Shot-By-Shot Review of the FINDING DORY Teaser

Now that the dust has settled after the viral debut of the Finding Dory teaser trailer yesterday morning, I wanted to take the opportunity to do an in-depth review of some of the standout shots. The Finding Dory teaser is officially now in glorious high-definition on the iTunes Trailers website, so the shots I will display are all taken from the HD version on the trailer. To review, I will go shot-by-shot in consecutive order as shown in the teaser and look at the specifics of each shot. Check out my shot-by-shot review of the Finding Dory teaser trailer after the break!

Shot-By-Shot Review:

One of the first shots in the teaser, this still showcases the amazing detail of the choral and enemies of the reef, as well as the reflecting and refracting of the caustic light patterns from the oceans surface onto the sea floor. The particulate matter floating in the water, just like in the first film, gives the shot added dimension and depth, while making you feel as if you're actually underwater. And the new redesign system, RIS (RenderMan Integrator System), used for the first time on Finding Dory is being used to render subsurface scattering and indirect lighting used from global illumination. RIS is the new system that is used to better integrate global illumination into the revered shots of Pixar's upcoming films. The subsurface scattering can be particularly noticed in the fleshy detail and light refracting off of Dory's skin and scales.

This shot is really unique because of the use of blur in the foreground to guide the eye to Dory's living quarter's in the background. Also, the detail even when blurred on the Marlin and Nemo's scales is very impressive as well as the global illuminated blue caustic light reflecting off of the whites of their bodies.

I chose this shot because of the amazing detail in Nemo's eyes and how the subsurface scattering gives added dimension and division to the eyes anatomy, particularly his pupil, iris, and sclera. The light refraction, while subtle, gives Nemo more life.

This shot stood out to me because of the similar appeal that the subsurface scattering gives to Marlins body. Also of note is how well the orange balances with the bright blue of the ocean in the background. One of the many challenges the Finding Nemo team faced was how reflecting blue light off of an orange body can cause the picture to skew the colors. This was in part due to how blue and orange are natural opposites on the color wheel. However, both back in 2003 but even now, the color displacement looks better than ever.

This shot is beautiful not only because it frames all of the colorful characters in natural sunlight, but also because of the dancing caustic patterns on the sandy ocean floor. It's also great fun to see the gang back together, and especially Mr. Ray, voiced by Pixar's very own Bob Peterson!

This shot from a sequence of Dory zooming through the reef showcases the blur and camera pull of the external chorals while perfectly framing Dory and guiding the eye to Dory while still reflecting light off of the extremities.

This shot is unique because not only does it build the world of the reef, and showcase the amazing colors of the corals and fish, but also the aqua/greenish light tint, especially framed in the upper right hand corner of the screen. One of the many things that makes the teaser beautiful to look at is the different variations of blue and green that the team built to flesh out the different locations and times of day of the oceanic world. 

This shot showcases the beautiful subsurface scattering on Marlin's skin and scales. It also showcases the soft daylight not only on the light beams in the background, but also reflecting off of Marlin in the foreground.

One of the last in the teaser, this shot showcases the amazing light work done by the Finding Dory team. Hitting both blue and orange characters (previously noted as opposites on the color wheel) with green light must have been a very technically challenging feat to accomplish. Not only are Dory, Marlin, and Nemo clearly visible and colorful, but the background of either some type of ship, dock, or whale covered in mollusks, muscles, and barnacles is beautifully rendered in green globally refracted light. Amazing job!

With every new Pixar film, the animation and rendering of the characters and worlds continues to grow and excel. Finding Dory expectedly continues to overcome amazing Pixar technical feats while bringing their stories to life with incredible beauty and innovation.

Finding Dory swims into theaters on June 17th, 2016!