The Success Story of Pixar: Animation as Art

Animated movies have become an integral part of modern media space and are as popular as traditional films. However, just a few decades ago, very few people thought about the impact of computer technologies on the film industry.

One of those dreamers was Elvi Ray Smith, a young hippie from New York. After receiving an excellent education, he moved to California, where he became a professor at the world-renowned Berkeley University. It was there that he first encountered powerful Xerox computers, which could create high-quality images by the standards of that time. Unfortunately, Smith couldn't land a job at Xerox, but according to his friends, it was this setback that ignited his idea of starting his own project.

It was then that he met Ed Catmull, who, despite differences in character and lifestyle, became his loyal partner. Together, they began working on developing animation technologies at a research center on Long Island. There, they collaborated with Alexander Shure, a talented businessman who was interested in technology development and saw in young computer and tech-savvy enthusiasts suitable individuals for the project.

Another milestone in the development of the future company Pixar was the appearance of the world-renowned director George Lucas, who at the time was fully immersed in shooting one of his most successful films, "Star Wars." By buying out the company from Alexander Shure, who was experiencing financial difficulties at the time, Lucas became seriously interested in developing various animation effects that made his already captivating film even more intriguing and unique. The renowned director invested in several film studios that brought in a decent profit, but due to a divorce and asset division, he had to withdraw funding from most of his projects.

The next stage in forming the animation company began when Steve Jobs, who had been fired from Apple Computer at the time, acquired the company. It was at his suggestion that the studio was named "Pixar" and began actively developing technical solutions to bring their ideas to life.

Success did not come immediately, but after several years of productive work, Pixar's animated films won numerous awards and captivated the audience with their uniqueness and high-quality animation.

The software package called "RenderMan," created by employees under the careful guidance of Steve Jobs, gained unprecedented popularity and was used during the editing of Oscar-winning films like "Titanic," "The Matrix," and all three parts of "The Lord of the Rings."

In the end, Steve Jobs made millions, and Pixar was acquired by Disney's management. Together, they released highly successful animated films such as "Monsters, Inc.," "Finding Nemo," "Cars," "Ratatouille," and many more.

We hope that the success story of the company is far from over, and we will be able to see a plethora of bright and entertaining animated films created by the Pixar team in the future.