Patrick Lin

Director of Photography, PIXAR

Patrick is a cinematographer and layout artist at Pixar who has contributed to films such as Up, Inside Out, and Toy Story 4.

While at the iconic studio, Patrick created Pixar’s revolutionary virtual lens, which allows animation to appear to be filmed on an actual camera. This use of spherical and anamorphic lenses resulted in a major evolution in Pixar’s visual capabilities.

What compelled you to pursue a career in animation?

Like most kids, I grew up watching lots of TV and movies. When I was twelve, I found out there are film schools in the US where people can study film as a career. I knew immediately that is what I wanted to do.

While in film school, I developed a passion for cinematography. After graduation, most of my jobs revolved around photography and special effects. On one project for IMAX, there was a stop-motion character and I got to work with an animator who had just wrapped on A Nightmare Before Christmas. With his recommendation, I was recruited to work on the follow-up, James and the Giant Peach. That was my first feature animation.

Toy Story came out in November 1995, a few months before Peach. Upon seeing Toy Story, I realized there is a good opportunity in combining my skills in traditional live-action cinematography with animation. So I applied to Pixar in pursuit of a career in the new computer graphics medium.

How would you describe your role as DP at Pixar?

Because of the unique animation pipeline, we have two DPs for each Pixar project. We are the first step into defining what the film is going to look like cinematically.

I take care of camera and staging at the front of production, as well as the camera setup, operation, composition, lensing, staging, and the timing and pacing of each shot. The Lighting DP takes care of lighting at the end of our pipeline, ensuring the lights and shadow, color and value are set.

You’ve worked on both animated and live-action films. Do you approach these differently?

The tools between animation and live-action are different, but the goal is the same; to tell the story visually and cinematically. I always ask myself the same questions… Where do you put the camera? How will you choreograph the characters through the scene? Is it a wide or close-up? What lenses to use? Should the camera be still or moving?

I approach the photography of a film, animated or live-action, by organizing all these different visual elements in a coherent way so that the cinematography can support the story and the characters’ emotions in a meaningful way.

  • “I’d like to see more diverse genres within animation. Too many people mistake animation for a genre.”

You’ve been credited as the pioneer of Pixar’s “virtual camera lens” — how has this lens influenced the look of animated films since Inside Out?

Making our virtual camera feel more tactile and realistic has always been a goal since the very beginning. We have always strived to make our camera movement and placement based on physics and reality.

Our virtual camera lens is just an extension of that philosophy. We mapped two spherical lenses for Inside Out and a set of anamorphic lenses for Onward and Toy Story 4. Going forward, I am hoping we can work with different lens manufacturers to have their lenses’ digital data plug directly into our own Renderman software so that we can have accurate distortion, flare, breathing, bokeh, and even color coating.

What has been your most rewarding project?

I would have to say Bao. One of my most admired filmmakers is Yasujiro Ozu and I have borrowed his unique visual style for some emotional moments on Up. Bao’s director, Domee Shi, is also an Ozu fan, and it was such a joy to be able to craft the film’s visual structure inspired by Ozu’s simple, minimalistic, and unassuming style.

What are your hopes for the future of animation?

Most people confuse animation as a genre because there are not a lot of genres within the medium. So, I would love to see more diverse genres within animation. For example, a lot of anime doesn’t cater to kids. There are more mature themes across all sorts of genres (such as mystery, romance, thriller, and horror).

More about Patrick!

  • Favorite Pixar Movie

    Coco!

  • Dream Dinner Party

    My dream dinner party guests are (1) Walt Disney, (2) Yasujiro Ozu, and (3) Eiji Tsuburaya

  • Favorite Pixar Character

    Sadness from Inside Out.