Anna Daniels
Pixar has been steadily churning out animated shorts through its SparkShorts program, an initiative dedicated to cultivating new talent through short films, that has allowed Pixar animators to experiment with more than the 3D animation the studio is known for. Everything from hand-drawn animation to new styles of CG animation are on display in the shorts, which first debuted theatrically and on YouTube last year before moving to Disney+. And Disney+ has kept the program alive, steadily releasing new shorts that remind us of the magic of Pixar shorts.
Out Trailer
The latest heartwarming tale from @Pixar’s #SparkShorts. Start streaming Out tomorrow on #DisneyPlus. pic.twitter.com/gRvBEdK1Iw
— Disney+ (@disneyplus) May 21, 2020
Out is a new Pixar SparkShorts short film that broaches the uncomfortable subject of coming out to one’s parents. In a beautiful, warm hand-drawn animation style that resembles that of a children’s coloring book, the Out trailer follows a man named Greg who chats with his dog Jim while holding a framed photo of himself and his boyfriend, Manuel. Greg is talking his way through coming out to his parents, when the doorbell rings and his parents arrive to help move him out of his house. But in a panic, he leaves the picture frame to be discovered by his mom, in a cliffhanger ending for the trailer. The trailer is sweet and short (what else can you be, while teasing a Pixar short film?) and even features a cameo from Toy Story character Wheezy (check out the penguin in Jim the dog’s mouth).
Pixar’s SparkShorts was launched in 2019, with the three inaugural short films getting a theatrical and YouTube debut before getting added to Disney+ upon the platform’s November 2019 launch. The first three shorts, Float,Purl, Smash and Grab, were soon joined by Kitbull,Wind, and Loop, which debuted on Disney+ in the following months. The program is meant to further the informal practice of Pixar shorts as a medium for rising Pixar animators to experiment with new technologies and hone their storytelling skills, which were then shown before Pixar theatrical releases. But those Pixar shorts were soon replaced by Disney or Simpsons shorts, with the beloved experimental Pixar shorts moving online.
“The SparkShorts program is designed to discover new storytellers, explore new storytelling techniques, and experiment with new production workflows,” President of Pixar Animation Studios Jim Morris said in a statement when the program was launched in January 2019. “These films are unlike anything we’ve ever done at Pixar, providing an opportunity to unlock the potential of individual artists and their inventive filmmaking approaches on a smaller scale than our normal fare.”
You can watch Out on Disney+ now.
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