Set in Element City, where Fire-, Water-, Earth- and Air-residents live together, Elemental introduces Ember, a tough, quick-witted and fiery young woman, whose friendship with a fun, sappy, go-with-the-flow guy named Wade challenges her beliefs about the world they live in.
Ember Lumen is fiery… and not just because she’s a Fire element. She’s tough, quick-witted, smart, and a bit hot-headed. But, as the only child of immigrant parents, Ember is keenly aware of how much they sacrificed to give her a better life. Because of that, she is dedicated to repaying them by being a perfect daughter. That is, until she meets Wade, a Water element whose different perspective on life prompts Ember to ask some burning questions about her place in the world.
Wade Ripple is transparent… and not only because he’s a Water element. He’s also emotionally transparent – an open book, observant, empathetic and bubbling with compassion. When he meets Ember – an element of distinctly different temperature – Wade can’t help but wonder about a future that may seem impossible on the surface. Can these two opposites form a bond that transcends their differences?
Bernie Lumen is a Fire element with a big, crackling personality that burns with pride… about his homeland, about his daughter, Ember, and about the shop he runs in Element City. He and his wife Cinder left Fire Land to provide a better life for their only child, bringing with them just their dreams. And make a better life is exactly what they did. Their neighborhood shop has become a destination for Fire elements, and Bernie is patiently awaiting the day Ember is ready to take it over.
Cinder Lumen is a Fire element and Fire Town’s matchmaker. And it all comes from her natural gift to smell love in a Fire person’s smoke, whether they’re ready to admit it or not. She is brusque, no-nonsense and traditional. As a self-appointed community matchmaker who is responsible for hundreds of matches, her biggest concern is her daughter Ember, who just can’t make a match…no matter how single-minded and determined Cinder might be trying to find her a flame.
Clod is a romantic, young Earth kid who looks up to Ember. He’s street smart but is also caring, genuine, has a gentle heart, and is always throwing corny lines Ember’s way.
Brook Ripple is a loving, supportive, empathetic artist and Water element who loves having a good cry with her tender-hearted son, Wade. But she’s also a wildly driven and successful architect with eye for talent, who is always ready to help someone out if they need a boost.
Gale is a Wind element with a big personality, a lot of bluster and strong opinions. As Wade’s boss, she’s no-nonsense for sure. But beneath it all, she’s got a strong sense of what’s fair – teamwork and community are what’s most important to her.
Fern is an overworked, exhausted, by-the-rules bureaucrat who has really grown into his job… literally! Because as a vine-covered Earth element who almost never leaves his desk, his office is a tangle of his leafy tentacles. He’s dry, sarcastic, slow-moving and does NOT suffer fools.
Production designer Don Shank was tasked with extracting whatever was in director Peter Sohn’s imagination to create the world of “Elemental.” Shank and his team referenced a number of locales to capture the essence of Element City. “It was a more difficult challenge than we thought,” says Shank. “We were looking at big cities all over the world—in particular those based on canal systems like Venice and Amsterdam. And while Peter said it was not based on New York—it’s an immigrant story and New York is his hometown. We all fall back on what we know when discovering our stories.”
Element City, like a lot of large cities, is made up of districts. Firetown, which was the last to be established, is home to Ember, her family and many Fire characters. The rest of the city has dedicated districts for Water, Air and Earth—though since those elements have been there for generations, the areas are more diversified. Since the city itself was founded by Water elements, a canal system serves as the central mode of transportation—aptly called the Wetro—though each element has introduced their own methods of moving about the city over the years. “It’s not supposed to be a melting pot, really,” Shank says. “We didn’t want to create this homogenous world. We wanted to celebrate all these different cultures and characters living and working together.”
The textures and palette of the materials of Firetown were selected to underscore who was using them—without being too on the nose. “We couldn’t go too realistic,” says color and shading art director Jennifer Chang. “We didn’t want to char the whole thing. But we liked textures that might come from torching it like a crème brûlée. We played with pattern and specularity of objects. All the set design was pushing the idea of the shape of the flame—the triangle, diamond or a candlelight feeling to it. The shading considered all of the wear and tear—how flame would interact with this furniture in this world, while expressing it in the theatrical way.”
According to color & shading art director Jennifer Chang, artists wanted to create a contrast between Fire and Water and a big part of that was in the look of the environments. “If Firetown is represented by the reds, oranges, yellows—warm and dry—then the water district is the opposite of that,” she says. “It's full of water, and it's a cooler palette. Everything’s more slick, more reflective, more translucent, more transparent. And it's a world that represents some danger to Ember. When she's in that world it's uncomfortable.”
There’s nothing quite as uncomfortable as meeting that special friend’s family for the first time, as Ember discovers when Wade invites her to dinner at his mom Brook Ripple’s home. Says sets supervisor Jun Han Cho, “Wade’s mom’s apartment is a very exclusive penthouse, so we wanted the elegance and grace of someone who can afford something like that. At the same time, we wanted to have fun—her apartment is essentially a big indoor pool. There is a feeling of contemporary architecture—concrete, glass—but there are also pool noodles, lane lines and pool floaties for furniture. It all makes you enjoy the fact that Water people would, of course, live in an indoor pool. It’s so fun, but it also adds to Ember’s discomfort out in the world—how does a Fire character sit on a pool floaty without popping it?”
It’s fitting that Cyclone Stadium would lead the pack in terms of kinetic architecture. “It’s a space for a game that is totally made up,” says Cho. “And Air Ball players can move in three dimensions, so we have a lot of pieces that are moving in that set. First of all, there are a bunch of fans inside the stadium. Below the seats, there are these gills with lights behind them that open and close in waves across stadium, adding excitement. Outside the stadium, while it’s static, the overall shape is meant to feel very dynamic—it’s a cyclone captured in time. To put it in motion, so to speak, there are little panels that sparkle and shimmer. Everything is alive and organic and awesome.”
Pixar Animation Studios is known for its attention to detail. Helping to find that magic in the details for “Elemental” was graphics art director Laura Meyer. Meyer was responsible for creating all things graphic for the film—"anything with letters on it,” she says. The film offered ample opportunity to have fun with the graphics—in fact, director Peter Sohn specifically requested funny, punny graphics. “He has such an amazing sense of humor,” says Meyer, who created what she calls a “homegrown” look. “I used very few typefaces straight out of the box—I did most by hand. I wanted it to fit into our environments, which are so stylized.” Meyer’s objective? “Imperfect and organic,” she says.
Her efforts called for more than her artistic talents. “I honestly spent more time researching to come up with good puns,” she says. “I had a running list of anything and everything remotely sarcastic anyone said. People would send me ideas.”
Beyond the puns, Meyer—a one-person team—was responsible for everything from the prominent signage—like the Fireplace sign of Ember’s family shop and the motion graphics in Cyclone Stadium—to the verbiage aboard the Wetro—the water-themed transport system. “The Wetro schedule is there—it looks like a periodic table—and there are loads of ads,” says Meyer.”
