Creativity and Innovation at Pixar: A Review of Literature

Haley Vallandingham University of Central Florida ENC 1102 Prof. Wolcott

Ladies and gentleman, for your consideration People wonder how they do it. They wonder how, year after year, they are capable of producing award winning films and shorts, while having the good fortune of not experiencing the dreaded slump (a period of unsuccessfulness) that all film corporations fear. Most people believe that the reason behind Pixar Animation Studios success is through their exceptional use of 3D animation. Being the company that first developed computer animation, this is expected. And this belief, while partially true, is most certainly not the main agent to their success. Pixar has a special gift; the ability to create a compelling, unique, and completely endearing story that is enjoyed by audiences of all ages. The companys motto Story is King, is prevalent in all their movies and shorts. It is this motto, this idea on which Ive established my research. What factors are considered when creating a story? What are some of the processes a story goes through? How is creativity established? What impact do the staff themselves have on the creation of a story? These are all important inquiries when considering the Pixar method of film making. The following data in this paper answer these questions while expounding on how creativity and innovation foster a good story. What makes them special? It is the artists lived or phenomenological experiences that powerfully influence both the narrative and technical innovations of their work (Seton, 2008). In other words, a truly innovative and creative person acquires their skills (collaboration and improvisation), through lived circumstance. It is these people, these right brained, unconventional people, Pixar are prone to hire. I believe it is essential for animation artists to see that their shared and embodied life
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experiences have an impact on their creative work. Pixar is so successful not just because of their story-telling method, but also because of their artists abilities to collaborate and improvise; these abilities that were learned from life experiences. This is an interesting topic because not many people consider life circumstance to be that important when animating a story. One exemplary example of circumstance fostering innovation and creativity can be defined by the founder of Pixar itself. John Lasseter, an animation genius with skill comparable to Walt Disney himself, is a master-story teller. Hes wanted to be an animator for Disney since he first realized that people actually earn a living for creating cartoons and was one of the first students ever to be put through CalArts (a school strictly dealing with Disney-style art) character animation program. He got his job at Disney, but was disappointed learn that it was not the Disney he was expecting. Its values were more about profit than story. This confusion of ideals eventually led to Lasseters termination from Disney, his dream job. Distraught, Lasseter took up an offer to work for Lucas Film and consequently direct the first character animation cartoon done with a computer. With the help of computer scientist Ed Catmull and business man Steve Jobs, Lasseter then created the first computer animation program, called Pixar, after which they named their soon to be multi-million dollar company. Lasseters experience at CalArts, Disney, and Lucas film lead him to a little bout of innovation and creativity, which eventually resulted in one of the most successful film corporations to exist (Iwerks, Documentary, 2007). Pixar can also garner its success from its unique internal setup that helps to embellish the already creative minds working there.

Creative workspaces within Pixar Truly innovative and creative work comes from confusion, uncertainty, even conflict (Seton). These attributes, however, are not commonly sought out for or supported in mainstream practices. The fact that this works for Pixar offers a paradoxical account of innovation/creativity in todays cultural perspective. This is known as complex responsive processes (Seton). This perspective allows an analysis of the practices and reported life experience of Pixars staff, which shows how they are not confined by what society defines as an efficient creative workplace by which innovation is supposed to occur. The concept of staff with life experience coincides with the thought of good people over a good idea (Catmull, 2008). In filmmaking and many other types of complex product management, creativity requires hosts from a variety of backgrounds working together to solve a great many of inevitable problems. Pixar is unique in the sense that all of their worlds, stories and characters were invented internally by their community of artists; as opposed to other studios who buy scripts and stories from the outside. Pixars success is not luck. Rather, their adherence to a set of principles and practices for managing creative talent are responsible (Catmull). The way to foster a collective creativity comes in three easy steps: Place the creative authority for product development only in the hands of the project leaders (as opposed to corporate executives); build a culture and processes that encourage people to share their work-inprogress and trust one another as peers and co-workers; and dismantle the natural barriers that divide disciplines. Its the formula to a creative workspace and community. The unique take on finding staff and the structure of their creative workspace is what makes Pixar capable of producing a successful story.

Somethings missing Weve seen how Pixars creative process works and weve learned about the value placed upon good people with life experience over people with just a good idea inside the Pixar staff. Through my analysis of the conversation between these articles, however, I have noticed that some information seems to be missing. As someone who aspires to one day work for Pixar, Ive put a lot of effort into researching what I would need to do education wise to increase my chances of getting hired by this company. And while these articles talk about how wonderful life experience is, it does not clearly state what it is one should experience. What life experiences should I, as a future animator, consider? Does my schooling play any part in accumulating life experience? Majority of big names and higher ups within the Pixar community went to schools strictly geared towards animation. What are my chances then, as someone who goes to a state college, of even getting noticed? Because of this, should I consider grad school? These are all questions that Ive had a hard time finding answers for; which is upsetting because they all pertain to my future. Not to be discouraged, though, I took this as an opportunity to do my own investigating, which will be reviewed in my overall portfolio.

Works Cited Catmull, Ed. "How Pixar Fosters Collective Creativity." Harvard Business Review 86.9 (2008): ..64-72. Business Source Premier. Web. 21 Oct. 2012. Dir. Leslie Iwerks. The Pixar Story. Feat. John Lasseter, Edwin Catmull and Steve Jobs. Walt ..Disney Studios Motion Pictures, 2007. Documentary Seton, Mark. "Pixar Phenomenology: The Embodiment of Animation." Metro Magazine 157 ,,,,,,,,(2008): 94-97. Print.