TheQueen
06-15-2010, 02:23 PM
http://imgs.sfgate.com/c/pictures/2010/06/11/mn-pixarculture1_0501808248.jpg
Pixar employees gather at a cafe set against the image of a house used in "Toy Story 3."
Since Pixar's first feature film, the groundbreaking "Toy Story," came out in 1995, executives at the Emeryville animation house have been insisting it's an artist-driven studio.
But it isn't clear until you walk the halls for a few hours the extent to which the creative types have taken over. Animators' office spaces look like a theme park ride. There are 11 bars on the Pixar campus, most built at the whim of thirsty employees. And the carefully guarded front gate only adds to the Willy Wonka mystique. Many of the workers have a pretty good "welcome to Pixar moment" associated with their first day on the job.
http://imgs.sfgate.com/c/pictures/2010/06/11/mn-pixarculture1_0501808228.jpg
Animator Tsung-Yin Hsieh works inside his custom space at Pixar, where designers are encouraged to create work areas that spark their imaginations.
"I was walking through the atrium, and then nearly got knocked down by someone riding past on a bike. It was like 'What? This happens here?' " says Daniella Muller, a 24-year-old production assistant who joined the studio last year. "It makes you feel so relaxed to know that you can be yourself, and you're never going to feel out of place."
"Toy Story 3," Pixar's 11th feature film, comes out Friday. Every one of the studio's films has been a commercial success, with six among the Top 10 highest-grossing animated films of all time. But even as the number of employees has increased nearly tenfold in 15 years, to more than 1,100 now, the philosophy remains the same. At Pixar, the lunatics are encouraged to run the asylum.
CONTINUE READING (http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/06/13/MNSK1DSMNR.DTL)
Pixar employees gather at a cafe set against the image of a house used in "Toy Story 3."
Since Pixar's first feature film, the groundbreaking "Toy Story," came out in 1995, executives at the Emeryville animation house have been insisting it's an artist-driven studio.
But it isn't clear until you walk the halls for a few hours the extent to which the creative types have taken over. Animators' office spaces look like a theme park ride. There are 11 bars on the Pixar campus, most built at the whim of thirsty employees. And the carefully guarded front gate only adds to the Willy Wonka mystique. Many of the workers have a pretty good "welcome to Pixar moment" associated with their first day on the job.
http://imgs.sfgate.com/c/pictures/2010/06/11/mn-pixarculture1_0501808228.jpg
Animator Tsung-Yin Hsieh works inside his custom space at Pixar, where designers are encouraged to create work areas that spark their imaginations.
"I was walking through the atrium, and then nearly got knocked down by someone riding past on a bike. It was like 'What? This happens here?' " says Daniella Muller, a 24-year-old production assistant who joined the studio last year. "It makes you feel so relaxed to know that you can be yourself, and you're never going to feel out of place."
"Toy Story 3," Pixar's 11th feature film, comes out Friday. Every one of the studio's films has been a commercial success, with six among the Top 10 highest-grossing animated films of all time. But even as the number of employees has increased nearly tenfold in 15 years, to more than 1,100 now, the philosophy remains the same. At Pixar, the lunatics are encouraged to run the asylum.
CONTINUE READING (http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/06/13/MNSK1DSMNR.DTL)