The Pixar Touch

The Making of a Company

By: David A. Price

Narrated by: David Drummond

The Pixar Touch is a lively chronicle of Pixar Animation Studios' history and evolution, and the "fraternity of geeks" who shaped it. With the help of visionary businessman Steve Jobs and animating genius John Lasseter, Pixar has become the gold standard of animated filmmaking, beginning with a short special effects shot made at Lucasfilm in 1982 all the way up through the landmark films Toy Story, Finding Nemo, Wall-E, and others.

David A. Price goes behind the scenes of the corporate feuds between Lasseter and his former champion, Jeffrey Katzenberg, as well as between Steve Jobs and Michael Eisner. And finally he explores Pixar's complex relationship with the Walt Disney Company as it transformed itself into the $7.4 billion jewel in the Disney crown.

©2008 David A. Price (P)2008 Tantor

Insightful

Very insightful and ostensibly comprehensive look into a cool company managed by geniuses and owned by lunatics. An entertainment biz must listen.

Inspiring and Insightful

A very interesting insight into the making of Pixar and how little the creative ‘geniuses’ new about what they were doing. What stood out was the sheer time and planning process of the movies and the dedication and love poured in by the creators. Pixar really was and is a work of great passion and commitment.

The best parts center around the films themselves

I found this book most interesting when it went into details about the making of Pixar's best films. Most of the specifics are about Toy Story, and the other films unfortunately get much less time. Most of the book is about how the company got started and stayed afloat and it's partnership with Disney, which will be of most interest to those curious about the 3D, tech, and film industries. But mercifully it does not get bogged down with excessive details about business deals and court proceedings like some company biographies do, so it moves along and remains entertaining throughout.

Computer graphics enthusiasts may not learn many tricks of the trade from this book, but it does get specific about who invented and developed a lot of the modeling, shading, and lighting techniques that we still use today. So it was more technical than I expected. Though it does emphasize the importance of story over technical achievement, which is a key aspect of Pixar's success.

David Drummond is a narrator I enjoy and he was part of the reason I bought this book. He did an excellent job.

a well told history of Pixar

Some of the story is already well known, butt it is well told with new details and insights. It feels a little too much on Parts copywrite cases. Insights into the Disney wars.

Very Interesting!

White giving an in depth look on Pixar's history, it also portrays a look into corporate business strategy, technical and artistical developments over a decade.

The word In-depth does not do this piece justice!

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Yes, however I am usually the animation buff in the room but I have told friends and family how all-encompassing and fascinating this work is. It covers a lot! A lot! The founders of Pixar, the pillars of the company as well as the most successful films made by Pixar.

What did you like best about this story?

The characters were brought in chronologically as the story progressed, I learned new things regarding the circumstances in which Pixar found itself at several points in history and how the rest of the industry "helped" make Pixar work.

Which scene was your favorite?

The scene in which Michael Isner was forced to abdicate from his throne because his arrogance was poisonous and he was worse than he was better.

What’s the most interesting tidbit you’ve picked up from this book?

The reason behind some of the crappy Disney sequels and why Toy Story 2 was made.

Engaging history

I think anyone who's a fan of Pixar's films will enjoy this well-researched, thoroughly readable book. Price begins in the 1970s with the backstories of the company's key members, and proceeds forward, providing an engaging condensed history of computer graphics and animation along the way. We learn about Pixar's early days trying to find its way as a subsidiary of Lucasfilm, and its struggles to stay afloat after being purchased by Steve Jobs. We see its tumultuous history with the cantankerous Apple founder and an increasingly corporate Disney.

The book's real treat, though, comes when Price discusses the development of the groundbreaking movie Toy Story, a project that underwent many changes from conception to final version, driven by the stubborn commitment of John Lasseter and other leads to get everything right. For example, to find the dynamic between Woody and Buzz, they watched a series of buddy movies and studied the mannerisms of the voice actors. This fanatical attention to detail, combined with top-notch talent and a certain amount of humility on the part of the team when it comes to accepting that some creative ideas must be thrown out in service of quality, demonstrates itself again on subsequent projects. It's nearly as much fun to read about the evolution of Monsters, Inc., Finding Nemo, The Incredibles, and other films. When Pixar's human strengths are mixed with the advantages of the medium, challenged by its constraints, or freed by its newness, the result is a fertile, back-to-the-drawing-board approach that will hopefully continue to generate compelling works and new creative tools for years to come. As a video game developer, I found their process very inspiring to read about.

As histories of companies go, Price is clearly writing from the position of an admirer. What dirt he dishes up is mostly on Jobs and Disney. But, he knows how to tell the story most readers are after, and it's to his credit that he makes the technological, artistic, and business facets of his narrative interesting, without getting too bogged in the details of any one. I think that any reader interested in film, computer graphics, or simply innovation in general will enjoy it.

Entertaining

Very entertaining book on the evolution of Pixar. Excellent historical research on the pioneers of computer animation as well. One negative...author spends a lot of time explaining the plot on some of the Pixar movies.

Love this story

If you love Pixar and/or like tech history books, this one is for you! From the every beginning to the same to Disney.

Very engaging

This is an amazing book on Pixar and its history. This is far different from company books that I have read on Apple or Amazon, which were mostly compilation of what was available on the press, not actual interviews conducted on people who worked there. This book gives good view on how things went at Pixar, so I would highly recommend this book for anyone interested on learning about Pixar.