This week here in the UK sees the release of Pixar's 10th feature film UP.
Reviews, as with the other 9 of their films are already glowing with praise. In Hollywood terms Pixar is untouchable, no other studio has had 10 consecutive hit movies from its inception. So far (and long may this continue) they haven't made a dud yet. Only 2006's Cars slightly underperformed, but even that grossed $462 million worldwide. Their most popular film to date has been Finding Nemo which grossed $866 millon. This explains why all their trailers begin with 'From the people that brought you Finding Nemo'.
It is often said that the reason they get it right every time is because their formula is simply that of telling captivating stories. Chief Creative Officer John Lasseter comes from a traditional animation background (he started his career as an animator for Disney) and although he was one of the pioneers of computer animation it's not what drives his approach. Pixar produces cutting-edge CGI but it's never for the sake of technical prowess, it only ever serves to enrich the story telling. This is something that rival studio Dreamworks could learn from.
This cartoon perfectly sums up my feelings toward Dreamworks(click to enlarge):
From a brand perspective Pixar are now in a very enviable place. They were originally backed by Steve Jobs of apple in the early days, he is still the majority shareholder. In 2006 Pixar was bought by Disney for $7.4 billon since their traditional animated output was failing badly. Jobs is now Disney's largest individual shareholder with 7%.
Since the buyout, John Lasseter has been made chief creative officer of Disney in general and Principal creative advisor for Disney Imagineering, this means that essentially he is now the creative director for all of Disney's output, including things like their themeparks, so we can expect all of this to improve greatly over the next few years.
After laying to rest their traditional 2D animation output in 2004 with Home on the Range, Disney is now reviving this due to Lasseter's new role. Maybe his enthusiasm comes from his heritage in hand drawn animation. This Christmas Disney will release a new 2D animation called The Princess Frog.
I think this proves what Pixar have known all along, people want great storytelling, it's not about the medium it's only about the communication. We'll see in a few months how the public responds to the return to the 2D approach, after the general trend for releasing movies animated in 3D, with 3D glasses it might be a welcome change of pace.
If anyone can oversee the change back it's Lasseter, as well as being a leading light in computer animation he is also great friends with the 'Japanese Disney' Hayao Miyazaki and has producing credits on several of the english language releases of his films such as Spirited Away and Howl's Moving Castle.
One of my favourite things about Pixar films is their attention to detail. I suppose when you work on one project for 3 or 4 years you have the time to add nice touches, in fact it probably maintains your interest in the project.
Here's a great article about all the hidden references in Pixar films:
http://jimhillmedia.com/blogs/jim_hill/archive/2007/12/09/a-special-where-s-wall-e-edition-of-why-for.aspx##
The Toyota Pizza Planet delivery van from Toy Story apparently appears in every subsequent Pixar film.
Given that Pixar productions overlap in their timelines, it is also possible for them to make hidden 'forward references' to future movies. Such as the boy in the waiting room in Finding Nemo reading an Incredibles comic book:
All of which brings us to the people and the culture of the company. It's widely known that they have slightly unconventional offices. Animators are encouraged to create their own space in which to work, feathering their nests with anything and eveything that inspires them, so they become immersed in their work:
In fact I noticed that even their offices' lobby has been the inspiration for the set of Monsters Inc. Notice the similarities?
Some of the many artists, animators and designers have blogs about their work and you can read interviews with Pixar artists here:
http://www.pixar.com/artistscorner/index.html
It's obvious that Pixar care a lot about their output, their people and the stories they tell. I'm just glad that this has lead to the success it deserves, hopefully their approach will be good inspiration for the correct way to run a whole range of creative companies.
I'll end this post with Pixar production designer Lou Romano's website. His colour treatments for UP are wonderful, and a great reminder of the many artists behind the scenes that contribute to a movie's look and feel:
http://louromano.blogspot.com/
(the first image in this post is by him too)
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