The Second Coming of Steve Jobs - Alan Deutschman [46]
However sophomoric the storyline, Wally and André B hinted at the potential of 3-D animation. The characters were as crudely and simplistically drawn as Mickey Mouse, but like Mickey, they seemed human enough to express the basic strong emotions. And the background shots of a leafy autumnal forest were remarkably beautiful. The light seemed to reflect off of many thousands of individual leaves. The computer-generated effect was stunning. It would have been daunting for human animators to pay attention to such a granular level of detail. But Pixar’s software engineers came up with complex mathematical equations that randomized the position and the minute movements of the countless tiny leaves.
For his next film, John found the models for his characters in an unlikely place: the top of his own desk. He had an inexpensive Luxo lamp, a brand that was very popular at the time. The appeal of a Luxo was its easy maneuverability, which made it a fun toy as well as a useful light fixture. The lamp seemed vaguely anthropomorphic, with a swivel head atop metallic supports. It had visible springs and mechanical joints that made it almost infinitely adjustable, even capable of fluid motion at the hands of its owner.
That was all the inspiration John needed. He created a brief scene of a parent lamp watching as a child lamp jumps on a little ball until the ball deflates. The child seems sad for a moment. Then it goes offscreen and returns with an even bigger ball to jump on. The parent looks on, exasperated that its exuberant offspring has failed to learn a lesson.
John and his handful of colleagues in the animation group worked obsessively on Luxo Jr. John spent his nights huddled in a sleeping bag under his desk. Pixar’s receptionist would wake him up in the morning so he could shower and return to work.
They finished the piece in time for the annual summer get-together for the computer graphics field, which was called Siggraph (for Special Interest Group on Graphics). Siggraph was a bizarre hybrid of an arts festival and a trade show. It was the year’s one-time-only opportunity for the top players to show off their latest work and technical advances to each other. It was where the special-effects experts from the Hollywood studios met the foremost thinkers from the academic computer science departments.
In preparation for the big event, John doubled as the artistic muse for Pixar’s marketing team. He created the Pixar logo and the sleek look for the casing of the Pixar Image Computer. He personally designed the Pixar booth on the floor of the convention center. He even designed the Luxo Jr. T-shirts that they would give away for free.
As Siggraph began, the show floor was crowded with hundreds of booths, a cacophony of competition. But Pixar’s short film quickly emerged as the hit of the show. Luxo Jr. was a hypnotic attraction. People were delighted and transfixed as they watched it again and again. The astonishing thing was that John’s characters had personality. His film had . . . a story! Everyone else at Siggraph was showing demo tapes of special effects. There was reel after reel of lighting patterns, and curtains blowing in the wind, and water flowing over rocks. The other teams called attention to their technical breakthroughs. But Pixar made a real film, a piece of art with emotional impact. “Luxo Jr. showed the ultimate potential of the technology,” recalls its producer, Ralph Guggenheim. “It showed that this media was subtle enough that people would respond to the characters and laugh.”
John Lasseter had scrapped the sophomoric tone of his earlier film. He was developing his ability to tell a story with sophisticated wit, charm, subtlety, and economy, while keeping his playful spirit. He was undeniably a big talent. Ralph entered Luxo Jr. in the Academy Awards, and it was nominated for the Oscar for best animated short film.
Still, the point of the exercise wasn’t to launch Pixar into