Pixar chief looks to 3D as storyteller's new ally

As Pixar's new cartoon caper "Up" makes film history with a red-carpet opening slot at Cannes, the studio's co-founder John Lasseter sees the coming 3D revolution as a boon for old-style storytellers.

"We at Pixar love new technology, we pioneered new technology with computer animation and now with 3D," Lasseter, who produced the adventure film as Disney-Pixar's creative director, told AFP as the film premiered Wednesday.

"But we always look at what the technology can do to help tell a story," said Lasseter, 53, an animation giant who directed the world's first computer generated cartoon -- the Oscar-winning "Toy Story."

Set in the wilds of South America, "Up" is the first-ever animated feature and first 3D movie to kick off the Riviera festival, with VIPs donning 3D specs in a nod to what many are already heralding as the future of film-making.

"I love 3D -- I think it has a great future within animation. With 3D what I am excited about is to figure out ways to show the underlying emotion," Lasseter said.

For the 300-strong creative team behind "Up", led by serial Oscar nominee Pete Docter, 3D was a way to draw viewers deeper into the story, and add a human dimension to the work, he said.

The film tells the story of a reclusive old widower who ties thousands of balloons to his home to fulfill a dream of adventure in South America -- only to find he has been joined by a pint-sized stowaway, a would-be wilderness explorer 70 years his junior.

The Pixar team used 3D effects sparingly, in bursts, to hint at an emotional journey, alternating between "flat" and more expansive, three-dimensional sequences, Lasseter said.

"The main character Carl at the beginning is living a very kind of closed life. He is just cloistered in his house. So what we did is a very subtle thing -- we made the dimension much more shallow," he said.

"And so when he goes out into the big wide world and starts opening himself up for the first time, we made that dimension so much deeper."

Today's 3D is a far cry from the gimmicks of the 1950s. Movie-goers still need dark glasses to get the full 3D blast, but these are a far cry from the goofy coloured glasses that left audiences seasick and throbbingly headached.

Pixar's latest movie offers a pain-free treat of colour and razor-sharp detail, and an aerial impression of depth, thanks to state-of-the-art digital shooting and screening technology.

But Lasseter warns filmmakers should be wary of using 3D for cheap tricks.

"I believe if you do a lot of the kind of gimmick coming-at-you stuff all the time, what that does is that it tends to pop people out of the story."

"It's like 'Oh, that's funny' -- but they are not caught up in the story, and to me it's about keeping people on the edge of their seat where they cannot wait to see what happens next in the story.

"We always think of the screen as a window looking into the world," Lasseter explained.

Despite Pixar's four Oscars, Lasseter said the Cannes red carpet rolled out for its new 3D film was "like a dream."

"It's one of the greatest moments of my career," he told AFP.

The 150-million-dollar "Up" is just the tip of the 3D iceberg as far as Disney is concerned, with a dozen big-budget digital 3D movies and six more with live-action 3D in the works.

And the whole of Hollywood is betting just as big on the new format, which has been described as the third great "revolution" in film history, after the arrival of sound in the 1920s, and colour in the 1930s.

The format still faces big challenges -- not least the need to persuade thousands of cinemas worldwide to invest in the costly new equipment needed to screen the films.

Lasseter insisted he would not be disappointed if many viewers see "Up" in regular old two-dimensions, insisting the "movie is just as entertaining in 2D as 3D."

"The goal is to make great movies. If you see them in 3D, fantastic. If you see them in 2D, fantastic," he said, insisting there would always be space for both styles of filmmaking.

"It's about how you entertain an audience. That's the goal."

But as his interview wrapped up, in a hotel on the famed Cannes seafront, he quipped that there was "something special when you see it in 3D."

"There is an extra depth to it." Theatrical pause. "That was supposed to be funny, you know."