Teaser Posted For Pixar’s New Film “Up”

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The Teaser for Pixar’s new film Up is now online.

Not much is known about the film. However, a recent newspaper article described it as “a comedy about a cranky, cane-wielding 78-year-old who transports his home to exotic locales by attaching hundreds of helium-filled balloons”.

[EDIT: The tech blog Gizmodo offers this description:

The hero of the film is a 78-year-old man named Carl Fredricksen, who walks around hunched over with a tripod cane. When he was a kid he met a girl named Ellie, who grew up in small midwestern town. The two fell in love and eventually got married. Her dream was always to explore the world and visit paradise falls, but as usually happens, life got in the way. They were never able to make good on their promise, and Ellie eventually passed away. Now Carl is a widower living alone in his small home. Developers are threatening to move him into an old folks home.]

I really like the look of the house and design of the old man. Everything has a light, fun feel to it as opposed to the hyper-realism of Ratatouille and Wall-E. Of course you can’t tell too much from such a short teaser, but I get the feeling the story might take place in a more cartoonish alternate reality.

Up will float into theaters May 29.

More Pixar: Spline Doctors, “Presto”

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Following up on my last post, here’s two more inspiring links related to Pixar:

The first is a Presto, the new animated short that is shown before Wall•E in the theaters and will no doubt be included on the DVD. It’s a zany little film animated in a style inspired by the classic Warner Brothers shorts. It’s much broader and zippier than Pixar’s usual offerings. You can now download it from iTunes for only $1.99.

The second is a terrific blog-slash-podcast from Pixar. The blog, Spline Doctors (link), is labor of love from several of the artists and animators at Pixar. The posts are full of great insights on animation.  SplineCast is an accompanying podcast featuring interviews and roundtable discussions with creative folks at Pixar. There haven’t been any new episodes in a while so I don’t know if SplineCast has run its course or not, but there are several great episodes you can listen to for free either on the blog (link) or through iTunes (link). Fun stuff to have on in the background while you toil away at your drawing board.

Wall•E Vignettes: Show vs Tell

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Pixar’s new movie Wall•E opened this past weekend to big box office and rave reviews. I am really looking forward to seeing it. I had hoped to catch it on opening weekend but plans fell through. We had relatives come to visit and then my daughter broke her ankle (she’s doing fine, thanks).

However, I did download some little animated vignettes based on Wall•E from iTunes. You can also view them on the official site (just click on the “videos” link and then scroll through the thumbnails at left). They are absolutely brilliant! Cute, charming, and full of life. Like much of the film, they contain no dialogue. But the animation is so lively and entertaining you don’t even notice.

Go to the official site and view these clips (or download them from iTunes, they’re free!) Each clip is a perfect example of true character animation. Wall•E doesn’t just move, he lives, breathes, thinks, and feels. You get a real sense of his personality and who he is from just a few seconds of film, without a single word being spoken.

If you ever wanted proof that less is more, this is it. Good writers, actors, and directors know that actions and expressions are always more effective than mere words. You can often communicate more with an movement, gesture, or glance than you could with an entire paragraph of dialogue. It’s more powerful to show than to tell, a point these little vignettes make beautifully.

Pixar Announces Upcoming Films

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In a recent New York Times article Pixar announced its upcoming slate of animated films. (You have to register to read the article). The list includes:

Wal-E (official site) — A film from writer/director Andrew Stanton (Finding Nemo) that tells the story of a robot stranded on earth all-alone in distant future. Large chunks of the film will have no dialogue, just pantomime and sound effects. If anyone can pull that off and still engage the audience, it’s the masterful animators at Pixar. After all, as the author points out, the Road Runner and Cyote never talked either. Wall-E hits theaters on June 27.

Up — Described as “a comedy about a cranky, cane-wielding 78-year-old who transports his home to exotic locales by attaching hundreds of helium-filled balloons”

The Bear and the Bow — Pixar’s first fairy tale,

Cars 2 — Pixar’s second attempt at a sequel. Their first, Toy Story 2, was actually better than the original. Let’s hope the same for Cars 2.

Pixar has one of the best (if not THE best) track records in Hollywood: Every single one of their films has been a box office smash. They have yet to produce a flop. I can’t think of any other studio in Hollywood can make that claim. Including Disney. So I’m very excited to get hints at what they’ve got coming down the pipe.

Animation Notes From Ollie Johnston and John Lasseter

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The passing of legendary Disney animator Ollie Johnston has stirred a lot of emotion, memories, and discussion among animators and animation fans. In that spirit fellow Minnesotan Robbie Halvorson sent me a link to some of Ollie’s notes on animation. The notes came from Disney animator G. Scott Owen Pixar’s John Lasseter, who writes:

When I was an animator at the Disney Studios, I had a xeroxed list of simple notes from one of the great Disney animators, Ollie Johnston, pinned to my drawing table. The list was originally written down by another great Disney animator, Glen Keane, after working as Ollie’s assistant for a few years.

Robbie also sent me a link to some more notes on animation, also attributed to Pixar’s John Lasseter:

Tricks To Animating Characters With A Computer

These notes are loaded with valuable information and highly worth reading. And they aren’t strictly for animators only. Much of the information can also apply to anyone (like myself) who works in humorous illustration or cartooning.

To Infinity And Beyond: The Story of Pixar Animation Studios

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Upcoming
On Thursday and Friday I’ll be posting a two-part series with tips for beginning freelancers on how to bid out a project. Keep an eye out.

Now, on to today’s post….

infinitybeyond.jpg

A new book has just been released: To Infinity and Beyond!: The Story of Pixar Animation Studios. It’s a deluxe 320-page book laying out the definitive history of Pixar, the studio that gave us such blockbusters as Toy Story 1 & 2, A Bug’s Life, Monsters Inc., Finding Nemo, The Incredibles, Cars, and Ratatouille. To date Pixar has yet to deliver a box office flop, a feat which few (if any) Hollywood studios have ever been able to achieve.

From the publisher:

In 1986, gifted animator John Lasseter, technology guru Ed Catmull, and visionary Steve Jobs founded Pixar Animation Studios. Their goal: create a computer animated feature, despite predictions that it could never be done. An unprecedented catalog of blockbuster films later, the studio is honoring its history in this deluxe volume. From its fledgling days under George Lucas to ten demanding years creating Toy Story to the merger with Disney, each milestone is vibrantly detailed. Interviews with Pixar directors, producers, animators, voice talent, and industry insiders, as well as concept art, storyboards, and snapshots illuminate a history that is both definitive and enthralling.

You can order copies from Amazon.com here.