A Tour of Pixar

Jellybob writes "A little something for those of you who aren't happy with where you work: just go and work at Pixar." This is apparently part of the Finding Nemo hype machine; here's a BBC story talking about deploying metal detectors and night-vision goggles to stop people from camcording the movie.

Comments

Bah

[stratjakt]

Every time they release something we're treated with another "behind the scenes" story about pixar.

I remember when "behind the scenes" features were cool. The giant life sized dinosaurs used in the first "Jurassic Park". The enormous sets for "Honey I Shrunk the kids". The model mine cart and track for "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom". The thousands of horses and riders used in Braveheart. Actors spending 6 hours in make up to shoot a 5 minute scene.

Even if the movies sucked, it was really cool to see how it was made.

Now we watch some nerd sitting in front of his console. And so its not boring, they all force themselves to act zany and wild throughout the special. Of course it's so obvious they're under orders to ham it up for the camera.

Just face it. With CG, Hollywood just isnt cool anymore.

Re:Bah

[Musashi Miyamoto]

Worse yet, the CG in most movies is not believeable. The quality is so low and the animation so obvious that it removes the credibility so that only children could possibly enjoy it.

In the 80's, most sci-fi and fantasy movies needed to use puppets and camera trics. The puppets were significantly more believable and enjoyable to watch than most current CG characters. I would take an old starwars puppet over a CG Jabba anyday.

One of the only movies to do it right was Jurrassic Park. It was also one of the first. It is a shame that production values have dropped so dramatically.

Think of all the great fantasy and scifi movies in the past that used puppets instead of graphics:

The neverending story
Star wars trilogy (before profiteering by Lucas)
Labrynth
The Dark crystal
Legend

All of the characters were more believable than the current crop... Even Gollum from the recent LOTR movies, which had some of the best acting by a CG character in a while, was difficult to believe because half the time he was on the screen, it we obvious that he was a CG character.

Re:Bah

[Anonymous Custard]

Worse yet, the CG in most movies is not believeable. The quality is so low and the animation so obvious that it removes the credibility so that only children could possibly enjoy it.

That may be true for implementations like Jar-Jar in SW Episode 1, but don't group Pixar in there with the hollywood CG abusers. Pixar produces high quality cartoons, not real-life simulations. They're not trying to fool your eye into thinking that the bugs in A Bug's Life are actually real bugs moving around.

Even Gollum from the recent LOTR movies, which had some of the best acting by a CG character in a while, was difficult to believe because half the time he was on the screen, it we obvious that he was a CG character.

So your glass is half-empty. I thought it was amazing how the other half the time, I was watching the movie forgetting that Gollum was CG.

Re:Bah

[gpinzone]

In the 80's, most sci-fi and fantasy movies needed to use puppets and camera trics. The puppets were significantly more believable and enjoyable to watch than most current CG characters. I would take an old starwars puppet over a CG Jabba anyday.

Let's not get carried away! I think a better example is Ghostbusters. Listen to the commentary track on the DVD and you'll find out how ingenious tricks were used to do the effects. For example, the "frying egg on the countertop scene" was done using no computer animation; just some basic stuff a magician would do. Nowadays, they'd animate the whole thing with a cgi egg on a blue screen that would look completely fake just because no one would bother to figure out how to do it any other way. Probably the best example of old school effects has to be in the Wizard of Speed and Time. In fact, I'd say it's the definitive movie on the subject.

Get copy from Hong Kong

[zakezuke]

What what I understand, it's not a problem going to a movie with a video camera in hong kong. Piracy is common place, can buy films on the street or see them in the theater.

While you can sorta impose these rules in america, you can't always impose these rules in other parts of the world. Besides, I have never thought it was a serious threat with a cam corder as they look crapy anyway. A cam edition of a film atleast here in america has NO comercial value what so ever.

Now a DVD screener on the other hand, will why bother buying the DVD if you download the screener, that's something they should actually be concerned about. Fortunatly for Hollywood the equipment required to copy films onto the small screen is pretty costly and not something typical home users own.

Bunch of nice people work there

[3.5 stripes]

Most of the people I've met from there are just big kids, although I haven't had a chance to see them work. Dylan for example, reminded me of a few of my fith grade classmates.

Wish I was talented enough to work there.

Airplane Contest

[dschuetz]

There's a great easter egg on the Monsters, Inc. DVD.

Second disc, Humans Only, Pixar studio tour, highlight the logo at the bottom, press left (a black circle should appear around the airplane). I think then you click on the airplane.

It's a short film of a paper-airplane contest they held in the atrium, with lots of crazy contraptions either flying the distance, curling into the sides, or plummeting straight down. All set to an appropriate classical soundtrack.

Why is it that all the really cool places to work are on the left coast? (Pixar, Google, etc.) All we've got out here are the CIA and the Pentagon, and those sort of lose their luster after a bit....

These people are idiots.

[teamhasnoi]

All it takes is ONE person to share it. ONE. Then the day is over, time to go home, you've lost the battle.

A projectionist, a kid who works at the theater with a camera behind a wall, somebody with a camera in their glasses, all it takes is ONE.

All this is a waste of time, because you can't be everywhere at once. If broadband was available to areas with pirate flea-markets, I'm sure it would kill more of that market than anything else.

THis article talks about a high quality rip of Matrix Reloaded. That sure as hell didn't come from a theater-goer with a sony..

Clean your own house before you tell me how dirty mine is.

Re:These people are idiots.

[gosand]

THis article talks about a high quality rip of Matrix Reloaded. That sure as hell didn't come from a theater-goer with a sony..

Nor did it have any impact on the box office take of the movie. It was the highest opening for an R rated movie ever. So if it wasn't on the net, does that mean that they would have made 100 million more? The other pirated movies on the net that make the articles are LOTR and Spider-man. Both couldn't have done much better at the box office. I don't understand why these movies make the news. If it hitting the net was such a revenue hit, wouldn't these things do poorly at the box-office? Or is it just that they would have made so much MORE money? Boo frickin hoo.

I understand why Pixar would take measures to prevent people from taking it before the release. EVERYONE steals stuff from work, it would be no different at Pixar. They have every right to keep people from pilfering it. (Hey, I would too). After it hits the public though, all bets are pretty much off.

wtf

[adamruck]

is it just me or are these people taking it a little to far, metal detectors and night-vision goggles? They have more security at the movie theatre then at school, what type of statement does that make?

In April, a 33-year-old California man was arrested and charged with illegally videotaping films - if convicted, he faces up to 26 years in federal prison.

if I pay to go to the movies and contribute to the million and million of dollars of profit, if I wanna take a peice of crap video recorder and have a grainy, shitty sounding, bad quality copy of the movie, WHO FUCKING CARES?

Now if I go and sell it to my friends, or share it on kazaa, then great, ORDER ME TO STOP, AND GIVE ME A FINE. 26 years in a federal prison is fucking insane, drunk drivers dont get that much time.

Re:yep

[YrWrstNtmr]

Sounds like some other companies geared towards a lifestyle, such as Adidas.

For the coporate types, maybe. The overseas workers producing the shoes for a couple of dollars a day might have a different take on things.

Re:Depressed...

[rhythmblind]

As a former Pixar employee, let me state unequivically that all those stories about how great it is to work at Pixar are bullshit. It is a horribly caste ridden company with those in higher castes barely acknowledging the existance of those in lower castes. It doesn't matter that they put all the bathrooms in one place.

When I was there I often had occasion to visit Steve Jobs office. What did I find on his desk? He had on his desk an 8x10 photo of... himself. I shit you not. I took photos of the office showing this as I figured my friends would not believe me if I told them about it.

Tippet Studio nearby in Berkeley is a much better place to work, but understand that it doesn't matter if you are making canoes or movies, work is work.

Like most "information" in these fluff articles about Pixar their statement that

At the end of the second gallery is a trophy case holding some of Pixar's awards -- including two Oscars and a Golden Globe. "We were really reluctant for a long time to display these -- we're still a little embarrassed by the whole thing.

is patently false. As soon as they could they built a case for it an displayed and Oscar shortly after Toy Story. I know. I was there.

Some of you may recall the Salary Snafu at Pixar around 1997 or 1998. Someone emailed to everyone at the company a list of employee salaries making it seems as if the mail came from Steve Jobs. To top it off the mail came the Monday morning of the week of employee reviews. Every employee went into their review knowing how much their boss was paid and how much their coworkers was paid.

There were alot of unhappy people. That list showed that Pixar's salaries were awarded without regard to skill, exprerience, or performance. There could be upwards of 20K/yr separating office mates with the same skill/experience/title/performance.

As you might guess, quite a few larger than expected raises were negotiated that year.

Although a lawsuit was filed they never caught the guilty party. No doubt some disgruntled ex-employee...