Ask John Lasseter a question

[Rumpelstiltskin]

As long as you are registered, now you have the question to ask Lasseter a question:


http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/ ... questions/


Ask Pixar’s John Lasseter Your Questions

Do you want to know more about Mr. Jobs’s importance to the company? Wondering about international locales in “Cars 2″ (coming to DVD on Nov. 1)? Curious how creativity is fostered at its Emeryville, Calif. headquarters? Wondering how a silent film (“Wall-E”) could get the greenlight? John Lasseter, chief creative officer of Pixar, has agreed to answer selected questions from readers of The Times. Post them in the comments section below and return here after Halloween to read his answers.

Personally, I would like to know a little more about how the pre-Toy Story shorts were made.

Or if it is true that Jobs almost closed Pixar's animation department in 1986 and/or 1987 because of the costs.

Or if he thinks that Alvay Ray Smith is getting enough creidt for his role in Pixar and computer animation in general.

Or if there are plans to make a hand drawn animated short or feature some day using tablets only and no paper.

Or if Glen Keane will ever get the chance to do the kind of experimental animation he wish to try out. To quote Glen Keane again:

"I thought, that’s how I want to use the computer. I want to find a way to really celebrate drawing. To really value the energy of a line. A line to me is like a seismograph of an earthquake, that measures emotion. And when you clean it up, you take so much out. That’s another direction that we can go because of the computer. What I’ve spent my time doing is taking what I like about hand-drawn, and putting it into the computer. I’d like to take some time and take what the computer can do, and put that into hand-drawn. That’d be another whole look for a movie. I don’t know what it’d look like, but that’s what I’d like to pursue."

I would also like to know if there are some spesific goals or ambitions in computer animation that Disney hope to achieve, but which have been impossible to do so far.

[Dr Frankenollie]

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[milojthatch]

Question asked!

[pinkrenata]

Cool find, Rumpelstiltskin!

[Rumpelstiltskin]

You welcome. Hope you questions end up as the selected ones that he will reply to.

(Thinking about it, it would also be interesting to know if Pixar had any plans to create characters with a little bit more realistic design.)

[Poody]

I'm restraining myself....

[Dr Frankenollie]

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[Sotiris]

Pixar’s John Lasseter Answers Your Questions
http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/ ... questions/

Q: In the documentary “The Pixar Story,” many of the Pixar animators and directors interviewed lamented the decline of hand-drawn animation as a result of the popularity and ubiquity of computer animation. Is there any thought of Pixar developing projects using hand-drawn animation either on its own or used in tandem with computer animation? — Lisa, East Windsor, NJ

A: In overseeing both Disney and Pixar Animation, each studio has a unique culture. A studio is not its building, it’s its people. They’re both filmmaker-led studios. At the Walt Disney Animation Studios, there is tremendous history and heritage. Of course it’s the studio that Walt Disney opened in 1923, and it’s never closed its doors. The studio has always made animation, and it really invented long-form animation. Hand-drawn animation is the heritage at that studio, and we’re continuing hand-drawn animation with “The Princess and the Frog” and “Winnie the Pooh.” We’re developing these really interesting techniques using hand-drawn animation, along with 3D computer animation.

Whereas Pixar invented much of computer animation, and it’s so steeped in that technology, and that’s who we are. Everything that Pixar has done, no one’s done before. We keep pushing the technology. The developments are always because of the needs of our stories.

Hand-drawn animation lives within the Walt Disney Animation Studios, and Pixar will continue focusing on what we’ve always done, which is amazing 3-D computer animation.