style

animation

Pixar's main animating style makes characters look more cartoon than realistic. While textures, environments, and lighting is very accurate; people, animals, and objects as characters are designed to look and act in a cartoon like fashion. This keeps Pixar's films on a family level and adds to the appeal in multiple age groups.

Pixar's Up provides a good example of this principle. Carl Fredrickson, pictured to the left, has very realistic clothing and is standing on a believable background, both which are complemented by appropriate lighting. Here is a closeup of Carl. His skin and hair are very detailed and toned, but his head is still a disproportionate square, which gives Carl a cartoon look. His hands and ears are also formed with blunted angles, giving him an older, stiffer look. Pixar utilizes cartoon style to exaggerate its characters, causing the viewer amusement and easier understanding of the film.

sound effects

Pixar creates all of its own sound effects using the foley method. This allows Pixar to maintain high quality sound in all of its films in creative ways. More about sound effects can be found on the sound page.

scores and soundtracks

Pixar's scores are composed by Randy and Thomas Newman as well as Michael Giacchino. Soundtracks were created at first by Randy Newman before Pixar opened up to third party music starting with Cars. More about scores and soundtracks can be found on the sound page.

traditions

John Ratzenberger

John Ratzenberger has voiced a part in every Pixar feature film. He is sometimes described as "Pixar's good luck charm." His involvement was parodied at the end of Cars, where Mack (also played by Ratzenberger) watched a roll of previous Pixar films and noticed all the characters that used his same voice. A list of the characters he voiced is available here.

Shorts

Starting with Monsters, Inc., Pixar has included a short that correlates with the film in the DVD release of every feature. These shorts have accompanied original shorts that Pixar has made, which are included in at least one of the VHS/DVD releases of each feature film.