Animation Theatre: Pixar

1986- Present

Fig 1. Pixar Logo

Californian based Pixar Animation Studios has taken the world of contemporary animation to new depths and still continues to do so, producing both feature length and short films that have earned them a compendium of awards from the Golden Globes and Academy Awards to the Grammys. Even though they have existed from 1979 (as the Graphics Group) it is the company cofounder Steve Jobs brought forward that has taken the world by storm. It was the success of the original Toy Story (1995) that rendered in Pixar becoming highly recognised for its techniques as well as making the work of animators John Lasseter, Pete Docter, Andrew Stanton, and Brad Bird so distinct. Lasseter was even made chief creative officer at Walt Disney studios when they bought Pixar because of how highly he is regarded in the success of the studio. But what makes Pixar so important in this contemporary world of media Pixar is probably one of the most successful studios to bring computer generated animation to the forefront yet they didnt start that way producing the one off advert for clients such as Tropicana. It was their technological advancement with PhotoRealistic RenderMan that made their CG animation pop. They havent just sat there and continued working with this technology with ease however; they continue to raise the bar in CG animation by pushing the photorealism of their works. Perhaps this is why Pixar is so inspirational, their battle for success and then when they achieved this, their constant aim for pushing their talents beyond the bar. Each Pixar film has pushed the threshold of photorealism: the translucency of vegetation in A Bugs Life, Sullys fur in Monsters Inc., dust in Toy Story 2, the filtered seafloor light in Nemo, and now a fathers 5 oclock shadow in The Incredibles. (Bunn: 2004) However, no matter how much they push the technological side of things in regards to the pieces of art they produce it is in no way the only reason for Pixars rise to international muses. In fact, it is probably one of the smallest segments of Pixars talent.

Fig 2. Pixars technological advancements

What truly makes Pixar stand out is their ability to create original ideas with original stories, characters and so on and we should all know by now that this isnt an easy feat for contemporary society. Original, past ideas are constantly being recycled and so when something new and accomplished appears between it all theres no wonder it shines out and this is the reaction Pixar manages to achieve. Just look at WALL-E (2008), the ability to make an animation revolving around just these two machines is great but what is magical is how Pixar takes these objects and makes their audience empathise so greatly with them. When we think WALL-E is doomed we cannot help but get a tear to our eyes and the companionship of him and Eve excels in the realism of a human romance so much so that we for that memorable dance sequence we forget that they are just personified objects. But even more skilful is the animators abilities to get a story to feel so complete without the use of the spoken word through their main characters. Reviewer Roger Ebert expresses how Pixar triumphs through their production of WALL-E. Pixars WALL-E succeeds at being three things at once: an enthralling animated film, a visual wonderment, and a decent science-fiction story here is a film like Finding Nemo, that you can enjoy even if youve grown up. That it works largely without spoken dialogue is all the more astonishing; it can easily cross language barriers, which is all the better, considering that it tells a planetary story. (Ebert: 2010)

Fig 3. WALL-E, Devine Dancing

Ebert is right, Pixar manages to appeal to a universal audience through their characters and their movements rather than speech alone, and it isnt just WALL-E that communicates this so well. Toy Story is full of it, yes it is full of dialogue but the characters and their movements are so expressive. Look at chatter Telephone, he doesnt have a human face and doesnt use humanly recognised dialogue but his movements and Pixars use of the noises of the toy to convey his emotions permits the audience to really understand the character.

Fig 4.Toy Story 3s Chatter Telephone

Through this universal language Pixar not only appeals to a young child audience but effectively engages adults as well. Finding Nemo (2003) and The Incredibles (2004) are great examples of this as both child and adult characters are actively involved in the storyline. Who couldnt be engaged and affected by the story of a parent doing all they can to find their child, or a family bonding through a shared secret/interest. There is a character for everyone in Pixars films, someone we can see ourselves in and in a way seeing these characters on screen helps us with our own problems. Robert Velarde explores how Pixar makes the focus of their animations the relationship between character and audience. Pixar, however, calls our attention back to the almost forgotten world of virtue. We sympathize and perhaps even empathize with the characters in Pixar films because we relate to their struggles. The characters help us understand how to better build our own characters- morally speaking, that is Instead, we become to better understand virtue through entertaining and engaging stories. (Verlarde: 2010) Pixar is all about allowing us to understand ourselves and life more through their personified characters and this is why they continue to make such successful contributions to film and animation.

Bibliography
Ebert, Roger, (2010) Roger Eberts Movie Yearbook 2011. U.S.A. Wallflower Press. (Accessed 01/04/2012) Velarde, Robert, (2010) The Wisdom of Pixar: An Animated Look at Virtue U.S.A. InterVarsity Press. (Accessed 01/04/2012) Bunn, Austin, (2004) Welcome to Planet Pixar http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/12.06/pixar.html?pg=1&topic=pixar&topic_set= (Accessed 01/04/2012)

List of Illustrations
Fig. 1. Pixar logo. [Online image].On attractionsmagazine.com http://www.attractionsmagazine.com/blog/wpcontent/uploads/2009/05/pixar_animation_studios_logo.jpg (Accessed 01/04/2012) Fig. 2. Pixars technological advancements. [Online image].On denofgeek.com http://application.denofgeek.com/pics/film/disney.pixar/mi01.jpg (Accessed 01/04/2012)

Fig. 3. WALL-E, Devine Dancing. [Online image].On blogspot.com http://4.bp.blogspot.com/DuClJZg0Qe0/Td2kcC_woaI/AAAAAAAAAHw/IUdcCYLAUAM/s1600/wall-e-space-dance.jpg (Accessed 01/04/2012) Fig. 4. Toy Story 3s Chatter Telephone. [Online image].On areyouscreening.com http://www.areyouscreening.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/toy-story-3-14.jpg (Accessed 01/04/2012)