Apurva Shah recalls the different set of challenges that Ratatouille presented. All the cooking footage was integral to the story and to believing in Remy's quest. The particular area of cooking effects hadn't been explored before this film.

JPP: What about the toolsets used for live action and animation? Are they changing as well?

AS: The interesting thing historically is that the tools used to do effects in the two media tended to be very different. Effects in 2D animation were hand-drawn creating the hint of water, splashes or smoke with a few graphic strokes. Effects for live action, on the other hand, were generally achieved with miniature, pyro and other traditional techniques. But as both kinds of effects migrate more and more to the computer, the kind of tools we use and skillsets we tap into look much more similar. For example, on Ratatouille, the kind of liquid simulators we used were essentially similar to those used by ILM on A Perfect Storm or Poseidon. So, I think that the really interesting thing is that there's a convergence in the tool base and the skillset that historically has been different. But fundamentally, I think they have always been similar in certain ways. So, that aspect is the same as before.

JPP: Do you think the new VES category will spur greater competition among visual effects supervisors?

AS: I certainly hope it will spark friendly competition among the studios and certainly try to make us do our best work. The way that I look at it, though, is that we really do look at effects as another piece of the puzzle in terms of the kind of stories that directors want to tell and the kind of movies that Pixar wants to make. So, in that sense, we certainly try our best to support that effort. So, it's nice that there's a category like this that potentially recognizes that effort, but hopefully you're doing this for a deeper cause in some way. And that's not to say it's not nice to have the category and be recognized for the work that artists are doing, but that's more like the icing on the cake.

JPP: Do you expect the Academy to follow the lead of the VES and give recognition to visual effects in animated features?

There's now a convergence in the tool base and skillset that historically has been different between visual effects for live action and animation.

AS: I think that hopefully over time [the recognition will come], as more and more filmmakers become exposed to this style of working and realizing that the effects for animation serve the same kind of function and a similar story need (as effects for live action).

JPP: People sometimes point out that there is a major difference in how visual effects are integrated into animated and live-action features. Do you believe the difference is that great?

AS: I've worked on some live-action films before like Batman Forever and The Arrival, so I have some sense of what happens there as well. And one of the things that you often hear is that live-action visual effects have to deal with integration into a (photographic) plate. There's a plate and you have to integrate transparently into that. Again, there's that distinction between the two (live action and animation). But I point out that we too try to work with the animation and the performance that we're getting. And to that extent, the performance is our plate. If a director really likes a performance and an animator is able to get the emotional stuff across that needs to happen in a shot, then we really try to build on that and work with that.