Nostalgic Animation Analogue Sensitivities in Pixar’s Digital Animation

Helen Haswell PhD Candidate in Film Studies - Queen’s University Belfast

1. Pixar as Pioneers What significant technological developments have facilitated an organic aesthetic within digital animation?

2. Nostalgia

3. Blending Techniques

How does nostalgia inform a common preference for a more “traditional” look?

How does the convergence of 2D and CG animation techniques represent the partnership of Disney-Pixar?

1. Pixar as Pioneers What significant technological developments have facilitated an organic aesthetic within digital animation?

A “naturalistic” look

The floor, sofa and magazine in Tin Toy (Lasseter, 1988)

Patterned surfaces in Knick Knack (Lasseter, 1989) Lumpy the Clown in Red’s Dream (Lasseter, 1987)

“Art challenges the technology. Technology inspires the art.” - John Lasseter, Chief Creative Officer, Pixar Animation Studios and Walt Disney Animation Studios

Limitations as a virtue Luxo in Luxo Jr. (Lasseter, 1986) Red in Red’s Dream (Lasseter, 1987)

Tinny in Tin Toy (Lasseter, 1988) Toys from Toy Story (Lasseter, 1995)

Research and Development Human Characters

André and Wally B., 1984

Luxo Jr., 1986

Red’s Dream, 1987

Presto, 2008

Tin Toy, 1988

Knick Knack, 1989

Geri’s Game, 1998

For the Birds, 2001

Boundin’, 2004

One Man Band, 2006

Lifted, 2007

Landmark Developments

Fur – Monster, Inc. (Docter, Silverman & Unkrich 2001)

Fabric – Brave (Andrews & Chapman 2012) Water, Fire and Ice – The Incredibles (Bird, 2004)

RenderMan

For full list go to: renderman.pixar.com/view/movies-and-awards

The Blue Umbrella (Unseld, 2013)

Photo-realist Aesthetic

“There’s a perfection about computer generated animation that doesn’t look natural and a coldness… compared to the expressive vibrations of the hand that give life to hand-drawn animation.”

- Marjane Satrapi, Co-director of Persepolis (2007)

Displacement Shader

RenderMan

‘There is some indication of expressive advances in CG features’ (Power, 2009, 119)

‘Expressive works in animation are more likely to be independent or auteur-type works’ (Power, 2009, 117)

Textures

La Luna (Casarosa, 2011)

‘A warmth of human imperfection’ – Casarosa, 2011

‘The sequence employs state of the art digital rendering technologies… to create purposefully flimsy looking 2D wooden cut out animals and sets… to achieve an overall grainy, washed-out aesthetic on an analogue television.’

Montgomery, 2011, 9.

2. Nostalgia How does nostalgia inform a common preference for a more “traditional” look?

‘An intriguing convergence between the aesthetics of the animated feature and the aesthetics of the advertising industry’ (Gurevitch, 2012, 142)

Nostalgia in Contemporary Media

Nostalgia in Pixar Features

Childhood in Toy Story A past life in The Incredibles Community in Cars

Championing the analogue in WALL-E

Young love and adventure in Up

Nostalgia in La Luna

Family traditions and coming of age

3. Blending Techniques How does the convergence of 2D and CG animation techniques represent the partnership of Disney-Pixar?

Traditional Disney

‘Without John Lasseter this return to a more traditional style of animation may never have happened’

‘Disney has maintained a link to its past both stylistically and thematically’

Pallant, 2011, 142

Telotte, 2008, 162

The Princess and the Frog (Clements and Musker, 2009)

Nostalgia in Disney

Paperman (Kahrs, 2012)

Get a Horse! (MacMullan, 2013)

Get a Horse! (MacMullan, 2013)

Animators added deliberate imperfections and mistakes

Get a Horse!

‘Disney’s films increasingly demonstrate the relationship between the organic and the machine’.

Wells, 1998, 23

Hand-drawn Elements

Hand painted backgrounds in The Adventures of André and Wally B. (Lasseter, 1984)

Hand-animated sales tag in Red’s Dream (Lasseter, 1987)

Beauty and the Beast (Trousdale and Wise, 1991)

Hand-drawn characters manipulated on a CGI background

‘By framing the 3D bodies of Night and Day with a 2D animated outline, Pixar literally provides a window on how these two styles of animation can be successfully combined.’

Pallant, 2011, 146

Concept artwork for Paperman

Paperman (Kahrs, 2012)

‘It is arguably only Disney that is now able to produce a 2D animated feature capable of successfully competing in the market’.

Pallant, 2011, 142

Pixar: 2D and CG

Day & Night (Newton, 2010)

Disney: 2D and CG

Get a Horse! (MacMullan, 2013)

1. Pixar as Pioneers What significant technological developments have facilitated an organic aesthetic within digital animation?

2. Nostalgia

3. Blending Techniques

How does nostalgia inform a common preference for a more “traditional” look?

How does the convergence of 2D and CG animation techniques represent the partnership of Disney-Pixar?

References !   Cook, Pam. Screening the Past: Memory and Nostalgia in Cinema. Routledge, 2005.

! Gurevitch, Leon. ‘Computer Generated Animation as Product Design Engineered Culture, or Buzz Lightyear to the Sale Floor, to the Checkout and Beyond!’ Animation. 7.2. 2012. 131-149.

! Letteri, Joe. ‘Digital Heroes and Computer-Generated Worlds’. Nature. 504. 2013.

!   Montgomery, Colleen. ‘Woody’s Roundup and Wall-E’s Wunderkammer: Technophilia and Nostalgia in Pixar Animation’. Animation Studies. 6. 7-13. 2011.

! Pallant, Chris. Demystifying Disney: A History of Disney Feature Animation. Continuum International Publishing Group, 2011.

!   Power, Pat. ‘Animated Expressions: Expressive Style in 3D Computer Graphic Narrative Animation’. Animation. 4.2. 2009. 107-129.

!   Schaffer, William. ‘The Importance of Being Plastic: The Feel of Pixar’. Animation Journal. 12. 2004. 72-95.

! Telotte, J.P. The Mouse Machine: Disney and Technology. University of Illinois Press, 2008.

!   Wells, Paul. Understanding Animation. Routledge, 1998.

Nostalgic Animation Analogue Sensitivities in Pixar’s Digital Animation

Helen Haswell PhD Candidate in Film Studies - Queen’s University Belfast