Pixar’s SparkShorts Program just released its latest short titled SELF. This short film is the program’s first hybrid stop-motion film in history, using both computer-generated imagery and stop motion. The stop-motion aspect of the film is limited, but it brings a powerful message.
When first watching the film, before knowing anything about it besides the stop motion aspect – which is a huge step for Pixar – the first thought that comes to mind is that Pixar can really get a message across without saying a single word.
This wooden doll is desperate to fit in with society and will do anything to be able to socialize with the popular or higher-class characters of society in this short film. The message from this film is something everyone needs to hear, or more so watch, since there is no dialogue, just sound effects. With each wish the doll makes to not only look like everyone else but also sound like everyone else, she loses a part of herself and is completely fine with it. That is, until she steps on her old face she discarded for her new, bright gold face.
Seeing her old face cracked makes her remember that nothing is worth fitting in with the rest of society, especially if it costs your own personality. It’s always amazing how strong of a message Pixar can tell within a short amount of time. This approximately 7-minute short film hits hard for anyone out there who felt the need to change something about themselves in order to fit in with the crowd. It tries to break the age old occurrence of people needing to look like and sound like others in order to be seen. Of course, it might take more than a short film to make real change, but the short animation can be what it takes to influence the younger generation and help teach them to be themselves.
To help emphasize the message, the only stop-motion aspect of the short film is the main character, who is the wooden doll. Everything surrounding the wooden doll, including the other characters, buildings, and the landscape, is CGI. As the wooden doll transforms into the golden character of society, she partially becomes CGI as well.
It could be said that with all that Pixar is capable of, from its growth from the company’s past feature length and short films, why only have the main character be stop motion if they are stepping into the stop motion space, when it’s assumed that Pixar can likely handle having every aspect of the short film be stop motion? And the answer would be to provide the extra layer of making the wooden doll stand out to emphasize her solitude.
The stop motion part of SELF is done seamlessly, as if Pixar has been doing this for a long time now. The wooden doll stands out in this CGI world, as per Pixar’s message, but she captures emotion and movement flawlessly. Of course, stop motion isn’t as clean with the character movements compared to CGI, but this stop motion stands high up with other stop motion animation films.
Having the wooden doll be the stop motion aspect of the short only gives her another complex layer to her character and brings out that uniqueness.
Still, the little stop-motion used now begs the question of when there will be a feature-length stop-motion film created by Pixar. It might be about time for Pixar to release one, especially since Disney has success from stop motion films.
