If you saw Disney’s animated feature “Zootopia” you might have remarked how it was strange not to have an animated short film attached to it as has been the tradition recently with Pixar and Walt Disney Animation Studios. It’s a tradition Disney really wanted to keep, but they had a very good reason for not doing so this time. With one year left in production they made the decision to rework the story of “Zootopia” to be Judy Hopps’ story instead of Nick Wilde’s. That meant all the animators were needed to complete the film on time and no animators were available to complete the short. That short, “Inner Workings,” has now been completed and a debut announced.
Rather than wait until “Moana” debuts in November, they’ll roll out the short at the Annecy International Animated Film Festival. Also shown at Annecy this year will be some work-in-progress sequences from “Moana” along with some artwork from the film.
“Inner Workings” tells the story of the internal struggle between a man’s pragmatic, logical side and his free-spirited, adventurous half. Created by a small team at Walt Disney Animation Studios in a unique, fast-paced style that blends CG and traditional hand-drawn animation, the short explores the importance of finding balance in daily life. It was directed by Leo Matsuda who has been working at Walt Disney Animation as a story artist and character designer since 2009. Before that he had a brief stop at Pixar and has worked on shows like The Simpsons.
I can’t wait till November 23rd when we will be able to see both “Inner Workings” and “Moana.” How great is it to have two animated Disney films in a year?