11/28/2023 0 Comments Chris wedge bunnyAnother, Michael Ferraro, was a programmer who had worked on early vr simulations for the U.S. One of the founders, Eugene Troubetzkoy, was a nuclear physicist who helped pioneer ray-trace rendering. Looking at the founders alone, it’s clear Blue Sky was right there with peers like Pacific Data Images and Pixar, adding to the technology conversation from the 1980s. The Big Kitchen The roots in computer graphics historyīeing one of the early cgi-focused animation studios, Blue Sky was a pioneer by default. There is a pond just outside the entrance to the grounds for weeks on end, there would be a single solitary swan in it. I have fond memories of slacklining at lunch, or attempting to sled and snowboard down the hills in the winter (if there wasn’t a snow day). The Greenwich studio is located in a quiet area surrounded by trees and open grassy fields. The studio had recently come under new management, exciting projects were being pitched and developed, and the extensive construction was all the physical proof we needed to feel we were truly, literally, being invested in. There was an energy at the company then that was thrilling. Blue Sky existed primarily on the third floor of the three-story building, and had begun renovations and expansion into part of the second floor just prior to the Disney buyout in 2019. It doesn’t necessarily look like it now, as it’s been fitted to house the studio as well as a few other unrelated companies. The building Blue Sky occupied when it moved from New York to Greenwich, Connecticut in 2009 was an old canning factory. Blue Sky Studios co-founder Chris Wedge The studio itself While there are still many smaller studios and branches of larger vfx companies here, this is a historic loss. Now, many people will likely have to uproot if they hope to stay in the industry.Īnimation, like all of film in the U.S., got its start on the East Coast, and we took a certain pride in helping keep that alive. The studio managed to navigate varying box-office success without ever having to resort to mass layoffs, making it all the more appealing for people who didn’t want to do the common shuffle between many studios. This is especially true if you’re a native East Coaster (guilty) and/or attended school on the East Coast (guilty again).īecause of this, people jokingly referred to Blue Sky as the retirement studio, because it was a place that felt stable enough to lay down roots. It was a beacon of hope for those of us who were wary of the otherwise inevitable migration to California. ![]() animation industry, Blue Sky was considered an island - the lone feature studio on the East Coast. Here are some things I’ll miss about the studio, featuring photos by former modeler Ramón López: Especially on days like today, when all I want to do is be with everyone. My time there was a blip on the radar compared to many others, but it was a period I’ll always hold tight to. I worked at the company as a production assistant, for a year in Fur and three years in Story, working on every project that went through the studio. It also marks the end of one of the oldest existing feature animation studios in the U.S.: Blue Sky will close in April, soon after it turns 34 years old on February 22. While this isn’t the first batch of mass layoffs at Disney since the start of the pandemic, it is a particularly painful one for the animation industry at large, further narrowing the medium’s range of companies and points of view. ![]() For a few blissful moments, I forgot the situation - before it seized me, reminding me of how fragile job stability can be. Waking up the day after we learned that Disney will shut Blue Sky Studios has been surreal.
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