Before I unpack Pixar‘s remarkable journey from scrappy Lucasfilm spinoff to pioneering animation studio, it‘s worth stepping back and appreciating just how profoundly they‘ve impacted film.
In 30 short years, Pixar has:
- Pioneered advances in computer animation from rendered 3D graphics to lifelike simulations
- Produced beloved stories and characters that endure across generations
- Reimagined animation as a respected storytelling medium speaking to the human experience
- Crafted 14 consecutive #1 box office hits grossing over $14 billion worldwide
- Won 37 Academy Awards including 9 Best Animated Feature Oscars
Emerging from early experiments blending technology and art at Lucasfilm, Pixar unlocked the creative potential of digital animation through a potent mix of artistic passion, technological innovation and insight into the depths of human emotion.
Now seen as the gold standard in animated features, Pixar overcame early financial struggles to revolutionize animation via landmark films like Toy Story. As computers became exponentially more powerful, Pixar leveraged silicon and savvy partnerships with Disney to pioneer new frontiers in onscreen animation magic.
But beyond the blockbusters and box office billions lie the secret sauce – Pixar‘s one-of-a-kind culture that erases traditional barriers between technology and artistry. This empowered small collaborative teams to envision stories enhanced by cutting-edge craft.
By probing complex emotional themes about purpose and connection through the lives of talking toys, monsters, fish and robots, Pixar speaks to the child in us all. Their films spark wonder at life‘s possibility using shards of our own inner lives reflected back through eye-popping animation craft.
So how did this animation powerhouse get its start? Let‘s rewind the clock to trace Pixar‘s remarkable journey.
Humble Beginnings: Creating the Graphics Group at Lucasfilm (1979)
In 1979, George Lucas was focused on his Star Wars sequel The Empire Strikes Back but also harbored longer-term ambitions to integrate CGI into film production. So he recruited Dr. Ed Catmull from NYIT to start the Graphics Group division as part of Lucasfilm.
A computer animation research pioneer, Catmull assembled an elite team of computer scientists, artists and animators including digital graphics expert Alvy Ray Smith and animator John Lasseter.
Lucas granted the Graphics Group considerable freedom to advance animation software and tools via short demo films. Their goal: realize the potential of computer animation to enable Lucasfilm‘s next-generation filmmaking.
Early projects included contributions to Star Trek II and Lucasfilm movies plus collaborations with Disney on the Computer Animation Production System (CAPS). CAPS digital ink & paint software accelerated Disney‘s costly cel animation process, cementing Graphics Group talent.
Although funded by Lucasfilm to support feature film production, Catmull‘s true vision centered on pushing current animation limits using original short films showcasing emerging technology.
Spinning Out On Their Own as Pixar (1986)
When George Lucas hit dire financial straits after a difficult divorce, he sold off the Graphics Group. New CEO Steve Jobs paid just $5 million for the team in 1986, renaming it Pixar – a portmanteau blending "pixels" and "art".
With Jobs’ backing, Pixar now charted its own course led by visionaries Catmull as President and Smith as VP. Their dream: combine emerging digital filmmaking tools with world-class animation artistry.
The early years of independence saw major software innovations but continuous cash crises. Though funded by Jobs, expensive specialized hardware failed to find a profitable niche.
Salvation came from software successes like:
- RenderMan – Groundbreaking rendering software that translates 3D models into 2D images by calculating lighting, shading and textures. RenderMan delivered realistic digital renders and became an Academy Award-winning industry standard tool.
- Marionette – An advanced character rigging and animation toolset used to control 3D character models like digital puppets. It enabled greater animation control than existing tools.
Despite acclaim for animated shorts, feature film remained the holy grail to showcase Pixar‘s creative and technical innovations while achieving profitability.
Emerging From the Ashes: Pact with Disney Yields Toy Story (1991-1995)
By 1991, despite innovations in rendering and animation software, Pixar teetered on the brink after years of losses. Their fortunes turned thanks to an unlikely partnership with Disney Animation to produce three CGI films.
Disney would handle marketing and distribution while Pixar retained full creative control and proprietary technology rights. In return, Disney took a 10% stake in Pixar.
This joint venture led Pixar‘s team of 60 to devote 4 years perfecting breakthrough animation techniques required for their first feature. Built using custom plugins for Alias Wavefront‘s PowerAnimator software, they created a buddy comedy anchored on two toy characters – a cowboy named Woody and Buzz Lightyear space ranger action figure.
Toy Story‘s November 1995 release marks a historic milestone – the first fully computer-animated feature film. To the world‘s shock and delight, it became the highest grossing film of the year, earning $373 million.
Beyond financial success, Toy Story demonstrated richly appealing computer-animated characters with emotional depth. The endearing story struck a chord about friendship triumphing over jealousy and existential angst. It highlighted Pixar‘s creative moxie through funny rapid-fire dialogue, thrill-ride adventure, and cutting-edge animation.
Novel cinematic techniques included:
- Complex virtual cameras with dollies, zooms and pans used in live-action films
- Motion blur on fast-moving elements like car wheels
- Groundbreaking shadow algorithms for precise lighting
Toy Story cemented Pixar as an elite animation and technology trailblazer. By solving problems declared impossible like natural-looking cloth, translucent plastic, and lifelike human skin, Pixar forever redefined animation.
Hit After Hit In Partnership With Disney (1997-2006)
With Toy Story, Pixar proved computer animation’s viability for storytelling, winning both technical awards and critical adulation. Their public offering made Steve Jobs an overnight billionaire with an 80% Pixar stake.
Buoyed by success, Pixar negotiated a 5-picture deal with Disney while envisioning an IPO to raise expansion capital. This allowed pursuing original film projects combining emerging digital tools with top acting, directing and writing talent.
Pixar leveraged exponential computing progress from Moore‘s law allowing animation richer scene complexity. Leveraging innovation and insight proved a winning formula, yielding beloved stories featuring emotional depth via relatable characters.
Blockbusters like Finding Nemo, The Incredibles and Monsters Inc meant huge profits for both partners. With reliably gripping stories enhanced by visual breakthroughs, Pixar became a brand signifying animation excellence.
Despite friction over sequel rights and distribution terms, Pixar relied on Disney‘s marketing empire to merchandise their original film franchises. And Disney needed Pixar‘s innovation pipeline and brand prestige to stay animation relevant.
After delicate negotiations, longtime partner Disney acquired Pixar in 2006 for a colossal $7.4 billion. While now Disney subsidiaries, Pixar‘s studios retained leadership, creative culture and technical expertise.
Pixar Magic Continues Under Disney (2006-Present)
Post-acquisition, Pixar veterans Ed Catmull and John Lasseter assumed leadership of both Pixar and Walt Disney Animation Studios. They preserved Pixar‘s lighting-focused collaborative culture encouraging filmmakers to leverage exponentially advancing computing power.
Ongoing innovations in simulation, lighting and cinematography allowed tackling fantastical worlds like culinary rat utopias in Ratatouille or post-apocalyptic trash wastelands in Wall-E. Visual marvels service whimsical high-concept stories probing emotion via engaging characters.
Ambitious efforts like Brave with lush natural scenes and Merida’s unruly curly hair stretched computing limits requiring new simulation frameworks. With computing cost no object thanks to Disney resources, Pixar tackled intricate worlds like the expansive The Good Dinosaur landscape.
Thematically rich ideas filmmakers long dreamed of visualizing like abstract emotional beings inside a child’s head in Inside Out finally came to fruition thanks to cutting-edge unified simulation engines.
Ever-expanding computing power allows translating imaginative worlds once only possible via traditional animation’s hand-drawn abstractions. Today animation craft mimics live-action while integrating realistic physics. Dense urban layouts in Cars 3, forest ecosystems in Onward, and souls‘ ethereal glow in Soul showcase art directing grandeur.
By preserving cadres of specialized technical and creative talent since the Lucasfilm days, Pixar nurtures institutional knowledge inaccessible to rivals. This empowers taking concepts like Mexican Day of the Dead afterlife adventures in Coco using tried-and-tested production pipelines supporting animation‘s endless possibility.
Legacy of Enduring Storytelling and Animation Innovation
From scrappy Lucasfilm outcast to Disney crown jewel, Pixar‘s journey reveals consistent threads – groundbreaking animation technology, emotionally resonant storylines, and beloved characters enduring cultural zeitgeist.
Pixar shorts showcased nascent animation techniques while building storytelling experience. Ambitious full-length features meant catapulting limitations to allow cinematic visions unbuilt tools couldn‘t yet realize. This constant reach beyond existing frontiers birthed novel techniques like subsurface scattering for lifelike skin in Monsters Inc.
A creative culture valuing work/life balance empowered small teams owning entire production processes. Directors worked closely alongside writers and artists building joyful camaraderie. Flat hierarchy and iterative collaboration allowed everyone contributing ideas or questioning creative choices.
Pixar‘s Braintrust storytelling process encouraged questioning and strengthening films
This fusion between technology and art birthed beloved stories enriched by the tools used to build them. Computing power accelerated, but focus remained uncovering emotional truths about purpose and connection via fantastical characters.
By speaking to universal human experiences through the journey of a lost fish or discarded trash robot, Pixar‘s tales spark recognition about ourselves. Visual marvels serve stories, not vice versa. This heart-led alchemy baked into company DNA assures lasting resonance.
After revolutionizing animation with early short films and features like Toy Story, Pixar continues ascending new peaks in virtual filmmaking craft thanks to symbiotic blending of technology and artistry.
Ongoing advances in rendering, simulation physics, articulate face rigs, and cinematography remove constraints on imagination. Computing progress assured, Pixar now stands poised to tackle humanity‘s deepest emotional worlds using animation‘s limitless potential.
What once dazzled from Pixar labs becomes tomorrow‘s norm adopted into competitors‘ pipelines. Yet lightning keeps striking as artists empowered by expanding tools craft stories transcending ages. For inside-out worlds sparked in childhood reveries lie shards of that eternal human longing to find purpose and connection.
By igniting imagination‘s spark passed from old to young, Pixar‘s tales endure as cultural touchstones. For their tomorrow‘s masters today tinker in labs dreaming new rounds of magic born when science marries art.
