Pixar’s Film, “Piper” has won the Oscar for Animated Short Film at the Academy Awards. Released in tandem with the animated feature film Finding Dory, “Piper” tells the story of a hungry baby seabird overcoming fear of water. Animation director Alan Barillaro found his inspiration for the short film as he jogged along the beach near Pixar Studios. He observed birds fleeing from the incoming waves but returning immediately to find their food. In “Piper” the baby sanderling is inspired by hermit crabs who dig into the sand to find food in the deeper water. The six minute film was developed over three years, with animation informed by regular visits to beaches in San Francisco Bay and Monterey Bay Aquarium. Macro photography and special effects software were combined to recreate sand, waves and feathers with a new level of accuracy in lighting and movement.

Credits

Piper was produced at Pixar by director/writer Alan Barillaro, producer Marc Sondheimer, director of photography Erik Smitt and Derek Williams, executive producers John Laseter and Andrew Stanton, production managers Sarah K Reimers and Richmond Horine, storyboard artists Rejean Bourdages and Enrico Casarosa, Tony Maki, Tony Rosenast and Rosanna Sullivan, head of story Brian Larsen, layout artists Colin Levy and Charlie Ramos, animation coordinator Samantha Jane Samuels, animators Dovi Anderson, Evan Bonifacio, James W. Brown, Simon Christen, Claudio de Oliveira, Graham Finley, Rob Gibbs, Joey Gilbreath, Catherine Hicks, Patty Kihm, Erick Oh, Bret ‘Brook’ Parker, Alli Sadegiani, Tal Shwarzman, Ricky Wight, Kureha Yokoo, sets shading artist Tracy Lee Church, effects artists Shaun Galinak and Sarah Beth Eisinger, digital artist Andrew Jimenez, visual effects artists David Lipton and Andrew Wheeler, FX Technical Director Leon JeongWook Park, character shading and grooming artist Kiki Mei Kee Poh, VFX supervisor Ferdi Scheepers, sets support Andrew Schmidt, effects animation technical director Vincent Serritella, colourist Susan Brunig, rendering supervisor Reid Sandros, title designer Laura Meyer, supervising technical director Brett Levin, technical developer Brandon Wang.

Sound was produced by sound designer Ren Klyce, production sound designer Samuel Lehmer and foley mixer Scott Curtis.

Music was by Adrian Belew.