The Adventures of André & Wally B. was created at the Lucasfilm Computer Division, which later was spun out to create Pixar. Although technically not a Pixar short, the film was directed by Alvy Ray Smith with animation by John Lasseter, it has been released on two Pixar home video collections, and featured on Pixar.com's website.
The animation on the feature included the first use of motion blur in CG animation. In addition, it was the first time that classic animation principles had been used in a computer animated film.[1] These principles were used to help make the characters move and look more natural. Lasseter pushed the envelope by asking for manipulatable shapes capable of the squash and stretch style, as earlier CG models had generally been restricted to rigid geometric shapes.
Plot
The short involves a character named André being awakened in a forest by a pesky bee named Wally B. When André points in a different direction, the bee looks away and André gets his chance to run away. Wally chases André and eventually catches up to him and stings him offscreen, reappearing with a bent stinger. Soon, though, Wally gets hit by André's tossed hat as a last laugh.
Credits
- Concept and Direction by Alvy Ray Smith
- Animation by John Lasseter
- Technical Lead: Bill Reeves
- Technical Contributions by Tom Duff, Eben Ostby, Rob Cook, Loren Carpenter, Ed Catmull, David Salesin, Tom Porter, and Sam Leffler
- Filming by David DiFrancesco, Tom Noggle, and Don Conway
- Computer Logistics by Craig Good
- Sound by Ben Burtt
Home video
- State of the Art of Computer Animation
- Imaginaria (title cards and credits cut)
- Tiny Toy Stories
- Pixar Short Films Collection
Trivia
- When the film originally premiered at SIGGRAPH, a portion of the film showed the characters in white wireframes.
- The title of the short appears on the binding of a book in Toy Story.
- The short was paired in select theatrical releases with Toy Story in 1995, but for some reason was not included on that film's home media releases.
- This film was not technically made by Pixar as it was created when they were known as the Lucasfilm Computer Division before the company got formed in 1986.
- Both of the main characters' names were based on the names of characters from the film My Dinner with Andre.
- André later appears in Red's Dream as a clock, and is shown briefly on TV when Hamm is clicking through television channels via the remote in Toy Story 2.
- A Wally B. sticker appears on Bonnie's backpack in Toy Story 3.
- This short was rendered at a resolution of 512x488.
- This film was animated and created by one person, John Lasseter
Gallery
Screenshots
References
- ↑ Price, David A. (2008). The Pixar Touch, p.58. New York, Alfred A. Knopf