Pixar’s silver jubilee
The philosophy and strategy behind the animation pioneer’s massive success.
EMERYVILLE:
Pixar, a pioneer of computer animation that has made a dozen profitable feature films which has become one of the most successful studios on the planet, is celebrating its 25th birthday.
Created in the early 1980s as George Lucas’s computer graphics division, the company took off after it was purchased by Apple founder, Steve Jobs, in 1986 and was christened “Pixar.” That year, heroes of Pixar’s first film Luxo Jr - the hopping desk lamp and ball - lit the way toward a new generation of features entirely composed of computer graphics.
“The combination of changing technology and artistic creation gave something that had never been done before,” said Ed Catmull, president of Pixar and Walt Disney Animation Studios. “The movie-telling was an extension of creative technology.”
He compares the company’s emergence to the advent of Disney, which showed the potential of cartoons to the previous generation and ended up purchasing Pixar in 2006. “It’s like the early days of Disney, when filmmaking was brand new and animation was brand new, it was a technical revolution,” said Catmull.
In 1995, Pixar scored big with Toy Story - the first feature-length film composed entirely of computer-generated graphics. The animated feature, tracing the adventures of a toy cowboy and a spaceman, dazzled viewers and critics alike, bringing in more than $350 million worldwide.
“Toy Story was the first Computer Graphics film where the audience was no longer aware that they were watching computer-generated images, they just wanted to know what happens to Woody and Buzz Lightyear,” said Tom Sito, a former Disney and Dreamworks animator.
He added that Pixar adopted a system of building a top-quality technical engineering division and a top quality creative team, and kept their duties separate. The strategy paid off, as Pixar cranked out a string of hits, including two more Toy Story installments, Monsters, Inc, Finding Nemo, Cars, Ratatouille, Wall-E, and Up. The movies have raked in some $6.5 billion and 26 Academy awards, taking their place alongside Disney’s library of classic family films.
Meanwhile, Catmull said Pixar’s success is less a matter of perfection and more of relentless self-criticism. “We had some projects in which we realised that they were not working, so we threw away what we got and restarted.” He further added that they also had failures which never got released.
“Sometimes people confuse the goal of making a film with making a great film,” he said adding that the goal is not just to make a film but to make a film that actually connects with people.
List of Pixar’s greatest hits
Toy Story (1995)
A Bug’s Life (1998)
Toy Story 2 (1999)
Monsters, Inc (2001)
Finding Nemo (2003)
The Incredibles (2004)
Cars (2006)
Ratatouille (2007)
Wall-E (2008)
Up (2009)
Toy Story 3 (2010)
Cars 2 (2011)
Published in The Express Tribune, July 4th, 2011.
Pixar, a pioneer of computer animation that has made a dozen profitable feature films which has become one of the most successful studios on the planet, is celebrating its 25th birthday.
Created in the early 1980s as George Lucas’s computer graphics division, the company took off after it was purchased by Apple founder, Steve Jobs, in 1986 and was christened “Pixar.” That year, heroes of Pixar’s first film Luxo Jr - the hopping desk lamp and ball - lit the way toward a new generation of features entirely composed of computer graphics.
“The combination of changing technology and artistic creation gave something that had never been done before,” said Ed Catmull, president of Pixar and Walt Disney Animation Studios. “The movie-telling was an extension of creative technology.”
He compares the company’s emergence to the advent of Disney, which showed the potential of cartoons to the previous generation and ended up purchasing Pixar in 2006. “It’s like the early days of Disney, when filmmaking was brand new and animation was brand new, it was a technical revolution,” said Catmull.
In 1995, Pixar scored big with Toy Story - the first feature-length film composed entirely of computer-generated graphics. The animated feature, tracing the adventures of a toy cowboy and a spaceman, dazzled viewers and critics alike, bringing in more than $350 million worldwide.
“Toy Story was the first Computer Graphics film where the audience was no longer aware that they were watching computer-generated images, they just wanted to know what happens to Woody and Buzz Lightyear,” said Tom Sito, a former Disney and Dreamworks animator.
He added that Pixar adopted a system of building a top-quality technical engineering division and a top quality creative team, and kept their duties separate. The strategy paid off, as Pixar cranked out a string of hits, including two more Toy Story installments, Monsters, Inc, Finding Nemo, Cars, Ratatouille, Wall-E, and Up. The movies have raked in some $6.5 billion and 26 Academy awards, taking their place alongside Disney’s library of classic family films.
Meanwhile, Catmull said Pixar’s success is less a matter of perfection and more of relentless self-criticism. “We had some projects in which we realised that they were not working, so we threw away what we got and restarted.” He further added that they also had failures which never got released.
“Sometimes people confuse the goal of making a film with making a great film,” he said adding that the goal is not just to make a film but to make a film that actually connects with people.
List of Pixar’s greatest hits
Toy Story (1995)
A Bug’s Life (1998)
Toy Story 2 (1999)
Monsters, Inc (2001)
Finding Nemo (2003)
The Incredibles (2004)
Cars (2006)
Ratatouille (2007)
Wall-E (2008)
Up (2009)
Toy Story 3 (2010)
Cars 2 (2011)
Published in The Express Tribune, July 4th, 2011.