Pixar - La Luna

This Pixar short always makes me cry a little bit for a few reasons. The first, the music is beautiful. It sounds like it is from an old Italian movie and has a warm and cozy traditional feeling. The second, because the story idea is wonderfully creative; it seems to come from the imagination or dreams of a child. The third, because although the culture of the characters seems to be Italian, they resemble my own heritage; Georgian. The appearance of the characters: Dark with bushy facial hair and olive skin also resemble Georgian people. Their constant bickering as well as abstract dialect resemble that of Georgian as well as Italian. Because of this quality, I always feel like a am tasting a bit of home when I see this short. 

Something else I really love about this short is actually very difficult to describe. The music sounds like a Waltz, or music that should be danced to. It is repetitive and has a clear structure. Now, what I find (personally) is that the story 'dances' along with the music. There is a a sequence of events that almost repeats itself; Grandfather and father argue back and fourth then settle on a decision. Then, something beautiful happens whether it be the introduction of the moon, or the boy's bright idea and the music changes. Whenever the Waltz-y music comes back, we return to the back and fourth with the father introducing something to the boy, then the Grandfather suggesting something different, then the two arguing after which, we return to the boy's perspective where he either makes light of the situation or goes through his own experimenting with who he would like to resemble more; his Father or Grandfather.

The story concludes with the boy finding his own voice and way of doing things. He is wearing his cap backwards unlike either of his guardians as well as using his own unique tool when sweeping the stars.

According to Illumination Materialist, Daniel McCoy, each star is unique in that they all have their own individual texturing as well as different levels of lighting. This gives a very organic aesthetic to the stars.

The direction by Enrico Casarosa is perfectly timed and beautifully executed. This is a short film I will never forget.

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Here is Daniel McCoy talking about the process of creating 'La Luna'. 

Incidentally, I had forgotten to mention that the lighting in this short is another favorite aspect of mine which McCoy goes into some detail about. The director, Enrico Casarosa wanted to create the aesthetic of light reflected on water creating a warm glow as well as resembling something of water colors.