Domee Shi

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Domee Shi
Domee Shi.jpg
Born1989 (age 29–30)
Chongqing, China
NationalityChinese-Canadian
Alma materSheridan College
OccupationStoryboard artist, director
Years active2011−present
Known forFirst woman director of a Pixar short film
Notable work
Bao (2018)

Domee Shi (Chinese: 石之予; pinyin: Shí Zhīyǔ; born 1989) is a Chinese-Canadian storyboard artist and director for Pixar since 2011. She has contributed to multiple films including Inside Out (2015), Incredibles 2 (2018), and Toy Story 4 (2019). Outside of her storyboard career, Shi directed the 2018 short film Bao, becoming the first woman to direct a short film for Pixar.[1] Her work in animation had earned her nominations for the 43rd Annie Awards, the International Online Cinema Awards, and the Tribeca Film Festival.[2]

Early life and education[edit]

Shi was born in 1989 in Chongqing, China as an only child before immigrating to Canada with her parents at the age of two.[3] She spent half a year in Newfoundland before moving to Toronto where she grew up learning about art from her father.[4] She was influenced by her father, who was a college professor for fine art and a landscape painter in China.[4][5] In terms of her mother, Shi mentions that “She’s not a super outwardly emotional person,” but she gets a lot of inspiration and guidance from her mom when directing Bao.[6] Shi recalls that “My Chinese mom was always making sure I never wandered away too far, that I was safe.” She also states that her favorite dumplings have to be “the boiled pork and chives dumplings that my mom would make for me growing up.”[5] During her childhood, she watched lots of Studio Ghibli and Disney films which exposed her to Asian cinema and animation.[7][8]

As a high school student, Shi binge-watched anime, read manga, and became the Vice President of her school's anime club.[4] She joined online art communities and uploaded her fan artwork to DeviantArt.[9] This became her first exposure to an environment of like-minded people that helped her establish a network with other artists. "I could follow artists, and I could email them. In the past, you'd have to be in California or know a guy who was friends with this other guy that worked at Disney or something," said Shi.[10] As a result, she was inspired to enroll at Sheridan College for her post-secondary education.[9]

At Sheridan, Shi studied animation and graduated in 2011.[11] During her second year attending school, she enrolled in a course taught by Nancy Beiman and credits Beiman's class for her pursuit in the animation industry for storyboarding. Shi created a short film for an assignment during her last year at Sheridan. In 2009, she took up an internship with Chuck Gammage Animation Inc. as a clean-up artist, inbetweener, storyboard artist, and animator.[12]

Career[edit]

After graduating, Shi worked briefly as a cartooning instructor with an emphasis of character design and comic book creation.[12] In 2011, she took on a three month internship at Pixar as a story board artist. This was her second attempt applying after initially being turned down by the animation studio and others such as Disney and DreamWorks. Shi wrote an animated webcomic series titled My Food Fantasies in 2014, in which she drew "outlandish" situations involving food.[13] Shi later said that she developed her interest in writing stories about food while making My Food Fantasies.[14] The first feature film she worked on with Pixar was Inside Out (2015) as a storyboard artist.[7] After briefly working on The Good Dinosaur, she began working on Toy Story 4 in 2015.[9] She also drew storyboards for the 2018 film Incredibles 2, where she worked on a sequence featuring the characters Jack-Jack and Edna Mode.[15]

The short film Bao was developed as a "side-project" before and during Shi's full-time work on Inside Out.[5] It, alongside two other projects, had eventually been pitched to her mentor Pete Docter and Pixar for support.[8] Bao was approved in 2015 and made Shi the first woman to direct a short film for the studio.[16] The eight-minute short debuted at the 2018 Tribeca Film Festival and preceded Incredibles 2 in theaters.[17]

Influences/Inspirations[edit]

Shi says that most of her inspirations come from specific cultures (especially with respect to food) around her. Because audiences started to appreciate other stories with different background and culture after Sanjay's Super Team and Coco, Shi thinks it is very important to have different sources with different background for uniqueness of the film.[citation needed]

Influences[edit]

Shi is influenced by her father’s art because he was her art teacher growing up. “Like, I asked him what he thought [of the film] and he said, “I really liked it, but I also have notes for you.” And I was like, Ah, that’s my classic dad.”[5]

In an interview with Now Magazine, Shi said the animated films My Neighbors the Yamadas (1999) and Spirited Away (2001) were her influences when creating her film Bao.[18]

Awards and nominations[edit]

Award Year Category Title Result Ref
Academy Awards 2019 Best Animated Short Film Bao Pending [2]
Annie Awards 2016 Outstanding Achievement in Storyboarding in an Animated Feature Production Inside Out Nominated [2]
International Online Cinema Awards 2018 Halfway Award Best Animated Film Bao Nominated [2]
Tribeca Film Festival 2018 Best Narrative Short Bao Nominated [2]

Filmography[edit]

Source:[2][19]

Year Title Credited as Notes
2015 Inside Out Storyboard artist Pixar animated feature film
2015 The Good Dinosaur Storyboard artist Pixar animated feature film
2018 Incredibles 2 Storyboard artist Pixar animated feature film
2018 Bao Writer and director Pixar animated short film
2019 Purl Additional voices Pixar animated short film
2019 Toy Story 4 Storyboard artist Pixar animated feature film

References[edit]

  1. ^ "In Pixar's First Female-Directed Short, A Dumpling Child Fills An Empty Nest". NPR.org. Retrieved 29 October 2018.
  2. ^ a b c d e f "Domee Shi". IMDb. Retrieved 22 January 2019.
  3. ^ Knight, Chris (15 June 2018). "Animation is filmmaking in slow motion': How Domee Shi made Bao, Pixar's latest must-see short". National Post. Retrieved 14 September 2018.
  4. ^ a b c "Ep. 003: Domee Shi – Pixar Story Artist". The Animated Journey. Retrieved 29 October 2018.
  5. ^ a b c d "Bringing a dumpling to life: Q&A with Domee Shi, Pixar director of 'Bao' - SupChina". supchina.com. Retrieved 29 October 2018.
  6. ^ "Bringing a dumpling to life: Q&A with Domee Shi, Pixar director of 'Bao' - SupChina". supchina.com. Retrieved 2018-10-30.
  7. ^ a b Brown, Tracy. "How 'Bao' director Domee Shi stayed true to her 'weird' idea and created a specifically Asian story - Los Angeles Times". latimes.com. Retrieved 29 October 2018.
  8. ^ a b Liu, Karon (12 June 2018). "Pixar's new animated short pays tribute to moms, Chinese food and Toronto". Toronto Star. Retrieved 15 September 2018.
  9. ^ a b c Taylor, Noah H. (15 June 2015). "Pixar Story Artist Domee Shi Interview". DorkShelf. Retrieved 14 September 2018.
  10. ^ Roper, Caitlin (24 July 2018). "Domee Shi Thinks Kids Can Handle Dark Stories". New York Times Magazine. Retrieved 29 October 2018.
  11. ^ Macabasco, Lisa Wong (20 April 2018). "In Domee Shi's Bao, Food for the Soul From Pixar's First Female Director of a Short Film". Vogue. Retrieved 14 September 2018.
  12. ^ a b "Life After Sheridan: Animator Domee Shi – The Sheridan Sun". sheridansun.sheridanc.on.ca. Retrieved 2018-10-30.
  13. ^ Zack, Jessica (20 June 2018). "Pixar's 'Incredibles 2' short preview 'Bao' powered by women – and food". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved 22 September 2018.
  14. ^ Rougeau, Michael (19 June 2018). "The Story Behind Bao, Pixar's Cutest Short Film Yet". Gamespot.
  15. ^ Desowitz, Bill (12 June 2018). "'Bao': Pixar Finally Welcomes Female Empowerment into Its Shorts Program". IndieWire. Retrieved 22 September 2018.
  16. ^ Chai, Barbara. "She was one of the only women in the story room for 'Inside Out.' Now she's the first woman to direct a Pixar short". MarketWatch. Retrieved 24 October 2018.
  17. ^ "Domee Shi Will Be the First Woman to Direct a Pixar Short Film with Bao". The Mary Sue. Retrieved 24 October 2018.
  18. ^ Wilner, Norman (15 June 2018). "Toronto-raised Pixar director bows with Bao". Now. Retrieved 15 September 2018.
  19. ^ "First-Time Director Domee Shi Takes a 'Bao' in New Pixar Theatrical Short". Animation World Network. Retrieved 2018-10-30.
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