It is a quick and funny short that takes the negative treatment of the other and offers an amusing punishment to the perpetrators. I don’t know if For the Birds can be counted as one of my favourite Pixar shorts but that is simply because they have so many good ones. In both scenarios, the situation is flipped by the end of the film – the big bird gets to laugh at the little birds and the monsters start making children laugh. The children, feared by monsters, are used for their screams as a source of power. The relationship between the monsters and the children could also be seen as exploitative. The little birds see the big bird as different from them and thus use him as a source of fun. Theme-wise though, there are some similarities when you look at the treatment of the other. The birds are very cartoon-y, with over-large eyes and dog-toy chirps, compared to the detailed animation and witty dialogue of Monsters Inc. You know what they say, what goes down must go flying into the air, right?įor the Birds was the short that accompanied Monsters Inc (2001) but, unlike Piper (2016), I don’t feel like it shares much in animation style with the feature length film. It also amuses me greatly that the rising action segment of the plot revolves around the descent of the wire from the big bird’s weight (and then a very sudden ascent for the climax). Simple but effective, like any good short. The three minute film is neatly divided – tiny bird’s arrival is the set-up, them moving away from the big bird is the inciting incident, and the climax is quite clearly the little birds being flung into the stratosphere. It doesn’t have the same level of detail of some of the other shorts but that works well with For the Birds.Īs always, I’ve paid attention to act structure.
#Pixa birds how to
The little birds squeak like dog toys while the big bird sounds like a kazoo, but it’s really the cartoon-level expression of the birds that tells the audience how to feel. As with all the best short films, there’s no dialogue. Like, when I say it’s a Toy Story-esqu background, what I mean is that I’m pretty sure that they just re-used a background from Andy’s bedroom. They drop to the ground next to the big bird, completely devoid of feathers, and he finally gets to laugh at them.Įverything about this film is simple. Big bird falls and the wire flings the little birds into the air like tiny feathered rockets. If a pulled down wire suddenly has the tension released…. The big bird loses grip, toe by toe, and then one of the little birds finally spots a problem.
Oblivious, the big bird chants too (because he just wants to be friends). The closest little birds set about trying to make him fall and the others chant along.
One hits him and the big bird ends up upside down, clinging on by his toes. Unfortunately, he’s so big that he causes a major dip in the wire and the little birds end up bundled up close to him. He doesn’t notice and joins his new friends. The little birds move to the centre of the wire away from him and then start making fun. The another bird arrives standing on the wooden pole – a big, dumb, but really friendly bird. Then another one arrives, more arguing, then another, and another, until there is a squabbling mess of little birds on the telephone wire. It’s soon joined by another little fluff and they have a little tiff about space. Eventually we stop just as one tiny bird lands on a wire. The film bigins with a Toy Story-esque sky (that never changes) and telephone wires passing by, as if the camera is in a car. The beauty of a Pixar short is usually its simplicity and believe me, it doesn’t get simpler than Ralph Eggleston’s For the Birds.
It’s a Wednesday so it must be time for another short film review.
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