Late last week, the Walt Disney Company decided to expand our knowledge of their inner workings just a little bit, specific to the future of their animation studios. Anyone who may have been concerned, for example, that Walt Disney Feature Animation would be going the way of the dodo (this writer is among them) could breathe a bit easier because of this news story. In some ways, the entire story is fairly random—why Disney chose to announce its animation slate through 2018 at the end of May 2013, we may never know—but it’s got plenty of information we can parse through. Specific to Pixar and this week’s column, the topic of concern is multiple films in one year.
‘Day & Night’ Director Teddy Newton Developing New Pixar Film With ‘Safety Not Guaranteed’ Writer
Teddy Newton has been at Pixar since he came over to the studio with Brad Bird to work on The Incredibles. He has taken up small acting roles to great effect several times (he voiced the newsreel narrator in the aforementioned The Incredibles, Chatter Telephone in Toy Story 3, and Mini Buzz in the Toy Story Toon, Small Fry). Not only is he skilled with his voice, but he also worked on the story for the Jack-Jack Attack short and directed the Oscar-nominated short Day & Night. Now, we have learned that he is currently developing a brand new film for the animation studio.
Pixar’s Teddy Newton Cameos In ‘Mission Impossible – Ghost Protocol’ (Updated With Video)
On the eve of the early IMAX-only opening of Mission Impossible – Ghost Protocol, the Brad Bird film is pulling in overwhelmingly great reviews. It has already been certified “fresh” by Rotten Tomatoes and is currently sitting above 90% on the Tomatometer with more reviews continuing to roll in. The consensus seems to be that there are incredible action sequences and likable characters. One of those characters is played by Pixar’s Teddy Newton (Chatter Telephone in Toy Story 3). Ironically enough, his uncredited role in Ghost Protocol also has to do with a phone. Jump ahead to find out just what his role in the film is. [Read more…]
Teddy Newton, Kevin Reher Talk Day & Night and 2012 Pixar Short
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The year 2011 has barely begun and Pixar is already finishing production on the short we can expect to see with Brave in 2012. Day & Night director Teddy Newton and producer Kevin Reher sat down with Animation World Network to discuss their recently released film. It is an insightful interview that is a must-read, not only for its in-depth look at Day & Night, but also for the very brief mention of the 2012 short that we have not heard about until now. [Read more…]
Lee Unkrich, Michael Arndt, Teddy Newton, Darla K. Anderson, Randy Newman React to Oscar Nominations
This morning was quite the media circus, as the Academy Award nominations were announced. Toy Story 3 was nominated for five awards, while Day & Night bagged one nomination. EW has compiled several statements that have been released by Lee Unkrich, Michael Arndt, and Teddy Newton, in which they thank the Academy and others. Read on to view their full statements. [Read more…]
New Chatter Phone Tipline Video: Teddy Newton
The great Chatter Phone Tipline series continues today as we find out just who Teddy Newton is. Not only has he voiced many Pixar characters over the years, as you’ll see in the video, but he also brought us the incredible short film, Day & Night. Newton had the idea for the short years before he was finally able to direct it to the big screen, where it played alongside Toy Story 3.
View the many Pixar characters that Teddy Newton has voiced throughout the years: [Read more…]
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
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Pixar’s Day & Night is now available for download on iTunes for $1.99. [Read more…]
Short Film Review – Day & Night
Day & Night in theaters, alongside Toy Story 3
Toy Story 3 has been the film getting all of the attention lately, overshadowing the Pixar short film, Day & Night that is playing in theaters alongside it. I wanted to wait after my second viewing to review the short, as there are so many subtleties I missed the first time around, I deemed it necessary to watch it again before writing anything.
In my write-up going behind-the-curtain of the short, I explored Pixar’s history with shorts and talked about the fascinating aspect of Day & Night, the combination of hand-drawn characters with their computer animated interiors. Reading about it when it was first announced, I was excited about the undertaking. After watching it, I can only say that director Teddy Newton is a genius. [Read more…]
Behind the Curtain: ‘Day & Night’
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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.
