Pixar Animation Cost and Convergence [Week One – 11/24-11/28 (second posting)]

a. Title of Article: 
1.   Why Do Animated Films Cost So Much Money to Make? 
2. Pixar to give away 'Toy Story' 3D RenderMan software

b. APA Citation:
1. Viswanathan, B. (n.d.). Why Do Animated Films Cost So Much to Make? Retrieved November 28, 2014.
2. Miller, J. (2014, June 3). Pixar gives away 3D film software. Retrieved November 28, 2014.

c.  Source Summaries: 
1. This source explains the production process of an animated film and puts the sheer scale of work into context. The author provides media to help show the physical scale of the projects also.
2. This source elaborates media ventures of pixar. The author is a specialized technology reporter for the BBC.

d.  Important Quotes:
1. “During my undergrad, some of our classmates worked on a three minute animation film for a college event. That took about two months for a team of eight people. Multiply the quality by 1000X and the size by 100X and you get a Pixar movie.”
“Studios such as Pixar have 600 or more creative people working on a movie for three to four years.”
2. “Disney/Pixar are also looking to "build a community"’
“RenderMan, which has been around for more than 25 years, was "very important at the higher end of the entertainment, animation and visual effects industries"’

d. Analysis:
 The sheer scale of an animation project is shocking, the man hours alone could bankrupt some of the richest people on earth, let alone the energy costs and equipment cost. It takes on average four years to complete a fully animated movie. What happens when companies like Pixar pour all their time and money into a movie and no good comes of it?
Pixar has been making technological advancements within animation for years, among these advancements is a rendering program named RenderMan (well-named one might add). This program was used in movies like Monsters Inc (2001) and Brave (2012), and has been used for 25 years. While Pixar tends to put itself above other animation companies, it leases the license for programs like RenderMan to other animation companies.This builds revenue and rapport between Pixar and other companies. Pixar announced that in early 2015 they will be making the RenderMan software commercially available for free. The Disney/Pixar firm claims this is to build a sort of community among viewers and smaller companies/organizations. Other animation giants had made a larger effect on the animation community (namely the British VFX companies) before Pixar and Pixar answered by releasing RenderMan. If ever one had heard of beating down the enemy and winning the vote, this was it.
For Pixar, the animation game is all about tactics. Yes, animation is expensive, and yes, they are giving away their software, but in the process they are building a larger “Pixar Community” and trying to rescue themselves from what seems to be a time of animation decline within their company (explained in the previous post on my blog). But no matter how many technology freebies Pixar wants to give out, the animation community is still the minority of their consumers and Pixar will need to do something big to grab hold of their general audiences once again.