Behind the Scenes of Monsters Inc

Monsters Inc. was the first feature film directed by Pete Doctor.  He explained in interviews that even though many people believe the assumption that he created the story for Monsters Inc., this is very misleading because this entire production was very much a group effort.  During the making of this movie, the team made sure to cooperate and work together to make sure that not only the animation stood out, but that there was a well thought out and meaningful storyline.

                                              
                                           https://giphy.com/gifs/monsters-inc-rlwVriI4Gxg2I

Co-director Lee Unkrich explained how he felt about working at Pixar; "One of the great things about working at Pixar is that you can assemble a great talent pool and just be a bunch of guys hashing this stuff out."  One part of production that Docter found the most exciting and nerve racking was the voice recording sessions.  Docter explained; "What I learned is that my job is to set up as much of the situation as I can, give them the information that they need and then stand back and watch them go."

It is very common in animation that the animators make videos of the recording sessions and use this while animating the characters so they can see how the actors moved when they said their lines.  The  animators in Monsters Inc. did not use much of this  tactic because the characters are so unique.  The only person they watched often was Marry Gibbs, the little girl who played the voice of Boo, because she is the only human in the movie.

As Docter looks back on the five plus years of work spent on the movie he said, "I wouldn't say this film went very smoothly, but in the end I'm very pleased with what we have."

Works Cited:
“Monsters, Inc.: The Secret Behind Why Pixar Is So Good.” Animation World Network, www.awn.com/animationworld/monsters-inc-secret-behind-why-pixar-so-good.