After all. Pixar is where I want to be in the end so because of that I have decided to start my research there.
Pixar's History
Pixar is based in Emeryville, California, US and has been around since 1979.
At this point Pixar was originally a part of Lucasfilm ltd doing graphics and visual effects (Graphics group).
1984 was the year when John Lasseter left his job as an animator for Disney to start working for Pixar as an animator instead. Here he animated the first Pixar short ever made: André and Wally B, which was premiered at Siggraph the same year. Pixar's goal with this short was not only to showcase animation done by a real animator but also 2 technical inventions which were a particle system and motion blur. Motion blur became a huge success commercially, and is still being used today. The crowd loved what they saw and one guy asked John Lasseter what software he had used to animate the characters since it was so funny. Of course this proves the focus and interest was still on the technology.
In 1986 Pixar was bought by Steve Jobs, the co-founder of Apple and the company got divorced from Lucasfilm as an independent company called Pixar. The same year the Luxo lamp was born when Pixar released their second short film "Luxo Jr" to demonstrate the new technology that their software and hardware were capable of doing. Luxo Jr premiered at Siggraph and was a huge success. This time, when John Lasseter was asked about the characters the question was not about the technical aspects of the film but if the big Luxo lamp was a father or a mother. John smiled and thought for himself that he made it. It's not just about the technical aspects any more; it's also about the characters which today is what Pixar's films are all about.
Luxo Jr showed to the world who Pixar is and what they're about and has become a trademark/logo that the whole world knows them for.
In these early years, Pixar was mainly a high-end computer hardware company selling both hardware and software which was mainly sold to government managed companies and Disney. Their core was the "Pixar Image Computer" where their leading buyer was Disney. Even though they had such a big studio as Disney buying their Image Computer, it never sold well. Next to selling hardware and software, Pixar was also making short animation films and they were the first ones to ever release a CGI film.
Even though Pixar has managed to amaze the world with their short movies as demonstration of what their hardware were capable of the sales were still too poor and Pixar was threatened to bankruptcy. To save the company from facing that fate, John Lasseter and his animation department started producing CG commercials for third party companies. This saved them from bankrupcy with campaign success' like Listerine, Tropicana and LifeSavers. Next to doing the commercial work, Pixar kept their relationship with Disney who later proved to become a major partner in Pixar's success.
In 1991 Pixar signed a contract with Disney to produce up to 3 feature length films were the first one to be released was Toy Story in 1995 with huge success as the highest grossing film of that year.
Because of Pixar's success, Disney went into a new agreement with them in 1996 to produce 5 films where the following films were: A Bugs Life, Toy Story 2, Monsters Inc, Finding Nemo, The Incredibles.
In 2006 Pixar gets bought by the Walt Disney Company which makes Pixar a fully-owned subsidiary company of the Walt Disney Company
Throughout the years Pixar has produced several short films as well as feature-length films which are listed here chronologically:
Pixar's Films
Pixar Short André and Wally B (1984)
Pixar Short Luxo Jr (1986)
Pixar Short Red's Dream (1987)
Pixar Short Tin Toy (1988)
Pixar Short Knick Knack (1989)
Pixar Feature
Toy Story
(1995)
Pixar Short Geri's Game (1997)
Pixar Feature
A Bug's Life
(1996)
Pixar Feature Toy Story 2 (1999)
Pixar Short For The Birds (2000)
Pixar Feature Monster's, Inc. (2001)
Pixar Short Mike's New Car (2002)
Pixar Short Boundin' (2003)
Pixar Feature Finding Nemo (2003)
Pixar Feature The Incredibles (2004)
Pixar Short Jack-Jack Attack (2005)
Pixar Short
One Man Band
(2005)
Pixar Feature Cars (2006)
Pixar Short Mater And The Ghost Light (2006)
Pixar Short Lifted (2006)
Pixar Feature Ratatouille (2007)
Pixar Short Your Friend The Rat (2007)
Pixar Short Presto (2008)
Pixar Feature WALL-E (2008)
Pixar Short BURN-E (2008)
Pixar Short Partly Cloudy (2009)
Pixar Feature Up (2009)
Pixar Short Dug's Special Mission (2009)
Career opportunities at Pixar
So how do I get there? How do I get my foot inside their door? Become part of their team? Simply, how do I get a career at Pixar?
I guess there's the same difficulty (if not more difficult) as with any other job you would apply for to actually getting it. One way in however could be doing an internship so at least the employers at Pixar will get to know me and see what I can do. As far as I've found out, internships are possible for anyone in the world and not US students alone, as long as the applicant have the required qualifications.
As with probably any job in this industry it's important to show the work I've done to any potential employer if I would have a chance on getting a job. In most cases this is done by making a show/demo reel and Pixar has a list of 11 points on how to do this right:
"
http://www.pixar.com/companyinfo/jobs/howto.html
Pixar announces job vacancies as well as their internships on their webpage. Unfortunately they currently don't have anything about animation and they don't answer emails from students who have questions regarding their school projects.
That is in short what I have found out about career opportunities at Pixar. Even though they don't answer emails for students who do projects I still hope I can manage to get an interview of some sort when representatives from Pixar will be here in Teesside at Animex to find out more about what pathway to go in order to get hired at Pixar.
This concludes my research about Pixar so far.
Sources:
(2005)
Pixar Feature Cars (2006)
Pixar Short Mater And The Ghost Light (2006)
Pixar Short Lifted (2006)
Pixar Feature Ratatouille (2007)
Pixar Short Your Friend The Rat (2007)
Pixar Short Presto (2008)
Pixar Feature WALL-E (2008)
Pixar Short BURN-E (2008)
Pixar Short Partly Cloudy (2009)
Pixar Feature Up (2009)
Pixar Short Dug's Special Mission (2009)
Career opportunities at Pixar
So how do I get there? How do I get my foot inside their door? Become part of their team? Simply, how do I get a career at Pixar?
I guess there's the same difficulty (if not more difficult) as with any other job you would apply for to actually getting it. One way in however could be doing an internship so at least the employers at Pixar will get to know me and see what I can do. As far as I've found out, internships are possible for anyone in the world and not US students alone, as long as the applicant have the required qualifications.
As with probably any job in this industry it's important to show the work I've done to any potential employer if I would have a chance on getting a job. In most cases this is done by making a show/demo reel and Pixar has a list of 11 points on how to do this right:
"
The list is a quote from Pixar's webpage, to see the list in more detail go to:1) An application that requires a demo reel submission has 5 parts:
a) the cover letter
b) the resume
c) the demo reel
d) the demo reel breakdown
e) the on-line application (the application contains the Reel Submission Agreement)
2) Your reel should be no more than 4 minutes.
3) Don't show un-approved work.
4) Nobody cares about music/soundtrack.
5) Put your best work first.
6) Demo Reel Breakdown (DRB).
7) Include a title card at the beginning and end with your name, address, phone, and email.
8) Show work that proves that you know what you did.
9) Take the time to polish.
10) Show it to other people.
And 11) If you really don't have stuff to put on a reel, don't send one.
"
http://www.pixar.com/companyinfo/jobs/howto.html
Pixar announces job vacancies as well as their internships on their webpage. Unfortunately they currently don't have anything about animation and they don't answer emails from students who have questions regarding their school projects.
That is in short what I have found out about career opportunities at Pixar. Even though they don't answer emails for students who do projects I still hope I can manage to get an interview of some sort when representatives from Pixar will be here in Teesside at Animex to find out more about what pathway to go in order to get hired at Pixar.
This concludes my research about Pixar so far.
Sources:
- Pixar
- Pixar Short Films Collection Volume 1 (DVD)
- Wikipedia
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