‘Paperman’ New ‘Paperclips’ Featurette, ‘The Look’

Walt Disney Animation Studios has released the second of its webseries ‘Paperclips’ which takes an intimate look at the making of its newest short, the revolutionary Paperman.

In the new segment, titled ‘The Look,’ director John Kahrs goes into the details on how he wanted to approach the appearance of the film and why he decided to locate it in 1950s-ish Manhattan.

In addition, there are several new images shared within the featurette, although not having seen the film myself, it’s difficult to be able to identify which images — if any — are from the film and which are considered concept art as some are in a very different style from the colorscript images already released.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LhGzKHXhbKs

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.

Paperman opens later this month at the Annecy Film Festival and the LA Film Festival and will continue to make the film festival circuit until it premieres ahead of Wreck-It Ralph in November.

‘Paperman’ Hi-Res Concept Art and First Image

Though all of these images have already been released on the short’s official Facebook page, Walt Disney Animation Studios have provided us with hi-res versions of concept art from its upcoming short, Paperman. Although all descriptions for the art state that they’re concept art, going by filenames, three of the images are in fact from the color script for the film while one is titled ‘first look,’ and at full resolution, definitely appears as if it may be an actual still from short.

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.

Click on any of the thumbnails below to see a larger version of the image. If the resize arrow appears, you may click it to view the image in its original size.

[View with PicLens]

Paperman will be making its world and North American debuts in June at the Annecy and LA Film Fests and will be shown before Wreck-It Ralph when it debuts in theaters on November 2, 2012.

‘Paperman’ Unfolds Behind-the-Scenes Web Series, ‘Paperclips’

Walt Disney Animation Studios has begun a new web series titled ‘Paperclips,’ which takes a look at the making of its new short, Paperman, which has been celebrated as revolutionizing animation, even well ahead of its world debut at Annecy.

In the first webisode, titled ‘The Idea,’ director John Kahrs talks about the seed of the idea for the film, based on his own experiences as a commuter in New York City. Recalling ‘crossing paths with people’ at Grand Central Terminal, Kahrs adds, ‘you feel like there’s some connection there… then that person’s gone forever, that connection’s broken… I would always kind of wonder who that person would be, what they were like… I did kind of wonder how would people that had lost that connection — if they ever met, or how would the fates conspire to maybe bring those people back together.’

The short, which will play before Wreck-It Ralph, 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.

Pictured above is one of the visual development images for the film, as shared on the official Facebook page.