Pixar’s Piper, An Adorable Animated Tale of Overcoming Fear

Pixars Piper Animated Short

Here’s a look at Pixar’s Piper, an adorable 6 minute short. Initially released in theaters with Pixar’s Finding Dory this past summer, it’s now available to view online in full.

Pixar’s Piper Animated Short

The beautifully animated tale tells the story of a Sandpiper hatchling as she leaves her nest for the first time in search of food. The only problem is, the food is buried beneath the sand where scary waves roll up onto the shore.

Piper Animated Short

Pixars Piper Animated Short

Terrified of the water; she refuses to leave the nest, but soon notices a group of hermit crabs digging into the sand to find deeper food and keep from being buffeted by the tide.

stills from pixar's piper

By copying their behavior, she starts to see the beauty of the underwater world and becomes skilled at discovering food for the flock.

Pixar's Piper short

pixar animation

The backstory: After watching Sandpipers react to waves and run on the beach, Director Alan Barillaro was inspired to design a non-speaking character who was afraid of the water yet had to venture into it to eat.

To help craft an animation tool that would help provide additional creative flexibility to the studio’s filmmaking process. Pixar’s software development team created a proof of concept, a short animation test about a small bird – a sandpiper – on a beach. This animation test soon grew into a full-fledged short film.

The full animated short:

Credits:
Directed by Alan Barillaro
Produced by Marc Sondheimer
Screenplay by Alan Barillaro
Music by Adrian Belew
Edited by Sarah K. Reimers
Production company Pixar Animation Studios, Walt Disney Pictures
Distributed by Walt Disney Studios
Motion Pictures
Release dates: June 17, 2016 (with Finding Dory)
Running time: 6 minutes[1]
Country: United States
Language: English

Official Site