JUNE 2011
PREMIER PIXAR first issue
In this issue: Toy Story 3 review Pixar @ the Oscars Newt Fan Art and much more !
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CONTRIBUTORS Mark is a Junior in High School. He is an aspiring animator, in hopes of one day working at Pixar. He is a huge fan of the Pixar movies aswell as the Disney Parks. Growing up watching classic disney animated movies has had a huge impact on him, inspiring him to pursue a career in animation.
Kyle has been writing stories and reviews for more than eight yearsand he’s only sixteen! His first written story, and assignment in fourth grade received positive reviews from fellow classmates and teachers, motivating him to write four sequels. He then began writing longer, full-length novels. Kyle is so excited to be part of the Premier Pixar team!
RE VI EW
Better know as a writer of The Dream of Pixar Blog. Alexandra is a great fan of Pixar’s work. I’m inspired by the characters, intrigued by the animated detail, and left in awe of all the hard work put into every film and short. As a aspiring animator, she hopes to one day see herself working alongside John Lasseter.
ABOUT THE MAGAZINE Welcome to the first issue of Premier Pixar, a magazine written by the fans, for the fans. Our aim is to bring you the latest articles and news from the pixar universe every month by distributing the magazine digitally. You can expect in each issue to find articles, a fan art page, a pixar-related game, the toy box, and the occasional guest interviews. As of right now, we are a team of three high school students around the globe. From the island of Singapore to the sunny state of Florida, we all share a pas-
At a mere brief glance at the trailer of Toy Story 3, it may appear that the film will be what it has been
in previous installments: another fun, whimsical look in the behind-the-scenes life of a child’s toys, but in fact, nothing could be closer or further from the truth. Pixar has crafted a film that mixes comedy and drama into the same film, an endeavor that many other filmmaking companies would fail at.
If you haven’t yet seen the film, there may be spoilers ahead. Instead of starting where Toy Story 2
left off, Toy Story 3 starts about 10 years after the end of its predecessor. Andy is now almost 18 years old and is leaving for college. Many toys have been thrown away or sold, including favorites like Bo Peep and Weezy. The team is now narrowed down to Woody, Buzz, Jessie, Bullseye, Hamm, Rex, the green Pizza Planet aliens, and Mr. and Mrs. Potatohead. Since Andy is leaving soon, all of his toys must go somewhere. They eventually end up at Sunnyside Daycare, where they meet nice new toys. All seems well, and the new recruits are eager to get the playtime they haven’t had in years. However, things take a much darker twist when they find that the system is rigged.
sion for Pixar and 3D animation. While there are still things to be worked out like layout and cover design, we hope we will get it straignetened out by the second issue. So without further ado i present the first issue of Premier Pixar Enjoy.
- Mark ,The Pixar Premier Team P.S. This magazine is link supported, usually underlined texts are links to a webpage.
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NEWT
Tom Hanks and Tim Allen reprise their roles as Woody and Buzz, respectively. Michael Keaton joins
the cast as Barbie’s other half, Ken. Ned Beatty portrays the role of Lotso Huggin’ Bear, the evil dictator who smells of strawberries. The voice talent for Toy Story 3 could not be better. Hanks’s and Allen’s voices truly go well together. No other actor could bring any of the toys, old or new, to life as the cast of this film do. Beatty provides the perfect voice to turn from a good guy to a bad guy suddenly. Near the end, you can tell Lotso is through with fooling around and starts to crack as he starts rambling and cracking his voice.
Obviously, CGI has gotten much better in the 11 years since Toy Story 2. The improved graphics can
truly show how deteriorated and old the cloud paint in Andy’s room is, or how orderly and maintained the Butterfly Room is. They clearly used the new lighting and color to add subtle changes to change the whole mood to a scene, such as the saturated colors and increased lighting on Jessie when Buzz sees her, or grainy, dark and grey overlay when the clown toy is telling his story. Better graphics, textures and lighting equals better overall storytelling.
In a way, Toy Story 3 is the light and whimsical film people might expect it to be, but at the same time it
is one of the darkest films Pixar has ever created, all while retaining the same feel and love as the other Toy Story films.
In April 2008, Disney/Pixar announced the development of Newt, slated to be released in June 2012. The project would be based on the premise of the last two blue-footed newts in existence, destined to mate to save their species from extinction. Following the release of Newt would be Disney’s Bear and Bow. Unfortunately, at a April 2010 press event, the company failed to give an update for the film or a specific release date.
“We have taken Newt off of our development schedule to allow our creative teams to focus on these upcoming projects” More signs of the films removal were supported when the movie was not listed in the official Disney A to Z Encyclopedia by Disney archivists Dave Smith. While, we would have never have seen the movie come to fruition, artwork for the film were slowly released for viewing. For fans wondering will why the film had been “shelved”, a possible reason could be that two other films from Blue Sky and 20th Century Fox’s Rio and Alpha and Omega had a similar plot to Newt. A further look at the story is described as the following quotes:
“What happens when the last remaining male and female blue-footed newts on the planet are forced together by science to save the species, and they can’t stand each other? Newt and Brooke embark on a perilous, unpredictable adventure and discover that finding a mate never goes as planned, even when you only have one choice. Love, it turns out, is not a science.” “Rydstrom came out wheeling a complicated 9 part
Newt mating ritual chart, like you’d find in a science lab or biology class. Rydstrom says the film is about the last two blue footed newts on this earth, a male and a female, who are thrown together by science and can’t stand each other. Newt, our lead, has been in captivity since he was a tadpole. He’s lonely. His only friend is a lifeless sock puppet. He can see the mating ritual chart from his cage and practices day in and day out, getting ready for scientists to capture him a girlfriend. “And who can’t relate to that?” asks Rydstrom. Unfortunately, the 9th and final step is obscured by a Mr. Coffee, so he doesn’t know how the ritual ends. “It’s the way of life. You wanna know step 9 and there’s a Mr. Coffee in front of it.” “Brook is the name of the last female Blue-Footed Newt. She is in the wild and has no idea she’s the last female of her species. She escapes all sorts of dangers in her day to day life, including being evasive of these crazy biologists who are always chasing her. Rydstrom describes her evasive capabilities as making her an “amphibious Errol Flynn.” One day they catch her and bring her back to the lab and present her to Newt. They have “the world’s worst first date” before through circumstance they both end up in the wild. Newt is worthless out here, but Brook gets him through the trials. They meet a character named Eddie, a giant Hellbender Salamander, who is a ladies man and passes along his incredibly shallow ideas of love to Newt. Of course, they predictably don’t work. “Newt is a movie about how finding a mate never goes as you expect even, make that especially, if you only have one choice.”
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PIXAR @ THE OSCARS
“Oh boy. I can’t believe I am actually saying this, but thank you to The Academy. I wouldn’t be standing
The 83rd Annual Academy Awards was a great year for animation, from The Illusionist to the cherished Toy Story 3. Toy Story 3 was nominated for five Oscars, and came home with two more Oscars to add to the ever-growing studio trophy case.
here if it weren’t for the vision of three incredible guys: John Las-
The short, Day and Night by Teddy Newton was nominated Best Animated Short Film as it stunned audiences with its unique creativity and blending of 2D and 3D images to create a stunning film. However it was The Lost Thing by Shaun Tan and Andrew Ruhemann took home the award.
planet to make movies.(Cheers, yelps from the audience) To my
The next nomination for Toy Story 3 was for Best Adapted Screenplay, up against many notable films, such as The Social Network, which took home the award. Even though Toy Story 3 did not win, I take my hat off to Michael Adrnt who won first for his screenplay for Little Miss Sunshine. Next up for Toy Story 3 was a nomination in Sound Editing, against Inception, Tron: Legacy, True Grit and Unstoppable. Inception took the award. For best original song, Toy Story 3’s “We Belong Together” by Randy Newman, took it away with a live performance. With his hilarious acceptance speech noting that out of the 20 nominations, he has had only received 2, making this award so much better. His work for Pixar has always been nothing short of amazing. Last but not least, Best Animated feature. I would be lying if I said I was not expecting this, from the limited nominees this year. The nominations were How to Train Your Dragon, The Illusionist, and Toy Story 3. I can say I expected it as although all the nominations were great, none of them had placed me on an emotional rollercoaster, from crying to laughing my pants off, all in the same movie. In my mind, that is a how I can tell if a movie is really timeless or just another animated movie. If the people working on it are passionate about the film and communicate with their fans, the movie is a winner. I saw this mostly with the director, Mr. Unkrich. He was been a part of the Toy Story trilogy since the start, as an editor for Toy Story and a co-director for Toy Story 2. With the power of social networking, Mr. Unkrich, kept the fans informed with constant updates from his twitter feed, along with the occasional contest and pictures with the casts. His speech given during the Oscar was truly a honest one:
seter, Ed Catmull, and Steve Jobs, the founders of Pixar Animation Studios, which by the way is the most AWESOME place on the producer, Darla Anderson; screenwriter Michael Arndt; my cast and crew, everyone at Disney and Pixar; every single person whohad absolutely anything to do with making Toy Story 3 and getting it out into the world – I share this with you.
To my grandmother, who always insisted that she’d see me up here someday; to my parents, my wife Laura, my kids (Hannah, Alice, and Max) – I love you all so much. And finally, thank you to audiences all over the world who came out in historic numbers and embraced a movie about talking toys that hopefully had something very human to say. Thank you. Thank you, thank you! (Applause) “ - Lee Unkrich
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PI X
AR
C I S U
M
All of the aspects of a film that were mentioned
Every composer has his or her own style, what
Now what does all of this have to do with Mi-
above that come with having a musical score
they are most comfortable with and what they
chael Giacchino’s style? Giacchino seems to
present could not exist without the compos-
are best at. By listening to all of Giacchino’s
be more comfortable with violins that are po-
ers. Pixar has had 3 major composers write
songs in the compositions for “The Incredibles”,
sitioned at the base of the “pyramid”, instead
the scores to their 11 films. They are Michael
“Ratatouille”, and “Up” I’ve noticed several
of traditionally having the melody at the top of
Giacchino, Randy Newman, and Randy New-
patterns in Giacchino’s style that recur in his
the “pyramid”. This style is not quite common
man’s cousin, Thomas Newman. These writers
works, even when given different themes in the
in music, but of course this structure in balance
have interpreted emotions from pure excite-
different films.
has been used many times before. Giacchino
ment and
These men are truly talented, here we will go
In an orchestra, concert band, or even a jazz
having the melody in many of his songs. This is
deeper into Michael Giacchino’s compositions
ensemble, the balance between instruments
normal in the “pyramid” sense. However, Gi-
and his individual styles.
can be described by using a pyramid. Think
acchino seems to favor the flutes just a little bit
of the classic food pyramid (before it was re-
more than the trumpets, clarinets, and saxo-
Michael Giacchino’s first score that he wrote
placed by the “My Pyramid”) the largest chunk
phones. Giacchino did at times write parts for
for Pixar was for The Incredibles, which has a
is at the bottom, and the smallest is at the top.
saxophones that were playing majority of the
jazz theme twisted in it. After that, his two other
In a concert band the low brass like the tubas
length of songs in a score, especially in “The
compositions for Pixar were for “Ratatouille”,
and trombones and low reeds are at the bot-
Incredibles” (this can be explained by the fact
and “Up”. Michael Giacchino’s most memo-
tom of the “pyramid”, the other reed instru-
that the overall style of “The Incredibles” score
rable song he composed for a Pixar film would
ments, trumpets, and flutes tend to be at the
was jazz, which usually features saxophones
probably have been “Married Life” on the film,
top. This “Pyramid” is sometimes reversed in a
and trumpets). But when the flutes come into
“Up”. “Married Life” was played during the
jazz ensemble or also called “big band”, and
the song, despite the saxophones, they con-
scene that showed Carl & Ellie’s life before El-
is changed with an orchestra because of the
tribute more to the song. By the parts they were
lie’s passing. This song made all the emotions
different instruments being used in that case.
given by Giacchino, they seemed to be fea-
that Carl and Ellie were feeling come through:
Nevertheless, in any ensemble the “pyramid”
tured in a more important way than the saxo-
happiness, complete utter adoration & ap-
still remains. The underlying instruments at the
phones.
preciation for each other, and love. This scene
base of the “pyramid” need to have a “fuller”
was a high point in “Up”, it put into image what
sound that doesn’t overcome the top half, but
every heart wants: to find the love of their life
supports the instruments that have the melody.
and to grow old together with that loved one.
As you go up the pyramid the instruments that
It brought viewers into a complete state of
are being played still need to support the other
joy, and it brought viewers to tears all at the
tunes being played, but not on as big of a
same time. This scene could not have been
scale as the base of the “pyramid”.
Think about it, when you watch a Pixar film, or rather any film, what do you listen to more? The dialogue going on between the characters or the musical score that is being played? For almost all of you the answer was the dialogue. Viewers tend to listen to the dialogue more because, well if viewers gave no attention to the dialogue between the characters viewers would have no clue to what is going on in the movie. That doesn’t mean you can completely disregard the instrumental music going on in the background. Without a musical score there would be a lack of suspense, a lack of excitement, and most importantly there would be a lack of emotion that would be portrayed that could not be shown through the characters’ emotions alone. That is what some viewers are missing, if a viewer completely ignores the music going on behind the dialogue, he or she would miss a part of the story. Next time you watch a Pixar film, or any film, consider listening to the story that is being spoken through the music, not the words.
also tends to have flutes or piccolos at the top,
happiness to complete anguish.
portrayed properly in the way it was without Michael Giacchino’s “Married Life”.
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INTERVIEW: Derrick Clements Tell us a bit about yourself, your interests, where you are from I grew up in Northern California, near Pixar. I visited (on the outside) several times as a kid, and the security guards were always very nice (they were the only people I actually spoke with!) One even signed my soundtrack of Toy Story. Now I’m a college student at Brigham Young University studying English. My love of Pixar has turned led me to start the podcast. Another style that Giacchino has used are muted trumpets that either share or have the melody of the tune. A mute is inserted into a trumpet to contain the sound in that small, round, enclosed mute, this changes the overall sound of the trumpet. This style of using trumpet mutes was very popular during WW2. In his use of trumpet mutes Giacchino portrayed an sense of being in an oldfashioned state. Giacchino’s style was fitting especially for the film “Up”, where he used this technique the most, since the film centered around an older man who most likely grew up during the years were muted trumpets were popular in music.
“I think my writing has an old-fashioned feel to it, for whatever reason. I’m just so influenced by the music that I listened to growing up, a lot of it out of the 60’s, so it has a natural tendency to feel like it’s from another era.”-Michael Giacchino
Of course these styles that keep on surfacing in Giacchino’s compositions is not the case in all of his songs, especially in “Ratatouille” since the theme given was Italian, but these are definitely recurring patterns that Giacchino created by following his own style. No one knows whether or not Giacchino created these styles for himself, or if he just rather wrote his music and subconciously included these recurring attributes since this is what he may be more comfortable with. This way of subconsiously including similar traits in styles of written compositions repeatedly has also been observed with Hans Zimmerman. Same chords with same instruments that can be heard in the score of the 1996 film “Broken Arrow” can also be heard in the score of the 2010 film “Inception”. Composers can naturally repeat themselves sometimes without knowing, it’s their own style that makes
What was your “special” moment which made you a Pixar Fan Like many people, I thought of Pixar as Disney for the first few films—I didn’t realize they were a separate company. I had two special moments: seeing Toy Story 2, and then seeing Monsters Inc. Toy Story 2 because I was expecting it to be a sequel of the caliber of Return of Jafar and other Disney sequels. I was amazed when it was just as good, if not better than the original. Then, with their next film, Monsters Inc., I started for the first time to investigate the company and find out as much as I could about them online, on the DVDs, and in the press. What was the idea, goal of the Pixar Podcast For years I have been following great Pixar blogs and receiving a Google Alert email every day telling me all the times the word “Pixar” appeared on the web. I decided to put that knowledge to use by starting a podcast. Now, the goal of the show has shifted away from news updates to longer-lasting interviews with Pixar employees and industry professionals. The goal is to give people a rare behind-the-scenes look as well as inform students who wish to pursue a career in animation, Pixar or otherwise. What is the process in creating the Podcast, can you give us a brief run-through Each episode is a little different, but the production steps are basically the same: - I make a script with a written-out intro and bullet point ideas - I record the show using a USB Blue Yeti mic in Audacity. - I quickly brush through the show, making silent any portion that a person is not talking, and making minor edits. - I upload the mp3 to my site after adding on the artwork and show notes. - I write up the show notes web page and announce on Twitter and Facebook.
them the amazing composers they are. pixar
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Are you pursuing a career in animation? Not at the moment, but I really don’t know exactly what I want
HAWAIIAN VACATION THE TOYS ARE BACK !
my career to be. I love interviewing people, and something that draws me to Pixar is storytelling, so I hope that my career can
“We wanted to figure out a story that would
incorporate those elements, especially storytelling. I have an
include everybody, which is crazy because
interest in theater, radio, nonfiction, etc.
it is under six minutes,” said director Gary Rydstrom. “It takes place in Bonnie’s room
What is your favorite Pixar-related possession?
— Woody, Buzz and Rex and everybody is in on it. Ken wants to take Barbie on a perfect
I love all the Pixar decorations I have in my room, but my favorite is not actually official Pixar mer-
vacation to Hawaii by stowing away in Bon-
chandise—it is an $8 luxo lamp I got from Ikea. It clamps to my desk, so it is not completely accu-
nie’s backpack, but they get left behind in
rate, but it not only reminds me of my favorite film studio, it also is quite useful.
the middle of winter while she goes off without them. Ken kind of screwed up.”
If you where marooned on a island with ONE Pixar character, who would you choose Probably Remy because he could figure out how to make the best survival food. Favorite Pixar quote?
My favorite quote is what Anton Ego says about criticism. Where can we find you online, twitter, email, FB
- Gary Rydstrom, director
As the credits of Toy Story 3 rolled by, I couldn’t help but feel I had lost an important part of my childhood, and even to this day, I cannot watch the movie without breaking out in a tear or two. However, the Toy Story 3 cast is back with a new short film, Hawaiian Vacation. This new short will be focused on the lovable couple, Barbie and Ken — Landing in the room of Bonnie (the new owner of Andy’s toys) after a failed attempt to stow away on a bag heading to Hawaii. Barbie and Ken are soon cheered up by Woody and his pals who adopt several tropical Hawaiian roles to recreate a romantic resort getaway.
I’m on Twitter and Facebook, both /thepixarpodcast, and anyone can email me at thepixarpodcast@ gmail.com I’ve gotten tons of really kind emails from listeners, which I appreciate very much.
It’s exciting to learn that the gang is not gone, and we’ll be seeing them twice this year, a short has been announced to set to premier with the new Muppets movie in December. While Pixar has no plans
What is on the horizon for the podcast? Anything worth looking for to?
for a new Toy Story feature film, their intentions are clear to keep the Toy Story cast with us for many more years to come.
I’ve got some fun guests on the calendar, but one panel interview that I was able to be on is especially
Hawaiian Vacation will be attached to Cars 2, heading to theaters on June 24, 2011, in the US and July
exciting. I won’t spoil who it will be, but I will just say it has already been recorded, I think listeners will
22, 2011, in the UK.
think it is awesome, and I will release it mid-June. pixar
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THE TOY BOX ** The Toy Box is where pixar fans can showcase their personal collection of Pixar goodies. Very much like Andy, i am always looking to add toys to my collection. If you would like to share your collection be sure email us
FAN ART
I purchased this webcam at the Tokyo Disneyland Resort, specifically one of the shops on Main Street. I bought this webcam purely with my obsession with the Green Aliens. a This webcam ran me about 30-40 US dollars and it was every penny worth spent. The only downside of the Alien Style Web Camera is the fact that it is not optimized for Macs. A 1.3 megapixel lense might not be on par with the webcams now avaible and it somewhat got annoying when every time I used the camera the alien would make the “Oooooo” sound .
It was on a trip to Hong Kong that I stumbled upon a store selling old toys, that I found these. At first I had doubts that the earphones would break after a month or two but what shocked me after testing them out was the decent sound quality that produced. I had bought two and had given one of them away to a relative, so I’m down to my last set and according to the Internet, no one else makes them. For the low price (5-10 US dollars), they sound not too bad. It comes with extra sets of colored buds as well. The real selling point however is the overall design of the earphones, its decorated with spaceships, planets and a alien from the Toy Story trilogy which really is a must have for every Pixar or Toy Story fan. However, i did find that the earphones cables did not seem very durable and as of now, these are a display peice in my cabinet.
Artist: Nelson Dániel, Jayson Weidel Big thanks to both artists for agreeing to contibute for this issue
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Alien
GET YOUR PIXAR FIX Great websites and blogs for the pixar enthusiast
Andy Barbie Bobeep Buzz Ham Ken Potatohead
Pixar Planet
The Dream of Pixar
Pixar Times
Rex Sketch Slinky Woody Zurg Pixar Animation Studios
Pixar Talk
The Pixar Podcast
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Stay connected
calendar of events Summer 2011 • Cars 2 - June 24 • Toy Story Hawaiian Vacation - June 24 • La Luna - June 6-11 • Winnie the Pooh - July 15
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