Before Pixar was given its name, Ed Catmull was recruited by George Lucas from The New York Institute of Technology (NYIT) to head Lucasfilm's Computer Division, which is a group charged with developing state-of-the-art computer technology for the film industry. At The New York Institute of Technology (NYIT), the researchers pioneered many of the foundation CG (computer-generated) techniques, most notably the invention of the "alpha channel". Years later, the CGL (the Computer Graphics Lab) produced and experimental film called The Works.
In 1982, the team began working on film sequences with Industrial Light and Magic on special effects. Then after years of research, and key milestones in films such as the Genesis Effect in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan and the Stained Glass Knight in Young Sherlock Holmes. Then in 1986, the 40 individuals in the group spun out as a corporation in February 1986 when Steve Jobs purchased the Computer Graphics Division from Lucas and established the independent company, calling it "Pixar". Steve Jobs made an investment and paid $5 million to Lucas for technology rights and put them and $5 million cash as capital into the company. The same year, Luxo Jr was completed. Luxo Jr was a short film that was John Lasseter's directorial debut, and was unveiled in August at SIGGRAPH and then screened for general audiences and Los Angeles-area theatres in November. Luxo Jr was the first three-dimensional computer animated film to be nominated for the Best Animated Short Film Oscar.
Later on, in 1988, Tin Toy was completed. A partially completed version was screened for SIGGRAPH audiences in August, and the film received its official premiere later that year at the Ottawa International Film Fest. Tin Toy was the first computer animated film to receive an Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film of 1988. This five minute film was responsible for saving Pixar, because at the time of Tin Toy's release the company was facing serious financial problems. Tin Toy also led to the interest and attention of Disney and was the base for one of the most successful animated film series of all time - Toy Story.
Tin Toy follows the story of a one-man band toy called Tinny, who meets a baby called Billy who he has been given to. At first Tinny is excited to be played with but then he becomes scared and tries to run away when he sees how Billy treats his other toys. Tinny hides under the sofa and meets a group of toys that have escaped Billy, and Tinny wants to join their group but Billy falls over trying to chase him, making him cry and Tinny feel guilty. Tinny then realises and accepts his fate and leaves the safety of the sofa to try and cheer up Billy and Billy picks up a terrified Tinny and sets him down, going off to play with Tinny's cardboard box instead. Tinny gets annoyed that Billy isn't playing with him anymore and the film ends with Tinny trying to win back Billy's attention.
Tin Toy heavily influenced the story of the company's first feature-length film, Toy Story, by paving the way for Pixar. Without Tin Toy, Pixar could be a very different company today.
What is unique about the working culture and environment of Pixar that makes it so successful is that Pixar's company culture emphasises collaboration, creativity and risk taking. Steve Jobs felt that the spontaneous meetings in the halls of the building are the best ones.
"Then again, if we aren't always at least a little scared, we're not doing our job. We're in a business whose customers want to see something new every time they go to the theatre. This means we have to put ourselves at great risk. Our most recent film, Wall-E, is a robot love story set in a post-apocalyptic world full of trash. And our previous movie, Ratatouille, is about a French rat who aspires to be a chef. Talk about unexpected ideas! At the outset of making these movies, we simply didn't know if they would work. However, since we're supposed to offer something that isn't obvious, we bought into somebody's initial vision and took a chance." - Ed Catmull, (How Pixar Fosters Collective Creativity, http://hbr.org/2008/09/how-pixar-fosters-collective-creativity/)
Pixar makes CGI animated motion pictures (Wall-E has so far been the only Pixar film not to be completely animated, featuring a small live-action element). The genre of Pixar's films are fun, action-packed family films that are suitable for all ages.
Pixar still starts with sketches and storyboards when bringing together their ideas. The images are labelled as storyboard, concept art, modelling process, layout process, animation and stimulation, and lighting and final image. However, one of the Animators for Pixar said that the label 'concept art' is actually referred to as 'colour script'. Colour Scripts highlight how the colours in the film will relate to the storyline.
Shortly before Toy Story, Pixar was made to produce film/television advertisements, because they had been losing money over several years and Steve Jobs thought that this would be the best way to get the money back. The hope was that with the advertisements, the company could become self-supporting, and the goal was a computer animated television movie or feature film (ultimately that being Toy Story later on).
Pixar made it clear that they would only do the advertisements if they had a say in the creative development, which is an unusual request to most advertising companies because normally they come up with everything by themselves, from the scripts to the storyboards. Pixar went on to make the advertisements and made $2 million a year in the advertising business as well as gaining worldwide exposure to the mainstream public.
Toy Story, the world's first computer animated feature film, was released in theatres on November 22nd, 1995. It's the first, most significant film for Pixar because it became the highest grossing film of 1995, making $192 million domestically and $362 million worldwide. Toy Story was nominated for Best Original Song, Best Original Score, and Best Original Screenplay by the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences. Additionally, David DiFranceso recieved a Scientific and Engineering Academy Award for Film Input Scanning.
Pixar expanded from films to look at advertising - they advertised for Sky Fibre Broadband by using Toy Story. Sky Fibre Broadband is an internet service provider for Sky customers. The Toy Story characters starred in a Sky Promo for Toy Story of Terror.
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