At the 2005 D: All Things Digital conference, Apple Inc. AAPL co-founder Steve Jobs shared Disney‘s revolutionary approach to filmmaking that transformed animation production and continues influencing modern studios.
Jobs explained how Walt Disney solved animation’s most expensive challenge decades ago. “Walt Disney himself solved this problem decades ago,” Jobs told conference hosts Walt Mossberg and Kara Swisher. Disney’s solution involved editing films before production rather than after.
The Disney method required story teams to create detailed storyboards for every scene, then photograph them on film with scratch voices and temporary music. This allowed filmmakers to watch complete movies before expensive animation began.
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Under Jobs’ leadership, Pixar Animation Studios modernized Disney’s approach using video technology. “We build our movie before we make it out of these story sketches,” Jobs explained during the conference.
This pre-production process proved crucial for Pixar’s success. The studio went public in November 1995 alongside “Toy Story’s” release, making Jobs a billionaire. The Walt Disney Company DIS later acquired Pixar for over $7 billion in 2006.
Jobs identified Hollywood’s core issue: live-action directors shoot 10-100 times more footage than appears in final films. They discover story problems only during editing when actors, sets, and budgets are exhausted.
“By the time they knew it the actors were gone, the sets were down, they ran out of money,” Jobs observed. This wasteful approach continues plaguing major studios today.
Despite Pixar’s technological leadership, Jobs emphasized the primacy of story. He quoted Pixar founder John Lasseter‘s philosophy: “No amount of technology will turn a bad story into a good story.”
This principle guided Pixar through production crises on every film. “We stop and we fix the story,” Jobs stated, crediting this discipline for Pixar’s consistent hit record and eventual Disney acquisition success.
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