Today, The Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences issued a press release revealing the 10 animated short films that are being considered for an Academy Award. Originally, 33 films had been chosen, but these 10 films represent the elite who now have higher hopes of winning that golden statuette come Oscar night. [Read more…]
Disney Updates Awards Site With Pixar Goodness
Walt Disney Studios has made it clear that they will be pushing Toy Story 3 for award considerations. Now they have relaunched their awards website with information and behind-the-scenes material for Toy Story 3 and the Day & Night short.
Stills, music samples, and review quotes are collected for both films (along with several other Disney films). A highlight is the entire screenplay for Toy Story 3, which you can download and view here. Normally, I wouldn’t say that reading screenplays is particularly exciting, but screenwriter Michael Arndt did such a fantastic job that I’ll personally be downloading this onto my phone for reading while traveling!
Visit the Walt Disney Studios Awards website.
Day & Night Book Now Available (UPDATE: Video)
When, Day & Night debuted in theaters alongside Toy Story 3, critics and fans fell in love with director Teddy Newton’s short. Now, there’s a way to own a print version as Chronicle Books has released a hardcover adaptation by Teddy Newton himself.
In my review of the short, I wrote about its genius in length. Teddy Newton gave us a piece that was not scared to challenge the ideas that we may hold. The 40-page accompanying book is another book I look forward to placing on my Pixar shelf.
UPDATE: There is a behind the scenes video that Chronicle Books has released. It’s embedded after the jump. [Read more…]
Download Day & Night on iTunes
Copyright Disney/Pixar
Pixar’s Day & Night is now available for download on iTunes for $1.99. [Read more…]
Behind the Curtain: ‘Day & Night’
Copyright Disney/Pixar
Pixar is famous for its feature-length films, but originally they started out making shorts. It was John Lasseter’s ‘The Adventures of Andre and Wally B.’ short that raised eyebrows and brought attention to computer animated features, which had never before been able to have organic objects look and move realistically. The lamp from the short Luxo Jr. became Pixar’s mascot and now, has become famous for jumping its way past the ‘R’, ‘A’, and ‘X’ before jumping and flattening the ‘I’ in their logo prior to the start of their every film.
Lasseter and Ed Catmull, who co-founded Pixar Animation Studios, were determined to animate and release full-length computer animated films. Out of that drive emerged ‘Toy Story’, which went on to become one of the most successful and beloved animated movies of all time.
They started placing shorts before their full-length features, recalling the classic era of films, when short animated movies were rampant. The short playing with ‘Toy Story 3’ is called ‘Day & Night’ and marks Pixar artist, Teddy Newton’s first time in the director’s chair. Early descriptions have the short pegged as “mind-blowing” and “like nothing you have ever seen before”. That may be true, as there is an integration of hand-drawn animation, as well as computer animation. The two characters are Day and Night, and their movements as well as their facial expressions are all hand-drawn. The interesting angle is that their insides are computer animated. Intrigued yet?
Enough with the explaining – how about I show you? For your viewing pleasure, here is an exclusive Comcast video going behind-the-‘Day & Night’-curtain:
Teddy Newton’s ‘Day & Night’ makes its debut in theaters alongside ‘Toy Story 3’ on June 18th.
