MOVIE NEWS – Pixar Animation Studios has revealed its latest short: Piper, which will debut in theaters this spring with its animated feature Finding Dory. The six-minute short tells the story of a hungry sandpiper hatchling who ventures from her nest for the first time to dig for food by the shoreline. The only problem is, she’s fearful of the waves.

Barillaro worked closely with Piper‘s director of photography, Erik Smitt, and said he also drew inspiration from his experience working on Stanton’s Wall-E, whose visual consultant was respected cinematographer Roger Deakins.

Sandpipers can be found along the California coast, so it’s not surprising that the filmmakers went to the beach for inspiration, shooting with long lenses to come up with a visual language for the project. The director related that they also worked with nature photographers to learn how to photograph birds. They visited the beach at different times of day to capture the emotion as well as the lighting. This also informed the production design.