‘SOUL’-FUL DETAILS
Animated hit shoots for accuracy in background folks
Animated movie “Soul” has been wowing audiences with its detailed depiction of New York City — and the background characters play a key role.
The creators behind the Oscar-nominated Disney and Pixar movie made it their mission to capture the rich diversity and bustling culture that make the Big Apple unique.
They pulled it off by designing hundreds of background characters from all walks of life, and deciding where each fit best in a movie that explores where people’s passions come from.
“We want to really make New York City authentic,” character designer Yingzong Xin told the Daily News.
“The people make the culture. That’s why background characters are so important, because we see what the city is like by seeing what the people are like.”
The movie — available now on Disney+, Blu-Ray, 4K Ultra HD and digital platforms — centers on middle-school band teacher Joe Gardner, voiced by Jamie Foxx, whose soul is separated from his body in an accident. He ends up in a realm occupied by young spirits who haven’t yet traveled to Earth, and befriends a wayward soul named 22, voiced by Tina Fey.
Joe’s whirlwind journey to return to his body takes him throughout New York City, which means crossing paths with dozens of people in different neighborhoods with their own distinctive characteristics.
Xin created the concept art for the background characters by researching the demographics of the city, watching movies set in New York and reviewing photos and street fashion.
“We want to represent different parts of New York, like the people from Wall Street, and the people from Central Park, and the people from the subway and the people on the streets,” Xin said. “Union Square. Times Square. We all know those are all New York, but the people who might go there come from different backgrounds, and they’re doing all different stuff in different places.”
The process of building the characters included matching a collection of faces with different hair, clothing and accessories to provide a variety of looks.
“There were some really great ideas also coming from different crew members along the way,” character lead Mara MacMahon told The News.
“Maybe they were from New York or they had family in New York, and they’d be like, ‘You know what, this actually reminds me in this particular shot or this neighborhood, I actually feel like I would see X, Y and Z.’ That input would be super helpful.”
Xin came up with backstories for the characters as she designed them to give her an idea of how each might be dressed and what they could be doing.
The team also had conversations about which background characters to use in more high-profile situations, including a scene at a construction site.
“The background character that was pulled out of the big pool we specifically wanted to be a woman, as a construction worker, because we don’t see that that often,” MacMahon said. “And same thing for the policewoman that’s like directing traffic. We want to
be intentional about who we’re casting into those roles, because it’s as much about the world that we see and we’re depicting as is, as it is about the world that we might want to see on screen.”
“Soul” is nominated for best animated feature, best original score and best sound at the April 25 Academy Awards.
“The characters are one aspect of this world that we know, that Joe and his community inhabit,” MacMahon told The News.
“We want to give a sense of, ‘What is the world that he’s a part of and the other characters are a part of?’ ”