5 Reasons Everyone Loves Pixar

5. They Continuously Make Short Films

The birth of film began with short films more than a hundred years ago. Films evolved, the running times expanded into feature length movies and it became harder and harder to watch short films in a proper movie theater. Just about the only way to catch them on the big screen is to go to a film festival or move to a city that has an arthouse-style movie theater.

Some people think that short films are easier to make than feature length films but I disagree. There is an art to conveying a story or idea in a relatively short amount of time as opposed to having 90-120 minutes (or more) to play with. It requires a different skill, an intuition that knows how to make every second count. Many filmmakers have made short films exclusively as a method of showing what they can do, a calling card if you will. Then, once hired to make a feature length movie, they never go back to the short form again.

Even though their feature length films have made billions of dollars worldwide, Pixar still regularly make short films that play in front of their big movies (and usually find their way to the home video release as well). Sometimes, the short film has nothing to do with the film it plays with; they are completely original and stand alone. What other major studios do this? Some of the other animated studios have jumped on this trend as well but it is never a consistent trend. It is worth mentioning that these Pixar shorts are not just afterthoughts, they are Academy Award-nominated films. A lot of thought and care are put into them.

Although the short film culture has migrated over the years to mostly film festivals and online video, it is quite refreshing to see a movie studio continuously using the short form in such an original manner. By making such an effort to screen short films in front of their feature films, Pixar is helping to keep alive a vital part of film history.