Wow! I never knew how much of a snowball effect Tin Toy had on Pixar’s evolution (and the rest of the animation industry as a whole), especially with the character designs for human characters! Just goes to show you never know where something will lead!
For a while, I’ve been thinking about how the “exaggerations of human features” is also very integral to the world of motion capture (with characters like Gollum and the Na’Vi from Avatar, just to give a couple of examples) in order to avoid “uncanny valley.” Truly fascinating how intricate the human mind works!
Once again, such a great read! Keep up the awesome work, you guys!
And Tin Toy was very much a milestone. Definitely one of the most important CG films ever made -- in a lot of ways more than Luxo, even though Pixar's people liked Luxo better! There's a 1989 Animation Magazine quote about Tin Toy that we remembered reading but only found again after publication, and it's revealing about Pixar's thoughts on the film, so we might as well share it here:
"At a recent local SIGGRAPH chapter meeting Ed Catmull of Pixar revealed 'the baby from hell' who wears a 'concrete diaper' are words used within the company to describe their Oscar winning star (Tin Toy)."
Loved the last word from Jules today - I think telephones are probably the biggest example of that phenomena! For objects at least, I think there's more appeal to the clunkier, analog artifacts of the past compared to today's items built for convenience. That said, we are missing a chance to capture our present reality in our stories by not including such updates!
Absolutely! It feels like a sense has crept in that the things of our current time are somehow too "cheap" or "temporary" to be worth including in a story, but so many stories from the past reflect the material realities of their own specific moments in time (like how international travel by train features so importantly in the plot of Dracula). -Jules
The Pixar shorts were always enjoyable to watch. Even though they were probably test beds for experimenting with technology and what could be achieved, they never lost sight of the fact they were telling a story. Geri's Game, as well as being well animated and still good to look at, tells a fun short story that is timeless. My particular favourite short is Presto because of the Looney Tunes style humour.
Geri's Game might be our all-time favorite! A while back we interviewed the composer of Presto about one of his newer scores, and he talked a bit about that experience at Pixar, which was super interesting.
‘For Trnka, puppets were “not replacements for humans.” Instead, they “should be more archetypical than a human actor can be, and portray and serve the idea of a person, not their surface.”’
Trnka's thinking about puppets is really powerful and persuasive -- it's been a joy to study over the past couple of years. One of the greatest directors ever, no question.
Thanks a ton! The Trnka influence on Pixar is a topic that's fascinated us for a while and it was great to explore it (and its context) at more length.
Great write-up that I wish I was quicker to comment on.
Those two early CG shorts you linked at the beginning were interesting; the short with the piano felt meta-textual in a way given it's about a pianist who is aging and longing for simpler times.
Many of the original Pixar employees have stated they never intended to drive out traditional animation out of theatres, and the process of them making these films show that. But you know people and old animation heads are; always skeptical and fearful of the new thing.
Whether it's this, Jar Jar Binks, or even the hyper-realism of stuff like The Polar Express and other ImageMovers productions. It's interesting looking back how the Walt Disney Company had a joint venture with them from 2007 to 2011, only over a decade later where they willingly put out a movie lampooning their films in the Chip n Dale Rescue Rangers movie. Funny how times works (In the credits to the first Happy Feet, they even have a disclaimer at the end explaining how despite the hyper-realism, this wasn't one of those motion capture movies).
I could go on about them (especially given they were planning a Yellow Submarine remake at the time) but that's for a future essay for me to comment on.
Gonna have to look more into this Jan Pinkava guy; when you said that he was the original planned director of Ratatouille I thought "it all makes sense now!!"
Personal news for me, but this blog has inspired me to start my own newsletter of my own. I highly doubt it will as informative as Animation Obsessive, but I'll be satisfied to get my thoughts out on animation and etc., as well as recommendations for resources out there, instead of waiting for the right magazine or news outlet to come and accept my pitch.
Thanks very much! It's definitely true that Pixar's people didn't intend to replace 2D back then -- we haven't seen any comments from them along those lines. That idea was more of a fixation of execs, a group that also seemed interested in the more photoreal/mocap work.
And very cool to hear that you're starting a newsletter -- always great to see this field expand. Wishing you lots of success with it!
Agreed! Similarly, when we revisited Luxo Jr. this year, we were surprised by how well it holds up, despite the early technology behind it. Although the later films The Spirits Within and The Polar Express are more technologically advanced and realistic, they feel uncanny, and we find them less enjoyable to watch than Luxo.
Thank you! And we'll definitely keep folks updated when we get back to Europe. It's been a goal of ours for a while -- we just need to get things figured out to make it happen.
Pixar’s explosive technological and creative growth in their early years is clear when you watch “Toy Story 2,” released just four years after the original. The human characters are still a bit flat and cartoony, but they already look much better. Geri even makes a cameo as the repairman Al hires to fix Woody’s arm, and he fits right in.
Really interesting insights. I feel that more realistic is often uncanny, no matter the medium/technical limitations. In one of Scott McCloud's books he says that we find drawn faces more relatable the more universal they are, with simpler more abstracted eyes, noses and mouths. I found that helpful. Thanks for this!
Thank you -- very glad you enjoyed! And there's definitely a line to walk in animation that leans hard into realism. We've seen cases where it's very effective (like Another Day of Life and Jin-Roh), and plenty that we find eerie or outright hard to watch.
Wow! I never knew how much of a snowball effect Tin Toy had on Pixar’s evolution (and the rest of the animation industry as a whole), especially with the character designs for human characters! Just goes to show you never know where something will lead!
For a while, I’ve been thinking about how the “exaggerations of human features” is also very integral to the world of motion capture (with characters like Gollum and the Na’Vi from Avatar, just to give a couple of examples) in order to avoid “uncanny valley.” Truly fascinating how intricate the human mind works!
Once again, such a great read! Keep up the awesome work, you guys!
Thanks for the kind words! Really appreciate it.
And Tin Toy was very much a milestone. Definitely one of the most important CG films ever made -- in a lot of ways more than Luxo, even though Pixar's people liked Luxo better! There's a 1989 Animation Magazine quote about Tin Toy that we remembered reading but only found again after publication, and it's revealing about Pixar's thoughts on the film, so we might as well share it here:
"At a recent local SIGGRAPH chapter meeting Ed Catmull of Pixar revealed 'the baby from hell' who wears a 'concrete diaper' are words used within the company to describe their Oscar winning star (Tin Toy)."
Loved the last word from Jules today - I think telephones are probably the biggest example of that phenomena! For objects at least, I think there's more appeal to the clunkier, analog artifacts of the past compared to today's items built for convenience. That said, we are missing a chance to capture our present reality in our stories by not including such updates!
Absolutely! It feels like a sense has crept in that the things of our current time are somehow too "cheap" or "temporary" to be worth including in a story, but so many stories from the past reflect the material realities of their own specific moments in time (like how international travel by train features so importantly in the plot of Dracula). -Jules
The Pixar shorts were always enjoyable to watch. Even though they were probably test beds for experimenting with technology and what could be achieved, they never lost sight of the fact they were telling a story. Geri's Game, as well as being well animated and still good to look at, tells a fun short story that is timeless. My particular favourite short is Presto because of the Looney Tunes style humour.
Geri's Game might be our all-time favorite! A while back we interviewed the composer of Presto about one of his newer scores, and he talked a bit about that experience at Pixar, which was super interesting.
‘For Trnka, puppets were “not replacements for humans.” Instead, they “should be more archetypical than a human actor can be, and portray and serve the idea of a person, not their surface.”’
This is a great great GREAT insight.
Trnka's thinking about puppets is really powerful and persuasive -- it's been a joy to study over the past couple of years. One of the greatest directors ever, no question.
So much great research in this issue. I loved reading about the Trnka connection to early Pixar humans, thanks!
Thanks a ton! The Trnka influence on Pixar is a topic that's fascinated us for a while and it was great to explore it (and its context) at more length.
Recently watched Toy Story 5, then went back and watched Toy Story. It’s crazy to see how far the animation has come and I never fully realized!
Great write-up that I wish I was quicker to comment on.
Those two early CG shorts you linked at the beginning were interesting; the short with the piano felt meta-textual in a way given it's about a pianist who is aging and longing for simpler times.
Many of the original Pixar employees have stated they never intended to drive out traditional animation out of theatres, and the process of them making these films show that. But you know people and old animation heads are; always skeptical and fearful of the new thing.
Whether it's this, Jar Jar Binks, or even the hyper-realism of stuff like The Polar Express and other ImageMovers productions. It's interesting looking back how the Walt Disney Company had a joint venture with them from 2007 to 2011, only over a decade later where they willingly put out a movie lampooning their films in the Chip n Dale Rescue Rangers movie. Funny how times works (In the credits to the first Happy Feet, they even have a disclaimer at the end explaining how despite the hyper-realism, this wasn't one of those motion capture movies).
I could go on about them (especially given they were planning a Yellow Submarine remake at the time) but that's for a future essay for me to comment on.
Gonna have to look more into this Jan Pinkava guy; when you said that he was the original planned director of Ratatouille I thought "it all makes sense now!!"
Personal news for me, but this blog has inspired me to start my own newsletter of my own. I highly doubt it will as informative as Animation Obsessive, but I'll be satisfied to get my thoughts out on animation and etc., as well as recommendations for resources out there, instead of waiting for the right magazine or news outlet to come and accept my pitch.
Thanks very much! It's definitely true that Pixar's people didn't intend to replace 2D back then -- we haven't seen any comments from them along those lines. That idea was more of a fixation of execs, a group that also seemed interested in the more photoreal/mocap work.
And very cool to hear that you're starting a newsletter -- always great to see this field expand. Wishing you lots of success with it!
玩具总动员里，比起4那种材质更加精细的视觉效果，我还是更喜欢1和3里那种简洁的视觉风格，可能有时候技术落后，光照简陋反而是一种优势，这可能也是为什么bird后来做的那些动画不带有恐怖谷效应的原因，因为他的目标不是写实的写实。
Agreed! Similarly, when we revisited Luxo Jr. this year, we were surprised by how well it holds up, despite the early technology behind it. Although the later films The Spirits Within and The Polar Express are more technologically advanced and realistic, they feel uncanny, and we find them less enjoyable to watch than Luxo.
Great reading, as usual! Let us know when you come to festivalsin Europe, it would be great to meet you guys IRL.
Thank you! And we'll definitely keep folks updated when we get back to Europe. It's been a goal of ours for a while -- we just need to get things figured out to make it happen.
👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼
Thank you so much!
Pixar’s explosive technological and creative growth in their early years is clear when you watch “Toy Story 2,” released just four years after the original. The human characters are still a bit flat and cartoony, but they already look much better. Geri even makes a cameo as the repairman Al hires to fix Woody’s arm, and he fits right in.
Fascinating as always!!
So happy you enjoyed -- thanks so much!
Really interesting insights. I feel that more realistic is often uncanny, no matter the medium/technical limitations. In one of Scott McCloud's books he says that we find drawn faces more relatable the more universal they are, with simpler more abstracted eyes, noses and mouths. I found that helpful. Thanks for this!
Thank you -- very glad you enjoyed! And there's definitely a line to walk in animation that leans hard into realism. We've seen cases where it's very effective (like Another Day of Life and Jin-Roh), and plenty that we find eerie or outright hard to watch.