There was this great lecture by a head guy at Pixar at the WWDC this year, where he shared an anecdote about "subject matter experts" who often consult on movies like A Bug's Life and Finding Nemo. In particular, this one time an entymologist stormed into his office to complain about Pixar not sticking to the basics of ant physiology.
The ants were at one point anatomically correct. They had six limbs, and were anthropomorphized to have four "arms" and two "legs". The animators had begun work, and were finding that the ants were, well, downright fucking creepy with four arms. Creepy == bad for the heroes of the story. So they took two away, and this "bugged" the entymologist.
The entymologist came in to express his concerns. He raised himself to his full height, and proceeded to explain about the importance of teaching children properly about science and nature, and that this was their chance to seize a vital opportunity to portray their characters in the most correct and accurate way possible.
Pixar guy's reply:
"Dude. Ants don't frigging TALK."
The moral: sometimes it's okay to use artistic license when telling an imaginary story about imaginary events in an imaginary world. Even when the imaginary crossbow costs more imaginary gold than the imaginary sling.
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Date: 2008-07-11 03:15 pm (UTC)The ants were at one point anatomically correct. They had six limbs, and were anthropomorphized to have four "arms" and two "legs". The animators had begun work, and were finding that the ants were, well, downright fucking creepy with four arms. Creepy == bad for the heroes of the story. So they took two away, and this "bugged" the entymologist.
The entymologist came in to express his concerns. He raised himself to his full height, and proceeded to explain about the importance of teaching children properly about science and nature, and that this was their chance to seize a vital opportunity to portray their characters in the most correct and accurate way possible.
Pixar guy's reply:
"Dude. Ants don't frigging TALK."
The moral: sometimes it's okay to use artistic license when telling an imaginary story about imaginary events in an imaginary world. Even when the imaginary crossbow costs more imaginary gold than the imaginary sling.