“All of that, and the Oscar buzz, is nothing I focus on,” he says. (Consider one of the most famously challenging sections on your annual Oscar ballot a lock.) But pleased as he is with Piper’s warm reception, Barillaro doesn’t even want to talk about awards season. In fact, the whole short went over like gangbusters-and, given Pixar’s track record with snagging Academy Award nominations, Piper might be a safe bet in the best-animated-short category. I just wanted the audience’s imagination to go farther than I ever would.” That sequence-which mirrors some of Finding Dory’s themes about the dangers of the ocean-was received with audible gasps in my screening. But, in this case, Barillaro was right to ignore his family: “I felt like it was important, that little bit of fear and worry. I don’t like that character at all.’” They especially didn’t like a moment, halfway through the short, where it looks like the fluffy baby bird might be in real danger. “They let me know, ‘I don’t like that one. “The more we studied birds, it was apparent that all of the appeal required being in control of the feathers.”Ĭourtesy of Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures.īarillaro’s three kids were also tough critics of Piper, all six minutes of it. “We had to come up with new techniques across the board to solve feathers,” he says, invoking the technology Pixar created to capture the flaming, bouncing curls of the heroine Merida in 2012’s Brave. Barillaro has been working in Pixar's animation department since the days of A Bug’s Life-but as part of the Pixar shorts program, he was encouraged to take “daunting” technical risks on this new short. With encouragement from Pixar chief John Lasseter and Finding Dory director Andrew Stanton, Barillaro set about turning the visuals into a story. It all started with an animation test based on the cute sandpipers Barillaro would see on his morning Bay Area runs. The dialogue-free film follows a baby bird as it learns to brave the shore and feed itself, making a friend or two along the way. It took three years for Barillaro to craft the six-minute short, using cutting-edge technology that could very well signal the future of the studio. When it comes to animating feathers, sand, and water, the general rule-according to director Alan Barillaro-is “pick one, not all three.” But all three elements are on display in the heartwarming, shockingly realistic new short Piper, which has landed a coveted slot in front of Pixar's highly anticipated Finding Nemo sequel, Finding Dory.
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