Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Despairing of Pixar

Posted by Hemos on from the bringing-out-the-new dept.

An anonymous reader writes "According to AnimWatch, Despair Inc :-( has released the short films of stop-motion animator Mark Osborne on DVD. They're available through Happy Product.com. MORE, the first stop action short film shot in IMAX format has been nominated for an Academy Award, won a Jury Prize at Sundance, appeared in a Kenna music video, and even appears in the Hotline documentation, but this looks like the first time it's ever been available on DVD. According to the filmmaker he hopes to fund future films by selling his old ones. This is the best short film I've ever seen, so all I can say is I'm glad it's finally getting a proper release. Isn't this how Pixar and Aardman got their starts?"

6 of 145 comments (clear)

  1. No - George Lucas by OpenYourEyes · · Score: 5, Informative

    Actually, Pixar was a spin-off from the computer graphics division at Lucasfilm. It was sold to Steve Jobs at that time in 1986. Disney wasn't involved until 1991 - well after Pixar had made a name for itself.

    Official Pixar History

    1. Re:No - George Lucas by Trurl's+Machine · · Score: 5, Informative

      It's even more complex - initially Pixar was supposed to be a computer making company. They tried to sell a sophisticated graphics workstation called Pixar Image Computer for a cool $135,000. Steve Jobs always was a hardware fetishist, but both his "main" project of that day - the NeXT Cube - and Pixar Image Computer were horrible market flops. Among the 120 employers of Pixar in late 1980's, only five were trying to make films; the others were trying to develop, manufacture and market the workstation that nobody wanted to buy. This policy has led Pixar to huge debt of a 50 megabuck magnitude. Only then came the Oscar and the Disney etc.

  2. Re:Not the first time MORE has been on DVD... by lcracker · · Score: 5, Informative

    Ok sorry, it wasn't volume 13 but volume 7. It's been on DVD since [at least] Feb 1, 2000 according to here.

  3. funding by Savatte · · Score: 5, Informative

    Getting funding for a short film is quite possibly more difficult than getting funding for a feature film. A full-length film at least has the possibility of being picked up and distributed to vast audiences, where as an investor's return on a short film is more likely to be nothing, since they are rarely exhibited. To convince someone to give you money so you can follow your dream or experiement is quite difficult. Stan Brakhage, the world-renowned avant-garde film maker had trouble finding funding for his short films, since he was so prolific (he made about 400 films in his lifetime). He then decided to take a different approach and began painting on the actual film, which took more time, and thus was able to make his funding last.

    For some other non-Pixar fascinating short films, check out:

    Duck Amuck - Chuck Jones
    Eye Myth - Stan Brakhage
    Rabbits - David Lynch
    The Heart Of The World - Guy Maddin
    The Superbowl Is Gay - Andy Milonakis (yes, I'm serious. This is one of the most purely comedic films ever made)

  4. Commercials by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    Pixar initially worked on commercials before their movies. Not sure if these even predated the short films becuase they were initially geared to be like an advertising firm. Notable Pixar commercials include:

    Tropicana Orange Juice (with bouncy/dancing oranges)
    Listerine /w animated and Robin Hood Listerine bottle
    Gummy Life Savers that danced and such

  5. Aardman by lxt · · Score: 5, Informative

    Isn't this how Pixar and Aardman got their starts?" - I don't know about Pixar, but Aardman (based right down the road from me in Bristol) was originally two teenagers who got a commission from the BBC to produce a short kids ident (called the "aard man", hence the company name). From then on, the studio funded itself through producing advertisements and music videos (Peter Gabriel's Sledgehammer for example), and put the revenue it recieved into producing quality shorts - it was this money that funded Nick Park's "A Grand Day Out". "Chicken Run" is an exception to the advertisement funding rule, as it's part of a five film deal with Dreamworks.