By Luke Langlois, on the subject of “animation”

Who doesn’t love the feeling of picking up a rock by the side of water, chucking it into the water, and watching the water break out into magnificent ripples? It’s intriguing how the effects of that seemingly inconsequential action reverberate far beyond the initial drop point. METAPHOR!! In 1986, John Lasseter animated a two-minute short about lamps, Luxo Jr., and it became the rock that would go on to create ripples in the entire film industry.

Luxo and Luxo Jr. find themselves in a dimly lit room with nothing but a desk to rest on, two power outlets, and a yellow ball topped with a star. Luxo Jr., being the curious lamp he is, plays with it, hops over it, jumps around it, and rolls it under the watch of his somewhat disappointed parental lamp. Finally, Luxo Jr. hops on the ball with the now-iconic spring noise that marks the beginning of every Pixar movie. 

In 1984, The Graphics Group (a branch of Lucasfilm at the time), began to toy with computer-generated graphics and animations. The company released one of the first completely computer-generated shorts with The Adventures of Andre and Wally B. It was groundbreaking, but George Lucas and Lucasfilm did not have the funds to develop the technology from this short, so the technology was DOOMED! That is, of course, until a small company investor, Steve Jobs, bought the technology from Lucas and invested five million dollars into the newly renamed Pixar Animation Studios. As a bit of a side note, isn’t it a bit ironic that, with the assistance of Pixar, Disney purchased Lucasfilm? As Master Yoda said in Star Wars: The Last Jedi, “We are what they grow beyond. That is the true burden of all masters.” 

The studio had not released a film during its last year under Lucas and was determined to bring their flair back to SIGGRAPH, an annual conference on computer graphics where their first short was released. John Lasseter and his team were ready to work around the clock and give emotions to the Luxo lamps. Working around the clock, Pixar met the SIGGRAPH deadline and presented their film which was instantly recognized as a breakthrough. Pixar had succeeded in both creating a technical masterpiece and bestowing the Luxo lamps with life. Nine years later, building off of the well-received technology used in Luxo Jr., Pixar, led by executive producer Jobs, released the first COMPLETELY computer-animated feature-length film: Toy Story. Although the animation is a bit dated now (all of Andy’s friends use Andy’s base face and model), the rest is history. 

Now, Luxo Jr. serves as the mascot for every Pixar film and, under the direction of that little lamp, Pixar’s movies have grossed fourteen billion dollars (not to mention the animated studios that have sprouted using Pixar’s technology), and that number will certainly grow as Pixar continues to reimagine the animated film landscape. In fact, Luxo Jr. was so transformative to the animation industry that the United States Library of Congress deemed it culturally, historically, and aesthetically significant. The next time you walk by your lamp at home, pay it respect for providing you and the world with an ocean of animated entertainment.

Luxo Jr. in action.

Sources

The Pixar Story (2007 Documentary)

Animation Editor: Chelsea