From the Academy Award^® winning team behind "Toy Story," "Monsters, Inc." and "Finding Nemo," comes a story of an American family that takes the animated motion picture into realms of drama and design never seen before.
With THE INCREDIBLES, writer-director Brad Bird and Pixar Animation Studios pioneer the creation of a computer-generated world so rich, complex and inventively "alive" that the motion picture experience it creates is altogether human. 
At the heart of THE INCREDIBLES' unprecedented mix of filmmaking innovation and heart-felt storytelling lies the far-reaching artistic vision of director Brad Bird ("The Iron Giant," "The Simpsons"), who also wrote the original screenplay. 
The most complex computer-animated entertainment yet created, THE INCREDIBLES nevertheless relies on the same traditional elements as all compelling motion picture stories - character development, production design, cinematography, costumes, effects, music and overall vision - pushing each of these to new levels within the genre to create a film unlike any other.

AN INCREDIBLE UNDERTAKING: HOW "THE INCREDIBLES" CAME TO LIFE 
THE INCREDIBLES was born in the imagination of director Brad Bird, a filmmaker who wanted to make a motion picture that would capture everything he'd always loved about the movies: grand adventure, unconventional families, inventive thrills, cutting-edge imagery, sharp humor and characters so compelling and true-to-life you can't help but become involved in their emotional and moral dilemmas.  The hitch was that Bird wanted to do all this in an animated feature that would raise the art form to the next level of dramatic achievement.  Could it be done?  Bird believed passionately that it was possible.
At the time that Bird came up with the story of THE INCREDIBLES he was also a brand new father - with, dizzying thoughts about how a person integrates their family life with their personal dreams. This led to the creation in Bird's mind of a father - indeed, a superhero father -- who is forced to give up his passion - in this case saving the world -- for the good of his family, much to his chagrin. 
Thus was born Bob Parr, formerly Mr. Incredible, whose family long ago entered the Superhero Relocation Program and are living typical foible-filled suburban lives - until a mysterious communiqué gives Bob a chance to rescue the planet, and his own sense of self worth, one more time. 
As Bird began to write the story of THE INCREDIBLES, he realized that two very different ideas were coming together as one: he was writing the wildly imaginative spy adventure he'd always wanted to see; but, he was also writing a drama about the ties that bind us and how the greatest super power of all might simply be the power of a family.  Ultimately, Bird began to view the Parrs as being pretty much like the rest of us - facing the daily grind of bosses, traffic and minor misunderstandings that get blown out of proportion -but just a little more incredible.
"At its heart, I saw THE INCREDIBLES as a story about a family learning to balance their individual lives with their love for one another," says Bird.  "It's also a comedy about superheroes discovering their more ordinary human side.  As I wrote, I wanted to create a world filled with pop culture references - with spy movie gadgets and comic book super powers and outrageous evil villains using ingenious devices - but at the same time, to create a story within that world that is very much about family.  I really poured everything in my heart into the story.  All these personal things - about being a husband, being a father, the idea of getting older, the importance of family, what work means and what it feels like to think you're losing the things that you love - all of these are tucked into this one big story." 
At the same time that Bird hoped to push the technical limits of animation, he also hoped to push the form's storytelling potential to a new edge.  "To a certain degree, I was inspired most by the classic Disney animated films like 'Lady and the Tramp' which have such indelible characters that they've stood the test of time," he says.  "The question was how to do that with the very best tools the art form has to offer today."   
When Bird finished an early draft of the script, he brought the story to the only people he was convinced would understand his vision for an animated film that he hoped would look, feel and be produced unlike any other:  Pixar Animation Studios. 
Innovation has long been the name of the game at Pixar, the company behind many of animation's biggest blockbuster hits and critical sensations including the pioneering "Toy Story," as well as "A Bug's Life," "Monsters, Inc." and "Finding Nemo."  The studio is always looking for original stories from creative visionaries, and the minute John Lasseter -- Pixar's vice president of creative and an Oscar^® winning filmmaker in his own right -- heard Bird's pitch, he knew he had found one. 
"It was a like a home-coming to have Brad here to pitch the story because this studio was created for people like him - people who are passionate about taking entertainment, animation and great characters in unforeseen directions," says Lasseter.  "His idea for THE INCREDIBLES was truly breathtaking.  I loved the idea of this great adventure about a superhero family trying to do what all families try to do - make one another happy.  And I knew in Brad's hands it was going to go beyond being just an incredibly fun story to have phenomenal style and dramatic power." 
Lasseter also knew that THE INCREDIBLES would be an unmatched challenge for Pixar - not only would it be the first time the studio had tackled wholly human characters, it would be the most technically innovative, logistically complex and overall most monumental production the studio had ever undertaken.  The story unfolds on nearly 100 different sets - ranging from a whimsical, modernesque suburbia to the lush and untamed jungles of Nomanisan Island.   Furthermore, because the film emphasizes the characters' humanity, Bird was asking the Pixar team to create the most believable human animated forms in history - with palpably kinetic skin, hair and clothing. 
Enthusiasm spread like wildfire through the studio to meet the challenge of THE INCREDIBLES.
The process of creating any animated film goes through multiple, carefully planned stages.  First, the story is written and preliminary storyboards are drawn to help tell the story visually in the earliest stages. The storyboards are then turned into a form of early animation - known as "reels" or "animatics" - that allow the filmmakers to fine-tune the sequences before actually animating them.  Simultaneously, the art department is hard at work, illustrating every last physical detail of the individual characters and the entire universe in which they exist - also brainstorming the design of "virtual" sets, props, buildings, surfaces and color palettes.  Once the story and look of the film are decided upon, actors are brought in to record the voice performances - giving the characters indelible personalities, which are, in turn, used to inspire the rest of the creative process.
At last, the process of metamorphosing these 2-D representations into a 3-D reality begins.  The first step in this process is for the modelling group to build the characters and sets in the computer. The layout crew is instrumental in the next phase -fine-tuning the characters and the camera from the story reel to create the "shots" that will tell the story to its greatest effect.  Following this, the characters are fully animated - move by move, shot by shot -- coming to life with a full range of expressions, movements and emotions. Then nuanced shading and "digital lighting" complete the production phase. . . and the entire movie is "rendered."  In rendering, all of the information that makes up the motion picture is translated from digital data into actual frames of film.  Finally, the film is completed much like any other motion picture -via final editing, scoring and the addition of sound and special effects. 
With THE INCREDIBLES, Brad Bird asked his team at Pixar to innovate, expand upon and find new ways to push this process to its farthest creative extremes. 
Comments producer John Walker:  "This film started with a personal vision and a passion that spread throughout Pixar.  Pixar is a place that is built on excellence and Brad's vision was completely supported by everyone there, because even though they could see it was going to be very tough and challenging to make this movie come to life, they also knew it would be highly stimulating.   It's an exciting thing to break new ground, pioneer new techniques and invite audiences into an experience that is as emotional and fun as it is innovative." 
Recalls Bird:  "As director, I became well acquainted with what I called the 'Pixar Glaze,' where these complete technical geniuses would just grow pale and start looking at each other like 'Does he know what he's asking?'  But no one ever gave up - every problem found a solution that kept pushing the film's creativity.  It's a real testament to Pixar that they kept coming up with magic from thin air."   
In the end, says John Lasseter, THE INCREDIBLES took everyone involved on an imaginative ride. "The creation of THE INCREDIBLES required a tour de force," he says.  "Fortunately, our guys at Pixar keep getting better and better.  With this film, they've really outdone themselves.  When you see the characters in this movie act -- and you look into the pools of their eyes -- you can feel what's going on inside their soul.  The subtleties of their facial animation and their body gestures are remarkable.  You get so caught up with the characters and the story, you don't think about what genre of movie it is.  You simply know you are watching a remarkable story."

AN INCREDIBLE CAST OF CHARACTERS: TELLING THE STORY OF "THE INCREDIBLES"
As he embarked on the intense journey of making THE INCREDIBLES, Brad Bird knew that he would need to surround himself with devoted talent to bring his vision to life - not just on the technical side, but also through gifted actors who could give his characters all the depth and dimension they deserved. 
Once an animated film's screenplay is completed and the storyboards created, the next step is to cast the film.  For Bird, who came to know and love the characters of THE INCREDIBLES like they were his own family, the casting was extremely close to his heart.  He began the process by making sure the storyboards would communicate enough to the actors to elicit multi-tonal performances.  Bird worked with story supervisor Mark Andrews, artist Teddy Newton, and supervising animator Tony Fucile, who each played a major role in designing the characters and bringing them fully to life. 
Explains Teddy Newton, who drew many of the characters in the film for the first time: "Brad would simply describe the characters to me -- he wouldn't use too many adjectives, but he would often do an impression or a voice for them.  Sometimes the voice alone would put enough pictures and ideas in my head.  It's like when you listen to the radio and you start to imagine what the person would look like.  You get inspired and everything starts to take shape."
As the characters took form, Bird began to visualize the film in ever deeper layers.  "Brad had a new process for storyboarding the film," explains Mark Andrews.  "He wanted everything to be incredibly detailed and was concerned not only about the character design but even about lighting, backgrounds and camera movement right from the earliest stages.  He knew everything had to be perfect to keep the audience completely immersed in the world of THE INCREDIBLES.  And starting this way really helped the entire production to get a clear vision of the film from the beginning."
With the characters well established, casting for THE INCREDIBLES could begin at last.  The filmmakers began looking for actors capable of bringing out the ordinary, everyday feelings that reside inside these superhero characters.  At the center of the film, of course, is Bob Parr, Mr. Incredible himself, the family's muscular powerhouse of a patriarch who is trying to come to terms with the changes in his life that have taken him from superhero to suburban dad.  To play Bob, Brad Bird was soon drawn to the combination of down-to-earth humor and tough-guy charisma represented by Craig T. Nelson ("Coach," "The District"). 
"Craig has an authoritative voice but also a wonderful, easy-going kind of humor that really lends itself to who Mr. Incredible is," says Bird.  "You can definitely see his voice fitting into this big, strong, hulking body yet there is also a real vulnerability in him - enough so that you really relate to him simply as a man looking for something he has temporarily lost -- and when the scene needed to be intense, he was right there."
For Nelson, the character -- animated or not -- proved irresistible.  "I really empathized with him as a human being," notes Nelson.  "Here's a guy who is literally able to leap tall buildings and do all kinds of super-heroic things, but that isn't what makes him special.  It's his value structure and his moral strength, not his mighty feats that I really responded to.  He is one of those people I'd really like to meet and get a chance to shake his hand, because he knows what counts and he has a good sense of himself and his family."
Despite his excitement about the role, Nelson faced an unexpectedly daunting task. "The role of Bob was probably one of the more difficult things I've ever done," he says.  "I quickly discovered that Brad and his team had an extremely specific idea of what they wanted because they'd lived with this story so closely for such a long time.  They perfected the script and knew this family inside and out, and every other which way. So it was up to the actors to bring to life exactly what they had in their mind's eye."
He continues:  "This isn't as easy as it might seem. The delivery has to be correct tonally and the energy has to be at precisely the right place at the right time.  You end up doing a lot of experimenting and concentrating on your vocal energy, but at the same time you're also trying to imagine the situation as if you were involved in it.  It was a real challenge as an actor, but it was definitely a fascinating ride." 
Coming to her husband's rescue when the chips are down is the family's lithe matriarch, Helen, who was formerly the ultra-flexible Elastigirl.  This character was created in part as a celebration of the typical modern-day Mom who, says Bird, "has to stretch in hundreds of different ways each day."  To get to the core of Helen's mix of maternalism and stoic strength, Brad Bird trusted the finely honed instincts of Academy Award^® winner Holly Hunter.
"Holly struck me as a consummate actress who could portray someone sensitive, yet with a very sturdy center," observes Bird.  "You feel like there's a part of Holly that would never crack. She has such great resiliency in her and that was something that I needed for Helen because she's such a very strong woman."(CONTINUED……)


CREATING AN INCREDIBLE UNIVERSE: THE EPIC DESIGN

INCREDIBLE BELIEVABILITY: BREAKTHROUGH ANIMATION & TECHNOLOGY

INCREDIBLE THEMES: CREATING A MUSICAL SCORE

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