I was fortunate to be able to take my family down (from Seattle) to the Cartoon Art Museum benefit that was held at the Pixar campus this past Saturday, November 14th. It was my first trip on campus and I was not disappointed. In addition to being able to go the studio store (I felt like a kid in a candy store), we were able to hang out in the atrium, check out all the pre-production arwork from Up, draw Pixar characters, attend a collection of Pixar shorts (in the small Pixar screening room) and see Toy Story 2 3D (in the large Pixar screening room).
I was thoroughly impressed with the campus. It really does seem like a great environment to foster teamwork and keep this (ever growing) company tight knit. I love the atrium, which has a cool mail room, game room, Luxo cafe, etc. You can see more in the pics I took below (along with our trip to Fenton’s Creamery!).
Even though I recently saw it in the theaters, the Toy Story 2 3D screening was still great. First off, their main screening room is awesome. I couldn’t get over the very impressive sound system (the bass was truly amazing). Pixarian Michael B. Johnson (the driving force of the fundraiser as a CAM board member) was the facilitator of a 20 minute Q & A after the screening with Jason Katz (story artist on Toy Story 2/head of story on Toy Story 3) and Oren Jacob (Chief Technical Office at Pixar). They fondly looked back on the film and the many celebrated challenges of getting the film in theaters. We were then treated to the “Dancing Buzz” and Jessie animation test (by the amazing Pixar animator Carlos Baena), Groovin’ with Ken and a completed sequence from Toy Story 3 (previously shown in Venice and D23). They were all extremely generous with their time and stayed after the screening (for a very long time) to mingle and talk with the guests.
There was also a auction of original art and autographed posters that brought in over $16k for the Cartoon Art Museum! A great time was had by all and my family and we are very thankful for the opportunity to come down, see the campus and support the Cartoon Art Museum.
