How My Goals revolves around Pixar's Philosophy

Me, Myself, and My Idol

How My Goals revolves around Pixar's Philosophy

Introduction

“It’s safe to fail”,is a mantra use at Pixar Animation Studio; an award winning animation studio located at Emeryville, California. Pixar was founded by Steve Jobs in 1986. Since then, it has grown to become one of the most successful respected and admired studio in the world. It success is based mainly on their unique approach to management and their ability to constantly tell great stories. The key people that ensure this philosophy always stays on are John Lasseter, Brad Bird, Pete Docter, Andrew Stanton and Lee Unkrich. Therefore, I belief that Pixar’s philosophy, people and their achievement strongly mirror on my long term goals which are inventing unique ways to experience movies, become a successful storyteller and becoming an innovative leader.

Creating unique experiences for audiences

Although Pixar is well known for their rememberable and beautifully animated characters; they have made huge impact on computer graphic technology. They are actually the first to invent and pioneer computer animated technology. Their software PhotoRealistic RenderMan is the first commercial rendering graphic software, and it soon became the industry standard for the film industry. George Lucas said that since the first pixel that RenderMan put on screen; it became a benchmark for all rendering technology. The film Pixar produces over the years has been a breakthrough in computer graphic and benchmark of many animation studios across the world. They achieve this milestone in technology by following this saying of their very own John Lasseter, “The art challenges technology. Technology inspires the art.“ For Pixar, they used technology to aid the experience of film. Pixar pushes the boundaries of technology that they manage to model the unique way human look at motion into the computer. By doing so, the audience will perceive that animation is real and eventual will not pay attention to its detail. Focus Magazine (2013)

As we can see, Pixar has always push the boundaries of technology. They have found new ways to create experiences for audiences around the world. At Pixar, there constantly will keep pushing, keep experimenting, keep trying and we always learn and keep moving forward.

Becoming a great storyteller

Through the 26 years that Pixar has been in the industry, they have manage to produce 13 movies and 22 short film, and with that have received 26 Academy Award. Every movie they make became a blockbuster and became an envy among many top hollywood studios. Despite the success that they have achieved, Pixar co-founder and current President Ed Catmull says that Pixar’s creative process is “going from suck to nonsuck.” This is because the key people at Pixar believe that it is much important to fix problems that to prevent errors. Andrew Staton says that his strategy is always been getting wrong as fast as possible so we can fix the issue in the early stages of development. Through their unique process in producing the film they have manage create great stories. For an example, Pixar start making a movie not using a script,but  they begin with an idea through making rough storyboards. They continue doing this until they have managed to work out many of the problems; thus making the film from suck to nonsuck. Pixar master storyboard artist, Joe Ranft says that sometimes their first attempt of the storyboard works, but usually it requires many more trials to get the storyboard just right. Fast Company (2011)

The Pixar team must be very persistent to this painstaking task. Pixar had 27,565 storyboards for A Bug’s Life, 69,562 storyboards for Ratatouille, and a whopping 98,173 storyboards for WALL-E. This rigorous task does not end there, major changes can happen even though the script is been approved. This workflow is not common in a typical hollywood studio. So before the team move into the expansive phase of digital animation they will prepare reels. This reels will show the rough version of the film. Reels will allow the Pixar team to tweak the story even more as they can visually see the story happen right before their eyes. Catmull says that when the Pixar team group together to showcase their reel, the reel will suck, in fact Pixar film will virtually suck until the last stages of production. This is because , the team will constantly detect and tweak the film. The movie is like polishing a rough diamond. Usually after the showcase, the Pixar team will email their comments to the director. They will explain what they liked, disliked, what could be done to improve the film, therefore major changes will occur. For example, during the production of Finding Nemo, sets of flashback scene has confuse the test audience, thus the issue had to be fixed. Toy Story 2 is even worst, the whole story had to re-written; a year before it had to be released. Bare in mind that it takes about 4 years to make one Pixar movie. Fast Company (2011)

Therefore we can see that Pixar stories are no miracle they have manage to get their story by a defining pursuit of excellence and quality. This constant prototyping they have done, where the film goes from suck to nonsuck is what makes Pixar great storytellers. As what John Lasseter says “We don’t actually finish our films, we release them”. A great story is never finish but we can strive hard to achieve it.

Becoming an innovative leader

Pixar has unique approach to management. They have very collaborative and creative workflow. Even Though Pixar has impress audiences with their technical advancement, Pixar’s greatest gift to the world could be their take on positive risk-taking for the creative process. Their fail-safe philosophy was introduced by John Lasseter. He method has allowed safety nets to protect small mishap to comprise the entire project. He strongly belief that each team at Pixar should not isolate themselves and work too long without updating and sharing their progress with others. Every three months at Pixar, directors are asked to prepare their reel for a showcase. By doing so, the directors can work together and identify each others reel flaws. Lasseter coins this collaboration as the “creative brain trust”, where all key people and directors at Pixar will get together and voluntarily help on each other films. He quotes that, “It doesn’t matter whose idea it is, the best idea gets used.”. Lasseter build Pixar as a studio where all employees will be working for the same thing, to make the best movie they can make, and are willing to allow people to put in their thoughts on the project. By doing so, you are able to see stuff that you never expect happen for your project. Not all ideas contributed to a project is a good idea, but the environment is supportive enough to make the Pixar people feel safe to speak up and take creative risk. Lee Unkrich said that at Pixar, “We fail a lot”, but “We just don’t fail by the time the movie comes out”. He also pointed out the even John Lasseter movies came to point where it became the biggest piece of mess that they have worked on. Variety (2009)

Many of Pixar film was not working to vision until the 11th hour. Example can be seen through Brad Bird’s Incredibles. The movie went through major changes where many scene were cut and replace, but at the end the movie received an  Academy Award for Best Animated Feature Film. Before the demise of Steve Jobs, he became the advice and motivation for the key people at Pixar. During the making of Toy Story 2, many problems occur, but Jobs ensured the team by telling them, that when he looked back on his career, all the work that he was most proud off was done under this circumstances where it seemed the project is impossible to finish, not enough money, so he had to rettale up the team and had them set the bar really high for themselves. Jobs also gave the Pixar team very assuring confidence. When Lasseter was pitching “Tin Toy”, Jobs only said at end of the pitch, “John, make it great”. Steve Jobs hands-off approach to Pixar, and believing on the talent of Pixar team has spear the studio to the right direction. McKinsey & Company (2008)

We can see that Pixar management approach has produce so many creative people for the industry and to creation of so many innovative ways to make the story unique and make the technology great. Lasseter said that “The one aspect of Pixar that we imported is our simple philosophy that a studio is not the building, a studio is its people, so each studio is going to have a different culture.”. A great leader will focus on its people, then rest will fall in place in the future.

Conclusion

Pixar has been a household name in the entertainment industry. They have played an important role in the growth of the entertainment industry. Their unique approach to management has produce a creative and nurturing environment for its employees. Based on their management style, their employees can help one another create a better story and ultimately a better experience for the audience. Looking all this facts, Pixar has truly inspired me to work hard on my long term goals which are making a unique experience for my audience, telling great stories and, becoming an innovative leader. Plus there has provided me valuable info on how to reach my long term goals. As what Steve Jobs says “ Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish”.

References

Fast Company (2011) Pixar's Motto: Going From Suck to Nonsuck. [online] Available at: http://www.fastcompany.com/1742431/pixars-motto-going-suck-nonsuck [Accessed: 6 May 2013].

Focus Magazine (2013) The science of Pixar - 25 years. [online] Available at: http://sciencefocus.com/feature/tech/science-pixar-25-years [Accessed: 6 May 2013].

McKinsey & Company (2008) Innovation lessons from Pixar: An interview with Oscar-winning director Brad Bird. [online] Available at: http://www.mckinsey.it/storage/first/uploadfile/attach/140140/file/inle08.pdf [Accessed: 7 May 2013].

Pixar (n.d.) The Pixar Timeline. [online] Available at: http://www.pixar.com/about/Our-Story [Accessed: 7 May 2013].

The Guardian (2009) How to tell a great toy story. [online] Available at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2009/feb/12/interview-john-lasseter-pixar [Accessed: 7 May 2013].

Variety (2009) Lasseter preaches fail-safe philosophy. [online] Available at: http://variety.com/2009/digital/news/lasseter-preaches-fail-safe-philosophy-1118007794/ [Accessed: 6 May 2013].