2. History
• Pixar animation studios is an American film studio in Emeryville, California. Pixar
earned in total 26 Academy Awards, 7 Golden Globes and 3 Grammy Awards. In 1979 it
started as the Graphics Group then in 1986 it was acquired by Apple Computer co-
founder Steve Jobs.
• The Walt Disney Company then bought Pixar animation studios in 2006 at $7.4 billion
this then became the largest shareholder in Disney.
• Pixar animation has produced 12 future film which started with Toy Story, Bugs Life,
Toy Story 2, Monsters Inc., Finding Nemo, The Incredibles, Cars, Ratatouille, WALL-E,
Up, Toy Story 3.
• Pixar’s objective is to create memorable characters and
heartwarming stories that will be for a audience of all ages.
• The most high grossing Pixar animation film made is Toy Story 3
which made $896.2 million.
3. Key Film/Creations
Up (2009)
Directors : Pete Docter and Bob Peterson
Up is about a 78 year old man called Carl who was wife died and they both wanted to go on an adventure to
South America. Carl wants to fulfil his dream and decides to add thousands of balloons to his home because all
his memories with his wife are there. He then meets a wilderness explorer called Russell and they become
friends and explore together.
For the animation Docter got inspiration from an artist called Al Hirschfeld who’s work had the “ability
to distill a caricature down to just a very few number of lines, yet there is so much more there. Not only
in terms of light and shadow, but detail and personality. You see these drawings that are dripping with
rich character.”
The character designs all have an explanation why they are created in this way, for
example Carl’s face is in a square shape this is to symbloise him being stagnated and
stuck, most of his facial expressions are moody and still this shows the audience what
time of man he is. For Russell his facial shape is drawn as a circle this is to
sumbolises always moving and optimistic. Throughout the film it most of Russell’s
facial expressions are always smiling this shows the audience that he is a happy
person.
4. Key Film/Creations
Ratatouille (2007)
Directors : Brad Bird and Jan Pinkava
Ratatouille is about a rat that lives in a French countryside and he arrives to Paris and finds out that his
cooking idol has died. He then see’s a ghostly figure of his cooking idol and he explains that he must cook so
he arrives at restaurant and has a looking around to then see he gets caught by the new garbage boy but then
they start to have a bond together as the garbage boy wants to cook and Remy the rat teaches him.
The production designer Harley Jessup and the Pixar crew had used Paris as inspiration to fully show the
beauty of the city. When they went to Paris they noticed that there was all stone architecture and that even if
there was a woman in a red coat it becomes beautiful against a muted grey background of the buildings.
When they created the characters they looked at rats from a different perspective analysing there
talents and qualities to how they react to the world. They looked at all the different size rats and
wanted that to work with personalities of the characters for example Emile was a fat rat and
through out the film it shows that he likes to eat and that he eats anything but Remy is different as
he is carful with what he eats and they have to come from certain places.
5. Key Film/Creations
Finding Nemo (2003)
Directors : Andrew Stanton and Lee Unkrich
Finding Nemo is about a clown fish who is very protective over his son Nemo. Nemo then gets caught and his father
Marlin tries to find his abducted son along the way he meets a regal tang called Dory who helps him. Nemo then
meets the “Tank Gang” where he has been caught and put at the dentists fish tank. Marlin and Dory then find a pair
of swimming goggles that has been left behind and Dory can read and it had the address of the dentist on it so they
try to find Nemo and save him.
In the animation process the animators found it difficult to show the aquatic life in the
film. They focused more in the expression of the face and the fin to show clearly what
the characters were like. They looking closely at how the ocean looked from how the
particles moved to the reflection of these where like in the water.
Finding Nemo made $867,893,978 worldwide.
6. Key Film/Creations
Monsters Inc. (2001)
Directors : Pete Docter, David Silverman
Monsters Inc. is about a world where monsters lived in the city. There is a company where all the moster’s worked and
there job is known as the “scarers” they have to go through the doors of children’s wardrobe to scare then and there
screams are collected as a energy source. There is a competition to see whether who is the top scarer. One day when
Sulley was doing his job he meets a girl called Boo and he bonded with her, he broke the rule of scaring the child and
leaving but instead he didn’t want to scare the child and the child got into the mosters world. Sulley tries to hide this
from everyone but he then gets found out but they can’t find her correct room. In the end they found out that the door
was destroyed and Mike fixes the door and Sulley has to take Boo back into her bedroom.
The cast of Monsters Inc is all very imaginative and unique. One of the main characters Mike
has one eye and he falls in love with the receptionist who also only has one eye. Each
characters is different to portray there personalities by showing clearly the facial expressions
they have and there body language. For example Randell Boggs eyes are always together this
makes him look mysterious and sneaky.
7. Key Characters
Woody has been the main character in every toy story film. Woody is a traditional toy who has a pull-string voice
box and who is dressed like a cowboy. Its owner is a six year old boy called Andy and Woody is his favourite toy
until Buzz Lightyear comes and then Andy likes both toys equal. Toy story is the highest grossing animated film
and it made over $192 million in the box office. Woody is a very popular character and everyone knows who and
what he looks like. Toy story is a popular children’s film and Woody is the key character.
Woody was made to be a friendly and a likeable character which fits in well when Andy was his best friend and the
soundtrack “You’ve Got A Friend In Me” fitted in well.
8. Key Technology
All Pixar film have been computer animated features, except Wall-E which is partly animated
which features a small live action element. Pixar is popular for there CGI animation this
allows the animated images have a sense of quality, richness and vibrancy to it this is unique
to the industry and it allows the director to change and control the end results of the
animation which will work well with the story.
In 2002, the Producer's Guild of America honored Pixar with the Guild's inaugural
Vanguard Award, which recognizes outstanding achievement in new media and technology.
