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If there’s one company that knows how to make shorts that don’t suck, it’s Pixar. They also know how to make feature films that don’t suck, as evidenced by their newest release WALL•E, which, forget the animation category, should be nominated for a Best Picture Oscar next year as far as I’m concerned. Stretching all the way back to 1995’s Toy Story, the former Lucasfilm division has a proud history of great features, and an equally proud, if somewhat lesser known, history of great shorts going all the way back to 1984, many of which have helped Pixar earn its thirteen Academy Awards. Here they all are, arranged chronologically for your flossing and viewing pleasure.
Andre and Wally B - 1984
This was made at Lucasfilm, but animated by John Lasseter, who would become the head of Pixar. To look at the animation, it’s incredible to think this was made in 1984 — consider the monochrome bloops and bleeps your PC, if you were lucky enough to have one, made back then. The technology was quite restrictive, but Lasseter pushed the envelope by asking the Lucasfilm tech team for tear-drop shapes that could be animated (over and above the simple geometric shapes he was otherwise limited to). The results are impressive, if brief.
Luxo Jr. - 1986
This was Pixar’s first short after becoming a company independent from Lucasfilm, and it received an Oscar nom for Best Animated Short — not bad for their first try! Luxo the lamp has since become the company’s unofficial mascot, and was inspired by one of John Lasseter’s student films at CalArts, “Lady and the Lamp.” According to Pixar co-founder Ed Catmull, “‘Luxo Jr.’ sent shock waves through the entire industry – to all corners of computer and traditional animation. At that time, most traditional artists were afraid of the computer. They did not realize that the computer was merely a different tool in the artist’s kit but instead perceived it as a type of automation that might endanger their jobs. Luckily, this attitude changed dramatically in the early ’80s with the use of personal computers in the home. The release of our ‘Luxo Jr.,’ … reinforced this opinion turnaround within the professional community.”
Red’s Dream - 1987
Following the phenomenal success of “Luxo Jr.,” “Red’s Dream” was a bit of a downer, both because it’s a really sad film, and because it didn’t rack up the accolades that “Luxo” had. We still think it’s still insanely impressive, however.
Tin Toy - 1988
“Tin Toy” represented several significant firsts for the still-fledgling animation company: their first attempt at a semi-realistic human character in a 3D computer-animated film (the baby), and their first film to not only be nominated for, but win, the Oscar for Best Animated Short. The Library of Congress’ National Film Registry chose to preserve the film in 2003.
Knick-Knack - 1989
Pushing the animation envelope yet again, “Knick-Knack” premiered at the annual SIGGRAPH computer animation convention — in 3-D. It was re-built and re-rendered for release with 2003’s Finding Nemo, for which the female characters underwent some serious breast reduction, presumably to make the film more family-friendly. It didn’t win an Oscar, but for what it’s worth, Terry Gilliam has called it “one of the best animated short films of all time.” So that’s cool.
Lifted - 2006
To see just how far Pixar has come, check out their Oscar-nominated short “Lifted,” which was released with Ratatouille. Directed by acclaimed sound mixer Gary Rydstrom, the similarity between the alien protagonist’s baffling control console and the mixing boards used by Hollywood sound guys is no coincidence.
Previous installments of “Shorts That Don’t Suck”
Volume I
Volume II
Volume III: Arty Edition
Volume IV: Music Videos
Shhh…super secret special for blog readers.
Comments (15)
Comment
I agree, Ransom. WALL-E is easily the best film I’ve seen in a long time. It really surprised me by re-kindling that core imagination fire inside. Just a wonderful, fun flick.
posted by Johnny Cat on 6-30-2008 at 10:45 am
I appreciate you doing all the work for me, Ransom. I love watching shorts . . . but so many are just plain icky (not unexpected since many of the creators are just starting out).
And now I’m really wanting to see WALL-E. I love Pixar!
posted by nutmeag on 6-30-2008 at 10:57 am
I actually remember the desk lamp shorts used to come on late night weekends on PBS after some other random show I watched. I remember/love the one with the mother and baby/kid lamps.
posted by Erin on 6-30-2008 at 11:25 am
That was fascinating, both the for the quality of the stories told in those shorts, and to watch the animation advance.
It was interesting to figure out what they were testing/demonstrating in terms of animation advancements — the multiple light sources in the Luxo short, the random motion in Knick-knack, etc.
posted by Jacquilynne on 6-30-2008 at 11:32 am
Pixar has released a collection of their shorts on DVD and BluRay. My daughter (3) loves Luxo Jr. and Lifted.
posted by adrienne on 6-30-2008 at 11:57 am
Lifted has to be my all-time favorite. We were rolling when we first saw that when Ratatouille was still in the theaters.
I took my kids to see Wall-e last Friday; great, great film. Lots of things for both the kids and adults to enjoy, with plenty of funny references to other movies (like 2001: A Space Odyssey.) Definitely one we’ll buy when it comes out on DVD.
One thing that surprised me is that in the credits, they actually listed Macintalk as the voice for one of the characters! There is a nice interview with Wall-e producer Andrew Stanton in the latest issue of World Magazine.
www.worldmag.com/articles/14127
posted by Dave on 6-30-2008 at 12:17 pm
Wonderful!
The only one of these I had seen was “Luxo Jr”. I had no idea how long ago it was made, though. Wow!
One of my favorite Pixar shorts is “Geri’s Game” which was released with “A Bug’s Life”, I believe it won an Oscar.
Definitely will have to take my daughter to see “Wall-E”.
posted by Nerak on 6-30-2008 at 12:41 pm
Wall-e was an unbelievable movie. And I think that the short before it was the best of all of them so far. Absolutely hilarious. Do you think that Wal-mart took offense to the resemblence of Buy n’ Large in Wall-e. I loved it.
posted by GTREES on 6-30-2008 at 1:17 pm
My favorite Pixar short is Boundin’
posted by Lindsey on 6-30-2008 at 2:30 pm
Wall-E was a great movie. Saw it yesterday. The short before it was hilarious. I seriously need to download it.
My favorite Pixar short is “One Man Band”. Partially because they had to create the soundtrack first, then animate it to the soundtrack, rather than vice versa. For all you trivia buffs, the little girl is named “Tippy”.
posted by Amy on 6-30-2008 at 4:12 pm
Just returned from Wall-E. I’ll be the other voice - I want my $6 back. Though the short before the movie was fun the feature itself couldn’t end soon enough.
posted by Jim on 6-30-2008 at 4:23 pm
Wow - Pixar has come a long way!
I have no idea how long it will be before Wall-E makes it out to New Zealand… =(
posted by Dawn on 6-30-2008 at 8:31 pm
I love these. They released a DVD collection of these and it’s mindblowing what these people were doing in an age when modern computer technology was still in its adolescence. The extras on the DVD has a mini-documentary about the beginning of Pixar when they were basically working out of a building in a corner of the Apple company (I think, I need to see that bit again lol) and coding their own animation software while they were making films.
My favorites have to be knick-knack, tin toy (fun fact: each of the toys hiding under the couch was created by a different member of the team. The elephant toy was coded completely by hand), Lifted, and the classic, Luxo, Jr.
I can’t wait to see Wall-E. It looks like such a fun and cute movie. And there’s a wal0mart reference in the short before it? Even Better! :D
posted by heather on 7-1-2008 at 1:51 am
6 \’Shorts\’ From Early Pixar [Videos] | Deliggit.com…
\r\nHere they all are, arranged chronologically for your flossing and viewing pleasur…
posted by Deliggit.com | The social sites' most interesting urls on 7-1-2008 at 5:09 am
Dude no doubt about it Pixar has it going on for sure!
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posted by James Wilson on 7-2-2008 at 7:47 am