21.03.2019
Text: Tuba Altuntaş
Let’s have a look at the less known shorts from producers, writers and directors of blockbuster animations, which have left their mark on the animation world.
WALT DISNEY / Toot, Whistle, Plunk and Boom (1953)
With a groundbreaking industry behind him, and 22 Oscar wins out of 48 nominations, Disney is surely one of the founding fathers of animation cinema. Besides the legendary characters he created and many blockbuster full feature animations, Walt Disney also has created various short animations that won Oscars more often than not. One of those is ‘‘Toot, Whistle, Plunk and Boom’’, a short animation created to teach children the Western music instruments and their history, which has won the best short animation Oscar back in 1953 due to its colorful story and musical excellence. The 10-minute animation takes us to a lesson given by an owl teacher to its students about western music instruments’ roots and how natural sounds like whistles gave inspiration to the birth of the four main Western music instruments: brass, wooden, string and percussive.
HAYAO MİYAZAKİ / Mei to Koneka basu (2002)
Miyazaki, who is known and loved for the fragile, naive, traditional and epic worlds he creates in his animations, is sometimes called the Walt Disney of Far-East. The debate on his alleged retirement in the past years has ended when he announced that he will continue making films and released his latest short, ‘‘Boro the Catterpillar’’ (2018). Boro was also sort of a forerunner for his upcoming full feature. But in this list, we want to remind you of another short by Miyazaki: ‘‘Mei to Koneko Basu’’ (2002). Following the release of ‘‘My Neighbor Totoro’’ (1988), ‘‘Mei to Koneko Basu’’ took us to an exciting adventure of Mei, a goofy, cute little girl who lost her mother, and Kittenbus (sibling of Catbus from ‘‘My Neighbor Totoro’’). Miyazaki’s legendary talent has been recognized all around the world with countless awards; his films and series like ‘‘Heidi’’ and ‘‘Anne of Green Gables’’ have become timeless classics. The animation master knows very well how to please his audiences by creating short animations for the side characters from his full features with magical and melancholic stories.
TIM BURTON / Vincent (1982)
Tim Burton directed his first short when he was just 13 and became an animator apprentice at Disney right after his college education. After his early shorts with gothic and horror elements, his stop motion short ‘‘Vincent’’, which he wrote and directed in 1982, became a milestone for his prolific career. ‘‘Vincent’’ was inspired by Edgar Allen Poe’s chilling short stories and narrated by Vincent Price, a low budget horror film and TV series actor, who became an obsession for Burton since his childhood. The stop-motion short offers a summary of young Burton’s upcoming career and showcases the famous director’s classic gothic themes. This short, which is also a major reference point for Burton’s later full feature stop motion films such as ‘‘Nightmare Before Christmas’’ and ‘‘Corpse Bride’’, offers a magical black and white experience with Vincent Price’s poetic narration. The bizarre, awkward, naïve and timid characteristics of the protagonists from Burton films like ‘‘Frankenweenie’’, ‘‘Edward Scissorhand’’, ‘‘Mars Attacks’’, ‘‘Sleepy Hollow’’, ‘‘Big Fish’’, ‘‘Charlie and the Chocolate Factory’’ and ‘‘Corpse Bride’’ can also be found in Vincent, who looks a lot like Burton himself. Burton is known for reflecting his own unique perspective as well as referencing his favorite literature and cinema pieces in his own films, and all of these characteristics are present in Vincent, who thinks he is cursed to never leave his house and feels his nearing doom, only to be pulled back to reality by his mother’s voice.
WES ANDERSON / Moonrise Kingdom: Animated Book Short (2012)
Wes Anderson has created a very recognizable and unique visual language in his films and even though he is known more for his live action full features, he also offered great examples of animation with films such as ‘‘Fantastic Mr. Fox’’ and ‘‘Isle of Dogs’’. From indie films to blockbuster hits, Anderson’s rich filmography also includes many shorts as well. The director, who likes directing shorts that compliment his full features, directed ‘‘Moonrise Kingdom: Animated Book’’ short right after ‘‘Moonrise Kingdom’’ (2012). The animated short, which is narrated by Bob Balaban and starts with the warning ‘‘If you don’t like to read, turn this off’’, is about six stories from ‘‘Moonrise Kingdom’’ main character Suzy’s library books. The short, which has Anderson’s symmetrical, detailed and nostalgic style, tells the stories from six books that were directed in six different animation styles and was completed in six weeks.
RALPH EGGLESTON / For The Birds (2000)
Ralph Eggleston might not be one of the names that you would recognize instantly like the other four in this list, but he is definitely a big name in the animation world, with many popular animation films. He worked in various major projects of Pixar Animation Studios as an animator, art director, storyboard artist and production designer. Eggleston, who played an important part in films and series such as ‘‘Monsters Inc.’’, ‘‘Inside Out’’, ‘‘Toy Story’’, ‘‘WALL-E’’, ‘‘Garfield’’, ‘‘The Simpson’’, won an Oscar with the only short animation he wrote and directed: ‘‘For the Birds’’. The short, which is also a Pixar production, gained popularity with its bright colors, detailed bird animations and funny story. Reflecting on human society from birds perspective, ‘‘For the Birds’’ touches topics like living together, society’s rules, hunger for power and the seek for attention, and gives a salute to all the ‘others’ in life by a simple story of birds who live on a telephone wire.