Movies

Early Buzz: Disney's Animated Short Film 'Paperman' Plus New High Resolution Concept Art

By Germain Lussier

Since its earliest rumblings, we've been following a new project by Disney Animation Studios called Paperman. It's a short film directed by John Kahrs about "a young man in NYC relying on his heart, imagination, a stack of papers—and a little luck—to win the girl of his dreams." The short is scheduled to premiere in theaters with Wreck-It Ralph this November.

Paperman is now finished and will reportedly debut in Los Angeles and France this month. Several new images have come on line, and the short also screened at Disney's Pixar Studios, leading several employees there to tweet all about it. Check it out below.

To recap, here's the basic plot description of Paperman:

Introducing a groundbreaking technique that seamlessly merges computer-generated and hand-drawn animation techniques, first-time director John Kahrs takes the art of animation in a bold new direction with "Paperman." Using a minimalist black-and-white style, the short follows the story of a lonely young man in mid-century New York City, whose destiny takes an unexpected turn after a chance meeting with a beautiful woman on his morning commute. Convinced the girl of his dreams is gone forever, he gets a second chance when he spots her in a skyscraper window across the avenue from his office. With only his heart, imagination and a stack of papers to get her attention, his efforts are no match for what the fates have in store for him. Created by a small, innovative team working at Walt Disney Animation Studios, "Paperman" pushes the animation medium in an exciting new direction.

You see a bit of that in these images from Stitch Kingdom, which are concept images:

This video doesn't have footage, but it does offer some more info about the film:

Finally, here are a bunch of Pixar employee tweets about Paperman. Do remember, though, these people work for the company so take their over the moon reactions with a tiny grain of salt. They're surely sincere, but likely wouldn't have tweeted at all if they didn't care for the movie.

Wow. Sure sounds like Wreck-It Ralph will have a lot to live up to, huh? Also, when those Pixar people can actually tweet about something they work on, they sure do turn out en masse.

Oh, and then there's this guy.

This is beyond exciting. It'll screen at the Los Angeles Film Festival and Annecy in France this month.

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