Toy Story

838 Words2 Pages

Toy Story, released in 1995 was the first Pixar feature length animated film. It was also the first computer-generated imagery feature film. John Lasseter directed and edited Toy Story using the technology of computer graphics. Sheriff Woody and Space Ranger Buzz Light Year are toys that come to life when the humans aren’t around. Their story focused on friendship, admiration, jealousy, collaboration, and conflict. Toy Story, took four years of effort, including production, lighting, and technique. Toy Story is a great performance on film because it appeals to a wide audience through CGI technology, which gives the toy-look to the movie.

The characters’ movement is an essential piece to produce a successful animated movie. The illusion of life is created through the technique in computer animation. The life in immortal toys and mortal human beings is created through the movement of each individual character. Buzz and Woody are from different generations and the movement of the two characters differs greatly. Woody has a springy, ragdoll movement while Buzz moves like a robot, rigid and angled. Through the use of computer technology the variety of simple toy movement and nuanced human motion gave the animation some perception of reality. The mortal humans were the toughest to animate because of their movement. For example, when you notice Andy, he has heavy, weighted movements while all the toys are effervescent and bouncy.

Animators show emotion in their depiction of both the character and the setting to create a great animation. Pixar films focus on masculinity, calling it the “Post Princess Models of Gender” era. The general theme is that the alpha male is disempowered by conflict and is emasculated. Then, the alpha mal...

... middle of paper ...

...nces and create a great performance on film. The toys in Toy Story seem more real than the humans because of the use of sound creates unique characters. The sound effects and voice actors create a stylistic difference between how toys and humans are in animation. Also, this animation shifts from the traditional musical animation where everyone breaks out into a song. Toy Story takes on a buddy-film approach where there is a more bouncy vocal track. It is more like a live action movie’s soundtrack, with the sound adding to the dramatic effect of the dialogue.

Toy Story is a great performance on film because it uses movement, emotion, and sound to create a special interaction between human and non-human characters. The animation had a transformational journey where Woody and Buzz went through a character development that was relevant to our perception of reality.

Open Document