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PIXAR'S SPARKSHORTS www.postmagazine.com 24 POST JULY/AUG 2020 want it to do, which is to give people the freedom and the opportunity to tell some stories that are continuing to prove themselves worthy of being told and people showing they are worthy of the investment," says Collins, who remains hopeful that this program will continue for some time. Meanwhile, Collins says Pixar is very cognizant of maintaining an equitable balance in terms of male-female directing and producing, and to this end, is trying to have a couple shorts in progress at a given time. The goal of SparkShorts was to come away with some fantastic stories. "That is a huge win, having felt like we might have identified some of the future storytellers in our studio," Collins adds, which is a big plus, as the current (or traditional) path to becoming a feature director is a long one at Pixar, as the moviemaking process is typically very lengthy. SparkShorts, how- ever, shortens that path, making it a win-win for the studio and these hidden gems: the filmmakers themselves and their projects. In addition to Purl, Smash and Grab, and Kitbull, other SparkShorts include Wind, Loop, Out and Float. Here, we look at the making of Float. Float (7:04 runtime) Director/writer: Bobby Rubio Producer: Krissy Cababa Float, the fourth SparkShorts film released by Pixar, is a heartwarming story of a parent and a child who is different. It is a story of many parents who are trying to cope with such a child, although for Float director/writer Bobby Rubio, it is a very per- sonal one. It is his and his son's story. In Float, a father discovers that his son is unlike other kids in the most unusual way. To keep them both safe from judgment, Dad keeps the boy out of sight — but when his son's ability becomes public, Dad must decide whether to run and hide or accept his son as he is. "The inspiration for Float came from my relationship with my son, Alex, who is on the autism spectrum," explains Rubio. "When he was diagnosed 10 years ago, I was trying to deal with it emotionally and had a difficult time processing his diagnosis." Rubio, a Pixar storyboard artist, is a storyteller who makes his own comic books outside of work. And this story was one that had been gnawing at him for years. "When I was struggling [with the situation,] my wife said, 'You make comic books, you tell sto- ries. Why don't you make a comic book to help you work through this?'" he recalls. He began the process of doing just that, but it was an emo- tional road for him to travel, and very slow going. Determined to complete the journey, he opted to turn the story into an animated short film instead. "I was going to do it in my spare time, and I drew a storyboard animatic for it and showed it to my friends, who suggested I show it to Lindsey Collins, executive producer of SparkShorts," says Rubio. "I wasn't too sure, as this was a personal project, but I know her and thought I might as well get her impression of the story. She loved it and thought it would be a good candidate for the SparkShorts program." Rubio's story unfolds as he, in the role of the father, is playing with his son, Alex, in the front yard, but when Alex shows his unique ability to float, he immediately takes his child indoors, out of sight from the watchful gaze of neighbors and those passing by. He keeps his child hidden from the world, allowing him to float indoors. When he finally does take the youngster to the park, he tries to prevent Alex from floating by weighing him down with rocks in a pack attached to the child's back. All seems fine until Alex catches the other kids by surprise by exhibiting his uniqueness. At this point, dad voices the only dialogue in the film, chiding the child for not being normal. Shocked at his own outburst, dad hugs Alex, realizing his mistake, and begins pushing Alex on the swings, bringing happiness to the boy. And then the boy floats — as his dad smiles. Float is reflective of the Pixar house style. This became a big advantage when, to save time and budget, the team used some assets available at the studio when creating the short. "We went 'total in- dependent film style' and looked at what we could get our hands on. Toy Story 4 was coming out, and I liked the look of it. So, we used a bunch of assets, background characters," says Rubio. In fact, view- ers may recognize Alex's house — it was Bonnie's house in Toy Story 4. It is just changed digitally to make it look different in Float. According to Rubio, he wanted Float to have a live-action feel and took a more gritty approach to reflect the story. "It needed that," he says. "It's about a father who is experiencing depression, so there are a lot of dark moments. There are times we get super dark with the backlight, especially with sequences in Directors get a chance to learn the entire pipeline. Float is the story of a father and son.