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Mark Andrews Wants Pixar to Make Films Faster
Posted: Sat Dec 15, 2012 7:56 pm
by Sotiris
Q: When I toured Pixar recently, I came away with the impression that you were known as the loudest guy at the company. And the fastest.
Mark Andrews: I have no problem voicing my opinion. And I came out of TV animation, where you work on the kind of schedule where you don’t have time to doodle. It was a really good testing ground, because it makes you go with your gut and try stuff out and just roll with it. And once I got into features and saw how slow everybody works, I thought, OK, fine. I’ll keep at my same speed, and just get through more stuff.
Q: Speed is not known as a primary attribute of the painstaking Pixar process.
Mark Andrews: It’s like filling an ice tray. They like to fill it very carefully, one cube at a time, until it’s all even. I’d rather fill the sink with water, stick the ice tray under the sink, and pull it out. Fill ’em all up at once.
Q: But Pixar has had remarkable success with its current pace. Could the company really make movies significantly faster than that?
Mark Andrews: Absolutely. I don’t see any reason why it can’t be done. The technology definitely says that it could happen. It really comes down to a philosophy. It’s about working within parameters instead of turning over every stone. If you said, “We want it for $100 million in two years,” you could get it done and it could look fantastic. A lot of these special-effects companies, they’ve got smaller budgets than we do, they’re doing more shots than we’re doing, they do it in less time than we do, and they look fantastic. What are they doing that we’re not doing, I wonder?
Q: Have you lobbied for a faster process within Pixar?
Mark Andrews: Sure. Yeah. I had a nice dinner with [general manager] Jim Morris and [president] Ed Catmull and pitched them this idea, and they were very excited. Why not try it out? It’s not gonna hurt anything to try out a different way of working.
Q: You talked about learning from visual-effects companies. The line between animation and live action does seem more blurred than ever.
Mark Andrews: That’s totally true. Everything is getting closer and closer and closer. We’re all circling around the same things, the perfect hybrids. Someday, animated films are going to look like live action. You’re not going to be able to tell the difference, which will be totally trippy. Like, “Hey look, it’s Olivier again! I never saw him as Indiana Jones!”
Source:
http://www.thewrap.com/movies/column-po ... cess-65756
Posted: Sat Dec 15, 2012 8:28 pm
by Sky Syndrome
Hastily made films are rarely worth watching.
Posted: Sat Dec 15, 2012 9:43 pm
by BK
Mark Andrews is a douchebag. He should leave.
Posted: Sat Dec 15, 2012 11:10 pm
by Polizzi
I believe that Mark Andrews wants Pixar to be in DreamWorks Animation's level. I mean look at DreamWorks Animation, they're producing animated features non-stop, especially when they have released three animated features in one year, 2010. Their next three animated features will be released in one year would be either 2013, 2014, or 2015. Mark Andrews wants Pixar to do the same since seeing DreamWorks Animation producing truck loads of animated features (despite the lack of success in stories and/or humor) made them feel like they're not working fast enough. I believe that Pixar is, it is just that it takes time to develop a really good story that will earn audiences's attention, like Pixar's "Toy Story 3."
Posted: Sat Dec 15, 2012 11:28 pm
by thelittleursula
No.
Would you rather watch a quickly made movie that's okay in parts and is terrible mostly because it was rushed or a movie that took a couple of years and is just golden and will be remembers forever as a classic and a treasure in the hearts of children and adults alike like Toy Story 3 ?
yeah the second one.
Posted: Sat Dec 15, 2012 11:53 pm
by BK
To be fair, Dreamworks are trying to get better.
Problem I have with this, is not the amount of time spent, but the person proposing it. Andrews turned me off with two or three lines of his roundtable coming across as an arrogant jack-off. I don't think his methods will work. Seems like a Rich Ross to me.
Posted: Sun Dec 16, 2012 12:32 am
by Semaj
Once again, Pixar proves that the directorial change from Brave was a terrible mistake.
They're not in a rut like Disney was in the 70s, back when they could only punch out one new film every 3-4 years. They've had no problem making one film 1-2 years.
DON'T FIX WHAT ISN'T BROKEN! 
Posted: Sun Dec 16, 2012 4:05 am
by sunhuntin
the only CGI dreamworks film i can tolerate watching very often is how to train your dragon, and thats mainly cos the animation blows me away. the rest of them... shrek, kung fu panda, madagascar etc just bore me to tears. i love their traditionally animated films, but the majority of their computer animated films get old after the first viewing. pixar should ignore this guy and continue with their pacing and indepth research.
Posted: Sun Dec 16, 2012 4:20 am
by PatrickvD
And I want Mark Andrews to shut up and not take any further credit for other people's work. He is by far the most annoying director at Pixar.
Posted: Sun Dec 16, 2012 5:13 am
by DisneyFan09
Semaj wrote:Once again, Pixar proves that the directorial change from Brave was a terrible mistake.
Oh yes, indeed. I still wonder how "Brave" would have been if Chapman was the director. "Brave" seemed half-finished and rushed, which is a pity. It had the potential to be great.