Pixar held a super-exclusive screening of the first forty minutes of their upcoming film, Monsters University, as well as their newest animated short, The Blue Umbrella, in Emeryville this Monday.
The event, marketed as a “Freshman Orientation”, was attended by a dozen bloggers and movie fans. As you can guess, the first forty minutes of the movie generated a tremendous amount of praise, with people raving about its animation, humor, character design, and premise.
That’s not all, today (Tuesday) guests were treated to a behind-the-scenes look at the film, the storyboards, and unfinished animation as well. Workshops were divided into “classes” like English 101 (how Pixar tells stories), Anthropology 152 (‘monsterizing’ the characters), Sociology 203 (how the monsters are classified on the basis of body type), Dramatic Arts (bringing characters to life), Physics 250 (lighting), and so on. The event also included a one-on-one interview with Monsters University director Dan Scanlon, producer Kori Rae, and director of The Blue Umbrella, Saschka Unseld. As can be expected of Pixar, there were also a host of college-themed activities for guests.
Of course, no photography or recording was allowed, so we just have to read the lucky people’s tweets. Follow the hashtag #MonstersUEvent for more on the screening and read about what people thought!
Exactly a year ago, Pixar screened the first half hour of Brave,which as we know was well received.
Tomorrow, April 10 (Wednesday) the select group of bloggers will visit the Walt Disney Family Museum in San Francisco.
Monsters University, the prequel to the 2001 classic Monsters, Inc., releases June 21. Keep it here on The Rotoscopers.com for all things MU!