This Pixar Marketing Video from 1990 Looks a Lot Like an Infomercial

Although Pixar is one of the giants in animated moviemaking today, the company began its life as a small animation studio within George Lucas’ Lucasfilm, then spun out under its own shingle with financial assistance from Steve Jobs. But just because the company had ties to two of the technology world’s most successful visionaries doesn't mean that they were inundated with business at the start. So Pixar created a short marketing video, which allowed them to show potential clients just what they were capable of … and the result is pretty fun to watch.

The video features nearly 13 minutes of news reports, segments from Pixar's short films, and various examples of their commercial work, from Tropicana to Trident—along with a French Volkswagen ad that serves as a precursor to A Bug’s Life. It even features young Pixar co-founders Edwin Catmull and Alvy Ray Smith talking about the emerging world of computer science and animation.

The pitch video ends with a segment about Pixar’s revolutionary 3D animation software, RenderMan, which was used to create digital special effects for several major Hollywood movies, including Beauty and the Beast, Jurassic Park, Titanic, The Lord of the Rings, and, of course, Toy Story—the movie that would eventually allow Pixar to spend more time making movies, and less time making pitch videos.

[h/t Cartoon Research]

Images courtesy YouTube.