The Pixar Times interviewed The Blue Umbrella‘s director, Saschka Unseld, and learned a few things about the short film that will accompany Monsters University when it opens in (gasp!) 16 days. They also released a new image! (Seen here)
Pixar has a tradition of releasing beautiful short films with each of their features, something Disney is starting to do too. These shorts let the studios test new technologies and most importantly, give their artists a way of developing their talents before they move on to feature films. Unseld isn’t even from the story department in Pixar, but he had a great idea so the studio green lit it.
In the interview, we learn that the short was going to feature singing for almost the entire production time, but Pixar co-founder and Animation God John Lasseter thought it eclipsed the story so that was changed. Music, by composer Jon Brion, is still very important, as in every Pixar short since most of them have no dialogue.
Read the entire interview here and learn about all the details the director considered while making the short!
