"From the beginning, I kept saying it's not the technology that's going to entertain audiences, it's the story. When you go and see a really great live-action film, you don't walk out and say 'that new Panavision camera was staggering, it made the film so good'. The computer is a tool, and it's in the service of the story." —John Lasseter, Co-Founder of Pixar
The Pixar production logo is a sequence that appears at the beginning and end of most Pixar productions movies,and features a playful desk lamp.The 1986 short film Luxo,Jr. is the source of the small hopping desk lamp included in Pixar's logo
Most successful and beloved animated films of all time.Pixar has so far produced fourteen films:
Toy Story, A Bug's Life, Toy Story 2, Monsters, Inc., Finding Nemo, The Incredibles, Cars, Ratatouille, WALL•E, Up, Toy Story 3, Cars 2, Brave, and Monsters University.
Pixar Animation Studios is a computer animation film studio based in Emeryville, California. The studio is best known for its CGI-animated feature films created with Photorealistic RenderMan, its own implementation of the industry-standard RenderMan image-rendering application programming interface used to generate high-quality images. Pixar began in 1979 as the Graphics Group, part of the computer division of Lucasfilm before its spin-out as a corporation in 1986 with funding by Apple Inc. co-founder Steve Jobs, who became its majority shareholder. The Walt Disney Company bought Pixar in 2006 at a valuation of $7.4 billion, a transaction which made Jobs Disney's largest shareholder.
I will be talking about the methods and techniques used by Pixar to create the film Wall-E. At first a story idea is pitched, A Pixar employee pitches his/her idea to other members of the development team in a way that's reminiscent of a sales pitch. This is very effective because you get different ideas from different people and from this you can build up to a final decision.
The text treatment is written. A treatment is a short document the summarizes the main idea of the story. This is very effective because this will help everyone to understand what this idea is about.
Storyboards are drawn. Storyboards are like a hand-drawn comic version of the movie and serve as the blueprint for the action and dialogue. Each storyboard artist receives script pages and/or a "beat outline", a map of the characters' emotional changes that need to be seen through actions. Using these as guidelines, the artists envision their assigned sequences, draw them out and then "pitch" their work to the director. This is also very effective because the director gets on overall version of the idea and what’s going to happen in the animation.
Voice talent begins recording. Pixar artists for the storyboard reels record first, temporary “scratch” voices. Later, when the story and dialogue are further along, professional actors begin recording the character voices, reading from script and improvising. Actors must record lines several different ways, and the best reading is eventually animated. Sometimes, scratch voices are so good, they are not replaced. This is very effective because from this you get different voices to use and the more you record the better it gets, so therefore this is very effective.
Editorial begins making reels; this is also called an animatic. A reel is videotape that allows the cleaned-up storyboard sequence to stand alone, without a pitch person to tell the story. A pitch can be successful because the storyteller is strong, so reels are an essential step to validate the sequence and are the first instance that the "timing" of the sequence is understood. Editorial uses the information to fix the length and other elements of each shot in a sequence.
The art department creates the look and feel Based on the initial text treatment, storyboards and their own creative brainstorming and development work, the art department creates inspirational art illustrating the world and the characters. It also designs sets, props, visual looks for surfaces and colours and "colour scripts" for lighting, which are impressionistic pastel illustrations that emphasize the light in screens.
Models are sculpted and articulated Using the art department's model packet - a set of informational drawings- the characters, sets and props are either sculpted by hand and then scanned in three dimensionally or modelled in 3-D directly in the computer. They are then give "avers", or hinges, which the animator will use to make the object or character move. (Woody has 100 avers in his face alone).
The sets are dressed after the sets are built in 3-d they must be dressed with prop models. Such as chairs, curtains, and toys, to create a believable world. Set dressers work closely with the director to ensure that the director's vision for the environment is being realized. This is also very effective because if anything that isn’t supposed to be there, then you can change it before the actual animation happens and there won’t be any trouble.
The shot is animated, Pixar's animators neither draw nor paint the shots, as is required in traditional animation. Because the characters, models, dialogue and sound are already set up, animators are like actors or puppeteers. Using Pixar's animation software, they choreograph the movements and facial expressions in each scene. They do this by using computer controls and the character's avers to define key poses. The computer then creates the "in-between" frames, which the animator adjusts as necessary.
Sets and character are shaded the shade is separate from the surface to which it is attached. In other words, the shape is determined by the model, while the surface colour and texture is determined by the shader. The shading process is done with "shaders", software programs that allow for complex variations in the colour or colour shaping.
Lighting completes the look using "digital light", every scene is lit in much the same manner as stage lighting. Key, fill and bounce lights and room ambience are all defined and used to enhance the mood and emotion of each scene. Lighting takes its inspiration from the moody colour scripts created by the art department. This is effective because this give an overall look.
THE COMPUTER DATA IS "RENDERED" Rendering is the act of translating all of the information in the files that make up the shot - sets, colours, character movement, etc.- into a single frame of film. Pixar's Render farm is a huge computer system that interprets the data and incorporates motion blur. each frame represent 1/24 of a second of screen time and takes about six hours to render, though some frames have taken as many as ninety hours.
FINAL TOUCHES ARE ADDED Editorial oversees the completion and addition of the musical score and the other sound effects. Effect animation adds special effects. And the photo science department records the digital frame to film or to a form appropriate for digital production. This is very effective because this is done right at the end to add the finishing touches, which make the whole animation effective by adding effects.
The art department creates the look and feel Based on the initial text treatment, storyboards and their own creative brainstorming and development work, the art department creates inspirational art illustrating the world and the characters. It also designs sets, props, visual looks for surfaces and colours and "colour scripts" for lighting, which are impressionistic pastel illustrations that emphasize the light in screens.
Models are sculpted and articulated Using the art department's model packet - a set of informational drawings- the characters, sets and props are either sculpted by hand and then scanned in three dimensionally or modelled in 3-D directly in the computer. They are then give "avers", or hinges, which the animator will use to make the object or character move. (Woody has 100 avers in his face alone).
The shot is animated, Pixar's animators neither draw nor paint the shots, as is required in traditional animation. Because the characters, models, dialogue and sound are already set up, animators are like actors or puppeteers. Using Pixar's animation software, they choreograph the movements and facial expressions in each scene. They do this by using computer controls and the character's avers to define key poses. The computer then creates the "in-between" frames, which the animator adjusts as necessary.
Sets and character are shaded the shade is separate from the surface to which it is attached. In other words, the shape is determined by the model, while the surface colour and texture is determined by the shader. The shading process is done with "shaders", software programs that allow for complex variations in the colour or colour shaping.
Lighting completes the look using "digital light", every scene is lit in much the same manner as stage lighting. Key, fill and bounce lights and room ambience are all defined and used to enhance the mood and emotion of each scene. Lighting takes its inspiration from the moody colour scripts created by the art department. This is effective because this give an overall look.
THE COMPUTER DATA IS "RENDERED" Rendering is the act of translating all of the information in the files that make up the shot - sets, colours, character movement, etc.- into a single frame of film. Pixar's Render farm is a huge computer system that interprets the data and incorporates motion blur. each frame represent 1/24 of a second of screen time and takes about six hours to render, though some frames have taken as many as ninety hours.
FINAL TOUCHES ARE ADDED Editorial oversees the completion and addition of the musical score and the other sound effects. Effect animation adds special effects. And the photo science department records the digital frame to film or to a form appropriate for digital production. This is very effective because this is done right at the end to add the finishing touches, which make the whole animation effective by adding effects.
Time management is very important in this process because if someone misses the deadline the other steps will be delayed as well. Companies like Pixar will hire someone else, who will do the work on time and this will save money because the employ is being paid to do certain job for couple of hours. From the experiences I have learnt that missing a deadline is the last thing you want to do.
By looking at Pixar I have learnt that they always work as a team and help each others. Once you start working for Pixar you become their family and also they will treat like a family whereas, if you are in some other company they might not care about you as much. The success of Pixar is that they don’t give up, if they fail, they learn from it and do it again, and a normal person may just give up. I think Pixar should've stayed alone and not agreed to Disney taking over the company for $7.4 billion because the kinds of animation Pixar makes are world class. By seeing how much each movies are making in my opinion they would make $7 billion in 7 years and they could be a totally independent studio.
Bibliography
Roos, Dave. 'The Computer-Animation Process - Howstuffworks'. HowStuffWorks. N.p., 2015. Web. 20 May 2015.
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Angelfire.com,. 'Pixar's Animation Process'. N.p., 2015. Web. 20 May 2015.
'Life Of A Shot - Deconstructing The Pixar Process (WALL•E Special Features)'. N.p., 2015. Web. 20 May 2015.
Pixar.com,. 'Pixar'. N.p., 2015. Web. 20 May 2015.
Angelfire.com,. 'Pixar's Animation Process'. N.p., 2015. Web. 20 May 2015.
'Life Of A Shot - Deconstructing The Pixar Process (WALL•E Special Features)'. N.p., 2015. Web. 20 May 2015.
