Animation Lookback: Pixar (Part 1)
Among the seas of notable animation studios, one that always tends to rank high is none other than Pixar.
Pixar is globally celebrated for revolutionizing animation by treating it as what it should be: a medium for profound, universally relatable storytelling rather than just children's entertainment.
And of course, making fully CGI films possible.
They blended groundbreaking 3D visuals with emotionally mature themes, they created a timeless formula that resonates with viewers of all ages.
And since this year is their 40th anniversary, I wanted a remake of its Animation Lookback.
For this series, I'll be talking about the studios' history and the production of every film they've made up to this point.
So without further ado, let's get started!
The story of Pixar begins all the way back in, funnily enough, 1974.
All with a man by the name of Alexander Schure.
Who's famously known as the founder of The New York Institute of Technology.
In 1974, Schure established The Computer Graphics Lab (CGL). Shortly after establishing it, He hired computer scientists like Ed Catmull and Alvy Ray Smith with the ambitious goal of creating the world's first fully computer-animated film.
For the next five years, the team would lay the foundational groundwork for modern CGI.
They built digital tools to automate the "in-betweening" process, using digitizing tablets to trace hand-drawn art directly into computer memory.
Created the concept of storing an extra channel for transparency, which allowed for the seamless compositing of multiple digital images.
Conducted foundational research into texture mapping, z-buffering, and smooth shading.
And produced Sunstone (1979) by Ed Emshwiller, a landmark short film that showcased the lab's advanced 3D surface mapping and texture generation capabilities.
But also in 1979, two major events happened that would change the group forever.
1#) The group were approached by a particular man to start a computer division in his company down in San Rafael, California, in order to make digital rendering for films and explore other mediums of entertainment like computer games.
That man was none other than George Lucas!
And 2#) They would begin working on was planned to be the very first fully computer-animated film: The Works.
Planned to directed by employee Lance Williams, the film would've been set 2,000 years in the future, where Earth is entirely inhabited by robots created by a malfunctioning military supercomputer known as "The Works", who also wipes out most of the human race as well.
The surviving humans live on asteroids.
An astronaut named T-Square and a robot ambassador named Ipso Facto team up to return to Earth and speak with the supercomputer to get data on past human civilization in order to bring them back.
For the next four years, The CGL, now known as The Lucasfilm Computer Division, would help pioneer digital filmmaking and build the foundational technologies and techniques for animation, non-linear video editing, digital audio, and computer-aided special effects that revolutionized the film industry.
These included the likes of SoftCel (which simulates the traditional paper-and-cel process digitally.), Paint 3 (the first fully RGB digital paint system), and Tween (a 2D interpolation system to assist animators).
They also helped out on a few movies as well.
Most famously, the Genesis Effect scene of Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan.
In 1984, The LCG saw a major shake-up when they hired a former animator from The Walt Disney Company.
John Lasseter.
After studying at The California Institute of the Arts, Lasseter landed his dream job as an animator at Disney.
While there, he worked on shorts like Winnie the Pooh Discovers the Seasons, Winnie the Pooh and a Day for Eeyore and Mickey's Christmas Carol.
And even films like The Fox and the Hound and The Black Cauldron.
However, everything changed for Lasseter after discovering the emerging potential of CGI with, funnily enough, Disney's very own film: Tron.
And after seeing it, he began advocating for its use in their animated films.....only to get let go by Disney.
Shortly after his hiring, Lasseter helped produce what would become the first true work of Pixar: the short The Adventures of André & Wally B.
The film premiered on July 25, 1984, in Minneapolis at the annual SIGGRAPH conference, though 2 shots or about 6 seconds of the film were incomplete and made of pencil test line drawings over the completed backgrounds.
The final rendering of the film was released a month later, on August 17 at Toronto's International Animation Festival.
The short film was widely considered to be groundbreaking, due to how it pioneered motion blur and squash-and-stretch character animation using computers.
In 1986, George Lucas would sell his computer division to the late Apple co-founder Steve Jobs for $5 million.
From there, Jobs became the company's majority shareholder and chairman, and the company would officially receive it's current name: Pixar!
The name itself was a faux-Spanish term coined by its founders.
It is a made-up word blending "pix" (short for pixels) with a fake Spanish verb ending, "-ar," to mean "to make pictures."
Following the Pixar's official creation, Lasseter would produce another short called Luxo, Jr.
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Luxo, Jr. was released on August 17th, 1986, at the SIGGRAPH conference in Dallas, Texas, where it was met with widespread acclaim!
So much so that at the 1987 Academy Awards, it had received a nomination for Best Animated Short Film.
Making history as the first computer animated film to do so.
Additionally, the character of Luxo, Jr. himself would go on to become the mascot of Pixar.
Famously appearing at the opening of every film to jump up and down on the I.
For the next three years, Lasseter produced three more shorts.
Red's Dream, which debuted at the annual SIGGRAPH conference in Anaheim, California on July 10, 1987
Tin Toy, which debuted at the SIGGRAPH conference in Atlanta, Georgia on August 2nd, 1988.
and Knick Knack, which debuted at the SIGGRAPH conference in Boston, Massachusetts on September 1st, 1989.
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All three of these shorts earned massive praise for the viewers.
Especially in the case of Tin Toy, which ended up winning Pixar their very first Academy Award at the 1989 Academy Awards for for Best Animated Short Film.
Being the very first computer animated film to do so!
The following year of 1990 saw a major change at Pixar.
The company was facing severe financial hardships, and in order to stay afloat, they hade to make tons of changes.
These included selling their hardware assets—including the proprietary Pixar Image Computer—to Vicom Systems, effectively ending the studio's days as a computer manufacturer.
Relocating their headquarters to Point Richmond, California.
And creating commercials for notable brands like Life Savers, Trident, Volkswagen, Listerine and Tropicana.
It was also the year that the company hired two of the biggest names in their entire history: Andrew Stanton and Pete Docter.
However, the following year of 1991 started on a grim note. After computer and software sales continued to lag, Jobs laid off roughly 30 employees—including company president Chuck Kolstad—reducing the studio's headcount to just 42.
But things immediately started to look up in July when chairman of The Walt Disney Company Michael Eisner offered Pixar a $26 million deal to develop three computer-animated features.
This was because Disney wanted to harness Pixar's revolutionary digital technology.
Eisner had recognized that 3D computer animation was the future of the industry and sought to pair this new technology with Disney’s legendary storytelling and distribution power.
And as you would expect, Pixar accepted the offer!
With guaranteed funding tied to the Disney contract, the software programmers developed RenderMan (a photorealistic 3D rendering software) while Lasseter's team dedicated their resources to preparing for their first feature-length project.
For the three films they were given, Pixar had proposed an idea for each other.
These included an adaptation of Dinosaur Bob and his Adventures with the Family Lazardo by William Joyce.
An adaptation of James and the Giant Peach by Ronald Dahl.
And a half-hour Christmas special that would've saw Tinny from Tin Toy returning as the main lead.
Disney ultimately rejected the ideas for Bob and James but were intrigued by the Tin Toy concept. Co-chairman of Disney (and resident petty bitch) Jeffrey Katzenberg persuaded Pixar to expand the half-hour television special into a full-length feature.
Which they gladly did.
However, the next four years would see Pixar end up with a drastically different project.
And for the better.
