Pixar Studios to hold 'Masterclass' at New England Tech

October 13, 2012

By JAMES MEROLLA
Special to The Standard

EAST GREENWICH – New England Tech is “UP” these days. Or will be, at least, on Oct. 12-13.
The school will be “UP” and “Monsters, Inc.” and “Brave,” and “Monsters University” (the next movie in 2013), and all those Pixar film titles when top animators from that prolific movie franchise conduct a two-day workshop at the East Greenwich campus.
The all-day, two-day seminar, entitled, “Masterclass in Animation and Story Development,” is open to all teens and young adults and will run from 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 12, and Saturday, Oct. 13. Two top professionals from Pixar Animation Studios, Andrew Gordon and Matthew Luhn, will share their creativity and expertise with students looking to learn their craft and industry.
The NEIT presentation is one of only six North American stops including Chicago, Seattle, Miami, Toronto and Vancouver. Gordon and Luhn will enlighten participants with the tools needed to help create original stories and feature-quality animation. Individuals will have a unique opportunity to meet and network with others in the animation industry.
“It is a milestone occasion to have industry leaders like Andrew Gordon and Matthew Luhn from Pixar Animation Studios visit New England Institute of Technology,” said Steven Kitchin, Vice President for Corporate Education and Training at the school. “We believe this reflects highly on the college as well as on our many technical programs that prepare New England Tech students for this fast-growing industry.”
According to a press release, Andrew Gordon has been animating characters professionally for 18 years. He joined Pixar in 1997 where he has been an animator for feature films such as, “A Bug’s Life,” “Toy Story 2 & 3,” “Monsters Inc.,” “Finding Nemo,” “The Incredibles” and “Ratatouille.”
Matthew Luhn began his career at Pixar in 1992 as an animator for the first “Toy Story” film. Since that time, Luhn has worked in the Story Development department storyboarding on “Toy Story 2 & 3,” “Monsters Inc.,” “Finding Nemo,” “Cars,” “Ratatouille,” and “UP.”
According to Kitchin, The two-day event will appeal to a wide audience of professionals at all levels of skill and experience including 2D/3D animators; character designers and artists; writers, script and story writers, and storytellers; filmmakers and developers of feature films, short films, online works and websites; developers and designers of video games, online games and mobile apps; authors and publishers; storyboard artists, cartoonists, illustrators and graphic designers; software developers especially for 2D/3D animation, modeling, composing, motion, VFX, simulation and rendering; students, enthusiasts and hobbyists of animation and story; teachers, trainers and educators.
“As Pixar’s Buzz Lightyear would say, we are thrilled ‘to infinity and beyond’ to offer this highly regarded workshop not only to our college community but also to those individuals involved with animation and storyboarding throughout the New England area,” he said. “We offer associate and bachelor degree programs in Graphic, Multimedia and Web Design Technology, Video Game Design Technology, Game Development and Simulation Programming Technology, and Software Engineering Technology so the Pixar Animation Master class will certainly complement our offerings.”
This class completely sold out at each location last year so early registration is recommended. Typically, the cost of this workshop is $499 per person, but it is being offered at New England Tech for $295.
“I am really looking forward to this,” said Jack Seber, a high school junior from Barrington, one of at least three high school students who have signed up. “I want to be an animator or comic book storyboard artist professionally and this is a tremendous first step. I am nervous, but excited, too.”
For class curriculum and registration information, go to http://cti.neit.edu/pixarmasterclass. Questions may be directed to Cheryl Booker, Training Coordinator at NEIT, at 401-780-4345 or cbooker@neit.edu.