Yes, It was a sad wake-up text on an iPhone about the death of Steve Jobs. Saviour of Pixar. Executive producer of Toy Story. Visionary for all modern 3D animation. And the man who had majority control over Disney as their largest shareholder. Facts which mean much to me, and lost in the obviousness of Apple.
Without Steve, there would be no Pixar, no Toy Story (he produced it too), no Finding Nemo, no Monsters Inc. – you get the idea. He brought joy to mine and millions of lifes through those creations. For sure he’s done all the other stuff in pioneering the single most iconic technology brand the world’s seen, but it’s easy to forget those other few, but joyful facts when remembering the founder, and re-saviour of Apple Computers.
Jobs wasn’t the actual creator who drew Nemo, Woody or any of the others. He was the man who had the vision necessary to make those stories come to life. It was his passion. Not just an investor, his ability to see the opportunities as Pixar evolved is yet further proof of what a visionary figure Steve Jobs was.
So for all of you, and in honour of Steve, here’s how that iconic Pixar logo began, and the video that started it all – and below that a groundbreaking short that, for the first time, animated bendable human arms and knees in 3D CGI. It tells the story of a loyal toy willing to sacrifice itself for a child, and getting jealous when it seems to have been replaced. It just MAY ring a few bells…
Jobs did NOT CREATE Pixar. There would indeed be a Pixar without Jobs, because it already existed for years before Jobs purchased it in 1986 from Lucasfilm. Though Pixar accomplished many great things after Jobs purchased it, let’s not distort history.
Hi Smitty. He purchased The Graphics Group from Lucasfilm in 86, and following this – using that business – created Pixar. He is listed formally as creator of Pixar, but due to the incorporation status he’s one of 3 founders along with Ed Catmull and Alvy Ray Smith. Either way the newly independent Pixar would not have existed without Steve Jobs as TGG were going bankrupt, and his belief and cash injection along with CEO direction led to the 12 mega-films they subsequently released, including financing Toy Story. He also served as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Pixar as it ran.
http://www.apple.com/pr/bios/steve-jobs.html
Just to note, Pixar was already well known as Pixar before Jobs purchased it from Lucusfilm’s graphics group. I saw many of Pixar’s great (for the time) short animations before 1986 and they were all titled with the Pixar name. It other words, Jobs did not CREATE Pixar.