Secret to success in Pixar

“To infinity…and beyond!” This is a famous phrase said by Buzz Lightyear one of the most loved characters of all times and well known by people of many generations. Amazing stories, hilarious phrases and unforgettable characters are the legacy of one of the most successful 3D animation enterprises: Pixar. Founded in 1979 it has created 11 consecutive blockbusters whose characters had persisted on the hearts of millions of children and adults until now. Since Toy Story in 1995 to Up in 2009 each one of their movies had won different Oscar awards. But what is the secret of their success? Pixar is a community in all the sense of the word.

            In the first place, Pixar people do what they want to see. Everybody in Pixar love 3D animation movies and they create easy stories inspired in the simplest things. For example: Luxo Jr’s short film (created by John Lasseter) is about a lamp that plays with a ball. Pixar people also like to do not easy things in order to resolve the possible problems in a creative and entertaining way. For example the plot of Toy Story 2 initially wasn’t working and they solved it with Jessie’s song “When She Loved Me”. Pixar Studios also allows Pixar people’s creativity to easily flow. The buildings they have are big and they are unique in the sense that they don’t look like offices. Each one of the departments are conditioned to people’s necessities. 

 

In the second place, Pixar people know that they are in constant risk to do the same things always and they don’t want to be satisfied with that. Because of that the stories they create are inspired in their personal experiences. For example “Cars” is based in John Lasseter’s travels with his family along the road. Also Pixar people are not afraid to do new things or simply they don’t dare to do things. For example Pete Docter didn’t hesitate to develop the idea that there are monsters in children closets and then he created “Monster’s Inc”. Pixar people also work in small groups that constantly proposed new ideas and resolved problems together as a team. For example they resolved the problem to create millions of ants when they were doing “A Bug’s Life”.

Lastly, in Pixar it isn’t the idea what cares; it’s the people and how they work together. For Pixar executives it’s very important to hear all the ideas and comments that come from each people of all departments and all ranges. For example most of the short films that they has created were possible because of the ideas that everybody provided. Also Pixar directors have the humility to accept critics and change the things that are not working in the movie. For example in “Finding Nemo” they made significant changes to the scene in which Nemo is dying and his father is talking with him. For Pixar director movies it’s also important to take in consideration all the ideas even if they are ridiculous. That’s why they prefer to create new things instead of copy the ones that currently exist. You can see this in “The Incredibles”. Heroes had always existed but the concept of a family of heroes is not common.

Therefore success in Pixar is because of the philosophy they has made part of Pixar people’s life. They don’t hesitate to do the things they want to do. They don’t break their heads in order to find good stories. Instead they create their plots based on personal experiences or even in the simplest things. Finally they are always open mind to every critical that members of all crew have. So this is the secret to success in Pixar.

Run Lola Run

“Not even God can change the past” this is one of the themes of 1998 Tom Tkywer’s German movie: Run Lola Run. This movie talks about the constant decisions that we made in our daily lifes. It show us how our future can be according to those decisions, but definitely show us how the whole universe is connected and every decision we made affects both our lifes and everybody’s life.

            In the first place, we are not unique and alone in this world. Our problems affect others. Like Manni’s economical problem with mafia affects Lola’s life. Another example is when Lola was run over by her father’s assistant and this save him to crash with the other car. Also we need to find support in others. For example the first person in whom Manni finds help is in Lola and she doesn’t hesitates helping him. Maybe Manni would be dead if Lola doesn’t help him to get the money or when she helps him in the robbery. Also anybody can help you. We can see this when the tramp gave back to Manni the money that he found on the train.

In the second place, we try to survive choosing the right way. Every path we choose has a unique ending. We can see this in each ending of the three plotlines; the first two are sad, but the last one is happy. This is also affected by the dog of the animation and the different feelings that Lola feels in each    one of the plotlines. Also we try to avoid dead. We can see this in Lola who one way or another tries to avoid Manni’s dead in each plotline and at the beginning of the story. Also, what we think is the right way for us maybe is not the right way for the rest of the people. For example for Manni is right to take away from the tramp the money that belong to his boss, but for the tramp is not good because he won’t have anything in life.

Lastly, people we love are important one way or another in the decisions we made. We protect the people we love. For example Lola does everything she can do to protect Manni. Or in the last plotline, she stays for a while with his father who is dying. Also we make mistakes when we choose a decision for love. We can see this when Lola kidnaps his father or when Lola takes the risk to bet all her money to the casino and when she knocks the policeman on his head in order to help Manni in the robbery. In addition, love is an important factor. Lola takes all the risks and does what she does because she loves Manni and she wants to have him alive.

We made decisions in order to survive in this world and we tried to protect the people we love. Because we are not unique in this world, the decisions we made affects other for good or bad. Every step we made influences in others life. This is the special thing, I think, that is present in each of the three plotlines: the decisions that Lola makes.