Blockbuster success - preparation

Monsters University
Notes
Pre production
- Monsters university is a prequel
- Dan Scanlon directed the film
- walt disney and motion studios made the film
- $2 million budget
- Stars: Helen Mirren, john Goodman, Billy Crystal, Steve Buscemi
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Production
- Monsters university was not filmed; it was animated. The film took four years to be made by 270 people.
- it was made at Pixars Headquarters.
- The film faced different problems with regards to technology as this was essentially what the filmmakers were relying on.

Post Production
- relies on special effects as its an animation many different software programmes enables the characters to 'move' and the film to flow well.
- 3D was not added after filming

Marketing
- posters, billboards, TV advertisement,bus banners, made up websites, merchandise

Script 
Monsters University is a 200 million dollar budgeted children’s animation film. It was released in june 2013 as a prequel 11 years after the original film monsters inc was premiered. The family comedy was directed by dan Scanlon and produced by Kori Rae taking four years to produce budgeted by Walt Disney and motion studios. Monsters University stars Helen Mirren, john Goodman, Billy Crystal and Steve Buscemi as dean Hardscrabble, sulley, Randall and mike. The stars job was not to act out their parts but to be the voices of these animated characters. Their voices were recorded and then carefully synced with characters movement. This complicated building of the film mostly occurred at Pixars headquarters in California. Here, a team of 270 people spent four years creating monsters University. The team relied heavily on technology to produce edit and record the film even though director Dan Scanlon argued that technology only makes it possible for creators to bring their amazing ideas to life. This meant that any technological problems they faced slowed down production leaving more work closer to the release date. the team also ran into problems with regards to the story line. Monsters universities main target audience was children and families. This meant the storyline must be easy to follow and simplistic. Many scenes and characters including mike wazowski’s parents had to be cut to keep the film from being too complex. This made their jobs even harder as they had to maintain the consistent flow between shots. A scene of Mike and Sulley meeting in the fourth grade was created however had to be deleted due to it causing confusion for the rest of the film. Some ideas similar to this create contradiction in the two films. Comments including Mike referring to a memory him and Sulley shared in fourth grade remained in the movie confusing the audience leaving them wondering whether the two characters did meet in fourth grade as shown in the first movie or whether their first encounters were in college as shown in the second. When confronted about the confusing story line, director Dan Scanlon explained they considered a story where they did know each other during the fourth grade however They chose to set the film primarily during their college years because “so much of college is about self-discovery and figuring out who you are.” They still wanted to honor the fourth grade comment from the first film, so Scanlon and his team developed several different versions of the story where they met during their childhood and then the film jumped forward in time to their college years. Once the film was finished 3D was not added. Monsters University was impressively marketed. Pixar created a made believe functional website based on the university campus. The extensive website contains links for university admission, a list of upcomming events on campus, a detailed campus map and even a students handbook. the website also sold Merchandise and monsters university toys along with other companies. This generated millions of dollars for pixar and drew attention to the film engaging the audience and consumers. Mcdonalds made Monsters University themed happy meals consumed by 4-10 year olds. This got the films main target audience interested and associated with things they enjoy. Trailers and Sneak peak videos were shown on television and at cinemas. Lorry’s and vans driving up and down different countries were branded with monsters university advertising. Posters and billboards were displayed in large cities and shopping malls. The large scale marketing of the film closely resembles that of a blockbuster. Monsters University drew global attention. The talk stirred up by the animation comedy compared closely to a blockbuster action adventure film. Technically, Monsters University is a blockbuster as it does fulfill the requirements of a typical blockbuster film. There was a budget of over 100 million dollars, a large scale marketing campaign and a success at the box office. Even though blockbusters usually belong to the action fantasy or action adventure genre, Monsters University still ticks all the boxes for being an equally successful blockbuster film.