Two of Pixar’s animators, Andrew Coats and Lou Hamou-Lhadj (“Inside Out,” “Brave”), have made the first off-the-shelf CG short at the studio. After winning a slew of film festival awards (including Siggraph’s prestigious Best in Show), the adult Western “Borrowed Time,” produced at Pixar University’s Co-op program, recently went viral on Vimeo. (Watch it below.)
Boasting a beautiful Monument Valley landscape right out of John Ford and Sergio Leone, it’s a sensitive and exquisitely rendered story about a mournful sheriff who returns to the scene of a tragic accident he can no longer escape, as painful memories keep flooding back.
“They have a brand at Pixar and what we did was completely off-brand and they appreciated it, but it was not something that Pixar would literally would ever make,” Hamou-Lhadj told IndieWire. “There’s themes in it that they could address, but it wouldn’t be done in the same way.
Boasting a beautiful Monument Valley landscape right out of John Ford and Sergio Leone, it’s a sensitive and exquisitely rendered story about a mournful sheriff who returns to the scene of a tragic accident he can no longer escape, as painful memories keep flooding back.
“They have a brand at Pixar and what we did was completely off-brand and they appreciated it, but it was not something that Pixar would literally would ever make,” Hamou-Lhadj told IndieWire. “There’s themes in it that they could address, but it wouldn’t be done in the same way.
- 10/24/2016
- by Bill Desowitz
- Indiewire
Pixar has built a legacy of smart movies that both parents and children can love. But two of the company’s animators have collaborated to share a much darker vision in the wonderful short film “Borrowed Time.” After winning several festival awards, the short is now available to watch for free via Vimeo.
The film, set in a beautifully animated Old West, deals with facing grief after a horrible accident. Co-directors Andrew Coats and Lou Hamou-Lhadj took five years to develop this short, while keeping up demanding schedules working on films such as “Inside Out” and “Brave.” But for the artists it was a creative itch they felt had to be scratched.
Read More: Review: Finding Dory Is The Best Pixar Movie Since Up
“In America, animation has largely become synonymous with kids’ films, whereas elsewhere around the world it’s celebrated as a medium that can be used to tell any story,...
The film, set in a beautifully animated Old West, deals with facing grief after a horrible accident. Co-directors Andrew Coats and Lou Hamou-Lhadj took five years to develop this short, while keeping up demanding schedules working on films such as “Inside Out” and “Brave.” But for the artists it was a creative itch they felt had to be scratched.
Read More: Review: Finding Dory Is The Best Pixar Movie Since Up
“In America, animation has largely become synonymous with kids’ films, whereas elsewhere around the world it’s celebrated as a medium that can be used to tell any story,...
- 10/15/2016
- by William Earl
- Indiewire
Studio Ghibli is known for creating some of the best and highest-quality animated films. In a new interview with Najinsan.com, ex Studio Ghibli producer, Hirokatsu Kihara, who worked at the Japanese animation film company between 1985 – 1989, talked to the site about the amount of work that goes into creating the animations and showed original artwork and sketches by critically-acclaimed helmer Hayao Miyazaki.
Some key elements that go into making a spectacular animated film include the use of color. Color matching is a very important key to conveying meaning and is used to reinforce time. “It is often said [that] using different colors is something that Japanese people are good at,” explained Kihara. “We use different colors for the same things: colors for morning, sunset and twilight. We create time by changing the colors for different times of the day. It sounds obvious, but it has almost never been explained with the actual frames.
Some key elements that go into making a spectacular animated film include the use of color. Color matching is a very important key to conveying meaning and is used to reinforce time. “It is often said [that] using different colors is something that Japanese people are good at,” explained Kihara. “We use different colors for the same things: colors for morning, sunset and twilight. We create time by changing the colors for different times of the day. It sounds obvious, but it has almost never been explained with the actual frames.
- 8/3/2016
- by Liz Calvario
- Indiewire
Since 1985, the Japanese animation studio Studio Ghibli is known for producing some of the most critically acclaimed, highest-quality animated films. Their output includes the films of Hayao Miyazaki, whose films like “My Neighbor Totoro” and “Spirited Away” have entered the cultural consciousness, as well as work by director Isao Takahta, whose most recent film “The Tale of the Princess Kaguya” was recently nominated for an Oscar. Studio Ghibli’s dedicated approach towards their craft promises the best in animation, but one element of their films that goes largely unnoticed are their scores.
Read More: Cannes Review: Studio Ghibli-Produced ‘The Red Turtle’ is a Quiet Little Masterpiece
In 2009, Joe Hisaishi, composer of a majority of Ghibli films, held a concert to celebrate the release of Miyazaki’s “Ponyo” and the 25 years of collaboration between the two ever since 1984’s “Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind,” whose success led to the creation of Ghibli.
Read More: Cannes Review: Studio Ghibli-Produced ‘The Red Turtle’ is a Quiet Little Masterpiece
In 2009, Joe Hisaishi, composer of a majority of Ghibli films, held a concert to celebrate the release of Miyazaki’s “Ponyo” and the 25 years of collaboration between the two ever since 1984’s “Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind,” whose success led to the creation of Ghibli.
- 7/20/2016
- by Kyle Kizu
- Indiewire
Pixar will soon move away from its “one for us, one for them” model. Fans have vocally resisted the animation studio’s pivot toward a more sequel-oriented lineup in recent years — not that movies like “Finding Dory” have suffered at the box office as a result — but company president Jim Morris says that, after the release of “The Incredibles II” in 2019, only original films are in development.
Read More: Review: ‘Finding Dory’ Is A Compelling Argument In Defense Of Sequels
That should come as welcome news to sequel-weary fans, as the next three years will only see one new project from Pixar: next year’s Day of the Dead–themed “Coco.” Even so, Morris says that the recent spate of follow-ups isn’t entirely driven by financial concerns. “Most studios jump on doing a sequel as soon as they have a successful film,” he explains to Entertainment Weekly, “but our...
Read More: Review: ‘Finding Dory’ Is A Compelling Argument In Defense Of Sequels
That should come as welcome news to sequel-weary fans, as the next three years will only see one new project from Pixar: next year’s Day of the Dead–themed “Coco.” Even so, Morris says that the recent spate of follow-ups isn’t entirely driven by financial concerns. “Most studios jump on doing a sequel as soon as they have a successful film,” he explains to Entertainment Weekly, “but our...
- 7/3/2016
- by Michael Nordine
- Indiewire
Justin Lin’s latest film “Star Trek Beyond,” the third film in the “Star Trek” reboot franchise, will hit theaters in just a few short weeks, but the acclaimed action director is already in talks for a couple future projects. Along with his “Space Jam” sequel starring LeBron James, Slash Film reports that Warner Bros. is talking to Lin about helming a live-action adaptation of the iconic cyberpunk manga, and later anime film, “Akira.” Though the film has been in development hell for years now, with various directors and actors attached to the project, but Lin might finally be the guy for the job.
Read More: ‘Space Jam 2’: Justin Lin to Take His Chance, Do His Dance With LeBron James in Highly Anticipated Sequel
Set in a dystopian version of Tokyo called Neo-Tokyo, “Akira” follows two teenage bikers Tetsuo and Kaneda as their lives radically change after dormant...
Read More: ‘Space Jam 2’: Justin Lin to Take His Chance, Do His Dance With LeBron James in Highly Anticipated Sequel
Set in a dystopian version of Tokyo called Neo-Tokyo, “Akira” follows two teenage bikers Tetsuo and Kaneda as their lives radically change after dormant...
- 6/27/2016
- by Vikram Murthi
- Indiewire
After Studio Ghibli veteran Makiko Futaki died in May, Pixar’s animator-director Peter Sohn (“The Good Dinosaur”) agreed to write a tribute and discovered a personal style in re-examining her work.
Makiko Futaki lived a life of animation. She worked on films from Katsuhiro Otomo’s “Akira” to Hayao Miyazaki’s “Howl’s Moving Castle.”
To be honest, I did not know her work until I had heard of her unfortunate passing in May at the young age of 57. Her list of film credits were jaw dropping. She had injected her talent into many of the greatest films of all time.
Animation can be an invisible art form because it is so collaborative. It is sometimes hard to discern which animator animated what scene in a particular film, but after watching several films an animator drew moments for, one can begin to see a personal style.
In Miyazaki’s “Laputa,...
Makiko Futaki lived a life of animation. She worked on films from Katsuhiro Otomo’s “Akira” to Hayao Miyazaki’s “Howl’s Moving Castle.”
To be honest, I did not know her work until I had heard of her unfortunate passing in May at the young age of 57. Her list of film credits were jaw dropping. She had injected her talent into many of the greatest films of all time.
Animation can be an invisible art form because it is so collaborative. It is sometimes hard to discern which animator animated what scene in a particular film, but after watching several films an animator drew moments for, one can begin to see a personal style.
In Miyazaki’s “Laputa,...
- 6/24/2016
- by Bill Desowitz
- Indiewire
The animation world has lost a prodigious talent with the death of Makiko Futaki, a longtime Studio Ghibli animator who passed away on May 13 after an unspecified illness. Futaki collaborated on every one of Hayao Miyazaki's films, several of which are regarded as high-water marks of the entire genre: "My Neighbor Totoro," "Princess Mononoke," "Spirited Away" and many others. Futaki was 57 at the time of her passing. Read More: 'The Red Turtle' Trailer: Studio Ghibli Returns With A Mesmerizing Silent Film In addition to her work at Ghibli, which has been among the world's most foremost animation studios for decades, Futaki also served as key animator on 1988's "Akira." Katsuhiro Otomo's dystopian sci-fi anime is likewise considered among the best of its kind ever made. Futaki held the same credit on such films as "Howl's Moving Castle," "From Up on Poppy Hill" and "The Wind Rises." Read More: Watch: A Feminist.
- 5/29/2016
- by Michael Nordine
- Indiewire
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