Toy Story: revival of classic storytelling
It’s been awhile since I have done a book review, and this isn’t one either. Not really. But I recently read The Pixar Touch by David A. Price.
I picked up the book a week or two ago…but wait…that isn’t true. Sitting in my QEpiphany conference I realized I wanted to read more about Pixar. After all, we were deconstructing Toy Story 2 and learning the backstory of the process. I wanted to know more. So I grabbed my iPad, searched Amazon Kindle and downloaded what looked like the most appropriate book. I have never held the book in my hands.
A perfect illustration of the first lesson I learned from both the book and from Pixar: technology disrupts. It makes the “good old boys nervous.” Some people will tell you that the technology is ruining the integrity of what came before. What would animation be without hand drawn cels? It would be different. But equally amazing. And that gets people’s feathers ruffled.
Lesson: When you are going to venture into a whole new world, be prepared to spend some time bringing others along and smoothing down their feathers.
The second lesson quickly follows the first: yesterday’s skill set may not be enough to meet today’s challenge, but it will probably provide the foundation for the skills that will meet the challenge. Without the skilled hand animators, Pixar would never have been able to hit the right balance in their computer generated characters. It required the eye, the deep background and the artistic sense that only animators possessed.
Lesson: Don’t despise the skill sets of yesterday. Figure out what they knew. It may be crucial to you today.
Finally (because research tells me your attention has already waned)…
Lesson: Nothing — repeat — NOTHING beats a good story, well written.
Great book...with some interesting background on Steve Jobs' time at Pixar.
