The Imperfect Lens: Creating the Look of WALL-E (1080p HD)

When there is no dialogue, the story needs to be told through the lighting, acting, music and camera. CG is crisp and flat, the look of WallE was gained through studying images, and trying to recreate it in the computer. Cinematographer Roger Deakins was called in. He set up a tradtional 3 point lighting system, a back light, a key light, a fill light , to show the crew how film lighting works, then admits that this type of lighting is not actually used that often anymore. It's conventional, and he's never done it in his life. A beam of light coming in through a door hitting someone on the face, is more interesting. 
His advice is to keep lighting, the kind of units  and the kind of sources to a minimum. Simplicity.