“Soul” introduces Joe Gardner (voice of Jamie Foxx) – a middle-school band teacher who has a passion for jazz. “Joe wants more than anything to become a professional jazz pianist,” says director Pete Docter. “So when he’s offered a rare, once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to play with one of the greats, Joe feels he’s reached the top of the ultimate mountain.” But one small misstep takes him from the streets of New York City to The Great Before – a fantastical place where new souls get their personalities, quirks and interests before they go to Earth. According to Docter, the idea for this unique world was 23 years in the making. “It started with my son—he’s 23 now—but the instant he was born, he already had a personality,” says Docter. “Where did that come from? I thought your personality developed through your interaction with the world. And yet, it was pretty clear that we’re all born with a very unique, specific sense of who we are.
In Soul, Joe’s performances on musical instruments, particularly the piano, required precise interaction between fingers and keys. Pixar developed the Finger Contact Rig, a motion innovation that ensures each finger maintains accurate contact with surfaces while allowing natural, expressive movement. This system lets animators choreograph complex hand motions with realism and musicality, capturing the subtle gestures and dynamics essential to Joe’s character and performances.
When one of Joe's fingers pushed down on a key, the rig would calculate the correct angle for the key to rotate, so it looked like Joe was pushing it. The modeling and rigging teams also gave Joe's hand 292 controls, including variables they'd never used before, even adding a control for each tendon to convey the tension in Joe's hand as he played. This level of hand and wrist control made his performances look passionate and convincing on screen, with a level of realism that pushed the boundaries of human movement in animation.
