Luxo Jr. ( English Luxo Jr. ) is a short animated film created at Pixar in 1986 . This picture is the directorial debut of animator John Lasseter . The cartoon features two table lamps, one larger than the other. A small lamp named Luxo Jr. plays with a rubber toy ball, while a large lamp, Luxo, watches the game. Luxo Jr. later became the Pixar mascot.
| Junior Suite | |
|---|---|
| Luxo Jr. | |
 Cartoon poster | |
| Cartoon type | computer animation |
| Producer | John Lasseter |
| Producer | William Reeves |
| written by | John Lasseter |
| Composer | Chick Koria |
| Animators | John Lasseter William Reeves Eben Ostby |
| Studio | Pixar |
| A country |  USA |
| Distributor | |
| Tongue | |
| Duration | 2 minutes 18 seconds |
| Premiere | August 17, 1986 |
| IMDb | ID 0091455 |
| BCdb | more details |
The creation of the cartoon began after the purchase of Pixar by businessman Steve Jobs . Prior to this, most employees worked at The Graphics Group, a division of Lucasfilm . Lux Junior was to demonstrate to the whole world the capabilities and potential of a young company. For this, Lasseter decided to create a small cartoon about two lamps. Their appearance is based on the Luxo L1 table lamp model, one of which stood on the directorβs desktop. The tape used light and shadows created using the special RenderMan program. To convey the emotions of the lamps, the director used 12 principles of animation described in the book β The Illusion of Life: Disney Animation β. To meet the deadline, John Lasseter worked until August 1986 around the clock to create a short film.
"Junior Suite" was first introduced in 1986 at the SIGGRAPH conference [1] . After the show, the tape made a huge impression on the specialists in the computer graphics industry. In the same year, she was nominated for an Academy Award in the nomination "Best Animated Short Film." This cartoon is the first computer animated film nominated for the highest film award. In December 2014, Luxe Jr was listed on the US National Register of Films with cultural, historical, or aesthetic value [2] .
Content
Story
In a short film, a small lamp named Luxo plays with a small ball [2] . The game is being watched by Luxo Sr. Luxo Jr., playing with a rubber ball, decides to jump on him, but under the weight of the lamp, the toy is blown away. He, desperate and upset, leaves the big lamp. However, after a few seconds, little Luxo returns again with another big ball and continues to roll him around the table [3] .
Creation
The cartoon was created in 1986 by the then- young studio Pixar . Most of the company's employees, including director John Lasseter , worked in the Lucasfilm The Graphics Group division, which created computer animation for full-length films. And although the team led by was able to create a short animated film β The Adventures of Andre and the Wally Bee β, the studio wanted to create a film created entirely on a computer [1] . Lucasfilm owner George Lucas was not interested in this offer because of the high costs. In addition, the company itself experienced financial difficulties after the divorce of Lucas with his wife in 1983 [1] . Lucasfilm's senior management decided to lower their costs and sell their unit for $ 30 million. The only buyer was the businessman and founder of Apple, Steve Jobs , offering Lucas only 5 million for a subsidiary [4] . The director agreed with the terms of the entrepreneur, and sold him the company in January 1986 [5] . After the purchase, The Graphics Group was renamed Pixar [6] .
Steve Jobs originally planned that Pixar would be releasing computers and animation software. Cartoons were seen as a by-product to demonstrate the capabilities of the technique. To this end, John Lasseter decided to create a small short film [5] . Looking at the desk lamp located on the desktop and moving it, the director wanted to devote the cartoon to two lamps, and named them Luxo [7] . To convey the emotions of the characters were used 12 principles of animation described in the book β The Illusion of Life: Disney Animation β. In addition to Lasseter, the team included animators William Reeves and Eben Ostby, helping the director in creating computer models of lamps [7] .
Initially, "Junior Suite" was planned as a film without a storyline [3] . At the animation festival in Brussels , where early achievements were demonstrated, Belgian animator Raul Serve approached Lasseter and told the young director that there should be a plot in the film, regardless of its duration [6] . Although the Pixar employee was initially against this idea, but then he agreed with the opinion of an experienced animator. In the story, a small lamp Luxo Jr. plays a ball, and a large lamp Luxo watches this [2] . During the game, a small ball is deflated due to lamp jumping over it, but then Luxo Jr finds another large ball. To create character characters, Pixar was inspired by the cartoon Tony de Peltrie, which was shown at the SIGGRAPH conference in 1985. The picture depicted a pianist who, entertaining the public, recalled his best days [6] .
The cartoon demonstrates the game of shadows formed from the light of two lamps. The light and colors of the surfaces of all objects were calculated by a special RenderMan program based on surface shaders [7] . However, due to the development timeline and the meager budget, Lasseter did not have to create a special background, leaving it just black, and did not need to change the camera angles [6] . The characters were not voiced, but the director decided to βhumanizeβ the characters, adding a sense of joy and grief to the small plot [5] . As a musical accompaniment, melodies from the BRD 17 album by British composer Brian Bennett were used [6] .
To deliver the short film on time, the director, along with technical director Ed Catmell, spent the whole day in the Pixar office [3] . And in order not to leave the place of work, employees slept on mattresses under their desk, and after rest or sleep sat down at work.
Premiere and influence
"Junior Suite" was first shown at the SIGGRAPH conference on August 17, 1986 , where it made a huge impression on the audience [1] . David Price writes in the book βPixar Magicβ that viewers, when watching a movie, have forgotten that they are watching a picture created by a computer [6] . Particular praise was given to photorealism and the emotions that transmit lamps in a short film [6] . After the conference, NASA employee Jim Blinn came up to Lasseter and asked him who the big lamp was for Luxo Jr. - father or mother. The director, surprised at the question he was asked, replied that for him, Luxo Sr. is still a dad [6] . The emotions of the characters described in Disney books were successfully conveyed by Lasseter [6] . Ed Catmell, in Computer Animation: A Whole New World, wrote that large companies, before the release of Lux Younger and other computer cartoons, were afraid to use computer graphics in their projects, as the animators working there were afraid of mass layoffs. Pixar's short release was a turning point in the history of animation [8] .
The cartoon was also nominated for an Academy Award [9] . And although Luxo Jr did not receive the award, the promotion itself nonetheless inspired Pixar employees, in particular, President Steve Jobs [5] . After the release, Lasseter continued to shoot short cartoons, and Luxo Jr. became the mascot of the young company. The character himself has repeatedly appeared in other Disney and Pixar films [3] . In December 2014, Luxe Jr was listed on the US National Register of Films with cultural, historical, or aesthetic value [2] .
In 1999, the cartoon was shown in cinemas before the start of the show " Toy Story 2 " [10] . The short film was included in the collections of Tiny Toy Stories and the Pixar Short Films Collection, Volume 1 [11] [12] . Excerpts from the cartoon were also used in the initial splash screen of the program " Children's Hour " [13] .
Notes
- β 1 2 3 4 Young J.S., Simon V.L. iKona. Steve Jobs = iCon. Steve Jobs. - M .: Eksmo , 2007 .-- S. 115-116; 121-122. - 448 p. - ISBN 978-5-699-21035-0 .
- β 1 2 3 4 New Films Added to National Registry . Library of Congress (December 17, 2014). Date of treatment October 3, 2015.
- β 1 2 3 4 Pixar's Luxo Jr. (eng.) . Computer History Museum (2013). Date of appeal October 15, 2015.
- β Pixar Founding Documents . Alvyray.com Date of treatment October 4, 2015. Archived June 24, 2012.
- β 1 2 3 4 Isaacson W. Steve Jobs = Steve Jobs: A Biography. - M .: Astrel , 2012 .-- S. 161-165. - 688 p. - ISBN 978-5-271-39378-5 .
- β 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Price D. Pixar Corporation // Magic Pixar = The Pixar Touch. - M .: Mann, Ivanov and Ferber, 2012 .-- S. 105-110. - 351 p. - ISBN 978-5-91657-278-0 .
- β 1 2 3 AM Buckley. The Making of Luxo Jr. // Pixar: The Company and its Founders. - Minnesota .: ABDO Publishing Company, 2011 .-- S. 6-14. - 114 p. - ISBN 978-1-61714-810-1 .
- β Rita Street. Computer Animation: A Whole New World: Groundbreaking Work from Today's Top Animation Studios. - Rockport .: Hardcover, 1998 .-- S. 9 .-- 160 p. - ISBN 978-1-56496-377-2 .
- β The 59th Academy Awards (1987) Nominees and Winners . Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences . AMPAS. Date of appeal September 14, 2015.
- β Luxo Jr. Joins Toy Story 2 (inaccessible link) . Animation World Network . Date of treatment October 15, 2015. Archived November 1, 2013.
- β Tiny Toy Stories [VHS ] . Amazon Date of appeal September 15, 2015.
- β Robinson, Tasha. Pixar Short Films Collection: Volume 1 AVClub (November 7, 2007). Date of appeal September 15, 2015.
- β "Children's Hour" . Encyclopedia of our childhood. Date of appeal October 31, 2015.
Literature
- Price D. Pixar Corporation // Magic Pixar = The Pixar Touch. - M .: Mann, Ivanov and Ferber, 2012 .-- 351 p. - ISBN 978-5-91657-278-0 .
- AM Buckley. The Making of Luxo Jr. // Pixar: The Company and its Founders. - Minnesota .: ABDO Publishing Company, 2011 .-- 114 p. - ISBN 978-1-61714-810-1 .
- Isaacson W. Steve Jobs = Steve Jobs: A Biography. - M .: Astrel , 2012 .-- 688 p. - ISBN 978-5-271-39378-5 .
- Young J.S., Simon V.L. iKona. Steve Jobs = iCon. Steve Jobs. - M .: Eksmo , 2007 .-- 448 p. - ISBN 978-5-699-21035-0 .
Links
- Official page Luxo Jr. Pixar website
- Suite Jr on the Internet Movie Database
- Deluxe Junior on allmovie
- Deluxe Jr on Rotten Tomatoes