Michal Marek The D10 conference, which is organized regularly every year by All Things Digital, was visited last week by Ed Catmull - the president of Walt Disney Animation Studios and Pixar Animation Studios. This five-time Oscar winner, who is responsible for animated blockbusters such as Toy Story, Monsters Inc. (Příšerky s.r.o.), Cars (Cars) or Up (Up to the Clouds), revealed what is behind the success of the images from his workshop.
Ed Catmull is said to have read many books on successful business management and general success. Many of these books were said to be interesting, but Catmull learned nothing of practical use from them. In his opinion, it is difficult for the management to understand what is happening inside the company, and it is very difficult to objectively estimate the events of which you yourself are a part.
It is not easy to see one's own mistakes, and therefore every company should create an honest and open work environment. We are faced with many challenging problems and we have to estimate in time which projects have a future and which we should cancel without delay. Catmull also cited an example where one of the main projects was eventually stopped and, for example, the movie Toy Story 2 had to be significantly rewritten before the management decided that the result would be high enough for the audience to fall in love with it.
The president of Pixar also said that it is not good when animators rely too much on the technological side of their work and forget the importance of their own story. Of course, the quality and innovation of the animation is important to Pixar, but a good film must first have a great story. The key to success is to correctly combine the content and technical side of the created image. So let's look forward to the new, highly anticipated film called "Brave", which should arrive in theaters on June 18 this year.
