Pixar Animation Studio’s Dominic Glynn talks about the art and science of filmmaking

In our CineSparks Webinar Series, we’ve talked to people working across the cinema industry, from exhibition to screenwriting, about their roles, trends in their industries, and tips for those who are just starting or early in their careers. 

In our most recent webinar, Chris Shu, our director of marketing for cinema, spoke with Dominic Glynn, a senior scientist at Pixar Animation Studios. And I think it’s safe to say we learned about a very different side of, and path to, filmmaking from Dominic.  

From aerospace… 

For many people, the road into the film industry is something like this: your passion for filmmaking leads you to film school, you choose your area of focus, and land one or more great co-op positions to begin building your resume. After school, you network, work hard, and start occasional work. You continue to work hard, opportunities become more consistent, and you develop a name for yourself in the industry.  

But we know that there’s more than one road that leads to Hollywood, as evidenced by Dominic’s early career. With a graduate degree in computer systems engineering, he “looked around for the most ambitious role”, which led him to the aerospace industry. Dominic parlayed that experience into a job in the research arm of a film company building technology they couldn’t find anywhere else, and from there, moved to Pixar. 

…to Pixar Animation Studios 

“I’ve been doing crazy things at Pixar Animation Studios for 20 years,” says Dominic. And he points out that while his path into post-production isn’t the most conventional, it does share a common thread with others in the industry. “The ground is shifting all the time – while you may go to school to study one technique or application, the one thing we do know is that in two, three, or four years from now, it will be superseded by something more sophisticated, more capable, and more efficient. A trait that I find in a lot of folks that I work with is their malleability and ability to pivot and adapt. I think it’s illustrated in my own path.” 

“Having said that, I think the language of cinema is something that can be formally learned to a degree,” he continues. “I think folks that go that path take on a lot…that allows them to communicate in an efficient way with filmmakers.” 

Bridging art and science

“Pixar is very much science and art, so having an understanding of the other side of the divide – what are the priorities, how to communicate – is absolutely critical to everybody,” says Dominic. While hard science has absolutes that are finite, testable, and proven, they can work well with the more ephemeral aspects of filmmaking, pushing teams to challenge themselves and test assumptions. 

“We lean heavily on established expertise in fields like color science,” says Dominic - using “Inside Out” as an example: “We exercised a portion of color gamut that’s not usually available in cinema – we broke the rules a little bit. We reserved that special ‘superpower’ for a moment in the film where we wanted to highlight the emotion. For the vast majority of our audience, the experience would be something extra special.” 

Trends in post-production

It takes Pixar five or more years to make a movie, which requires a great deal of robustness and agility built into the process. They do this by keeping an eye on industry trends, like audiences' preferences in consumption. “In the cinema space, there’s an ever-growing trend toward premium large format…it’s big cinema. What that means for us is resolution is a critical element. The bigger you make the screen, the more robust you have to make it from a fidelity perspective,” explains Dominic. “Pixar’s films are now majority rendered 4K native. We’re creating millions of pixels en route to this final destination.” 

Whether your background is in the arts or sciences, those looking to enter the industry are advised to keep abreast of trends in a few ways. Big events like NAB, IBC, and CES offer insights into preferences and expectations around how content is consumed and opportunities in the market.  

“Resolution, frame rate, SDR to HDR – those are the atoms we’re dealing with every day. If you can kind of see a trend in this stuff, you can try to position yourself to say, ‘Hey, there’s a project I’ve been wanting to try, and it would be perfect to exemplify this tech that’s likely going to land in a year or two.’ Additionally, Dominic advises to aim for facetime with people in the industry and to “get your hands dirty” on an example project. 

And for those already in the industry and looking to advance: “Do good work. It makes a difference if you don’t have to protect your reputation. Outperform people’s expectations. If you collaborate with A players who exceed expectations every time, it’s addicting.”