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PREMIER PIXAR

fIRst IssuE

JUNE 2011

In this issue:

Toy Story 3 review

Pixar @ the Oscars

Newt

Fan Art and much more !

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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 years- and 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!

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 ev-

ery 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-

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.

CONTRIBUTORS

AtamerebriefglanceatthetrailerofToyStory3,itmayappearthatthefilmwillbewhatithasbeen

inpreviousinstallments:anotherfun,whimsicallookinthebehind-the-sceneslifeofachild’stoys,butin

fact,nothingcouldbecloserorfurtherfromthetruth.Pixarhascraftedafilmthatmixescomedyanddrama

intothesamefilm,anendeavorthatmanyotherfilmmakingcompanieswouldfailat.

Ifyouhaven’tyetseenthefilm,theremaybespoilersahead.InsteadofstartingwhereToyStory2

leftoff,ToyStory3startsabout10yearsaftertheendofitspredecessor.Andyisnowalmost18yearsold

andisleavingforcollege.Manytoyshavebeenthrownawayorsold,includingfavoriteslikeBoPeepand

Weezy.TheteamisnownarroweddowntoWoody,Buzz,Jessie,Bullseye,Hamm,Rex,thegreenPizza

Planetaliens,andMr.andMrs.Potatohead.SinceAndyisleavingsoon,allofhistoysmustgosomewhere.

TheyeventuallyendupatSunnysideDaycare,wheretheymeetnicenewtoys.Allseemswell,andthenew

recruitsareeagertogettheplaytimetheyhaven’thadinyears.However,thingstakeamuchdarkertwist

whentheyfindthatthesystemisrigged.

REVIEW

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In April 2008, Disney/Pixar announced the develop-ment 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 com-pany failed to give an update for the film or a specific release date.

“We have taken Newt off of our development sched-ule 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 follow-ing 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 capa-bilities 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 Sala-mander, 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.”

NEWT TomHanksandTimAllenreprisetheirrolesasWoodyandBuzz,respectively.MichaelKeatonjoins

thecastasBarbie’sotherhalf,Ken.NedBeattyportraystheroleofLotsoHuggin’Bear,theevildictatorwho

smellsofstrawberries.ThevoicetalentforToyStory3couldnotbebetter.Hanks’sandAllen’svoicestrulygo

welltogether.Nootheractorcouldbringanyofthetoys,oldornew,tolifeasthecastofthisfilmdo.Beatty

providestheperfectvoicetoturnfromagoodguytoabadguysuddenly.Neartheend,youcantellLotsois

throughwithfoolingaroundandstartstocrackashestartsramblingandcrackinghisvoice.

Obviously,CGIhasgottenmuchbetterinthe11yearssinceToyStory2.Theimprovedgraphicscan

trulyshowhowdeterioratedandoldthecloudpaintinAndy’sroomis,orhoworderlyandmaintainedtheBut-

terflyRoomis.Theyclearlyusedthenewlightingandcolortoaddsubtlechangestochangethewholemood

toascene,suchasthesaturatedcolorsandincreasedlightingonJessiewhenBuzzseesher,orgrainy,dark

andgreyoverlaywhentheclowntoyistellinghisstory.Bettergraphics,texturesandlightingequalsbetter

overallstorytelling.

Inaway,ToyStory3isthelightandwhimsicalfilmpeoplemightexpectittobe,butatthesametimeit

isoneofthedarkestfilmsPixarhasevercreated,allwhileretainingthesamefeelandloveastheotherToy

Storyfilms.

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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.

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 cre-ate a stunning film. However it was The Lost Thing by Shaun Tan and Andrew Ruhemann took home the award.

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: Lega-cy, 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 mov-ie is really timeless or just another animated movie. If the people working on it are pas-sionate 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:

PIXAR @ THE OSCARS

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

“Oh

boy. I can’t

believe I am actually saying this,

but thank you to The Academy. I wouldn’t be standing

here if it weren’t for the vision of three incredible guys: John Las-

seter, Ed Catmull, and Steve Jobs, the founders of Pixar Animation

Studios, which by the way is the most AWESOME place on the

planet to make movies.(Cheers, yelps from the audience) To my

producer, Darla Anderson; screenwriter Michael Arndt; my cast

and crew, everyone at Disney and Pixar; every single person who-

had absolutely anything to do with making Toy Story 3 and getting

it out into the world – I share this with you.

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PIXAR

MUSIC

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. View-

ers 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 instru-

mental music going on in the background. With-

out a musical score there would be a lack of sus-

pense, 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.

Every composer has his or her own style, what

they are most comfortable with and what they

are best at. By listening to all of Giacchino’s

songs in the compositions for “The Incredibles”,

“Ratatouille”, and “Up” I’ve noticed several

patterns in Giacchino’s style that recur in his

works, even when given different themes in the

different films.

In an orchestra, concert band, or even a jazz

ensemble, the balance between instruments

can be described by using a pyramid. Think

of the classic food pyramid (before it was re-

placed by the “My Pyramid”) the largest chunk

is at the bottom, and the smallest is at the top.

In a concert band the low brass like the tubas

and trombones and low reeds are at the bot-

tom of the “pyramid”, the other reed instru-

ments, trumpets, and flutes tend to be at the

top. This “Pyramid” is sometimes reversed in a

jazz ensemble or also called “big band”, and

is changed with an orchestra because of the

different instruments being used in that case.

Nevertheless, in any ensemble the “pyramid”

still remains. The underlying instruments at the

base of the “pyramid” need to have a “fuller”

sound that doesn’t overcome the top half, but

supports the instruments that have the melody.

As you go up the pyramid the instruments that

are being played still need to support the other

tunes being played, but not on as big of a

scale as the base of the “pyramid”.

Now what does all of this have to do with Mi-

chael Giacchino’s style? Giacchino seems to

be more comfortable with violins that are po-

sitioned at the base of the “pyramid”, instead

of traditionally having the melody at the top of

the “pyramid”. This style is not quite common

in music, but of course this structure in balance

has been used many times before. Giacchino

also tends to have flutes or piccolos at the top,

having the melody in many of his songs. This is

normal in the “pyramid” sense. However, Gi-

acchino seems to favor the flutes just a little bit

more than the trumpets, clarinets, and saxo-

phones. Giacchino did at times write parts for

saxophones that were playing majority of the

length of songs in a score, especially in “The

Incredibles” (this can be explained by the fact

that the overall style of “The Incredibles” score

was jazz, which usually features saxophones

and trumpets). But when the flutes come into

the song, despite the saxophones, they con-

tribute more to the song. By the parts they were

given by Giacchino, they seemed to be fea-

tured in a more important way than the saxo-

phones.

All of the aspects of a film that were mentioned

above that come with having a musical score

present could not exist without the compos-

ers. Pixar has had 3 major composers write

the scores to their 11 films. They are Michael

Giacchino, Randy Newman, and Randy New-

man’s cousin, Thomas Newman. These writers

have interpreted emotions from pure excite-

ment and happiness to complete anguish.

These men are truly talented, here we will go

deeper into Michael Giacchino’s compositions

and his individual styles.

Michael Giacchino’s first score that he wrote

for Pixar was for The Incredibles, which has a

jazz theme twisted in it. After that, his two other

compositions for Pixar were for “Ratatouille”,

and “Up”. Michael Giacchino’s most memo-

rable song he composed for a Pixar film would

probably have been “Married Life” on the film,

“Up”. “Married Life” was played during the

scene that showed Carl & Ellie’s life before El-

lie’s passing. This song made all the emotions

that Carl and Ellie were feeling come through:

happiness, complete utter adoration & ap-

preciation for each other, and love. This scene

was a high point in “Up”, it put into image what

every heart wants: to find the love of their life

and to grow old together with that loved one.

It brought viewers into a complete state of

joy, and it brought viewers to tears all at the

same time. This scene could not have been

portrayed properly in the way it was without

Michael Giacchino’s “Married Life”.

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What was your “special” moment which made you a Pixar Fan

Likemanypeople,IthoughtofPixarasDisneyforthefirstfewfilms—Ididn’trealizetheywereaseparatecompany.Ihadtwospecialmoments:seeingToyStory2,andthenseeingMonstersInc.ToyStory2becauseIwasexpectingittobeasequelofthecaliberofReturnofJafarandotherDisneysequels.Iwasamazedwhenitwasjustasgood,ifnotbetterthantheoriginal.Then,withtheirnextfilm,MonstersInc.,IstartedforthefirsttimetoinvestigatethecompanyandfindoutasmuchasIcouldaboutthemonline,ontheDVDs,andinthepress.

What was the idea, goal of the Pixar Podcast

ForyearsIhavebeenfollowinggreatPixarblogsandreceivingaGoogleAlertemaileverydaytellingmeallthetimestheword“Pixar”appearedontheweb.Idecidedtoputthatknowledgetousebystartingapodcast.Now,thegoaloftheshowhasshiftedawayfromnewsupdatestolonger-lastinginterviewswithPixaremployeesandindustryprofessionals.Thegoalistogivepeopleararebehind-the-sceneslookaswellasinformstudentswhowishtopursueacareerinanimation,Pixarorotherwise.

What is the process in creating the Podcast, can you give us a brief run-through

Eachepisodeisalittledifferent,buttheproductionstepsarebasicallythesame:-Imakeascriptwithawritten-outintroandbulletpointideas-IrecordtheshowusingaUSBBlueYetimicinAudacity.-Iquicklybrushthroughtheshow,makingsilentanyportionthatapersonisnottalking,andmakingminoredits.-Iuploadthemp3tomysiteafteraddingontheartworkandshownotes.-IwriteuptheshownoteswebpageandannounceonTwitterandFacebook.

Tell us a bit about yourself, your interests, where you are from

IgrewupinNorthernCalifornia,nearPixar.Ivisited(ontheout-side)severaltimesasakid,andthesecurityguardswerealwaysverynice(theyweretheonlypeopleIactuallyspokewith!)OneevensignedmysoundtrackofToyStory.NowI’macollegestudentatBrighamYoungUniversitystudyingEnglish.MyloveofPixarhasturnedledmetostartthepodcast.

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 old-

fashioned state. Giacchino’s style was fitting especially for the film “Up”, where he used this tech-

nique 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 re-

curring 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 ob-

served 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”. Com-

posers can naturally repeat themselves sometimes without knowing, it’s their own style that makes

them the amazing composers they are.

INTERVIEW: Derrick Clements

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Where can we find you online, twitter, email, FB

I’monTwitterandFacebook,both/thepixarpodcast,andanyonecanemailmeatthepixarpodcast@

gmail.comI’vegottentonsofreallykindemailsfromlisteners,whichIappreciateverymuch.

What is on the horizon for the podcast? Anything worth looking for to?

I’vegotsomefunguestsonthecalendar,butonepanelinterviewthatIwasabletobeonisespecially

exciting.Iwon’tspoilwhoitwillbe,butIwilljustsayithasalreadybeenrecorded,Ithinklistenerswill

thinkitisawesome,andIwillreleaseitmid-June.

What is your favorite Pixar-related possession?

IloveallthePixardecorationsIhaveinmyroom,butmyfavoriteisnotactuallyofficialPixarmer-

chandise—itisan$8luxolampIgotfromIkea.Itclampstomydesk,soitisnotcompletelyaccu-

rate,butitnotonlyremindsmeofmyfavoritefilmstudio,italsoisquiteuseful.

If you where marooned on a island with ONE Pixar character, who would you choose

ProbablyRemybecausehecouldfigureouthowtomakethebestsurvivalfood.

Favorite Pixar quote?

My favorite quote is what Anton Ego says about criticism.

Are you pursuing a career in animation?

Notatthemoment,butIreallydon’tknowexactlywhatIwant

mycareertobe.Iloveinterviewingpeople,andsomethingthat

drawsmetoPixarisstorytelling,soIhopethatmycareercan

incorporatethoseelements,especiallystorytelling.Ihavean

interestintheater,radio,nonfiction,etc.

HAWAIIAN VACATIONTHE TOYS ARE BACK !

“We wanted to figure out a story that would

include everybody, which is crazy because

it is under six minutes,” said director Gary

Rydstrom. “It takes place in Bonnie’s room

— Woody, Buzz and Rex and everybody is in

on it. Ken wants to take Barbie on a perfect

vacation to Hawaii by stowing away in Bon-

nie’s backpack, but they get left behind in

the middle of winter while she goes off with-

out them. Ken kind of screwed up.”

- 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 child-hood, 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.

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 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.Hawaiian Vacation will be attached to Cars 2, heading to theaters on June 24, 2011, in the US and July 22, 2011, in the UK.

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THE TOY BOX

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.

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 .

FAN ART** 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

Artist: Nelson Dániel, Jayson Weidel

Big thanks to both artists for agreeing to contibute for this issue

pixar 17

Alien Andy

Barbie Bobeep

Buzz Ham Ken

Potatohead Rex

Sketch Slinky Woody

Zurg

GET YOUR PIXAR FIXGreat websites and blogs for the pixar enthusiast

Pixar Talk

Pixar Times

Pixar Animation Studios The Pixar Podcast

Pixar Planet The Dream of Pixar

pixar 19

PixARiAnS BLOGS:

1. DAniEL STRijLEvA

2. DEREK THOmPSOn

3. DOn SHAnK

4. jOSH COOLEY

5. LinDSAY vAnDERGALiEn

6. LOu ROmAnO

7. LOuiS CLiCHY

8. nATE WRAGG

9. AAROn HARTLinE , DAiLYPOSTiT

10. CHRiS CHuA

11. AuSTin mADiSOn

12. CATHERinE HiCKS

13. ED DOWninG

14. DAniEL GOnzALES

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calendar of eventssummer 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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