Ed Catmull Takes Us Inside Pixar

A Creativity, Inc. Review

I'm not usually one for management books. To be honest, I don't recall reading one in the past. I don't think I ever thought to myself 'Yowzah! This management book looks so exciting I can barely restrain myself from exploding with joy!' - by the way, if you have said these exact words to yourself at any point in your life, you're an interesting subject matter.
And yet something in Disney and Pixar president Ed Catmull's book, Creativity, Inc., (co-written with journalist Amy Wallace) felt weirdly attractive: the promise of learning more about the two studios, as an animation fan, seemed exciting; Mr. Catmull should have great insight on these companies and on the films they produced in the recent years. And, unsurprisingly, when you read Creativity, Inc. you find out quite a lot of things about just that. What takes you by surprise, though, is how much you relate to the management segments.

One Year On: iMiss Steve

One year ago today, the world lost a truly special man. The man who helped create two of the biggest and most revered companies on the planet, the man without whom we wouldn't have Toy Story or the iPod, Steve Jobs truly was a genius.

Pixar existed (as the Lucasfilm Graphics Group) before Steve, but without his immense faith and funds, the studio would've gone under long before a deal was reached with Disney, in 1991, to make Toy Story. A man who saw what few else could, a visionary, and a man we all owe so much to. It's been a year since he tragically lost his battle to cancer at the unjustly young age of 56, but we're far from forgetting Steve Jobs. With two films about his life in the works, we're not done celebrating his achievements yet.

I'll leave you with Pixar CCO John Lasseter's comments from the tragic time last year:

"Steve Jobs was an extraordinary visionary, our very dear friend and the guiding light of the Pixar family. He saw the potential of what Pixar could be before the rest of us, and beyond what anyone ever imagined. Steve took a chance on us and believed in our crazy dream of making computer animated films; the one thing he always said was to simply 'make it great.' He is why Pixar turned out the way we did and his strength, integrity and love of life has made us all better people. He will forever be a part of Pixar’s DNA. Our hearts go out to his wife Laurene and their children during this incredibly difficult time."

RIP Steve, we still miss you, and we always will.

Brave to be Dedicated to Steve Jobs

The Wall Street Journal's blog Speakeasy tells us that "One of the most emotional moments in the coming Pixar computer-animated film “Brave” happens during the end credits."

The reason for the emotional end-credits is that they sport a tribute to former Pixar owner and longtime friend and mentor of the studio, former Apple CEO, the late Steve Jobs. Jobs bought into the company in 1986, where he financed a spin-off of the Lucasfilm Graphics Group on 3rd February, to be called Pixar. Jobs mentored the studio and its financial well being until Disney purchased it for $7.4 billion in 2006, where he became the largest individual shareholder in the world's largest media conglomerate.

Alas, Jobs passed away, at the age of 56, on 5th October last year, after losing a battle to pancreatic cancer. Brave will be the first Pixar films since Jobs' passing and the first to pay tribute to him.

It's a fitting and very respectful tribute.

Via The Huffington Post.

Interview: Alvy Ray Smith, Pixar Co-founder

Photo by Kathleen King.

Reading Big Screen Animation's Mike Bastoli's interview with Pixar co-founder Alvy Ray Smith reminded me of something: last year, I started writing a book on the history of Pixar, and interviewed Alvy for that, however, as I got snowed under with work, I scrapped the book, and nothing came of the interview. However, after reading Mike's interview with Alvy, I thought: why not post the interview here instead? I emailed Alvy late last night to check this was okay, he gave me the greenlight, so after the jump break you will find a series of questions from me and the answer's by a true visionary and one of the men who created the studio that I, and almost certainly you if you're visiting this site, love and revere, Pixar.

Somewhat less candid than Mike's interview, Alvy here gives us an in-depth insight into the origins of the most critically praised film studio on the planet, the challenges the team met and had to overcome, the general feel at Pixar in the early days, and, also, his thoughts on Steve Jobs.

I'd also like to take this opportunity very briefly to thank Alvy for his time and his kind help in the writing of my book and subsequent allowance of me publishing the interview here. Enjoy:

RIP Steve Jobs (1955 - 2011): Visionary, Genius and The Apple of our i

Today, the tragic news broke that Pixar and Apple co-founder, Steve Jobs passed away at the age of 56.

Steve added so much to the world, in terms of electronics, home computers and, due to his financing of Pixar from 1986 until the Disney merger, animation. But, alas, Steve, who had been ill for a while, after recently stepping down as Apple CEO, passed away late last night.

The world has been abuzz with condolences and well wishes to the family of Steve and messages remembering the visionary. The Apple website features a tribute to the late, great Steve Jobs, as well as a message on the Disney/Pixar Facebook page, from CCO of Disney and Pixar Animation, John Lasseter:

"Steve Jobs was an extraordinary visionary, our very dear friend and the guiding light of the Pixar family. He saw the potential of what Pixar could be before the rest of us, and beyond what anyone ever imagined. Steve took a chance on us and believed in our crazy dream of making computer animated films; the one thing he always said was to simply 'make it great.' He is why Pixar turned out the way we did and his strength, integrity and love of life has made us all better people. He will forever be a part of Pixar’s DNA. Our hearts go out to his wife Laurene and their children during this incredibly difficult time."

In addition, the CEO of The Walt Disney Company, Bob Iger, said the following of Jobs:

"Steve Jobs was a great friend as well as a trusted advisor. His legacy will extend far beyond the products he created or the businesses he built. It will be the millions of people he inspired, the lives he changed, and the culture he defined. 

"Steve was such an 'original,' with a thoroughly creative, imaginative mind that defined an era. Despite all he accomplished, it feels like he was just getting started. With his passing the world has lost a rare original."

The world truly has lost a true visionary and our deep condolences and thoughts go out to all of Steve's family and friends and everyone whose lives were enriched by him.

The Pixar Touch Review - A (David A.) Price-less Look at the Building of The Animation Gurus of Our Generation

This is going to be the first of a different breed of A113Animation Reviews, namely a review of David A. Price's insanely detailed chronicle of all things Pixar, about the turbulent rise to the top of Pixar Animation Studios.

The first thing to say is that this book has been out for a while now, first published not long after Ratatouille's original theatrical release in 2007, now with an updated epilogue that covers the release of WALL E. The book literally touches on practically every single detail of Pixar's history... ever... this book is insanely, absurdly, completely-over-the-top-ly detailed. I'm a massive Pixar mark myself and have at times have completely immersed myself into everything Pixar for weeks on end, yet, nonetheless The Pixar Touch taught me a thing or two (to understate it a million fold), a very trivial example would be that I had no idea that Ed Catmull was a Mormon! Price's devotion to the source material is, simply put, exemplary; he obviously spent weeks and weeks and years and years fully devoting himself to every little morsel of Pixar, and it shows. The level of detail is one absent from any other documentary or book I've seen out there, even more spectacular considering that it's based on a very secretive company.

Angry Birds Rio

I've just found some of the strangest animation new in a while, Angry Birds Rio! The above trailer was just posted on the official YouTube channel for Blue Sky Studios' Rio as well as on the Rovio Mobile page, announcing a cross over game between iPhone smash hit game, Angry Birds, and upcoming animated film, Rio.

The trailer looks great, I don't know what they can do to make this game specifically Rio-ish, short of making Blu an Angry Bird.

Well, let's just wait and see, meanwhile let me know if you see Fruit Ninja Kung Fu Panda anywhere!