Feb 11
Danielle Feinberg: “The Magic Ingredient That Brings Movies to Life”
Danielle Feinberg is a cinematographer and director of photography for lighting at Pixar Animation Studios. Her first position was on the movie A Bug's Life as a render wrangler, an entry-level, problem-solving position, and she soon was leading the otherwise all-male department — most of whom were older than herself. Feinberg got her first taste of lighting during this time, and fell in love with creating the final image for the film. She went on to light Toy Story 2, Monsters Inc., The Incredibles, Finding Nemo, Wall-E, and Brave — which stars Pixar’s first female protagonist — working her way up the ranks. Now a supervising technical director, she is the first woman in 20 years to hold that position.
As an 8-year-old, Feinberg first programmed a Lego turtle to create images. Now, in addition to her Pixar work, she mentors teenage girls, encouraging them to pursue math, science, and coding by demonstrating to them the magic found in using technology to make art.