WDAS Short Circuit

[estefan]

By the way, this is just a little curiosity, but I just learned that Julia Butters, the girl who appears with Leonardo DiCaprio in that scene from Once Upon a Time in Hollywood where they're shooting a western movie together, is the daughter of Disney animator Darrin Butters. She voices the main character of the short titled Fetch.

Wow, I didn't know that! Makes it even more fitting that in one of their scenes together in "Once Upon a Time", her character is reading a Walt Disney biography and praises him.

[D82]

Wow, I didn't know that! Makes it even more fitting that in one of their scenes together in "Once Upon a Time", her character is reading a Walt Disney biography and praises him.

It's true! I didn't remember that. Maybe it was an homage to the fact that her father is a Disney animator then.

She's also starring on the ABC sitcom "American Housewife". Where would Hollywood be without nepotism?

Well, I think she's talented, but yeah, there's a lot of nepotism in Hollywood. I recently read one of those articles with a list of celebrities whose parents are also famous, and I was impressed by how many there were that I didn't know, like Zooey Deschanel, Domhall Gleeson or Chris Pine, for example. Some of them were even the third generation of actors, musicians, etc.

[Sotiris]

You know what just occurred to me? None of these 14 shorts are hand-drawn. Not even when it comes to experimental shorts is Disney willing to give the medium a chance. It's so sad that many of these filmmakers went to great lengths to mimic 2D (and ultimately failed because as soon as the character moves, you can tell it's 3D), putting double the effort and time, trying to force 3D to do something that it doesn't come naturally, just so they can avoid making a 2D film.

[D82]

Here are interviews with the directors of each of the shorts and the program manager:

- Natalie Nourigat (Exchange Student): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SQSiIvIOAoI
- Mitch Counsell (Fetch): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eDXtAihJQvg
- Jennifer Stratton (Zenith): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O3TpRe_V1uw
- Brian Menz (Just A Thought): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vYFfqETZuLE
- John Aquino (Lightning in A Bottle): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cBEyDYVE-R4
- Brian Scott (Elephant In The Room): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ddFfVH4hpjI
- Jeff Gipson (Cycles): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AkmazwYfNE0
- Nikki Mull (Lucky Toupee): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BoqT7M31euU
- Trent Correy (Drop): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rVNuENMY8WE
- Zach Parrish (Puddles): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iw8I4d2rZ78
- Kendra Vander Vliet (Downtown): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wffs6yduKf4
- Jerry Huynh (Jing Hua): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Cq1WczSmcM
- Brian Estrada (Hair Jitsu): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=173aSUcAB3o
- Terry Moews (The Race): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gALDYDW3V0U
- Nicholas Russell (Program Manager): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=igDxxowkFz4

You know what just occurred to me? None of these 14 shorts are hand-drawn. Not even when it comes to experimental shorts is Disney willing to give the medium a chance. It's so sad that many of these filmmakers went to great lengths to mimic 2D (and ultimately failed because as soon as the character moves, you can tell it's 3D), putting double the effort and time, trying to force 3D to do something that it doesn't come naturally, just so they can avoid making a 2D film.

I guess it's probably because they're using the program to experiment with new ways of incorporating 2D into their films. But I agree, they haven't achieved to give 3D the movement and feel that real hand-drawn animation gives. I wish they just brought back the traditional technique.

By the way, have you watched the shorts, Sotiris? If so, what's your general opinion of them?

[Sotiris]

Something weird is going on. Initially, 15 shorts were supposed to be released on Disney+ but only 14 ended up there. The short "Songs to Sing in the Dark" directed by Riannon Delanoy is nowhere to be found. It was originally listed to be screened at the El Capitan with the rest of the shorts but it was removed. What's going on?

https://twitter.com/elcapitanthtre/stat ... 8552927232

[Jules]

You know what just occurred to me? None of these 14 shorts are hand-drawn. Not even when it comes to experimental shorts is Disney willing to give the medium a chance. It's so sad that many of these filmmakers went to great lengths to mimic 2D (and ultimately failed because as soon as the character moves, you can tell it's 3D), putting double the effort and time, trying to force 3D to do something that it doesn't come naturally, just so they can avoid making a 2D film.

Valid point. However, I happened to catch a short clip from all the available films on WDAS' Facebook page and was delighted by the variety in the films' visual styles. Yes, you are right, in motion you can tell the animation is CG (as happened in Paperman). However I personally would feel deceived if I watched a seemingly fully hand-drawn film with nothing to suggest it is CG animated only to find out it is indeed CG. My reasoning is that if you want a film to look genuinely hand-drawn - make it hand-drawn. If you want your movie to be made in CG, but employ hand-drawn techniques, then go ahead. Applying those techniques WON'T make it look hand-drawn - it will just give the film a different, more handcrafted aesthetic.

My guess is many of the artists working at WDAS specialise in CG, and are understandably looking for innovative and newer aesthetics for future films. While I am sure there must be many CG animators at WDAS who can animated traditionally as well, perhaps they didn't apply for the Short Circuit programme, or maybe they feel a bit apprehensive animating in 2D as it is not their forte.

Who knows!?

[Sotiris]

By the way, have you watched the shorts, Sotiris? If so, what's your general opinion of them?

Not yet. Have you?

[D82]

Something weird is going on. Initially, 15 shorts were supposed to be released on Disney+ but only 14 ended up there. The short "Songs to Sing in the Dark" directed by Riannon Delanoy is nowhere to be found. It was originally listed to be screened at the El Capitan with the rest of the shorts but it was inconspicuously removed. What's going on?

https://twitter.com/elcapitanthtre/stat ... 8552927232

I hadn't noticed that short was missing. Yes, that's strange. I wonder what happened with it.

By the way, have you watched the shorts, Sotiris? If so, what's your general opinion of them?

Not yet. Have you?

No, I haven't watched them either. I've tried to find them online, but it seems no one has bothered to illegally upload some little experimental shorts. The only thing that comes up when I search for them is 1986's movie Short Circuit. I guess I'll have to wait until the end of March when Disney Plus launches in Spain to watch them. I don't think I'll subscribe to the streaming service, but if there's a free trial I'll use it to watch these shorts, the Forky ones and some old live-action movies I haven't seen yet.

[Sotiris]

I hadn't noticed that short was missing. Yes, that's strange. I wonder what happened with it.

I asked the director about it on Twitter, but he never replied. It's too bad because based on this still, it looked promising. The director revealed that the supervising animator of Stitch, Alex Kupershmidt, had done exploratory pencil tests for the short which piqued my interest. I hope this doesn't go the way of "Glago's Guest" and is buried forever for no apparent reason.

[D82]

Yes, it looked promising. Hopefully, Disney just decided to save it for the next batch of shorts from the program to be released on Disney Plus.

[Farerb]

Yes, it looked promising. Hopefully, Disney just decided to save it for the next batch of shorts from the program to be released on Disney Plus.

He does say spring 2020 in that tweet, so maybe it will.

[D82]

^It's true, though the tweet is from last August. Maybe the shorts were planned to be released in the spring back then. Anyway, I think there's still hope. If it isn't released with the next batch, though, then we can begin to worry. By the way, here's the short's synopsis according to IMDb:

Two creatures living in the depths of a dark cave engage in a battle of acoustic one-upmanship. As things escalate, they come to realize that they are stronger together.

[Lady Cluck]

Is it confirmed there's going to be a new batch? I LOVED this and would like to see it as a continuing showcase for the animation department, with different styles and techniques not used in the full length films (sadly).

Jing Hua was my favorite, such beautiful animation, but many of them were cute, funny, and beautiful.

[Sotiris]

Welcome back, Lady Cluck!

No, it hasn't been confirmed yet. It's just assumed because this is an ongoing program and there are more shorts made through it that haven't been released yet. The initial press release mentioned that 20 shorts have been completed, but only 14 have been released so far.

[D82]

Could these be new titles from the Short Circuit program?

2 shorts from @DisneyAnimation : OUT has been rated PG and BURROW has been rated G

Source: https://twitter.com/stitchkingdom/statu ... 8696148994

[Sotiris]

This early test from the Short Circuit Experimental Film “Jing-Hua" helped inform the dimensional Chinese brush style used in the short. For this test, a roughly modeled tree was used to project the painting onto it.

Source: https://www.facebook.com/23245476854/vi ... 477910940/

For the Short Circuit Experimental Film “Zenith,” the vast space the film is set in was created in layers. After a background was painted, a ground plane was used to place additional stars to indicate depth. Nebulas & lighting to mid-ground stars completed the look.

Source: https://www.facebook.com/23245476854/vi ... 922233578/

[Sotiris]

It turns out both of these were Pixar SparkShorts. It's odd we haven't had any new Short Circuit shorts since the initial batch. Why haven't the completed "Songs to Sing in the Dark" and "A Kite's Tale" been added to Disney+ yet?

Could these be new titles from the Short Circuit program?

2 shorts from @DisneyAnimation : OUT has been rated PG and BURROW has been rated GG.

Source: https://twitter.com/stitchkingdom/statu ... 8696148994

[D82]

It turns out both of these were Pixar SparkShorts. It's odd we haven't had any new Short Circuit shorts since the initial batch. Why haven't the completed "Songs to Sing in the Dark" and "A Kite's Tale" been added to Disney+ yet?

When you posted your previous post and the thread was bumped I already noticed that tweet was wrong about Out, but I didn't think Burrow would be from Pixar as well. Regarding the latter, they released many Short Circuit shorts at once at first; maybe they're waiting to have a considerable number of shorts to release a new batch.

[Sotiris]

The Short Circuit short directed by Ryan Green is finished.

This was my first time having official business in this building and it was a special occasion because my Short Circuit short is officially wrapped! Congrats to everyone who contributed to the short! I can't wait for Disney to release it (in mid-2021?) so I can post a behind-the-scenes look at all of the amazing artwork that went into making it.

Source: https://imgur.com/a/ooFZPIu

[Sotiris]

A new batch of shorts will be released on July 30, 2021.


Source: https://twitter.com/disneyplus/status/1 ... 6242152452