Essay: The success of Pixar

Pixar Animation Studios is an American computer animation film studio formed in 1979 by John Lasseter and Ed Catmull as part the Computer Division of Lucasfilm until Steve Jobs acquired it in 1986. Nowadays it is the most important company that creates and produces animated movies every year. Every single movie of Pixar is a hit, no matter if it's about toys or humans or even monsters movie, they are awesome and everyone enjoys these movies, but the success of Pixar isn’t just their fantastic effects or how they change and create new animated worlds, Pixar success is related with their employees, their powerful stories and creativity.

Pixar has a specific way to work. If someone has an idea he/she shares it to the Pixar executives, if it works, the idea is presented to the entire Pixar employees and then every one opine and critic it, make suggestions and make it work. In Pixar even the newest member of the crew shares his/her opinion in order to unify the ideas and create a spectacular movie in conjunct. People in Pixar is engaged with their work but despite this fact, they love their job, they love the media, and they love creating and animate fantastic sceneries and characters, even if their movies don’t become a success as the others, they still love what they do. In Pixar there is more than work, in this company every employee is free to create, to participate, to design and to have fun with work.

One of the most important things that attract people about Pixar movies are the stories. Every single movie of Pixar has a powerful and human story. Even if the movie is situated in the blue ocean or in a restaurant in Paris, every movie has a touching story inspired in the employees’ life experience. The result of this is that many people feel a connection with these stories making the characters more “real” and “human” even if they’re bugs.

Creativity is important to Pixar crew, even when the stories are product of all the crew’s ideas; everyone needs creativity in order to create magic in their movies, to make Pixar crew more creative, Pixar offices aren’t normal offices. In order to have a good ambient to work, every artist is free to design and decorate his/her own work space, from simple to extreme and weird, every artist’s space is unique. In this offices work is not everything and every day, in this offices they have fun with all their work mates in order to spend more time with them and to know each other, they sometimes had contest and activities that makes Pixar crew enjoy and have fun.

Pixar is now a very successful company with millions and millions of dollars gained every year. It’s not strange that Pixar has this success. Their movies are full of creativity and powerful yet touching stories that make people enjoy the movies and had a human experience with every character that Pixar design. But the true power of Pixar and the heart of this company are their employees: technical team, animating team, rendering, effects team, everyone loves what they do and with them working as a real team, Pixar will still full of success, no matter what.

Essay: Run Lola Run

Run Lola Run is a 1998 German movie written and directed by Tom Tykwer. The story follows a woman (Lola) who needs to obtain 100,000 marks in 20 minutes to save Manni’s life, which is her boyfriend. The film shows three versions of the development of the situation and the end of this, but these three versions are interconnected at the end, even when the result of the story is different.

One of the things that never change in the three versions of the story is Lola’s task to save her boyfriend. She MUST get 100,000 marks in a very few time in order to save him. Even when the task is the same, the three versions had different development and end, in the first one Manni and Lola steal money from a store and then she die, in the second one Lola steal money from her father’s bank but at the end Manni dies, and in the third one Lola wins the money in the Casino, but Manni recover the money he lost so both live and had another 100,000 marks just for them.

Another thing that never changes in the versions is the people she met during the adventure. She saw the same people in all the three versions, sometimes a little bit late –like in the second version- but she saw all of them. And some of them –like the homeless guy and the guy with the bike- change part of the story and the result is that the end change with success –in the third version-. These secondary characters are important in the three parts of Lola’s task.

Other thing that doesn’t change is the fact that Lola runs to her father’s bank trying to obtain the marks easier, she always ran to the bank, but even when that doesn’t change, the story into the bank changes. In the first version her father denies her the money and he kick her out. In the second version Lola steals the money from the bank and she gets out of there without problems. And in the third version she ran to the bank but when she finally arrives his father has gone, so the story changes again.

Even when some things of the three versions change and other not, the three of them are well connected, the time change but the circumstances are the same, she changes her destiny in the three versions because of her actions that she made. She finally wins the task, she always obtains the money in time even when in some versions her boyfriend dies or she dies. All the three versions has the same characters, the same circumstances and some things that doesn’t change, but Lola’s time changes, and that changes the result of the story.

Character Map: Yo Yo

Yo Yo

Night on earth

The Mask.

• Bad guy
• Kick ass guy
• Homeless/Poor
• A guy who likes to be IN
• Fresh guy
  

Fears

• That his sister-in-law get lost or hurt in the street
• That his sister-in-law doesn't return with his brother
• Lose his family
• Be an invisible person
  

Strong Traits

• Funny
• Sociable
• Trustworthy
• He likes to teach or help people
  

Admired Traits

• Talented People
• Respected people
  

Trouble Traits

• Mocking
• Bad temper
• Problems with his sister-in-law

Dark Side

• Taxi drivers that don't pick him
• People who see him like a poor or stupid guy

My Character Map

The Mask.
People says I'm otaku (people interested in anime, manga, etc.), I don't think I'm otaku at all, I'm actually learning Japanese and I like Japan music but otaku is more for anime/manga obsessed fans, and I'm not much into it. People also say I look like an antisocial people, and well... that's right, it's hard for me to make friends. And people also says I look like an engineer... in the past I was pretty sure to be an engineer and I was studying Computer Systems Engineering but even when I change my career it looks like physically I have the mask of an engineer

Fears
The thing I fear the most is speak in public, since I was at elementary school I fear it.
Other things that I fear (and hate with all my heart) are cockroach, that animals make me sick very scarred. And my other fear is to fall down in the subway train-track… it sounds a little bit weird but since I saw a guy who almost commits suicide in the subway, I’m scarred of this.

Strong Traits
I think my strong traits are: Digital Systems technical degree which I course at high school. I also listen to people when they need to be listened, and I try to advise them the best I can. And I also think I’m a good Daughter + Sister.

Admired Traits
Sociability is one of the traits that I admire in people, since I’m a little bit antisocial; I really wanted to be sociable. Other thing that I admire is patience people, I’m very impatience in all ways, and the last one is the creative people, in this media we need to be creative and sometimes I think I’m not creative at all.

Trouble Traits
I have a serious addiction with internet, and I spend most of my time surfing in the net, in vacations sometimes I sleep a few hours because of this addiction. I’m also very argumentative, and when I fight I can’t be quiet. I also get stressed quite easy, at the point that one day I was very stressed that I couldn’t breathe.

Dark Side
I hate hypocrite people with all my heart, this people should disappear in this world! I also hate mocking people, why people wants to laugh at other people? It’s disgusting, and other people I hate are emo people… I think that if they really wanted to die they should do it instead of just say that and been depressed to became popular or accepted.

Favorite character: Romeo & Juliet

In far Verona happen a tragedy with no precedents. Romeo & Juliet from William Shakespeare is a classical from the literature, and the characters of this novel had an intention in the story to make it rich and interesting. Mercutio, for example, had a little but interesting development that helps the story to become a tragedy.

Mercutio, who was Romeo’s best friend, and kinsman of Prince Escalus, had a little story inside Romeo and Juliet. He only appears in a few acts but his dead has a signifier change in the story, because if he wasn’t killed by Tybalt, Romeo won’t kill Tybalt and he cannot be exiled. And even when Mercutio has a good relationship with the Montague’s family, he curse Capulet’s and Montague’s family when he dies.

Mercutio has a relaxed personality with Romeo and the Montague’s family, but in the movie of 1996 he’s painted like a drag queen in Capulet’s party. Even when in the original novel Mercutio appears to be homosexual –by some commentaries- it doesn’t mean that he should be a drag queen in the costume party.

Mercutio, as Romeo’s friend is frustrated with Romeo and his “love” for Rosaline, he tries to help him and he takes him to the Capulet’s costume party to fell in love with another girl, unfortunately this girl was Juliet. Even of that, he seems to be happy to see that his friend has another challenge in love. In the movie, this fact can be clear very well, and the relationship between Romeo and Mercutio is as good as in the novel of Shakespeare.

Even when Mercutio isn’t a Montague neither a Capulet he has a intention in Romeo & Juliet, if he wasn’t killed by Tybalt, maybe the story would be a love story instead of a tragically love story. The relationship between Romeo and Mercutio makes the first kill Tybalt in revenge and the result is the tragedy that ends with the dead of Romeo and his lovely Juliet.

Freytag pyramid: Suicide Club Movie

External conflict: String of suicides around Japan that apparently don't have a connection.

Internal conflict: Characters’ connection with themselves.

Exposition:

54 schoolgirls commit a mass suicide throwing themselves in front of the train at Shinjuku Station. Then, in the night in a Tokyo hospital two nurses jumps out of a window. In both scenes appears a mysterious white bag.

Incident Accident:

The detectives investigate the suicides and open the white bags; both had two rolls of pieces of human skin stitched together. They realize that the skin was removed from the victims before the suicides. They found a girl (Mitsuko) who had a boyfriend who commit suicide (one part of the roll of human skin was from him), but she don't have any injury in her skin.

Rising Action:

The police receives a call from a boy (who is clearly involved in this strange situation of suicides) warning them that on that evening at 19:30 will be another mass suicide in the same platform.

Climax:
However there was no other suicide in the train station but, detective Kuroda’s family dies (by suicide) and he gets another call from the same boy. The boy asks him if he is “connected with himself”. After the talk he realize his mistake and kill himself with a gun

Falling action:

Mitsuko tries to find why his boyfriend kill himself and she discover that the all-girls music idol group “Dessert” (which is very famous in Japan, especially with the teenagers) had a subliminal message in one poster, that message was the word “Suicide”

Turning point:

Mitsuko discovers all the decode messages related with the idol group "Dessert". She gets to the backstage of one of the concerts and she saw a group of children who ask her about the connection of herself, she told them that she has a connection with herself. Then she goes with the kids to a place where part of her skin (with a tattoo) is removed.



Moment of last suspense:

A new roll of skin is discovered by the police. Detective Shibusawa notices that one of the skin pieces is Mitsuko’s skin. He goes to the train station thinking she is going to commit a suicide.

Resolution:

Mitsuko doesn’t kill herself after all, she only gets on the train and leave the place. The same day the idol group “Dessert” announces their last performing and song.


In the movie we can see that all the people who commit suicide had a connection with themselves, we don't know exactly but it's suppose that when the idol group Dessert retired the suicides stopped.

Why School of Rock is a great movie?

Rock music has been popular since a long time ago, since “The Beatles” to “The Smashing Pumpkins”, rock music has a lot of influence in the culture, because this music is for all tastes and the Movie School of Rock is a great movie about this kind of music

In first place, School of Rock shows us that rock is for all tastes. No matter if you’re young or old, there’s a gender of rock music that you can enjoy, because rock music covers metal, indie, punk, rock-pop, hardcore and many other genders in music. In the movie we can see that every single kid in the class heard different bands and kinds of rock. And of course rock music can be found in all languages so all the people can enjoy the diversity of this kind of music, there’s such an incredible versatility in this type of music that make it one of the most popular and most listened music in the world.

In second place, School of Rock is an American musical comedy film, but, despite this fact, it has good messages. First it talks about goals and what to do to make them real. At the beginning we can see that Dewey Finn is kicked out of his own band, then, he obtains a work in a prestigious school, pretending to be Ned (his roommate who is a substitute teacher) taking the job as a substitute teacher for the fifth-grade class. We realize that this kids can play music so he teach them to play rock and participate in the “Battle of the Bands” Then it talks about team work, everything can do it well if your team works and everyone helps. The kids in the movie work so hard to get the chance to participate in the Battle of the Bands and win it. So School of Rock is not only a humorous movie to laugh and have a good time, this movie also talks about important topics.

In third place, all the kids that appear in the movie are talented and had great skills in music. At the beginning we can see that these kids had classes of classical music, then, some of them forms part of the rock band, so they play guitar, bass, drums, keyboard or they sing. This fact make you evolve in the music and of course enjoy it. This movie shows us the talent of this little actors and actress in progress. The songs and arrangements were done very well to make the spectator feel the power of this music.

School of Rock is a good movie because anyone can see the influence of rock music, this kind of music is not only for young people, plus, in the movie you can find messages about important topics of life and wishes, and the cast of this movie, even if there’s more children than adults, is highly qualified in music. You can enjoy this humorous movie and at the same time learn a little about rock music, and how it cans evolves people in a funny and crazy adventure and troubles.