How Pixar creative genius John Lasseter became the next Walt Disney and built a $10 billion empire

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Business Insider has an article up about how Pixar creative genius John Lasseter became the next Walt Disney and built a $10 billion empire.

No studio can match the creativity, heart, and cleverness found in all Pixar films, and it seems those principles can be traced back to Lasseter

“You want the movies to touch people,” Lasseter said in an interview for Pixar’s 30th anniversary this year. “Make ’em funny, make ’em beautiful, make ’em scary, but in the end you want that heart of the movie to be so strong.”

Lasseter’s and Pixar’s success are linked. He cofounded the animation studio that has now made nearly $10 billion worldwide. He championed computer animation at a time when the technology was still quite infantile. He created and directed “Toy Story,” which started it all (more than 250 computer-animated films have been made since). He kept asking questions that resulted in better animation all around and better Pixar films.

RAIN OR SHINE TRAILER LAUNCHES FROM GOOGLE SPOTLIGHT STORIES

 

Google Spotlight Stories presents

the trailer for their newest story

RAIN OR SHINE

Directed by Felix Massie

The sun is shining, the birds are singing, there’s a spring in everybody’s step.

Everyone in London is enjoying a perfect summer’s day…

Until Ella steps outside.

Everywhere she goes it rains – is she going to ruin everyone’s day forever?

ABOUT “RAIN OR SHINE”

Together with Nexus Animation Studio, Google Spotlight Stories proudly presented a sneak preview of RAIN OR SHINE, directed by Felix Massie, at the Annecy International Animation Festival. The studio’s most interactive short yet — as with other Spotlight Stories, the viewer can look around, and in doing so, can find subplots and surprises, in addition to hold for the viewer to return to main view before returning.

ABOUT GOOGLE SPOTLIGHT STORIES

Google Spotlight Stories is a new form of storytelling made specifically for mobile and VR. In these 360-degree, interactive stories, your phone becomes a window to a world all around you. The sensors on your phone allow the story to be interactive; when you move your phone to various scenes, you are able to unlock mini-stories within the story.

Annecy: DreamWorks Animation Screens First Footage of ‘Boss Baby’

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Variety has an article about Tom McGrath’s upcoming animated comedy, Boss Baby which stars Alec Baldwin and is set for release next March.

A riled up audience at the Annecy International Animation Festival in the French Alps was the first in the world to see footage of Boss Baby, the upcoming DreamWorks Animation comedy from Madagascar and Megamind director Tom McGrath, who spoke for more than an hour about his latest creation.

With Alec Baldwin voicing the titular bigwig in diapers, and Jimmy Kimmel and Lisa Kudrow playing the parents, Boss Baby is told through the eyes of a 7-year-old boy whose life is turned upside-down by the arrival of a new brother. The catch is that the little cutie can talk and do plenty of other things, like carry a briefcase and order everyone else around. Eventually, the two bros team up to take on the evil Puppy Co., which is filling the world with baby dogs and taking the spotlight away from humans.

Slated for domestic release by 20th Century Fox in March 2017, Boss Baby looks to be another case of DreamWorks and McGrath joining forces for what could be a clever and meaningful cartoon with broad appeal.

Career Spotlight: “What I Do as a 2D Animator”

 

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nu5TE6xAnMg

Lifehacker has an interesting article by Andy Orin who interviews Sketch MacQuinor, lead animator behind Adult Swim’s Squidbillies.

Toon Boom Announces Harmony 14 at MIFA

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Today, Toon Boom Animation announced the upcoming release of Harmony 14 at MIFA. Available in three editions – Essentials, Advanced and Premium – Harmony is the most powerful solution for artists creating feature films, episodic series, games, webisodes, and explainer videos.

Harmony 14 is the best release to date. We’ve made user-requested enhancements and heightened 3D integration, enabling the creation of projects that, in the past, were too complex or costly to produce. This version includes powerful tools for drawing, painting and animating which allow artists to create work in any artistic style they choose. We are also expanding our global reach and meeting our users’ needs by now offering all three editions of Harmony in Spanish,” said Francisco Del Cueto, Toon Boom Animation CTO.

The Toon Boom team at MIFA will be showing product demonstrations of Harmony 14 June 15 – 17, 2016.