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Geri's Game

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Geri's Game
Poster for Geri's Game
Poster for Geri's Game
Directed byJan Pinkava
Written byJan Pinkava
Produced byKaren Dufilho
StarringBob Peterson
Edited byJim Kallett
Music byGus Viseur
Production
companies
Distributed byBuena Vista Pictures
Release dates
  • November 24, 1997 (1997-11-24) (premiere)[1]
  • November 25, 1998 (1998-11-25) (with A Bug's Life)
Running time
5 minutes
CountryUnited States

Geri's Game is a 1997 computer animated short film made by Pixar, written and directed by Jan Pinkava. Although Pixar had started out with a successful string of shorts in the 1980s, these were put on hold for most of the 1990s to focus on for-hire work, and development of the feature films Toy Story and A Bug's Life; Geri's Game was the first Pixar short since the 1989 short Knick Knack. The film won an Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film in 1998.

Plot

The film is set in an empty park during autumn. The title character, Geri (voiced by Bob Peterson), is an elderly man who plays a game of chess against himself, "becoming" each of the players in turn by moving to the other side of the chessboard, where he changes his personality and either puts on or takes off his glasses to show this change. As the game progresses, it seems as though there are two people playing; at one point, the hands of both "opponents" are in frame. The aggressive Black Geri (without the glasses) soon gains the upper hand over the more docile White Geri (with them), capturing every piece except his king and putting him in check. However, White Geri outsmarts Black Geri by faking a heart attack to distract him and spinning the board around. While Black Geri is still distracted, White Geri checkmates what is now his opponent's king. Finding that now he is the one with only his king left and discovering what has happened, Black Geri resigns the game and hands over a set of dentures as the prize. White Geri puts them in, then chuckles and grins in his victory, before the camera pulls back to reveal that he is alone at the chessboard.

Cast

Development

The first Pixar production to have a human main character, Geri's Game was produced with the goal to "take human and cloth animation to new heights".[3][4][5]

The face of the character Geri resembles actor Jonathan Harris, who also provided the voice of Geri for his later appearance in Toy Story 2, where he is a toy repairman who fixes Woody's torn arm. Chess pieces can be seen in his carrying case, in a nod to the short. Jan Pinkava, the film's writer and director, has said the character is loosely based on himself and his elderly relatives, particularly his grandfather who was a frequent and avid chess player.[6]

This short movie served as a demonstration of a new animation tool called subdivision surfaces (NURBS was used to animate previous Pixar movies), which made skin and cloth appear more lifelike.[7]

The music heard on the background is a modern arrangement of the famous Flambée Montalbanaise, by Gus Viseur.[citation needed]

Release

Geri's Game premiered on November 24, 1997 at Laemmle's Monica Theater in Santa Monica, California.[1] It was also attached to the theatrical release of A Bug's Life in 1998[8] and was subsequently featured on that film's VHS and DVD releases.[9] A VHS recording of the short film was released in 1998, but it was not widely available and is considered rare. However, Geri's Game can be found on the DVD Pixar Short Films Collection, Volume 1. It was also released on super-8 film with stereo sound.

Awards

1997
1998

References

  1. ^ a b Pixar Animation Studios (November 24, 1997). "Question: Where Can You Get a Glimpse of the Future of Animation?; Answer: At an Exclusive Screening - From the Makers of 'Toy Story' - Tonight!". The Free Library. Retrieved March 30, 2013.
  2. ^ "Geri's Game (1997)". British Film Institute. Retrieved September 10, 2016.
  3. ^ Geri's Game - Behind the Scenes at Pixar
  4. ^ Robertson, Barbara. "Meet Geri: The New Face of Animation", Computer Graphics World, 1998.
  5. ^ DeRose, T; Kass, M; Truong, T (1998), "Subdivision surfaces in character animation" (PDF), Proceedings of SIGGRAPH 1998
  6. ^ "Interview with Jan". Pixar. February 2002. Archived from the original on March 4, 2012. Retrieved August 13, 2014.
  7. ^ "Subdivision Surfaces in Character Animation" (PDF). graphics.pixar.com. Retrieved 14 April 2015.
  8. ^ Maslin, Janet (25 November 1998). "A Bug's Life (1998)". The New York Times. Retrieved 6 May 2012.
  9. ^ "The $152 Million Hit Movie That Broke All Thanksgiving Box Office Records". Pixar. 29 January 1999. Retrieved May 6, 2012.
  10. ^ "The 70th Academy Awards (1998) Nominees and Winners". The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Retrieved April 6, 2012.
Preceded by Pixar Animation Studios short films
1997 		Succeeded by
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