How Disney’s ‘Paperman’ turned old school animation into Oscar gold

Disney’s Paperman won the Oscar for Best Animated Short Film Sunday night, marking a triumph not only for the studio, but for hand-drawn animation — a medium that seemed to be nearing extinction thanks to the rise of Pixar CG marvels like Up and Wall-E. But as director John Kahrs explained in an interview with Fast Company, Paperman isn’t just an homage to the animated films of yesteryear; it’s a testament to how modern technology can breathe new life into analog formats.

According to Kahrs, Paperman was originally conceived as “an urban fairy tale in a beautiful world of light and shadow” that would deploy global illumination and other cutting edge CG technologies. Things slightly changed, however, once Kahrs began working alongside Glen Keane, a renowned 2D animator whose previous credits include Beauty and the Beast and The Little Mermaid. It was Keane’s influence that inspired Kahrs to turn Paperman into a hybrid of 2D and 3D animation — a blend that would appropriately reflect the film’s nostalgic aesthetic. The only challenge? Finding the technology capable of pulling it off. Read the rest of the story at Fast Company.