Computer Graphics World

A Russian soldier marches from his outpost into a vast expanse of snow-covered tundra every day. He guards nothing. He keeps his eye on nothing. His name is Glago, and he's the star of Walt Disney Animation Stu- dios' short film "Glago's Guest." And yes, he does have a "guest." "I'm being very careful about protecting exactly what happens for those people who haven't yet seen it," says writer and director Chris Williams. "In the second half of the film, a bunch of aliens confront him and give him a new outlook on life. He learns that even when it seems like your life is in a rut, you never know what might happen. He has to make a judgment, and he could be wrong." Unlike Glago, Williams' life wasn't exactly in a rut. e 14-year veteran at Disney had worked as a writer for e Emperor's New Groove and Mulan. But, he couldn't have predicted what happened next. Even though Williams had not directed a film before, he found him- self directing "Glago's Guest" and co- directing the feature film Bolt simul- taneously. "Glago's Guest" has received four Annie nominations: Best Animated Short Subject, Production Design (Andy Hark- ness), Storyboarding (Chris Williams), and Writing (Chris Williams). Bolt has received an Oscar nomination for Best Feature Animation. When John Lasseter took the reins at Disney Animation, he asked Wil- liams to pitch short-film ideas. "John sees short films as a sign of vitality within a studio," Williams says. He pitched six ideas, and of those, Las- seter picked the most unusual. Because Williams had already storyboard- ed the film "Glago," it moved quickly into production. But soon after, Lasseter asked him to work on Bolt. "I was excited about 'Glago,' and I could see the enthusiasm on the part of my crew, so I asked John if I could make both at the same time," Williams says. "He okayed the idea, so I split my time." The Deep Empty Williams had always envisioned "Glago" as a CG film. "e vast emptiness is an im- portant element, and 3D allows you to feel the huge open space better than 2D can," he explains. To help reinforce that feeling of empty loneliness, Williams set the story in 1920s Russia. "I'm from Canada, so I know what it's like to be in a snowy, empty environment," William says. "I think peo- ple sense that Russia is a huge land mass with large areas that are not heavily popu- lated, especially back then. Setting the film in the 1920s also limited Glago's ability to communicate with the outside world and the weapons he'd have available. "One of the movies we watched for reference was Reds," he says. "e whole time I was watching, I was thinking that all those characters were just one cell-phone call away from solving everything." As for the aliens, Williams wanted Glago to confront something outrageous, some- Director Chris Williams made his film using CG in part to create a vast emptiness that would have been more difficult to achieve with hand-drawn animation. February 2009 18 n n n n CG Short Films The simple shape of the alien spaceship makes it necessary for Glago (and the audience) to make a judgment about the intentions of whatever might be inside. Disney tests a new, streamlined CG pipeline for Glago's Guest By Barbara Robertson

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