Pixar's Night and Day

[Lord_Stewie]

Hey,

Could be Pixar's next project:

Could Pixar be working on a film about a boy and his dinosaur? If you take a look behind Pixar sculptor Greg Dykstra, you will notice concept drawings and photos on his office wall showing a dinosaur and a boy. Could this be a design for an upcoming Pixar feature or short film?

Upcoming Pixar reader Bryko614, who noticed the concept art above while watching B-Roll footage from the making of Pete Docter’s Up, took that question to Pixar story supervisor Ronnie del Carmen. del Carmen responded on Twitter by saying that he does know what they are from “But not telling. Nothing to do with anything Toy Story, tell you that.”

Some have suggested the possibility that the designs could have been created for earlier concepts for Russell the wilderness explorer and what eventually became Kevin the Bird, but neither of which appear in The Art of Up book, and both designs seem far too different from the final cartoony character design style of the film. So it doesn’t seem likely, and Ronnie’s response leads us to believe the designs are part of a future project.

There are many possibilities. The sculpting phase usually doesn’t happen until late in the process, after the designs have become more finalized, but before they start the heavy duty animation work. Past Pixar books have listed these sculpts as being 1 to 2 years before the film’s release, but not much more than that. Since these designs aren’t from Toy Story 3, and don’t seem like a likely fit for Newt (the upcoming 2012 film about the last surviving pair of a rare reptilian species known as the blue-footed newts), I would venture to guess that the designs were created for an upcoming animated short.

Thoughts on this?


UPDATE

AUG 28TH:

PIXAR GOES ON A DINOSAUR HUNTING FIELD TIRP

Earlier today we posted a speculative scoop, a screen-grab from B-roll footage for Pixar’s Up that accidentally showed concept art of a boy and a dinosaur in the background of sculptor Greg Dykstra’s office (see the left side of the zoomed in photo above). We were unsure if this art is part of an upcoming unannounced Pixar short of feature film. It certainly didn’t look like anything that would fit into the few announced features that the animation studio is currently developing. Pixar story supervisor Ronnie del Carmen responded to a tweet asking about the art on Twitter , confirming that he knows what the art is from, commenting that it has “nothing to do with anything Toy Story,” but would not reveal more. We have since learned a little bit more.

Pixar Touch author David A. Price has alerted The Pixar Blog to some interesting postings made by Pixar animator and paleontology buff Austin Madison’s personal blog earlier this month.

Madison recounts a trip taken by a group of dino enthusiasts to the badlands of South Dakota last month, many (most?) of whom were Pixarians. These included a production assistant, Brandon Hyman; a technical artist, Chuck Waite; and an assistant editor, Zack Keller.

Sculptor Greg Dykstra was also on the trip. As any of you who follow Pixar’s development process probably know, the companies’ artists usually takes research field trips while developing new films. For Ratatouille, they took a trip to Paris to study the city and eat in some of the fine restaurants. For Up, they took a trip to South America to study the the strange wilderness of the region. And it certainly looks like Pixar is doing some research on dinosaurs, and the concept art of Dykstra’s wall is actually part of this upcoming project.

TPB speculates that Dykstra is directing (which makes the most sense out of the list of named mentioned). If true, this would mean that the film is a short film, and not a feature, as Dykstra has not directed before. Pixar uses their short films as a training ground for potential future feature directors. For example, sound designer Gary Rydstrom directed the short Lifted (which played in front of Ratatouille), and is now at the helm of his first feature, Pixar’s 2012 film newt.

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UPDATE: MARCH 16, 2010.

DAY & NIGHT: 2D OR 3D

Last week, Walt Disney Pictures released the first photo, a promo title treatment, for Pixar’s next short film, Day & Night, directed by Teddy Newton. The photo, seen above, featured two characters, one filled with day, the other filled with night. At the time we speculated that the short might be a 2D animated film, and not the computer animated short film we’re use to from Pixar. And now people within Pixar are calling it “unlike anything Pixar has produced before.” What does that mean? Is it 2D or 3D?

Now The Pixar Blog has uncovered a few new bits about the project:
Up art director Don Shank writes on blog: “I am very excited that the public will finally get to see it because it’s unlike anything Pixar has produced before.” Shank, who served as production designer on the short film, calls his experience “one of the best times I’ve ever had working on anything”. Unlike anything has produced before? What does that mean. It certainly doesn’t mean 2D as Pixar’s short Your Friend the Rat, included on the Ratatouille DVD/Blu-ray release, was filled with 2D hand-drawn animation. So what can that mean?

Cartoon Brew’s Jerry Beck claims that the images “inside” the characters will be Computer animated, but the Day & Night characters are 2D, hand drawn.

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Update:

Making of the Pixar Short DAY & NIGHT

Anyone who has been into movies for any length of time is aware of Pixar and how genius the animators are. One of the great moments of any Pixar movie isn’t the feature itself, but the short film that appears before it. In fact, Pixar has been awarded 3 Best Animated Short Film Oscars.

Anyway, a video on the making of their new short, Day & Night, which will be appearing before Toy Story 3 this summer, has been released. While the short is hard to describe (something Pixar is well aware of) it does look to maybe the best they’ve ever done, at least on a geeky, more technical level. While I shouldn’t have to sell the video to you because, hey, it’s Pixar, check it out anyways. It’s a nice little insight into how the brainstorming at Pixar works.

Be aware that this video about the making of the short will appear before Toy Story 3 this summer. If you intend on watching it when the movie comes out then don't check the link.

You have been forewarned.

Video.

Enjoy.