How Pixar gets it right, every time

3 Guidelines Pixar Follows That Has Made Them The #1 Animated Film Company In The World

I don't have kids. But - with my extensive knowledge of animated films - you might think I do. I've watched the good, the bad, and the Polar Express so I consider myself an individual with a lot of knowledge about animated films.

 Parents often roll their eyes or grumble words of angst when they talk about the entertainment quality of the films they watch with their children. This reaction may stem from the fact that most television and film companies focus their efforts on entertaining the child (*cough Dora the Explorer cough*) while forgetting that often times there is an adult sitting beside the child watching just as intently – sometimes more.

While it is true that you can't please all the people all the time, Pixar is a company that has gotten pretty close. Children, adults, and critics simultaneously agree that Pixar creates great films. So how do they do it? What's their secret sauce? I'm going to share with you how Pixar got smart and followed 3 simple guidelines that catapulted them to the forefront of feature length animated films.. 

1. Tell a Good, Well-Rounded Story

When studios became equipped with the technical ability to produce animated films using groundbreaking computer technology, it was easy to get mired down with details of the visuals. Animation studios finally had access to fun new tools that create realistic elements like moving fur, life-like eyes, and action scenes that don't look like the first release of Super Mario Bros. Pre-Pixar computer animated films suffered with creating this type of realism simply because the technology had not yet been discovered.  So when the low-resolution clouds broke and 

Pixar had the capability of making high-quality computer animated films, they ran with it – and at the same time didn't forget to devote serious time and energy to story development. Pixar knows that story telling is the essence of any film - animated or not. 

Storytelling is at the root of every great film.  Some studios that create children’s films rest on silliness and tricks to maintain the attention of 5-year-olds, but Pixar has pushed beyond this and proven that a film can be not only watchable, but beloved by 5 year olds, 15 year olds…all the way up to 95 year olds. And it all begins with a captivating, heart warming, and most importantly: well-rounded story.

2. Tell the story from the point of view of a Dude (or a Dad)

Pixar took notice of a pattern: Most animated films - especially those from Disney - were told from the point of view of a female. Oftentimes the female is a vocally gifted princess who requires salvation from a male. This archetype has been used since the dawn of story-time, and it is still being used to this day.

As a departure from that theme, Pixar broke the mold of animated films by introducing their first feature film, Toy Story, as told from the point of view of two males: Buzz Lightyear and Woody. Also, the main human character is a little boy who owns all of the toys. This decision was key in not only creating differentiation from the animated film companies who maintained the animated theme of feminine protagonist/masculine hero, but it also created unconscious brand loyalty among male audiences of all ages. And Pixar succeeded in doing this without alienating their female audience.

In addition, Pixar shifted the plot lines of their stories to include those that revolved around dads. In a society where divorce has become more common than marriage, this shift has allowed Pixar to tap into the hearts of dads who spend time with their kids on the weekend doing things like going to the movies. Are dad’s more apt to go to movies that exemplify their lives and their story? You bet. Will Dad and child form a bond watching something that models their relationship? Yup. 

Finding Nemo is an obvious example of this shift with the two main characters being a father and son. But The Dad Strategy can also be found in Monsters Inc., Cars, and Up. 

Pixar took notice of a culture shift in this country and used it to it's advantage - again without alienating their female audience. 

3. Bring to life the things that we love

Disney has been anthropomorphizing objects in their animated films since its first film - Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. In fact, most animated feature films include animals, or candlesticks, or trees that take on human-like characteristics. But Pixar took this strategy to another level by bringing to life specific objects that stir up nostalgia, that cause emotions involving attachment, and that we have an over-arching love for in typical American life. 

Toy Story is a great example of this strategy because the film centers around a little boy's toy collection. For those of us who had a typical* American childhood, seeing classic American toys like Mr. Potato Head and Barbie come to life can provide a sense of connection between us and the film. We are connected to the film on a deeper level because of the familiarity of the object as well as the magical aspect of seeing that object come to life. Kids often pretend that their toys are alive, so in a way the film is providing a glimpse at a dream come true. 

Pixar's production of Cars pulls at other heart strings of ours by tapping into a long running fascination and love affair we have with automobiles. "Car people" are serious about their fascination and it's been noted that these fascinations usually start presenting themselves at a young age. So Pixar's choice to bring to life these beloved objects was no doubt carefully calculated and paid has off in droves.

It's also interesting to note that car collecting has generally been a male-centric hobby so Pixar's choice to bring to life these modern, man-made machines is one of genius and follows along with the second tenet: Tell the story from the point of view of a Dude (or a Dad). Dad's and kids around the nation have no doubt bonded over a shared love of cars, thanks to the introduction kids receive from this film. 


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And Thats it. That's what Pixar has done to succeed in making the most successful animated feature films of all time. I encourage other film houses to take notice because there is no denying that what they are doing works. Not only are they a hit with kids, but they win Academy Awards, have high rankings on top critic sites, and also have been rated as creating one of the Top 10 Greatest Series Of All Time for the Toy Story series. I'm excited to see what Pixar has in store for the coming years. I know when I sit down to watch a Pixar film, I'm in for a treat. 

*I realize that calling a childhood typical can be ambiguous and arguably non-existent but stay with me here. In actuality, I think our childhoods are more similar than we think - even when socio-economic status, geographical location, and other differentiators come into play. There are some unique archetypes of childhood that many of us can relate to and we can tap into particular emotions when these archetypes are brought out. 

2013 Academy Awards Recap

The Oscars are over 

The dresses are hung

The Xanax is shelved

The fat lady has sung.

Actually, there were A LOT of singers at this year’s show, and surprisingly none of them overweight…hmmm…

Ok, let's discuss.

Let’s start with Best Picture. Argo. Not a shocker. 

The love affair that Hollywood has with any film that has elements of war and with the love affair that Hollywood has with itself made this film a shoe-in for Best Picture. 

Set during the Iran Hostage Crisis in 1979, a CIA expert suggests fooling those silly Iranians by masquerading the hostages as a fake film crew from Canada in order to get them on a plane and home safe. If the film wasn’t based on a true story, I’d probably have thought the plot to be a bit lame.

Bottom line: Make a film about war and add in a part about film making itself and those 6,000 members of the Academy will predictably vote in your favor. I’d bet money that Zero Dark Thirty was a close second place.

Argo itself was fairly good, but not Best Picture material.

Daniel Day Lewis accepting his award for Best Performance by a Lead Actor

Now that that’s out of my system, let’s talk Daniel Day Lewis. What a dreamboat. His joke involving Meryl Streep was both hilarious and seemingly off-the-cuff. Though if it was rehearsed, I couldn’t be mad at him. The thing about Lincoln was that it bored me to tears, but it was still a great film. And that’s because of Daniel Day Lewis. He is one of the best actors of this time and I enjoy listening to his acceptance speeches almost as much as I enjoy watching him act. He is above all a remarkable man of his craft.

Ok, I’m back to my bitterness again. Jennifer Lawrence. Seriously I’m not happy. A half-baked romantic comedy managed to fool everyone this year into thinking that it was worth more than rom-coms of the past. And mind you, I love a good romantic comedy. I even have trouble choosing which one to reference in this tirade because there are so many that I love. But most (if not all) of them do not have a place at the Oscars. They are often trite, predicable, and unimaginative. And Silver Linings Playbook is no different.

Jennifer Lawrence plays a recent widow who falls into a friendship with Bradley Cooper’s character who is (gasp!) just returning from a mental hospital after he freaked out finding his wife with another man. That’s it. That’s the plot. Oh, and Jennifer’s character convinces Bradley’s character to help her with an upcoming dance competition that will ultimately bring the two of them together. A dance competition.

And no, I don’t think either of the parents’ characters contributed anything of value to this film so please spare me the “What about DeNiro?” or “Jacki Weaver was great!” 

Blah. They were beige. The whole film was beige.

Jennifer Lawrence's graceful fall

Aside from all of that, I do give Ms. Lawrence kudo’s for falling so gracefully up the stage that at first I thought it was on purpose. And during her speech, I just pretended she was receiving the Oscar for her role in Winter’s Bone – A much, much better performance that certainly deserved recognition over Silver Linings Playbook. This is proof that the Academy votes politically, and not based on artistic merit.  

I’ve already spoken my adoration for Beasts of the Southern Wild in a previous post so it’s no surprise that I was favoring the film and its nominations to win. I had the opportunity to watch each and every nominated film this year and I will report that Beasts of The Southern Wild held steady as my number one choice.

But I have watched too many Oscar shows to be naïve enough to think this film had a chance. Quvenzhane Wallis may be one of the most talented 9-year-olds on the planet, but she doesn’t play the Oscar game so she never stood a chance. I was really expecting Jessica Chastain to win Best Actress. She seemed to have the politics thing down and her performance was good. So it would have been a good fit both politically and artistically.

Quvenzhane Wallis on the Red Carpet

Christophe Waltz and Anne Hathaway were definites for me. Both played very affective and effective characters so I was glad for both of their wins. And I’ll excuse the fact that Anne Hathaway was only on screen for about twenty minutes in Les Miserables because it was an unbelievable twenty minutes of character acting.

And the last category that I’ll make comment of is Documentary Feature. I was pleased to see Searching for Sugarman win but I would have been ecstatic if the winner was How to Survive a Plague. In fact, this category was full of great submissions and I would recommend most of them. Invisible War was high on my list as well as 5 Broken Cameras so the good news of this Oscar Season is that this category was full of talent.

So that’s a wrap on this years show, I’ll try next year to not expect The Academy to vote with their brains – then perhaps I wont be disappointed. Until next year movie-lovers!

Here’s my official list (in a very particular order) of nominated films that are a must-watch:

1. Beasts of the Southern Wild

2. How to Survive a Plague

3. Django Unchained

4. Life of Pi

5. Flight

6. Amour

7. Hitchcock

8. The Master

9. Mirror Mirror 

Oscar Noms are in!

Here's some initial impressions:

I'm very excited to see my girl, Quvenzhané Wallis of Beasts of the Southern Wild in the nominations for Best Actress- That little girl nailed the art of expressing the loneliness of being a kid;  the loneliness that so many adults forget existed as they grow older. Wallis plays Hush Puppy, a child who lives an unusual life in a Bayou of New Orleans called The Bathtub - before and after the levees broke. 

Quvenzhane Wallis

To all who have yet to see it, this is my pick for Film of the Year. Last year my pick was Drive,and I am glad to have found my pick for this year to be as engaging and affecting as last year's. 

There are mostly the usual suspects for Best Picture, Best Actor, and Best Actress although I can't say this bothers me. I find that The Academy makes great decisions for the nominees - a statement I cannot say is the same for the actual winners. 

For once though, I can say I have seen one of the animated shorts before the nominees have been announced; usually this category evades me. Paperman was superb and certainly deserves the nod. 

Paperman

And I am pleased to see Mirror Mirror nominated for Best Costume Design. That film slipped past most critics and audiences and deserves more recognition for being funny, smart, and overall a great fairytale film. I cannot say the same for Snow White and the Huntsman. 

Having yet to see every picture that is nominated, I will reserve judgement for my picks for each category. And I may just have to change my mind for Film of the Year also...Lincoln, Django Unchained and Life of Pi I have yet to see, among several others. 

The 85th Annual Academy Awards air February 24, 2013. I'll be watching, will you?

J'adore le Genre: Found Footage

Found Footage films are known to catch a lot of flack – Kind of like when Mitt Romney calls himself a ‘self-made man’.

The public can see through the falsities like the X-ray of a Larval Leaf Scorpionfish

Found Footage films are – in short – contrived bits of amateur film making spliced together to give audiences a front row seat into the action of a story that is presented to have been recorded by accident, and usually involves some disaster, catastrophe, and/or paranormal incident.

I have designated a special place in my heart for this genre to reside because I find these films to be fun, captivating, and - with a little stretch of the imagination - scary.

Mind you, this is coming from someone who yelled at the screen while watching Disney’s Up, “A bunch of balloons carry a house away? This could never happen!” – So you may argue that I have a hard time with suspension of disbelief and should therefore dislike this genre - which is partially true, but an entirely different blog post. But I think we can all agree that suspension of disbelief is a personal experience based on one’s own perception. And for some reason, I do not have trouble suspending my belief for this genre of film.    

I understand that the intelligent part of the  ...

The character that was never there

TOP 5 TV SHOW CHARACTERS THAT NEVER APPEAR ON-SCREEN

Taking a break from the silver screen, I'd like to commend some of televisions greatest characters. 

It's a common device of television producers and writers to create a character and never cast it, never hire an actor, and never show the character on-screen. Here's a tribute to those characters that I consider to be the best of the best at never being there. 
  

(warning: minor spoiler alerts, proceed with caution, oh ye of little television watching...)

5. Troy Garland (a.k.a Evie's Dad):Out of this World

As a child of divorce whose parents at one time lived on opposite sides of the country, this show really spoke to me. Evie's dad, Troy, was technically further away than mine, and she had a much cooler method of communicating to him that seemed to work whenever she needed him -- but the message still rang true for me as I am sure it did for a lot of other kids in my generation: long-distance parenting sucks. And what better way to convey the distance (both real and perceived) by never actually showing the main character's father on screen? Troy is the alien father of Evie who is 1/2 alien, 1/2 human due to the procreating practices of her parents. Evie lives full time with her mother while Troy went back to his home planet to help fight a war. Evie uses a 'cube' to talk to her dad, which closely resembles the technology of a land-line speaker phone but has the ability to reach other planets. Troy makes a few on-screen appearances but never without a mask covering part of his face. Most of the time he is just a voice on the other end of a super 90's looking futuristic crystal cube that opens like a clam shell. True character development gold. 

4. Dr Claw: Inspector Gadget

Doo-da-do-do-do Inspector Gadget Doo-da-do-do-do-do-do ooh hoo! Seriously, you should re-listen to this theme song; it has some decent beats for an 80’s cartoon series. Dr. Claw’s body is never revealed on-screen except for his hand with the Lady-Gaga-esque metal glove. His faithful companion M.A.D cat seems to be his only friend in life -– proving that life is lonely at the top; especially if you’re an evil asshole. As a kid, I remember feeling that twinge of anxiety each time his hand would come on screen. I thought for sure some day they would reveal his entire figure. I was determined to find out. And sadly disappointed when it never happened. I heard that you can see his face fully revealed on the video game…but at this point it seems a little sacrilegious – like I would be scoffing at the integrity of the TV show.  What if the rest of him looked like Barney Fife? Or worse, Lady Gaga?? No, no, that’s better left unknown. 

3. Tino: My So-Called Life

Oh Tino, I always wanted to imagine you as an equally dreamy Hispanic/Italian version of Jordan Catalano. Even though I knew deep down that you probably more closely resembled Krazy-8 (a la Breaking Bad). And he’s attractive - but come on - he’s no Catalano. Tino is Rayanne’s friend; Tino is in Jordan’s band ‘Frozen Embryos’; Tino is never to be found but always around. He is the connector of the cool kids at his high school and perhaps this is because he is so elusive. After all, no one got cool points in high school for showing up. I wouldn’t be surprised in Angela Chase had never met him. And thus, his character is perfect as unseen.

2. Ugly Naked Guy: Friends

Ugly Naked Guy is said to be a composite of several neighbor-experiences the writers of Friends had while living in New York City. After the show aired, they received a letter from a person who grew up in the building that the show uses as stock footage for exterior shots. She claimed that there was, in fact, an actual ugly naked guy living in the building across from hers. After examination of this, I must conclude that it is not so much a remarkable coincidence as it is incredibly common for people to walk around naked in their apartments. Having lived in a downtown domicle for over 6 years with buildings that are in close quarters, I can say with certainty that people do walk around naked when they are at home.  Though not as committed to the lifestyle as Ugly Naked Guy is purported to be, people like to strip to their skivvies when hanging out at home. Hey, even Joey admitted to partaking in Naked Thursdays…

1. Stanley  Walker: Will and Grace

Known to Will and Grace fans as Karen Walker’s rich, powerful, and morbidly overweight third husband, Stan Walker tops my list as a the best unseen TV character for many reasons. As an unseen character, he sure wasn’t passed over where story lines were concerned. In fact, entire episodes and arguably, entire season arcs were based on his characters actions off-camera. Never before has an unseen character been put into prison for tax evasion, cheated in his wife while in prison resulting in their separation only later to die, resulting in a full episode dedicated to his funeral. And then it gets interesting…He comes back from the dead, revealing himself to Will and admitting that he was just hiding out and receiving help from the government. Karen finds out and more drama ensues, all the while not a glimpse of his being is ever visually revealed.

*Honorable Mention*
Wilson: Home Improvement

Honorable mention goes to Wilson from Home Improvement because although the shows writers and producers went to great lengths to never show Wilson's face below the halfway mark, he is an 'on-screen' actor appearing in 203 episodes that span all 8 seasons. And, his entire face was finally revealed in the series finale which makes it hard to fit him into this category of 'unseen actors'. But it was hard for me to write this post without including him somehow, so I give him honorable mention - as I am sure he would express appreciation toward, and then wax philosophical on the subject of honor and gratitude.  

Jiro Dreams of Sushi

I heard about this film months ago. I read about it in Entertainment Weekly -- and in Rolling Stone -- I saw promo posters plastered throughout the Tenderloin -- and I love sushi so it was generally brought up as a must-see. For reasons that are inconsequential, I waited until last week to finally see Jiro Dreams of Sushi and I am happy to report that it far exceeded my expectations.

First, I must mention that usually when films are hyped up - even just a little bit - the chances that I will be disappointed are huge. This unfortunate phenomenon occurs because the hopes and expectations that I have built up have simply failed to manifest. I suppose the cosmic balance of things levels everything off with the instances when I don't have any expectations for a film (i.e Tree of Life or Drive) and the film ends up being an exceptional piece of work. Ah, such is life. Which brings me

J'adore le Genre: Minimalist Disaster Film

Disaster films have the distinction of being one of the most popular film genres of all time. Starting at the beginning of the century with films like Fire! and Night and Ice, to the mid-20^th century with films like War of the Worlds and King Kong, and on to more recent titles like Independence Day, The Road, and Melancholia, this genre has done its job of captivating audiences on a global level.

But I’m not going to talk about disaster films.

Today I will tackle another lesser known genre lovingly-known as the Minimalist Disaster film. A Google search of this genre may return very few results so I guess before I go any further I should mention…I made this genre up.

My reasoning for creating this genre was two-fold.

Fold One: I got tired of people referring to certain films as disaster films and lumping them into the same category as those mentioned at the beginning of this post when they are clearly different in many ways.

Fold Two: The films included in this niche category are some of my all-time favorite films and therefore I felt a need to segregate them and honor them with their own specific genre.

I think the best way to describe these films is to name some rules that a film must adhere to in order to be considered a true Minimalist Disaster film. These rules are non-negotiable and all must apply in order for a film to be considered a true Minimalist Disaster.

Official Rules of a Minimalist Disaster Film:

J'adore le Genre: The Switcheroo

This is the inaugural post of a series I am proud to announce called ‘J'adore le Genre’. Posts in this series will focus on a specific genre within the film industry that I absolutely* love.

Now, most people can name 5-10 film genres fairly easily (romantic comedy, horror, sci-fi, action, drama, etc.) and those popular and arguably over-used genres will not be mentioned here. I will instead, focus on lesser known genres that are near and dear to my movie-loving heart.

And I’ve will begin with a genre that is one of my all-time favorites: The Switcheroo. A.K.A the body swap, Switcheroo films involve