My only complaint about Pixar's new film Soul is that is doesn't come out until June 19. Here's the description:
Joe Gardner is a middle-school band teacher who gets the chance of a lifetime to play at the best jazz club in town. But one small misstep takes him from the streets of New York City to The Great Before – a fantastical place where new souls get their personalities, quirks and interests before they go to Earth. Determined to return to his life, Joe teams up with a precocious soul, 22, who has never understood the appeal of the human experience. As Joe desperately tries to show 22 what’s great about living, he may just discover the answers to some of life’s most important questions.
Featuring the voices of Jamie Foxx, Tina Fey, Phylicia Rashad, Angela Bassett, Ahmir Questlove Thompson, Daveed Diggs, “Soul” is directed by Academy Award winner Pete Docter (“Inside Out,” “Up”), co-directed by Kemp Powers (“One Night in Miami”) and produced by Academy Award nominee Dana Murray (Pixar short “Lou”). Globally renowned musician Jon Batiste will be writing original jazz music for the film, and Oscar-winners Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross (“The Social Network”), from Nine Inch Nails, will compose an original score that will drift between the real and soul worlds.
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Brothers Morgan and Mason McGrew were teenagers when they embarked on an 8-year-quest to remake Toy Story 3. The full length movie is on YouTubeand according to Gizmodo the project has Disney's blessing.
From Gizmodo:
If you’re interested in how the McGrew brothers actually made this fan film happen, you can head over to their Facebook page which features a series of behind the scenes looks at what went into their amateur production which started back in 2011. The British website Joe also published a fascinating interview with the brothers last year after the trailer for their film was released back in June of 2019. Be forewarned, though, it might leave you questioning how you spent your teenage years. The McGrews aren’t going to rake in billions of dollars from their fan film—that would certainly have Disney changing its mind about giving its blessing—but there’s little doubt this pair is going to be embraced by Hollywood, assuming they’re now not sick of filmmaking.
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Meet Bonnie's new toy "Forky" and head out on the road. Directed by Josh Cooley (“Riley’s First Date?”), Toy Story 4 comes to theaters June 21, 2019.
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This cute animated short looks at Pixar's in-house Halloween culture -- from the crazy costumes their employees wear to the unbelievably cool and completely unconventional prizes they receive for wowing the judges at the annual lunchtime contest.
Pixar's Halloween Celebration emcee Michael Frederickson narrates the piece and says, "At Pixar, we take not being serious on Halloween pretty seriously. It feels like a bunch of kids playing in a place of work where, of course, you should be able to do that." Read the rest
This is the best "Pixar-Off" I’ve ever seen. Read the rest
Okay, this may not in fact be ALL of the classic movie references in animated films from Pixar, but it's a whole lot of 'em. Read the rest
In 1972, Frederic Ira Parke, while a grad student at the University of Utah, created the first computer graphics animation, above, of a human face, and with fellow student (and Pixar co-founder) Ed Catmull made the groundbreaking computer animation, below, of a human hand. Read the rest
"At that time when we rendered things, everything kind of looked plastic-y," Lasseter says. "Everything looks like plastic, so what if the characters were made of plastic? What if they were... toys?'" Read the rest
No surprise that Cars 2—a naked toy ad—is at the bottom. But placing Brave next to it ("textbook Idiot Plot movie … dumb slapstick") seems a little rough. Up ("completely overshadowed by the heartbreaking preamble") barely sneaks into Tim Grierson and Will Leitch's top ten.
All 15 Pixar Movies, Ranked From Worst to Best [via Kottke] Read the rest
"Who knew feelings had feelings too." Read the rest
Pixar has released its Renderman imaging software to the public free to download. This version is identical to the software it uses on it's own films, which was invented in-house, and is used today by major film and video game studios for animation and visual effects. This free license is for non-commercial use only, which includes show reels and student films.
Free Non-Commercial RenderMan can be used for research, education, evaluation, plug-in development, and any personal projects that do not generate commercial profits. Free Non-Commercial RenderMan is also fully featured, without watermark, time limits, or other user limitations.
Pixar is also launching a Renderman Community Site to share knowledge and assets, showcase work, and support all the new users bound to take advantage of this unique opportunity.
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At Cult of Mac, Sarah Lai Stirland offers an amusing anecdote from Pixar Director Mark Andrews, who got to tell Steve Jobs off.
Mark Andrews, a writer, director and storyboard artist at Pixar, recounted that Jobs would often drop in to participate in production postmortems. It was at the company’s screening of “The Incredibles,” about a family of superheroes living undercover in the suburbs, where he first met Apple’s late co-founder. Andrews worked on the project as its story supervisor.
“He was sitting next to me and he said: ‘I just got one thing, John and Brad,’[the film's producer and writer/director] They said: ‘Sure, what is it Steve?’ He said: ‘Those stupid-ass, George Lucas-reject Star Wars space ships in “The Incredibles” are asinine!’” Andrews said. “And I designed ‘em, and I turned around and I said: ‘Excuse me, Steve, those are MY George Lucas-reject fuckin’ asinine space ships!’
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Some incredibly dedicated and talented maniacs have created a shot-for-shot live action recreation of Toy Story.
[Video Link]SoundWorks profiled Brave director Mark Andrews, re-recording mixer and sound designer Gary Rydstrom, supervising sound Editor Gwen Yates Whittle, and sound designer E.J. Holowicki about their work on the movie.
SoundWorks Collection: Brave Read the rest
A Canadian oil company called Paramount Resources has changed its name to Pixar. Seriously.
Previously known as Paramount Resources, I guess the executives got tired of being named after one of Hollywood’s has-been brands. As far as I can tell, this is not a joke, there’s even a serious sounding press release composed without a hint of irony. It’s being reported in the wider media as well.
Oil Company renames itself Pixar
(Thanks, John!) Read the rest
Pixar has posted the trailer for its next feature, "Brave," which opens in June 2012. I had a bit of a meh reaction to this, though I can't put my finger on why, precisely. I'm generally very fond of Pixar movies, for what it's worth (though "Cars" left me cold, and I never seemed to be able to enjoy "Wall-E" as much as other people). In any event, I'm sure I'll be seeing this, if only to bring Poesy out to a movie, something we both love.
Brave Trailer Read the rest
