No more toying around for M’sian talent Goh

PETALING JAYA: Woody’s back and this time, it’s with a little help from a young Malaysian talent.

US-based layout artist Andrea Goh Siau Wei (pic) was one of the hands behind Toy Story 4.

The successful franchise’s voice cast includes big names like Tom Hanks, Keanu Reeves and Tim Allen.

Responsible for determining the frame, camera angle, camera path and lighting of each key animation scene, Goh from Kuala Lumpur is now working at Pixar Animation Studios in California.

The 26-year-old was recruited by Pixar as a technical director intern three years ago, and has since risen through the ranks.

She also worked on other popular Pixar flicks such as Cars 3 and Incredibles 2.

“It was a blast working on Toy Story 4, and it made me think of some of my childhood toys,” said Goh.

A dream come true: Goh worked on the latest ‘Toy Story’ instalment which is in cinemas now.

Before landing her dream job, she was toying with the idea of becoming a doctor or an artist.

That was before she chanced upon a Pixar seminar, hosted by The One Academy.

“Pixar sent nine people all the way to KL.

“I enrolled at the academy after that because I knew I wanted to work at Pixar,” she said in a press release from the academy yesterday.

Having graduated in Digital Animation from the academy in 2013, Goh went on to apply for the Pixar Undergraduate Programme (PUP) and was accepted.

For three months, interns like her had the opportunity to learn about Pixar’s film-making process and explore a variety of career options as they got first-hand experience in how a production studio works, guided by some of the top professionals in the industry.

She credited her success to The One Academy’s drawing, design and film classes.

Advising aspiring artists to pay attention in class, she said it was important to dig deep.

“Find out what you really want.

“Dig deeper. Do your research, keep trying, keep practising and just work really hard”.

Directed by Josh Cooley (Riley’s First Date?), and produced by Jonas Rivera (Inside Out, Up) and Mark Nielsen (associate producer Inside Out), Disney·Pixar’s Toy Story 4 is in cinemas now.By CHRISTINA CHIN

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