The shine has not dulled after three months of work at Disney Animation – and so much has happened in that time! I got to take part in a new crew meet-and-greet with Ed Catmull (president of both Pixar and Disney Animation studios) and ask him questions about the history of the company and some of the philosophical and operational changes he and John Lasseter made when they were put in charge of Disney Animation in 2006. Savannah and I also attended an Oscar party at the studio where we got to watch John Kahrs win his Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film. Later that week I got to hold the Oscar statue!

As if that wasn’t enough, last weekend I was sent up to San Francisco with one of my supervisors for a user group meeting about some software we’re using on the show. It wasn’t great being away from Savannah for the better part of three days, but the meeting was on the Pixar campus and we got to explore the city during our down time, so I couldn’t complain too much. Here’s a look inside the atrium of the recently-renamed Steve Jobs building at Pixar:

It hasn’t been all fun and games, though – there’s been plenty of work to do for the film and several tools development milestones to meet. Fortunately, I’ve had some friends and classmates from A&M join up in the last month – Weecho Velasquez (grad Viz) started as a look development trainee, and Justin Kern (undergrad CS) came over from Rhythm & Hues to be our film’s second ATD. Getting him up to speed and assigning some starter work has added a new dimension to my job. It’s sort of strange to be in a bit of a mentorship role so soon, but it’s helped by the fact that Justin and I already know and work well with each other.

That’s all for now, but I may share a few photos from my San Fran trip when I’m done going through them!
-brandon