13/03/13 Andrew Stanton and the Philosophy of the Matrix

This afternoon's lecture we started watching Philosophy and the Matrix http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LgkBE4Kgq5Q , an hour long documentary which discussed the philosophical, religious, historical and social contexts in the Matrix movie. I thought it was very interesting how the writers and scientists and philosophers who all worked on the Matrix movie considered the subject of reality in very close and very deep detail, and considered what reality could be  from many different points of view, and how it may not be what one person might think (it's all very confusing!) but they mentioned how it could be above and beyond one person's experiences.

Social Contexts, being controlled by corporations and big companies, education, can one really have entire freedom. the documentary compares people to "batteries" and we recharge in our sleep.

Religious contexts could include the soul trapped inside a material body wanting to get out.

They focused on people's limits, the confusion on reality, being unable to see beyond what we know and experience.

They also say if people are aware of what you don't already know, it makes people more curious, almost to the point of madness, and this intrigues the viewer.

Also mentions the quality of spontaneousness in the film, doing things without giving them a thought or being aware of what you're doing, your body just does it naturally. Neo uses his own will to achieve what he wants.

Uses Metaphysics, which links back to the question of what is reality? Other than what's physically around us, beyond what's physically around us. Very philosophical and confusing, not sure whether to trust all these theories and not sure if they're all true or not. It's important to have an individual opinion about what they are saying.

This confusing documentary also mentioned a lot of metaphors. This was certainly very philosophical and perhaps confusing, and not all of it may be factual, but it is certainly interesting to see all the different points of view.

We also watched Andrew Stanton: The clues to a great story http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KxDwieKpawg

This was a very inspiring speech given by movie director Andrew Stanton at the 2012 TED Convention about 

storytelling, and what makes a story interesting and gripping to an audience, and spoke about how his past experiences

have influenced some of the stories of the films he has directed and been a part of, such as Finding Nemo.

He was a very premature baby, and had to have many blood transfusions, which could be a bit like Nemo's

birth in Finding Nemo, and feels he owes it to this second chance he has to pour his heart and soul into every

project.

Stanton gave many storytelling tips and secrets in his speech, many of which I would like to practice and I 

feel that using these storytelling tips and secrets will help me a lot to make storytelling in any projects I do that 

involve storytelling much better.

Some tips he provided include:

Timing is very important, especially with jokes, punch lines.

Need to make people care, story must promise audience that the story will lead somewhere worth their time.

Story needs to be rewarding for the audience.

Story needs to be unpredictable. What will happen next?

Characters need a "spine," something that they need to achieve, something they must work on, a goal. This

leads to good and/or bad choices for the character.

However flawed character's personality may be at start of the story, needs to make character likeable, make the

character learn something.

Storytelling has guidelines, not any particular set rules.

The best stories create wonder, something Stanton noticed when watching Disney's Bambi.

Use what you know to create story, and it is really good if you can relate to the story somehow, it's perfectly

ok, if not recommended, that you use your own influences and values to inspire the story.

Actions are also essential in storytelling, creates the most intricate storytelling.

Stanton mentioned his many influences as well, including the 1986 film Lawrence of Arabia, which he claims he saw 

7 times in one month, because it was so inspiring to him, and I think a scene in particular he found inspiring

was when one character asked another "Who are you?" which I think did make him consider the inner depths 

of the character more, to kind of give the character a spine, a path of self discovery, I think. Other influences of

his included Wall.E, which used merely actions, but incredibly well, to tell the story, and Bambi, which made

him fill with wonder. I honestly found everything he said truly interesting and inspiring, and it was amazing to

see how much depth and detail and work should go into a story alone, and certainly sounds a very inspiring

career.

Milestones in Games

Games for 3D Graphics started in the 1960s, but were all based around the military.

The first thing to be considered a video game was Space War, released in 1962.


Video games started to become commercially available for the home in the early 1970s.

Home Pong was a game played through the TV, used one machine and one game. Released on the Atari system.

Altaria was made in 1977, used very limited colour and sound.



Typical Arcade games were introduced in 1980.



Two different streams of games, home and arcade. Graphics were much better in Arcades. 3D was faked by use of mirrors in arcade machines.

Atari was biggest games company of the 1970s/early 80s.

Space Invaders and Pac-man were released in 1978 and 1980 respectively. Two of the most iconic arcade games of all time.

Nintendo Game and Watch, first released in 1980. Inspired Nintendo DS systems available today, which are the most current Nintendo handheld (well, the Nintendo 3DS.)



Used LED screens, used for alarm clocks. Had one game on it, with two difficulty levels.

Atari 2600, from 1980-1982. Steve Jobs worked with Atari, links Atari and gaming with Pixar and other companies we have been studying.



It plugged into a TV and had the game code information on games cartridges. Was one of the first consoles to use cartridges.

1982 - Pitfall released on Atari 2000, used only 8 colours. Started to use more colours in games.



1983 - crash in the games market, due to the market being over saturated with low quality games. In an attempt to improve the games market, people were making games based on films, such as E.T. and Indiana Jones.



There was a myth stating that the excess games during the crash were buried in the desert in New Mexico.

Known as the Video Game crash.

Atari ran into trouble in 1983 for image problems which made pornographic games. Sales began to fall drastically here.

Home Micros were around from 1983 to 1992, a period of time when they focused on making games for home computers. Games industry was very competitive in the 1980s. However, internal memory was very small, it was 16-64. Very simple compared to today's computers. Initially sold as business machines for the home. Often called Micro Computers.

Most popular home computers for gaming in the 1980s were the Commodore 64, Spectrum 48K, Amstrad cpc 464, and the BBC Model B. Most were plugged into a normal TV set. Cassettes were the usual way to store games. Machines could also be programmed by the user.



BBC Computers were used in schools.

Joysticks were popular for games.



Sir Clive Sinclair was a British Inventor, originally made calculators and the ZX Spectrum. Could be a good case study topic. Wanted each home to have a computer that includes Microsoft Excel and Word, but instead were used for games.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sIcAyFVK0gE

Development of Apps, most notably Angry Birds. First game to be released for Apple's iOS.

http://uk.ign.com/articles/2010/02/19/angry-birds-review-2

Paradroid was created by Game Designer Andrew Baybrook in 1985. He programmed the game from the comfort of his own bedroom. Had to make whole game compared to now, where making a game is split into different departments, such as design and programming.

Most game genres were developed in 1980s. Home Micros had advantages to earlier consoles, such as having better memory, use of keyboards and better sound chips compared to older consoles.

This allowed game designers to be more adventurous with game concepts and brand new game genres.

An example of this is Advenure/Role Playing Games. Used keyboard and text input to control game. Usually fantasy based. Influenced by Role Playing Games such as Dungeons and Dragons. At first very limited graphics and no sound. Limited memory of machines meant only a few words were recognised.

A few examples include the Hobbit (1984) and Zork 3(1983)

Strategy games, inspired by chess, one of the earliest "traditional" games to be "ported" onto the computer. Most popular strategy games were fantasy and war related. Improved graphics led to more immersive games such as Lords of Midnight.

Theatre Europe (1985) Based on Cold War, nuclear war.

Most popular games, however, remained the "shooters," or "shmups" presumably short for "shoot 'em ups." Came in a variety of styles but broadly copied arcade games such as Defender and Space Invaders.  Examples include side scrolling shoot em up Uridium and Beach Head.



Dropzone is an example of this. As is Attack of the Camels, which was copied for a gmae version of The Empire Strikes Back.

Platform Games also migrated from the arcade. Examples include Dizzy, the Great Gianna Sisters and Prince of Persia.

Due to the lack of 3D, isometric shapes were made to create the illusion of 3D. This involved an angled view from above. Examples include Spin Dizzy and Head over Heels.



Beat em ups began in the arcades. Usually involved two opponents fighting in an oriental setting. Dual Play gameplay made these games very popular. Most were limited by the joystick controls, usually a limit of 16. Examples include The Way of the Exploding Fist and IK+



Barbarian was controversial and was branded sexist marketing and in game violence. Woman on box was only side character who spectated. Used as a sex symbol.

 
Sports Simulators made many different sports into games, such as cycling and the Olympics. Evolved from Track and Field style arcade games. Typically players had to waggle controls at a fast pace to make sprites move. Examples include Summer Games 2 and Daley Thomas Decathlon.

Racing simulators were very popular, fast paced action games. Examples include Revs, Pitstop 3 and Supercycle.

Flight Simulators also began to emerge at this time. Usually focused  on controls and aimed for realism. Lack of 3D controls made it difficult to convey a sense of flight. Examples include Aviator and Dambusters.

Open Ended Games, started as a variation of the flight sim as open ended exploration games. Started to introduce 3D Examples include Elite, Mercenary and Starglider 2

Early computer press came in the 1980s in a form of computer themed magazines and journals, which became the main source of news of the industry, which included interviews with designers, hardware advice, game reviews and game demos. the best selling magazines of the time included Zzap!64, Computer and Video Games and Sinclair User.



Star Wars Arcade Machine (1983) had sounds from the film, which up to that point sounds from movies had never been used in a game before.

Other popular racing games of the time included Pole Position and Outrun. Outrun (Sega, 1986, Arcade) had hills and an element of choice. Was made with Bitmap which gave more flexibility and lots more detail.



Virtua Racing, an arcade game released in 1992, was one of the earliest 3D racing games, had very simple 3D because of limited capabilities, but included User Interfaces (UIs)



Commodore Amiga, released in 1990, one of the first consoles to use 3D Polygon Graphics. Games such as Starglider 2 and Interceptor were released for the Commodore Amiga.



Game Boy. Nintendo handheld that used cartridges.



1990s saw the rise of games consoles, such as Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES)

However, some games, such as Doom (1993) refused to move onto hand helds.

Playstation One, released in 1994 (the year I was born!!) Very significant. Sony's first console. Virtual Fire was good to represent 3D



WipeOut - Polygon Based.



PS2 and Xbox (2000s) PS2 best selling console ever. 3D games became rapidly more successful. Xbox basically PC but console version.

Top games include God of War (PS2)

Unreal Tournament (PC, 1999) Game could be modified and has evolved from then to the current generation (Unreal Tournament 3, PS3, 2007) Graphics have significantly improved. Uses only normal maps for textures but large processing power.

Lara Croft, introduced gaming equality between men and women. Good for case study for conflict of women in games and feminism.

  Mobile gaming (2005-present day) Takes work away from consoles. Produces apps such as Angry Birds, Doodle Jump etc.

Nintendo Wii (2007) brought social gaming back into the limelight. First time since Atari. brought more social contexts in games



MUD to MMORPG (1970-2010)
Multi User Dungeon - Text Based RPG
-Social Games
- Uses Headsets
-multi user

As graphics became better for home consoles, use of advanced arcade games deteriorated.

Bump maps give really good graphics.

Are games art, or just entertainment?

Do violence in video games influence society?

21/03/13

Today I finally managed to actually do something creative! I started to get some ideas down for my trading card game! I was really pleased that I have now been able to get to this stage, and I feel I got some really good ideas down! I feel I have based my ideas more on arguably the two biggest trading card games around when I was growing up, Pokemon and Yu-Gi-Oh. I liked Pokemon's Energy card idea, and Yu-Gi-Oh has a lot of variety in the game, but sometimes this can be a bit overwhelming and the game is very complex, which I don't want for my game. However, by the end of the day, I felt worried that my idea was swaying a lot more towards the Yu-Gi-Oh Trading Card Game, and I really don't want to make it look like that I am copying Yu-Gi-Oh, which is what I am really worried about. As I said, I really don't want to make it too complicated.

Spoke to Lisa a bit more about possible career paths, and Art Therapy, which could be a possible career path, and something I will need to look more into, and speak to careers advisors at college about this. Also discussed this with counsellors, who both seemed quite happy for me to think this, but said that I would need extra training. Also Lisa mentioned that many Art Therapists also have another job as well as Art Therapy, and many do it voluntarily. I kind of hoped you could make a living from Art Therapy, but Lisa said she wasn't entirely sure, and all this could be discussed with the careers advisors at college. I'd also like to perhaps get an easygoing part time job, just to have a bit more financial independence from my parents, and hopefully the college careers advisors

For next week I hope to have had a much clearer idea in my head about my birthday. This weekend I might ask the people I have in mind that I wish to celebrate with, to give them notice in case they're already planning what they're doing in their Easter break.

I have also had a very good week socially at college, and I noticed that I am talking to people a lot more, and I am feeling much more comfortable around people I have been wanting to get to know better, which I feel so brilliantly good about.

RLJ 20/03/13

To be honest I am feeling a lot more positive about things recently. I feel that I have become much more sociable over the past few weeks, and from this, am getting to know some people a lot better. This  has been an ongoing worry for a very long time now, I still think I have a long way to go with improving my social skills, but it's good that things are starting to look up and I am starting to get somewhere. Being more sociable and confident does make me happier, which makes it a lot easier to focus on my college work. However, most people I know around college aren't going to be around much longer, so I must make the most of the time I have with them.

I've also had quite a nice time when I haven't been in college. I went to a rally show at Weston Park this weekend, which my cousin and her boyfriend were part of, and were the pit crew for one of the drivers.  It was a very nice atmosphere and everyone we spoke to were really nice. This also made me think that I could maybe include Fay (my cousin) and Mike (her boyfriend) in my birthday celebrations as well!

However, dad's new Mini Countryman got very stuck in a very muddy field when we parked up for this event, and it was a real struggle to get the car out, and it was a bit scary, but eventually between us, and with a little bit of help, we managed to eventually get the car out of the field and I managed to get home and continue with college work

I also met up with a friend I haven't seen in a while, which was nice, as he wanted to borrow Kingdom Hearts from me. It was a bit strange meeting this person on my own, as this was the first time I've spent time with this friend alone, as normally when I see him, because he's more a friend of a friend, I would see him with our mutual friend, who I know better from my last course. I had a nice time, and I gave him a lift to Staffs Uni, as he was late for a lecture there.

I also think that a lot of my social progress has to have been helped by the counselling I have received over the past couple of months. The booklet that I received in the mail about Shyness and Social Anxiety from one of these counsellors has really helped to identify a lot of the issues I face in social situations and has also reassured me that I'm not alone in these thoughts. I also see a significant change in myself as well, I am not as scared as I was when I last saw them, I feel like I have been a lot more ambitious and not held myself back as much. I just now need to get some ideas of things I could do with friends for my birthday now, something I have spoken to these counsellors about and reckon I should just go for it and ask them.

However, I feel that this week just gone I probably haven't organised my work as well as I could have. I have felt quite relaxed about my work, and got a sufficient amount of research required for this week, so that's good. It was just gathering the written information that was a bit stressful, and finished my work much later than I should have, because normally if I was to do college work, I would make sure I would finish no later than 10pm, but called it a day at 11:30pm! And I still hadn't finished everything I needed to do! So I really need to organise my time a bit better in the future, and it was pretty stressful last night. This also resulted in me not getting much sleep, which needs improving anyway, so definitely need to try and get to bed earlier.

However, when I got to college, I told Neil what I had done, and he seemed very pleased with the work I had done, even though I had not printed it out yet. I then had to print my work out, but because I was running out of printer credit at college, and this was the first time since I've been at college that I've had to buy more printer credit, I had to buy more printer credit, even though I don't have much money right now. I also had to buy a new sketchbook to stick my new research into.

So, in a nutshell, I spent the morning sticking my research into my sketchbook, and this is important that the research is all gathered in one place, as it's easier to reference from and get inspiration for ideas from. 

Might as well recap what I have researched. As I am now attempting to make my own Trading Card Game that will include Augmented Reality (AR) technology, I looked into existing card games such as Pokemon, Yu-Gi-Oh and Top Trumps, found a few more character influences that have features I may look for in a main character, such as Kirby and Sackboy, I found some examples of AR Technology, and there are a few Nintendo 3DS games that use AR cards for games, such as Kid Icarus Uprising and Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance. I also collected research on how trading cards are interpreted into other media, such as video games, trading card game packaging and a couple of examples of animated visual effects on characters, to make the AR scans of the cards more interesting, by giving them a summoning animation sequence, such as smoke, or light. I feel like I could have found out a bit more and got more design inspiration, but I feel pleased with what I have found out, and I feel what I have learned from my research will be really useful for my project as it has given me a much clearer understanding of how trading card games are structured and how complicated they can really be. I feel I would like to make my trading card game user/family friendly, but has enough depth and wonder to keep more ambitious trading card game fans interested.

This afternoon was a bit strange, because the only first year New Media students that were in college today were myself and Scott. Neil gave a lecture about the history and the key moments in gaming, which I will go through in another blog, but some of these moments in gaming were quite interesting, and as a gamer I had not noticed before, such as how far back gaming goes, and how advanced games were in the 1970s for that time, but now could very easily be made.

Neil also looked through my draft essay for the Creativity and Social Contexts module  (which as he puts it, "basically Art History") which needs to be handed in for submission next week. I felt quite nervous about this, as I wasn't too sure whether I effectively answered the essay question, "How was the history and success of Pixar influenced by social, historical and political contexts?" All I have done is written down what I can remember from reading the books from the book list, such as "To Infinity and Beyond" and "The Pixar Touch,"and have written down how Pixar was founded and the contributions of the three founders of Pixar, Ed Catmull, John Lasseter and Steve Jobs, and am about to write about how some of their films were inspired by social, historical and political contexts too.

Neil seemed fine about what it was I was writing, he just wanted me to change a few things. One sentence was 8 lines long! I also used words such as "around" and "mainly" to describe the works of Pixar and its founders, I need to include some quotes and citations from the books, and I need to finish it. It all seemed very positive though, so I feel pleased about that, and I feel I can certainly adapt my essay from what Neil said to make it better.

Feeling very positive after today, let's hope it continues.

RLJ 14/03/13

sooooooo........ what has happened today....

Now I have my final proposal idea for my project for the next few months, for the end of year show in June, I have now started to collect more research images of things I believe will be relevant and will help me with the development of my project in terms of structure, what it is I will design, and how I will design it. I am wanting to create a few trading cards and to create 3D models for them and use Augmented Reality to show these cards. I also wanted to get as much done as possible today so I will have less work to do over the next week, especially since I have two pieces of written work to write, a 1000 word case study and a 1000 word "report" on how Pixar's development and success was influenced by social, political, and historical context.

This afternoon at first I was really struggling to think of ideas, so I decided to catch up with this blog. However, I really hope to think of many more good ideas for influences, and also get this work done as soon as possible, so i'll have time for other projects, to plan my birthday, and to just enjoy my time at home.

This week I have been looking back at things I wrote, which was a quite similar structure to this, on my old Interactive Media course, and it was certainly very interesting to look back on what I was feeling, the things I was happy with, my hopes, ambitions and fears, and seeing what I wanted out of life back then. Some things I have overcome and achieved, but there's also a lot of things I wrote that unfortunately I haven't achieved and still find difficult, such as socialising at college. But from what I wrote, people seemed a lot nicer than I remembered, and things I noticed about a lot of people haven't really changed all that much.

13/03/13

This week I have attempted to start the pieces of written work I have to write, a 1000 word "report" on how Pixar's development and success was influenced by social, political and historical contexts, and a 1000 word case study of our choosing. I have also had a very busy weekend, with it being Mother's Day and all, so i haven't got too far with my college work this weekend.

However, yesterday, I had to talk to Neil Wood, because the case study we have to write is for his lessons, and I wasn't really all that sure how to go about it. He mentioned that the topic I wanted to write about, Nintendo, was too broad, and wasn't focused on a particular area enough, which was fair enough, but I really couldn't think of anything else that much to write a case study about, which was really stressing me out, as I did feel a bit pressured to think of ideas there and then. Neil was also trying to think of ideas for me to write about, but the creative subjects he teaches are very different to what I'm learning, so apparently he doesn't have too much of an understanding of New Media. The case study needs to be something relevant to the course, and to be honest I didn't feel too comfortable writing about the things he was suggesting and I did feel he was losing a bit of patience with me, which really didn't help how I was feeling and made me feel more nervous about today. However, it was advised that I spoke to Neil Brewis today about ideas for my case study I could write about, so Lynda and I agreed to try and see Neil B. first thing today, which we did.

Neil B.wanted to catch up with the class individually anyway today, about ideas for the final proposals, which considering everything, I'm going to decide to attempt my Trading Card Game idea, the idea that Neil approved of the most, and I also felt that this would be quite a different project for me to attempt, compared to work I have been doing, really for the past 2 years! I did mention however, that I'm probably not as knowledgeable about the subject of Trading Cards as I am with other New Media products, such as video games and animated movies, but Neil said that it was fine to not know as much about trading cards, as it will give me a lot more to find out. I can also hopefully use other ideas, such as designing games, animations and storyboards in future projects, so we'll just see what the future brings.

About the Case Study, I felt Neil B was much more helpful with suggesting ideas, and he mentioned how I could use what I have learned and read in other modules, such as reading about Pixar in the Creativity and Social Contexts module to help with this case study I have to do. He also mentioned how I could compare and contrast two different people, or films, or companies, which I thought seemed like an excellent idea. I spoke to him about my Nintendo idea, which he agreed was very broad, but said I could write about Mario, but that would require me to do more reading than I have time to, so he thought I was probably best to stick to something related to what we have been studying in Creativity and Social Contexts, which Neil describes as "basically art history." It was also nice that some of the second year New Media students did say if I was struggling a bit with my case study, they wouldn't mind offering some help and advice through Facebook.

After my chat with Neil I thought it would be a good idea to write about the Trading Card Game idea in more detail, so that it's a lot clearer and a lot more broken down for me to accomplish the tasks required for me to successfully complete my project to the best of my ability. I started by writing in more detail what it is I have to research, so unlike past projects I won't get too confused and stressed with the research, and I also wrote down more detailed steps for the development of my project as well, for when I get far enough in my project to start developing the final designs. I feel that this is good to do before I start my research tomorrow, which Neil said as a bit of a guideline to find and write about between 25-50 images, which over the next week or so I think should certainly be achievable. MORE RESEARCH! FUNFUNFUN!

Key Milestones in 3D

Rotoscope of a horse. Very early anumations, which probably influenced Pixar. History of key defining animations, up to Toy Story.

Influenced by cartoons,  Lasseter was also inspired by The Art of Animation by Bob Thomas. Was fascinated by animation, and how people made a living from it.

Went to California Art College, or CalArts as it's sometimes known. Art college opened by Disney.

Lasseter made friendships with other great animators and directors to be including Brad Bird and Tim Burton.

Taught by the “nine old men” who worked for Disney in the 1930s.

Lasseter worked at Disneyland, was heavily influenced by Disney.

Cal Arts short films, made by Lasseter, Lady and Lamp, and Nightmare, the latter sounding like Monsters Inc. Both short films won awards.

Got dream job at Walt Disney Studios in 1979.

Studios built from money made from Snow White.

First Disney animating job, The Fox and the Hound, where animation was taking a setback.

Desire for Computer animation came from Tron.

Lasseter’s directing debut was The Brave Little Toaster, where he was able to experiment with computer animation.

Budget was questioned, wanted the process to be faster and with less cost. Cut into creativity of animation.

Got fired because he had ideas beyond what Walt Disney Studios were capable of, Disney were loopy, dysfunctional.

1960 Compter Graphics lab in Utah Uni, because of Space Race age. Set up course for animation.

Inspired Ed Catmull, the President of Pixar, who made a 3D animated model of his own left hand which featured in the first live action film which featured computer animation, Futureworld

Wanted to make a fully computer animated film, was collective dream, even though this seemed impossible at the time.

Millions of triangles used in computer animated landscapes in movies today.

Lucasfilm hired Lasseter, after convention in California. Art/technology work together. ILM brings character to life. Lucas formed a department dedicated to to computer science. Classed as Rebel Group.

Steve Jobs visited Lucasfilm. Multi Millionaire by 30, from Apple business, invested 10 million dollars in wish to make computer animated film.

An effect in the film Young Sherlock Holmes was nominated for an award, as no one knew how the animation was done.

Lucasfilm computer division split and then became Pixar. George Lucas wasn't too interested in their work.

Steve Jobs provided funding for Pixar, invested $5,000,000 to start Pixar.

Alvy Ray Smith co founder of Pixar.

Lasseter, I love bringing inanimate objects to life, short film about desk lamps Luxo Jr. nominated for academy award.

Logo, symbolizes optimism and determination.

Worked very hard.

Software slow, won Oscar for best short film. in 1989 for Tin Toy. Was the first Oscar won for a computer animated film

Managed to hire lots more people (graduates) to work on smaller project. There was even a guy who never used computer before who was hired (Andrew Stanton).

However, money was being lost and there was no guarantee of the future of Pixar. Steve Jobs was understanding but he knew that something had to be done.

Pixar won Oscar in 2000 for CAPS computer software, which linked drawings to the computer, making it easier to animate using computers. However, this software very expensive, more expensive than they could cope with. Steve Jobs forgiving investor.

Disney allowed Pixar, Lasseter, to make Toy Story, a full length feature.

Spirit, optimism, imagination. Idea telling story from toy’s point of view. Pixar wanted it to be different to Disney's fairy tales, where there's usually songs and love stories. Wanted Tom Hanks to voice Woody. One of Tom Hanks' first questions when working on Toy Story was "You don't want me to sing, do you?" Or words to that effect.

Wanted to make the film snappy, appealing to a wider audience (adults), but not too long.

Conflict with Disney, had to rewrite Toy Story. worked nonstop for 3 weeks, but their work paid off, and things improved.

Tim Allen voiced Buzz Lightyear. Originally wanted Billy Crystal for Buzz Lightyear, but declined. He regretted it, but voiced Mike Wazowski in another Pixar hit Monsters Inc.

Initial sketches made it difficult to see the end result and if it could be possible and if it could be well received.

1995 was the year Toy Story opened to the public. Brought $350,000,000 income. However, most of the profits went to Disney. Turned everything around and Lasseter won award for producing first feature length film.

Pixar decided to go private. New deal with disney made profits go 50/50. 

NO FAIRYTALES! NO CAPES! Man pulling funny face while boarding plane.

Characters had no character, initial ideas not well received by critics, rewrited script, produced something more personal,

Army men scene, first animated scene.

After critical success of Toy Story, majority of product profits went to Disney, problem for Pixar. Steve Jobs wanted to make Pixar a studio instead of just a company.

Pixar studio, place to mess around. Technically imperfect, but fun, had heart and character. Sounded a cool place.

With profits going to Disney after Toy Story’s success, Pixar then had to make a ublic offering and become an actual studio.

Concerned about what to do after Toy Story, pressure to make it as successful as Toy Story.

Used “bug cam” on Lego wheels to make A Bug’s Life surroundings

First computer animated widescreen films.

Seemed to relish idea of doing something difficult.

Seeing clips from A Bug’s Life just reminds me of how simple my childhood was. Toy Story 2 is next, another film from my childhood.

Transformed 50 shots into 431, Pixar got through second film syndrome.

Toy Story 2 not originally supervised by Lasseter, however wasn’t very good, despite Disney’s feedback saying otherwise, so Lasseter had to work on it, and scrap most of the film, just 9 months before release. Originally wanted to be direct to video, but instead Disney released it in cinema.

Wanted to portray real feelings with audience. Wanted to make it feel like they could relate to it. Managed to bring this feeling through the Emotional ballad, "when she loved me."

Pivotal moment in Pixar, biggest sense of accomplishment.

Steve Jobs built a Pixar Studio in 20 acres in California. However process of Toy Story 2 was very tough, and took people about a year to recover from it.

Wanted to release one film every year. Meant people could direct their own films.

Docter directed Monsters Inc. Never directed anything before. Very complex film.

MIKE WAZOWSKI!

Higest grossing animated film to date.

Sued Pixar for copying book

In direct competition with Dreamworks

Andrew Stanton, director of Finding Nemo. Inspired by marine world visit 10 years before, as well as his life. Premature baby = Nemo.

Higest grossing animated film to this date, but now higher expectations.

Early morning meetings were held to discuss yesterday's work, and how they could go from there.

Had competition from Dreamworks. Antz set to be released after A Bug's Life, but ended up being released before. Breakthrough in Shrek, which won awards from Monsters. Inc. gave competition to Pixar.

Brad Bird worked on Incredibles, sixth hit in a row. Had lots of hard things to do in 3D animation.

People think CGI is the way forward, and 2D hand drawn animations were running thin. 2D felt irrelevant. Made people lose jobs.

Disney planned to make direct to video Pixar sequels, so ended partnership.

Pixar had more “right people” than any other company

CEO saw Disney parade only had pre 90’s Disney characters with only Pixar Characters.

Ed Catmull President of Pixar.

Cars inspired by Lasseter’s 1999 road trip. New relationship with Disney.

Steve Jobs: "Pixar is seen as an overnight success but it took a very long time"

Snow White first feature length Disney Film. First full length colour animation.

Crazy Males aka Mad Men Post War Posperity.

Tron. First time 3D used in film. Was possible due to computer animation being invented. Related to Disney, as it inspired Lasseter to make a feature length 3D film, later to be Toy Story.

Virtual Reality sort of failed, and was created for military 2009 was a flop. Didn't really work, due to equipment needed but may come back

AR Augmented Reality - could be a fresh alternative for things such as Sat Navs. Use of glasses which allows you to watch films from these glasses. used for the 3DS Camera and several smartphones.

Key Milestones in 3D from memory;

Toy Story. First full feature length animated film entirely in 3D

Super Mario 64: First 3D Mario game

Avatar: Best selling film

Lonely Red Unicycle

Tin Toy. Pixar short movie

That Pixar short film with that Bee and the thing with huge eyes. Pixar short movie

Luxo Jr. First Pixar animation, won Sigraph award.

Shrek. Most famous 3D animated movie from Dreamworks.

Ice Age Most famous 3D animated movie from Blue Sky.

Hand in Star Trek, Wrath of Khan and Futureworld.

Temple Run iPhone app

Crash Bandicoot iconic Playstation game

Spyro iconic Playstation game

Madagascar

Tron One of the first films to feature 3D

Lord of the Rings

Steve Jobs investing in Pixar, thus creating the company, and negotiated with Disney to create studios.

Abyss. First attempt at a 3D character in a film.

PowerPoint: CGI Film Milestones.

Tron. MAGI, Triple I, 15 minutes of CGI. One of the first films to feature 3D. Influenced John Lasseter, Pixar. Has live action and graphics drawn on people.

Star Trek 2, ILM, 1982, Fractal Graphics. Simulation in the film, so like cast is watching the background as a film.

Fractal Graphics: Self designed. Looks like 3D but it is not. Simulation makes you feel part of the scene.

The Last Starfighter, Digital Productions, 1984, 27 minutes. Full 3D

Young Sherlock Holmes, ILM, 1985, Laser scanner system. Scan real objects to attempt to make them in 3D.

The Abyss, ILM, 1989, Digitised faces and morphs. Morphing changes one image into another. Revolutionary.

Terminator 2: Judgement Day, ILM, 1991, Tracking and compositing. Compositing, putting 3D into images. Inferno, Nuke, major companies. Reflective surfaces are important too.

Beauty and the Beast, 1991 Walt Disney Studios. Ballroom sequence in full 3D. Started putting 3D graphics into 2D animations. Nominated for Best film and best graphics.

Alien 3, Boss film, 1992, CG Shadows. In previous films, puppets were used. In this film, 3D aliens could be created. Realistic shadows.

The Lawnmower Man, Angel Studios, 1992, VR Setting. Virtual Reality setting. Not real, but seemingly real. Arcade machines with massive headsets, which created the world around you. Could touch things.

Jurassic Park, ILM, 1993, Naturalism and crowds. Lots of close up shots are puppets.

Lion King, 1994 Crowd scenes. Different animations in the crowd.

Toy Story, Pixar, 1995, First full 3D Feature Film.

Titanic, Digital Domain, 1997, motion capture. Not everyone in the scenes were there. Duplications were used. ILM paid a small contribution to this film too.

The Iron Giant, Warner Bros, 1999, cel shading. Directed by Brad Bird, who also directed Pixar films The Incredibles and Ratatouille. Also worked on the Simpsons.

The Phantom Menace, ILM, 1999, Crowds and 2000 CGI shots. Jar Jar Binks is first ever fully 3D character in a non 3D film.

The Matrix, Manex, 1999, Bullet Time. According to 3D World, the most significant 3D history of all time. Timing was spot on, perfect. Based on philosophy, fear of machines, end of the century.

GLADIATOR! 2000, Mill Film, Crowd composit. Built ¼ of arena, then duplicated it. Mill based on UK, do Honda adverts, Gladiator was Mill's biggest success.

Monsters Inc. Pixar 2001 realistic Hair and Fur, made using Renderman software. KITTY! MIKE WAZOWSKI! Sulley = Renderman.

Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within, Square USA, 2001, motion capture, green screen/ping pong balls. imperfect 3D/Animations. Uncanny Valley effect used, which is when you can see something, but isn't really there. Also used in films such as the Polar Express.

LOTR; The Two Towers, Weta, 2002, Subsurface scattering. Uses the shader texture type which goes on skin, to make translucent quality. Scatters light with skin.

Finding Nemo, 2003, Pixar, Particle effects and caustics. Caustics is how light acts with transparent objects, such as water and glass.
Particle effects are used for things such as smoke, air bubbles and water.
Caustics are how light reacts with water or glass.

The Polar Express, Sony, 2004, Facial/Motion capture, Uses real facial expressions.

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, 2005, Rhythm and Hues.

Madagascar, 2005, Dreamworks, Squash and Stretch.

King Kong, Weta, 2005, Fur and facial sim (motion capture)

Sin City, CafeFX, 2005, Stylised 3D Backdrops, taken artistic style and applied it to 3D. This is where 3D is starting to mature, and become recognised as an art form.

Pirates of the Caribbean 2, ILM, 2006, Advanced level Motion Capture. Used for Davy Jones.

Ratatouille, 2007, Pixar, Hair, fluid and fur. Went crazy with fluids.

Avatar, 2009, ILM, 3D Stereoscope, uses 3D glasses. Lots of studios worked on this film.

Tron Legacy, Disney Studios, 2011. Re-use actor. Died during making of film. Uses Young Jeff Bridges to act alongside old Jeff Bridges.



Films such as Lord of the Rings and Life of Pi aren't fully realistic. used 3D graphics for animals and scenery.

The Perfect Storm used a fluid application in Maya to create a sea scene.

Shrek gave Pixar some competition, won awards from Monsters Inc.

Dreamwork's Antz, was due to be released after A Bug's Life, but released before. Made Dreamworks distant from other animation companies, other companies didn't trust them as much. before, the animation companies were closer and more united.

FILMS MENTIONED IN INDUSTRIAL LIGHT AND MAGIC: THE ART OF INNOVATION by Pamela Glintenkamp. Most used 3D and visual effects of some sort, and always tried to enhance the technology used to make the films.

Star Wars: A New Hope
Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back.
Dragon Slayer (1981)
Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)
E.T. The Extra Terrestrial (1982)
Poltergeist (1982)
Star Trek 2: Wrath of Khan (1982)
Star Wars: Return of the Jedi (1983)
Indiana Jones: Temple of Doom (1984)
The Ewok Adventure (1984)
Young Sherlock Holmes (1985)
Cocoon (1985)
Back to the Future (1985)
Ewoks: the Battle for Endor (1985)
Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters (1985)
Out of Africa (1985)
Amazing Stories (1985)
Labyrinth (1986)
Howard the Duck (1986)
Captain EO (1986)
Star Trek 4: The Voyage Home (1986)
The Golden Child (1986)
Star Tours (1987)
Innerspace (1987)
The Witches of Eastwick (1987)
Willow (1988)
Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988)
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989)
The Abyss (1989)
Ghostbusters 2 (1989)
Back to the Future Part 2 (1989)
Die Hard 2: Die Harder (1990)
Backdraft (1991)
Hook (1991)
Terminator 2: Judgement Day (1991)
The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles (1992)
Death Becomes Her (1992)
Memoirs of an Invisible Man (1992)
Jurassic Park (1993)
Schnidler's List (1993)
Radioland Murders (1994)
Baby's Day Out (1994)
Forrest Gump (1994)
The Hudsucker Proxy (1994)
The Mask (1994)
Casper (1995)
Jumanji (1995)
Twister (1996)
DragonHeart (1996)
Mars Attacks (1996)
Star Wars Trilogy: Special Edition (1997)
The Lost World: (Jurassic Park 1997)
Men In Black (1997)
Titanic (1997)
Deep Impact (1998)
Saving Private Ryan (1998)
The Mummy (1999)
Galaxy Quest (1999)
Star Wars Episode 1: The Phantom Menace (1999)
The Perfect Storm (2000)
The Mummy Returns (2001)
Pearl Harbour (2001)
A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001)
Star Wars Episode 2: Attack of the Clones (2002)
Minority Report (2002)
Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (2002)
Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl (2003)
The Day After Tomorrow (2004)
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004)
Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events (2004)
Star Wars Episode 3: Revenge of the Sith (2005)
War of the Worlds (2005)
Jarhead (2005)
The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (2005)
Mission Impossible 3 (2006)
Poseidon (2006)
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (2006)
Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End (2007)
Transformers (2007
Iron Man (2008)
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008)
Terminator Salvation (2009)
Star Trek (2009)
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (2009)
Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince (2009)
Avatar (2009)
Iron Man 2 (2010)
Rango (2011)

References:

Pamela Glintenkamp, 2011. Industrial Light & Magic: The Art of Innovation. Edition. Abrams.

Paik, K. (2007) To Infinity and Beyond! The story of Pixar Animation. First Edition. Virgin Books.

David A. Price, 2009. The Pixar Touch (Vintage). Edition. Vintage.