how do you measure success. How do you see when effects work in live action or when they work in an animation context? Again, the criteria are very similar. You want to make sure that you have (the effects) scaled right. You want to make sure that there's some kind of physics that is at work; that it looks believable. You want to make sure that whatever approach you take is very flexible and will allow for creative direction. So, in terms of criteria, I think they are similar as well.