Pixar set to open experimental animated shorts… | Little White Lies

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Pixar set to open exper­i­men­tal ani­mat­ed shorts department

31 May 2017

Words by Amy Bowker

Person seated on a red plush monster toy on a sandy playground with blue sky and climbing net in the background.
Person seated on a red plush monster toy on a sandy playground with blue sky and climbing net in the background.
The stu­dio aims to explore new cre­ative visions through more rad­i­cal storytelling.

Pixar is launch­ing a new ani­ma­tion divi­sion focused on devel­op­ing exper­i­men­tal shorts, per­haps in response to the mixed crit­i­cal response to their two most recent fea­tures The Good Dinosaur and Find­ing Dory.

Through this ​“inter­nal, exper­i­men­tal sto­ry­telling ini­tia­tive” the stu­dio aims to ​“cre­ate short films with­out exec­u­tive over­sight, to explore new cre­ative visions and increase stu­dio oppor­tu­ni­ties.” The divi­sion was first revealed as part of a list of talks set to take place in Los Ange­les this August.

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The pan­el, enti­tled ​“Off-The-Rails Film­mak­ing at Pixar,” will detail the studio’s six-month jour­ney to cre­at­ing exper­i­men­tal shorts ​“with lim­it­ed resources, amidst the back­drop of a busy stu­dio, jug­gling mul­ti­ple fea­ture productions.”

The first film to come from the depart­ment is titled Smash and Grab.Details of the film’s con­tents have not been revealed as yet but Bri­an Larsen, who worked on Pixar’s Oscar-win­ning short Piper and served as sto­ry super­vi­sor on 2012’s Brave, is set to direct.

In recent years we’ve watched Pixar lean a lit­tle too heav­i­ly on sequels, but this new ven­ture marks a wel­come return to the studio’s inno­v­a­tive roots. The news is a clear indi­ca­tion of Pixar’s con­tin­ued com­mit­ment to the artistry and cre­ative devel­op­ment of ani­mat­ed film­mak­ing, and we’re cer­tain­ly excit­ed to see what else they have in store.

Get in touch with your thoughts on Pixar’s new exper­i­men­tal shorts depart­ment by tweet­ing @LWLies

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