Behind the Scenes, Advice, and a Q&A with the Film’s Team
On April 24th, 2024, I attended a Zoom webinar for Pixar’s Inside Out 2 coming to theatres on June 14th. This event was held specifically for students around the country and was hosted by Director Kelsey Mann, Producer Mark Nielsen, Lead Editor Maurissa Horwitz, and Lead Story Artist Louise Smythe. The team summarized the film and the new emotions in Riley, the main character’s brain. I got to watch an exclusive trailer and a sneak preview of one of the scenes, and my excitement for the film’s release has skyrocketed! The team described the film’s inspirations and creative process and ended with advice to aspiring film students. Want to learn more? Let’s dive in!
Inside Out 2 follows 13-year-old Riley as she navigates life as a new teenager. Her braces aren’t the only new addition to her life: Four new emotions “move in” to Riley’s control room. Anxiety, Embarrassment, Ennui, and Envy push the original emotions to the side and take over Riley’s feelings and actions. Director Kelsey Mann recalled his awkward teen years as he explained his inspiration for the sequel. While looking through old family photos from his birthdays growing up, he points to his smile at his sixth birthday party before calling attention to its disappearance during his 13th birthday. He recalls being suddenly self-aware of the rush of new emotions and experiences during his teenage years, an experience many of us have shared. Mann hopes this film will change this and help teens look at themselves in the mirror and love what they see, inside and out.
From this webinar, I learned that creating an animation sequel is no easy task. Panelists explained the year-and-a-half-long process of rebuilding original characters and sets due to the use of new animation technologies. On top of redesigning new characters, the creative team created four new emotions. The team regularly met with psychology professors during the creation process to accurately depict each new emotion and how they would work in the mind of a teenager. Each emotion was intricately created: From the size of their bodies to the sound of their voice, each detail was planned strategically. Additionally, the crew hosted a group of teenage girls between the ages of 13 and 18 to get their opinions on the portrayal of Riley. It’s clear that the Inside Out 2 team put an extreme amount of hard work and dedication into making this sequel!
To close out the webinar, the team answered one final question: What advice would you give to aspiring film students? Nielsen urged students to jump into a production assistant role or volunteer on set right out of college. He said that getting hands-on experience in the industry guided him to the specific area he wanted to work in, and he recommends making connections everywhere you go. Mann wrapped it up saying it takes three things to get a job in the film industry: hard work, passion, and a little bit of luck. He finished the webinar urging students to put themselves out there!
As someone who dreams of working in the film industry, I was ecstatic to attend this event and am extremely grateful for the opportunity to hear from a Pixar team. I’m looking forward to seeing it all come together this summer, as Inside Out 2 will be in theatres on June 14th, 2024!