Earlier today, the Rainy City Tales 332 Twitter feed (official Twitter account for The Blue Umbrella) posted that the June 2013 issue of Wired magazine would feature a short article about The Blue Umbrella and Director, Saschka Unseld. The piece highlighted that although a typical Pixar director comes from within the story department, Unseld came from the technical side of the house. Why the difference? The article notes that,
“At Pixar, anyone can submit short-film ideas, and Unseld developed a pitch based on a photo that had stuck in his mind of an abandoned umbrella. A panel of Pixar heavyweights liked it enough to send Unseld to John Lasseter, who approved the story. ‘The Blue Umbrella’ was born”

In addition to the article, we were also excited to see that there would also be a short video included with the digital copy of the magazine. The two-minute interview with Unseld really expands on the points of the article and really shows the passion that Unseld exudes about the project. We didn’t include the entire video, but we wanted to whet your appetite enough to pick up a copy of the issue to view the rest. Watch the video below or watch the video on our Pixar Post YouTube channel.
Although the buzz is really circulating for Monsters University right now, we truly can’t wait for people to be able to see this wonderfully artistic short film. We believe audiences are really going to be blown away by the touching love story and terrific character designs.
You are more than welcome Mike! We hope that more information about the short is released after it premiers as well. It's such a beautiful short and we really can't to find out even more about the background and design elements. Pixar Post – T.J.
Thank you for this article! I'm buying it right now to see the rest of the video, I can't wait to see The Blue Umbrella. Thank you, thank you, thank you!