Torino, Italy – VIEW Conference and Pixar Animation Studios are presenting a free virtual panel with the creative team behind
Lightyear, the upcoming animated feature from Disney and Pixar. This online session is a special PreVIEW event ahead of VIEW Conference 2022, happening in Torino, Italy, in October. The VIEW Conference, Italy’s premiere event for computer graphics, interactive & immersive media, animation, visual effects, games, real-time rendering, virtual production, AI, VR, AR, and mixed reality, brings top professionals from those fields to the beautiful baroque city of Torino, Italy for a week of talks, presentations, and workshops. The conference will take place from October 16 to 21 in Torino’s state-of-the-art OGR venue, and virtually.
The Lightyear virtual panel will take place on Tuesday, June 28th, 2022, at 10:00am PST / 6:00pm UK / 19:00 CET. This unmissable VIEW Conference panel brings together director Angus MacLane and producer Galyn Susman for a lively and insightful discussion about the creative journey they undertook to bring this eagerly-awaited animated feature to the screen. Joining them are head of story Dean Kelly, animation supervisor David DeVan, and simulation and tailoring supervisor Fran Kalal. The session is moderated by Ramin Zahed, editor-in-chief of Animation Magazine.
Lightyear follows the spectacular adventures of Buzz Lightyear (Chris Evans), the heroic Space Ranger later immortalized as the action toy seen in Pixar’s groundbreaking
Toy Story movies. Marooned on a distant planet, Buzz and his companions – including a cybernetic cat called Sox (Peter Sohn) – attempt to return to Earth, only to be challenged by Emperor Zurg (James Brolin) and his lethal robot army.
Lightyear releases in theaters June 17th, 2022.
Register for the free online session: “Lightyear Creative Team”
“We are over the moon to join forces with our friends at Pixar for this special PreVIEW panel,” says Conference Director Dr. Maria Elena Gutierrez. “Meeting Angus MacLane and his creative team is a wonderful way to celebrate the launch of this much-anticipated film – and also to whet the appetite for our main conference program in October. I am sure everyone around the world will be eager to join us as we travel ‘to infinity and beyond!’”
Angus MacLane
Angus MacLane grew up in Portland, Oregon, and received his Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from Rhode Island School of Design. After joining Pixar Animation Studios as an animator in 1997, he worked on feature films including Toy Story 2,
Monsters, Inc.,
The Incredibles,
WALL•E and
Toy Story 3. For his work on
The Incredibles he won an Annie Award from ASIFA-Hollywood for “Outstanding Achievement in Character Animation.” MacLane co-directed
Finding Dory, and directed the short films
BURN•E and Small Fry, followed by the television special
Toy Story of TERROR!, for which he won an Annie Award for “Outstanding Achievement in Direction.” A huge LEGO fan, he designed the LEGO Ideas
WALL•E set released in 2015.
Galyn Susman
A graduate of Brown University, Galyn Susman conducted graphics research and development at Apple, before joining Pixar Animation Studios in 1990 to work in its television commercial production as technical director, animator, and producer. Soon after, she worked on Pixar’s first feature film, Toy Story, as a character technical director and lighting supervisor. Susman continued her work building character models on
A Bug’s Life, then served as supervising technical director on
Toy Story 2 and as simulation and effects supervisor for
Monsters, Inc. After working as associate producer for
Ratatouille, Susman became the producer for Pixar’s DVD-Promo Department where she oversaw the production of DVD and Blu-ray bonus features and original animation promotional content for five years. From 2013 to 2014, she produced two of Pixar’s first ever ABC television specials,
Toy Story OF TERROR!, and
Toy Story That Time Forgot.
Dean Kelly
After attending the Rhode Island School of Design, Dean Kelly worked at a commercial animation studio in Minneapolis before relocating to Los Angeles, where he worked at FOX on The Simpsons and at Nickelodeon on
Avatar: The Last Airbender and
Penguins of Madagascar. Kelly joined Pixar Animation Studios in 2009 as a story artist on
Monsters University, and has contributed his story expertise on many of Pixar’s subsequent films including
Coco and
Incredibles 2.
David DeVan
David DeVan studied Character Animation at California Institute of the Arts and joined Pixar Animation Studios in June 1996 as an animator. He has worked on many of Pixar’s films and beloved characters including Woody and Buzz from Toy Story 2 and Boo from
Monsters, Inc. DeVan was nominated for a Annie Award for his animation of Marlin in
Finding Nemo. He worked on the Parr family for
The Incredibles, including Bob, Helen, Violet and Dash, and brought Sally to life in
Cars, and worked as an animator on
WALL•E and
Toy Story 3. DeVan also served as a directing animator on
Ratatouille and
Brave, and was a supervising animator on
Finding Dory.
Fran Kalal
Born and raised in Columbus, Ohio, Fran Kalal earned undergraduate and graduate degrees from The Ohio State University. Having joined Pixar Animation Studios in July 2007, she worked as a prop and sets shading artist for the short film, Presto, then moved on to work as a character shading artist for some of the background robots in
WALL•E and as a shot simulation artist on
Up. Kalal tailored all of the costumes and outfits for Ellie in
Up, tailored Merida’s dress in
Brave, and worked as the character tailoring lead on
Incredibles 2. In addition to her work on Pixar’s films, Kalal was a lead instructor of the Pixar Undergraduate Program for six years, teaching the technical pipeline in Pixar production to undergraduate interns.
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