Pilar Newton at Pixar HQ
Pilar Newton making friends at Pixar
The eyes have it!
Summer is ending. But the fun continues for Pilar Newton, an Adjunct Professor who teaches 2D animation in Electronic Design and Multimedia. Newton was one of two City College faculty members who got to spend a few days in her happy place – Pixar Animation Studios. And now she gets to bring what she learned into the classroom.
Newton was thrilled to be part of the Pixar Education Story Development Summit. “Pixar was amazing! A whirlwind of famous character statues; meetings with legendary story artists, a talk by Adrian Molina the Co-director/Co-writer of Coco (who started as an intern at Pixar). Not to mention the homework.”
Yes, homework. Newton and 16 other educators from across the nation (including Philip Birch—also from CCNY's EDM Program) were given a surprise assignment and a tight deadline. Using Khan Academy’s Pixar in a Box as their starting point, they had to come up with a story, then bring it to life as a storyboard and pitch it to Pixar.
“It was a masterclass in storytelling and critique that I can’t wait to share with my students”, said Newton. “Storytelling underpins everything we do. I look forward to sharing what I learned to help students create their own story, character, story structure, and storyboard. They’ll pitch their work and learn how to give and receive feedback - which is important because criticism can make the work better. The end goal is to help students come away with a strong portfolio piece that helps them get the attention of festivals and studios.”
About The City College of New York
Since 1847, The City College of New York has provided a high quality and affordable education to generations of New Yorkers in a wide variety of disciplines. Today The Chronicle of Higher Education ranks CCNY #2 among public colleges with the greatest success in ensuring the social mobility of our student body; at the same time the Center for world University Rankings places it in the top 1.2% of universities worldwide in terms of academic excellence. More than 16,000 students pursue undergraduate and graduate degrees in eight professional schools and divisions, driven by significant funded research, creativity and scholarship. CCNY is as diverse, dynamic and visionary as New York City itself. View CCNY Media Kit.
Media contact: Rebecca Rivera, rrivera1@ccny.cuny.edu