New animated world

Pixar(t)

"Pixar" studio for animation lanced in 2008 movie "Wall-E", which was one of the five the most popular but also the most payable movies during the last year, and in the end of 2008 appeared their new film "Bolt". For May 2009 there is announced "Up", so it is seemed to be very useful to repass the facts about "Pixar", having in mind the Pixar's accelerating plans for future, richer and with new courses


By MARIJA CVETKOVIĆ
from Belgrade, SERBIA


"Pixar" took his rise during '80s from the branch of George Lucas' company "Industrial Light and Magic", which was bought by Steve Jobs ("Apple"). In the very beginning, their job used to be special effects for TV commercials and science-fiction movies and series. The director John Lasseter, who was just discharged from "Disney", joined them and the next thing was change of the course towards their own animated contents that would be totally computer animated. In 1995 the first that-kind-movie was launched - "Toy story" where old, shabby toys have to fight bright space hero, very new toy with numerous performances, to insure their place in the child's heart at least until that child grow up.

"Toy story" got the part two and during the years "Pixar" continued with successes on the films' lists hits with titles like "Searching for Nemo", "The Incredibles", "The Cars", "Ratatouille"... In their movies, they construct the world that is still alive just like in the children's eyes, the world of things, animals, toys or monsters that begin to live their own life, similar to humans', whenever they are not in our sightseeing, totally new micro world.

Speaking about technics, their animations are based on program "Marionette" which permits manipulation with 3D figure just like old puppeteer in theatres did, only now strings and bars are - in solutions of computer programs, algorithms and who knows what else.

But beside all those technical possibilities, these cartoons are not just empty copying of reality, in sense of photo reality. They haven't tried just to familiarize them to our vision, but keep them autonomous, imagined, and truthful creations thanks to discovering a center of every movement of every creatures they make in order to having the picture of realy existing and nature. The central story and the way of its leading owes to Disney's tradition because the most of directors have their origin in that house. "Pixar" makes its movies in old fashionable ways, but for new generations with technical knowledge already from crčches.

VFX artist Srdjan Milosevic sees job in "Pixar" like achieving the dream of every animator.

- "Pixar" is the pioneer in computer animation and computer graphics. Almost every technological innovation, which has appeared in last 20 years, during the existence of this industry, has appeared in this studio. "Render Man" is industrial standard for pictures renderation in all big studios worldwide, and all their movies are gainers of almost all premiums ever known.

"Pixar" has achieved, as animators say, all the most difficult things for animation, smoke, water, hair, movement, and in the end they wrestled with the thing they had been afraid of - human characters. That variety of their job in one hand is conditioned with different thematic frames that are appointed by different directors, but the most by John Lasseter, Brad Bird, and Andrew Stanton. If Lesseter is there an ideas actuator and the most traditional person, whose movies have buddy-buddy manner, Brad points to decadent declines. For example, the "Incredibiles" is about poor life of super hero's family that has to use to live normal life with poor rhythm of middle class. Stanton makes "searching movies", with enormous burden of love, but love that protects like a shield, and with whose power you can do anything.

When it was announced, in 2006, after 6 common films, definitely incorporation of "Pixar" to "Disney" company, but also the main positions in "Disney" for Pixar's main people, it was some kind of animation technique's quiet victory from which classic animators were afraid of, like if their acceptance would be the end of good, old cartoons. "Pixar" has shown that it can manipulate with its characters and lead the story, with the same adroitness like Disney, when it gave for the first time to the moving picture deep emotions wich were sourcering from narattive composition and realy pleasant characters. They recognized caractheristics of really existing human beings, worried about them and on that way they recreated their asleep emotions and brought them to the level of full and pure child's sensibility.

Bard and Stenton are announcing their future films just like some kind of transitional animation-feature shape with live details, which has been started this year with "Wall-E", like they finally decided to reveal and to show in true colors what were a little bit caricatured human characteristics in the animal and other shapes.


(Published: 10.01.2009.)