Icon Steve Jobs by Jeffrey S. Young

Author:Jeffrey S. Young
Language: zho
Format: epub
Published: 2010-12-13T14:10:55.007000+00:00

Screenwriters often turn to file cards when they work out a story's structure, writing a brief description of each scene on a card, pinning up all the cards on a pegboard, and then moving them around to find a better order. Film animators often do the same but use sketches instead of file cards. If you had visited Pixar in the early 1990s, you would have found hallways enlivened by an impromptu art show of sketches for successive moments in a scene, with story editors and animators tossing out ideas on how to make the scene flow.

As you stood in the hallway examining those rough but engaging hand-drawn art pieces, you might have seen John Lasseter hurrying past. As director of the film, John was commander in chief, in charge of every creative aspect. Every day he worked his way through the large bullpen where the animators had their individual carrels. Meticulously detailed, the drawings allowed John to look at a series of images and envision every aspect of the action, then rattle off a string of suggestions, from which way a character's toes are pointed or how he's gripping the object in his hand, to how quickly he turns, where his eyes are focused, and how he shows a reaction to what he sees.

John had sensed early in his career that it takes more than drawing skill to be a superior animator. For Pixar, he insisted on animators who would be "more actor than artist." Creating animated characters that spring to life onscreen, he said, requires acting ability more than anything else. Later on, the company would help develop that ability by requiring incoming animators, modelers, and shaders to attend "Pixar University," a course of several weeks that even includes sessions in the art of improv.

When a scene involved dialogue, the animators initially worked to a "scratch track" recorded by various Pixar employees, no acting experience required. Later in the process, the big-name actors and their lesser-known brethren showed up at a recording studio in Los Angeles, where Lasseter guided them through the performance, line by line. For Toy Story, John had his heart set on Tom Hanks for the voice of Woody, because, John said, Tom has "the ability to take emotions and make them appealing." Before Hanks came in to discuss the project, Lasseter prepared a thirty-second reel showing a bit of action with the Woody character, to a soundtrack of Hanks's voice from the movie Turner & Hooch. Hanks, watching the clip, threw back his head, roared with laughter, and then asked, "When do we start?"

Others in the voice cast were Wallace Shawn, comedian Don Rickles, and magician Penn Jillette of Penn & Teller. The role of Buzz Lightyear was voiced by Tim Allen. (Billy Crystal had originally been offered the role but turned it down-a decision he later regretted. "It was the biggest mistake I ever made in my life;" he said. "Only thing I ever turned down that I felt bad about." He managed to make up for it by taking a voice role in a later Pixar film, the 2001 production Monsters, Inc.

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