SCAD's visit from Pixar

A few weeks ago, we here at SCAD had the wonderful opportunity of having a presentation, followed by a short Q and A with some important people from Pixar Animation Studios. The experience overall was delightful in itself. I went with my friends Alicia and Courtney , and I know they enjoyed it too! Courtney and I have decided that we WILL be working at Pixar one day, and a good 5 seconds of eye contact reassured us that they would love to have us in the near future. 

Ellen Lee (above) was one of the Pixar...ians that presented to us. She talked about the use of graphic design in their films. Since animators need to create what is essentially an alternate reality, it is important to have fake "real-world looking" logos that saturate this alternate world as equally as our world is bombarded with insane amounts of advertising.

Becki Tower (above) also gave a brief presentation. Becki is a recent SCAD graduate, and now full-time animator with Pixar. She explained her experience as an intern there. In light of Pixar's latest movie, "UP", Becki joked about how the interns were treated like scouts, and even had to earn badges! Sounds like fun!

Jason Johnston (above) is an effects artist for Pixar. He explained what it meant to be a good effects artist, and also shared his experience of working on Wall-E. Blowing things up is FUN!

We also heard from a few others, including Danielle Feinberg (Director of Photography). 

Everyone that works at Pixar appears to have an electric personality. Even during the presentation they mentioned a "Pixar Mentality" that is required for the job. They are all excited and extremely passionate about what they do, and work well with the people around them. Pixar really stands out against other similar companies. I'd really like to be apart of something like that one day.

Who knows, maybe sometime in the near future it will be me visiting SCAD, talking enthusiastically about my Pixar experiences. :-)

Happy Animating.