Flags and Waves
Flags and Waves is a short computer animation test clip created by animator Bill Reeves and Alain Fournier for Pixar in 1986.[1][2][3] The clip included waves reflecting a sunset and lapping against the shore.[1] Reeves and Fournier made the project, with the feedback of John Lasseter, to work out details of rendering water and waves realistically including lighting, motion, and shading.[1][2]
| Flags and Waves | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Bill Reeves Alain Fournier |
| Produced by | Bill Reeves Alain Fournier |
| Written by | Bill Reeves Alain Fournier |
Production company | |
Release date | August 1986 |
It was exhibited at SIGGRAPH in Dallas in August 1986,[4] along with Lasseter's landmark computer animated short Luxo Jr., and another test project, Beach Chair by Eben Ostby.[1] The methods developed during the creation of this project were the basis of the water in Finding Nemo.[1][2] It is based on an oceanographic model of ocean waves Fournier dug out of the literature from the 19th century.
Flags and Waves can also be found as an Easter egg in Pixar Short Films Collection – Volume 1.
Content
The fourteen second short begins with the title Flags and Waves, and under it the title in French: Drapeaux et Vagues, superimposed on the SMPTE color bars, while a high pitch frequency sound is made. The bars are revealed to be a flag flapping in the wind, as the noise shifts to the sound of a calm beach side. The camera pans up to show three more flags flapping in front of a beach, as the bright sun appears to be setting.
References
- Price, David (2008). The Pixar Touch. New York: Alfred A. Knopf. ISBN 0-307-26575-7. 2009 Vintage Books edition: ISBN 978-0-307-27829-6, p. 91. Excerpt available at Google Books.
- http://www.thepixarpodcast.com/library/title/flags-and-waves
- A.M. Buckley, Pixar: The Company and Its Founders (ABDO, 2011), ISBN 978-1-61714-810-1, p.39. Excerpt available at Google Books.
- John Lasseter by Richard Neupert p. 55 ISBN 9780252098352
External links
