Danielle Feinberg Explained

Danielle Feinberg
Birth Place:Boulder, Colorado, U.S.
Alma Mater:Harvard University
Years Active:1997-present
Employer:Pixar Animation Studios (1997-present)
Notable Works:WALL-E (2008)
Brave (2012)
Coco (2017)
Turning Red (2022)

Danielle Feinberg is an American Visual effects supervisor, cinematographer and Director of Photography for Lighting at Pixar Animation Studios. She directed lighting for the Academy Award-winning films WALL-E, Brave and Coco and was the Visual effects supervisor for Turning Red.

Life and career

Danielle Feinberg was born in Boulder, Colorado and graduated from Boulder High School. Growing up, she attended summer camps and after-school programs for students interested in computer programming and engineering.[1] She attended Harvard University, where she was introduced to computer animation in a computer graphics course during her junior year.[2] She graduated in 1996 with a Bachelor of Arts in computer science.

After graduating from Harvard, she started working at Pixar in February 1997 as a technician managing the large libraries of data and images for rendering A Bug's Life.[1] She has since been credited for leading work in visual effects, technical direction, and graphics.[3]

Outside of Pixar, she mentors girls to help them find inspiration in STEM through groups like Girls Who Code. She gives talks in the United States and abroad, using them when she can as a platform to encourage girls to pursue STEM fields.[4] In fact, Made with Code, which is an initiative launched by Google, was kick started with her inspiring keynote.[5]

In 2015, she appeared in the documentary . In November 2015, she delivered a talk on science and art at TED Talks Live in New York at the historic Town Hall Theater. It was also streamed by PBS.[6] In 2022, she was featured along with Domee Shi, Lindsey Collins and Rona Liu as the leading women of Turning Red in the documentary Embrace the Panda: Making Turning Red.

Filmography

Feature films

YearTitleRoleNotes
1998A Bug's Lifelead render technical director
1999Toy Story 2master lighting artist
2001Monsters, Inc.master lighting artist
2003Finding Nemocomputer graphics supervisorlead development on ocean graphics unit[7]
2004The Incredibleslead lighting artist
2007Ratatouillemaster lighting artist
2008WALL-Edirector of photography for lighting
2012Bravedirector of photography lighting
2015Inside Outmaster lighting artist
The Good Dinosaurmaster lighting artist
2017Cocodirector of photography for lighting
2022Turning Redvisual effects supervisor

Short films

YearTitleRoleNotes
2003Exploring the Reeftechnical supervisorshort documentary film distributed with Finding Nemo
2006Liftedlighting artistInitial theatrical release with Ratatouille
2008BURN-Elighting consultant
2009Partly CloudylightingInitial theatrical release with UP
2020SparkShorts - Loopsupervising technical director
2023Petedirectory of photography for lightingIndependent short film, directed by Bret Parker

Awards

YearMovieAwardNotes
2011Marie Claire Magazine Women on TopRecognized as the top "Film Techie"
201315th Assembly District Women of the YearIssued by Assemblymember Nancy Skinner for Feinberg's work with girls in STEM
2015NCCWSL Woman of DistinctionAwarded by the National Conference for College Women Student Leaders
2018CocoWon Annie awardOutstanding achievement for product design in an animated feature production.[8]
2018Girls in Tech Creator of the YearAwarded by Girls in Tech
2022San Francisco Business Times OUTstanding VoicesAwarded by San Francisco Business Times for Leaders paving the way for LGBTQ equality in the workplace
2022Breaker of the Glass CeilingAwarded by the Women of Siggraph Conversations

See also

Notes and References

  1. News: Suechting. Max. Action, Camera, Lights: Putting the finishing touches on animated worlds. January 16, 2017. Harvard Magazine. July–August 2015.
  2. Web site: Q&A with Danielle Feinberg. January 16, 2017. April 17, 2019. https://web.archive.org/web/20190417034640/https://www.seas.harvard.edu/news-events/publications/qa/danielle-feinberg. dead.
  3. Web site: IMDb Danielle Feinberg. IMDb. January 16, 2017.
  4. Web site: Danielle Feinberg on getting women in STEM. YouTube. July 12, 2017.
  5. Web site: Made with code kicks off with Danielle Feinberg. YouTube. June 21, 2014.
  6. Web site: Danielle Feinberg at TED Talks Live. 6 April 2016 . April 16, 2016.
  7. Web site: TED Talk: The magic ingredient that brings Pixar movies to life . 6 April 2016 . January 16, 2017.
  8. Web site: Nominees for Annie Award. December 10, 2017.