Thursday, 18 April 2013

History1976

Ed Catmull was recruited from the New York Institute Of Technology, to be the head of the new ʻLucasfilmʼs Computer Divisionʼ, a group which was going to be in charge with developing state of the art computer technology for the film industry. By creating this new division, ʻLucasʼ wanted to create a digital (nonlinear) film editing system, a digital film printer and explore the use of computer graphics further.

1983John Lasseter was later invited to join the graphics group. He helped work on the short film ʻThe Adventures Of Andre & Wally Bʼ. In 1984 he was was hired full time and became the leader in ʻInterface Designerʼ.

They created their first short film, which incorporated ground breaking technology such as complex flexible characters, hand-painted and motion blur. ʻThe Adventures Of Andre & Wally Bʼ was realised at SIGGRAPH.

1986

1986Steve jobs brought the Computer Graphics Division from George Lucas for $10 million and put $5 million cash as capital straight into the company. He established it as a independent company and named it Pixar. Luxo Jr, is the next short film to be created, it was directed by John Lasseter and released in August also at SIGGRAPH in November. It was the first three dimensional computer animated film to be nominated for the Best Animated Short Film at the Oscars.

Thursday, 18 April 2013

In April, Pixar sold their Hardware division and moved to Richmond, California. Throughout this process Pixar had created a close and successful relationship with Walt Disney Feature Animation Studio.

1990

1991Pixar suffered a few set backs and were loosing money so had to drop 30 employees, which caused the total number of employees to just 42. However they made a deal with Disney, this was to produce three computer animated feature films.

1995Toy Story was realised in theatre November 22nd, this was the worlds first computer animated feature film. This film is the only reason that Steve Jobs did not end up selling this company. Toy Story, was the highest grossing film of 1995, making $362 globally. It was nominated and won many different awards and in November 29th, the companies stock was priced at $22 per share.

1997Pixar announce that along side Walt Disney Studios, they will be producing five movies over the next 10years. Now they employ 375 people. Pixarʼs next short film is also completed and premieres on November 24th and is Pixarʼs second winner of the Best Animated Short Film Academy Award.

1998A Bugʼs life is released on November 25th and breaks previous US Thanksgiving weekend box office records.

Thursday, 18 April 2013

1999Toy Story 2 is released in theatres on November 24th. It is the first film in history to be entirely created, mastered and exhibited digitally, and is the first animated sequel to gross more than its original. It was nominated for the best original song at the Oscars. It also broke box office records in the US, UK and Japan.

Pixar moves to its purpose built building in November, in Emeryville, California 2000

2001Monsters, Inc. is released in theatres on November 2, accompanied by For the Birds. Monsters, Inc. reaches over $100 million in domestic box-office in just 9 days—faster than any animated film in history. Pixar now has over 600 employees.

2002Finding Nemo is released in theatres on May 30, accompanied by a remastered version of Knick Knack. Finding Nemo breaks opening weekend box-office records domestically for an animated feature.

The Incredibles is released in Theatres on November 5th. Its first weekend box office of $70 million, which breaks all other Pixar records. Finding Nemo also becomes the best selling DVD of all time.

2004

Thursday, 18 April 2013

2006Pixar celebrates 20years, Cars is released in June and disney announces itʼs plans to buy Pixar.

2008WallE, is released in theatres in june and is nominated for six Academy Awards and takes home the Oscar for Best Animated Feature Film.

2009A new studio in Canada is set up to produce and focus on shorts that will focus on beloved characters from its feature films. Up is the first animated feature film to open the Cannes film Festival and debuts in theatres in May. Up was nominated for five Academy Awards including Best Picture. It also won the Oscar for Best Animated Feature Film.

2010Toy Story 3 is released in theatres on June 18. It will become the highest-grossing animated film of all time, and the first to reach the billion dollar mark. 

2011Pixar celebrate its 25th Anniversary and completes the construction of a new building on its Emeryville Campus. Cars 2 is also released in theatres in June, accompanied by the first short made by the Canadian studio, Toy Story Toon.

Thursday, 18 April 2013

Key Films“Toy Story follows a group of anthropomorphic toys who pretend to be lifeless whenever humans are present, and focuses on the relationship between Woody, a pullstring cowboy doll (Tom Hanks), and Buzz Lightyear, an astronaut action figure (Tim Allen).”Toy Story was released in November 22nd 1995, and was the top grossing film on its opening weekend and later for the whole of 1995. It earned over $361 million worldwide. It received huge praise for both the screenplay and the animation. It is still today regarded as one of the best animated films ever made. In 2005 (the first year of eligibly) Toy Story was inducted into the National Film Registry as being “ Culturally, historically or aesthetically significant”

The film centres on an elderly widower named Carl and an earnest young Wilderness Explorer named Russell. By tying thousands of balloons to his home, 78-year-old Carl sets out to fulfil his lifelong dream to see the wilds of South America and to complete a promise made to his lifelong love.Up was released in 3D on May 29th, 2009, it opened the 2009 Cannes Film Festival, making it the first animated and 3D film ever to do so. The film earned over $731 in its theatre release. The film received five Academy Award Nominations, including best picture, making it the second animated film in history to receive such a nomination following Beauty and the beast 1991.

Thursday, 18 April 2013

Key Characters

Sulley from

Unlike previous Pixar films, each main character had its own lead animator. The person responsible for Sulley was John Kahrs. Their were many struggles when designing and animating Sulley because he is so different to the characters that they have animated and designed before. Kahrs, found a challenge when dealing with Sulleyʼs sheer mass because traditionally, you would portray a figures heaviness by giving it a slower movement, but he did not want to do this as he thought it would give the film a sluggish feel. To fix this problem he started to think of Sulley as a American football player, this meant that they were big yet athletic so they could move quickly and lightly. To help with his animation Rodger Kram, who is a expert on the locomotion of heavy animals gave a lecture on the subject.

Another problem that kahr in counted was the fur on Sulley. After many fails attempts and test simulations pixar eventually set-up the Simulation department and created a new fur simulation program called Fizt (for "physics tool"). This helped them make the fur look better because they could now animate huge numbers of hairs (2,320,413 on Sulley) and they could also add self shadowing and that the hairs cast shadows on the other hairs. All of this aspects allowed sulley to have a really 3D and realistic look to him.

Thursday, 18 April 2013