“How Short Circuit Experiments” by Newfield and Staub
Conference:
Type(s):
Entry Number: 72
Title:
- How Short Circuit Experiments
Presenter(s)/Author(s):
Abstract:
Short Circuit is an experimental professional development program that began in 2016 where anyone at Walt Disney Animation Studios can pitch an idea and potentially be selected to create an original experimental short film with the support of the studio. This innovative program aims to develop and train studio talent by promoting the culture of storytelling throughout Disney Animation. By design, this program highlights new voices, encourages risk taking in both visual style and story, and supports technical innovation in the film- making process. The program has so far given 20 Disney Animation filmmakers the opportunity to create their own short, 14 of which have made their debut on Disney+. These experimental shorts have pushed the boundaries of storytelling and art, exploring stylized looks in a condensed production period. This talk will present the history and motivation behind Short Circuit, highlight how small teams worked efficiently to explore storytelling and unique art styles and discuss how lessons from the program have impacted filmmaking at Walt Disney Animation Studios.
References:
Brent Burley, David Adler, Matt Jen-Yuan Chiang, Hank Driskill, Ralf Habel, Patrick Kelly, Peter Kutz, Yining Karl Li, and Daniel Teece. 2018. The Design and Evolution of Disney’s Hyperion Renderer. ACM Trans. Graph. 37, 3, Article 33 (July 2018), 22 pages. https://doi.org/10.1145/3182159
Peter Kutz, Ralf Habel, Yining Karl Li, and Jan Novák. 2017. Spectral and Decomposition Tracking for Rendering Heterogeneous Volumes. ACM Trans. Graph. 36, 4, Article 111 (July 2017), 16 pages. https://doi.org/10.1145/3072959.3073665
Walt Disney Animation Studios WDAS. 2012. Meander. https://www.disneyanimation.com/technology/innovations/meander.
