''Gopher Broke'' is a 2004

computer-animated Computer animation is the process used for digitally generating animations. The more general term computer-generated imagery (CGI) encompasses both static scenes ( still images) and dynamic images (moving images), while computer animation refe ...

short film A short film is any motion picture that is short enough in running time not to be considered a feature film. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences defines a short film as "an original motion picture that has a running time of 40 minutes ...

written and directed by

Jeff Fowler Jeff Fowler is an American filmmaker, animator, and visual effects artist. He was nominated for the Academy Awards, Academy Award for Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film, Best Animated Short Film as writer and director of the short animated ...

and executive produced by Tim Miller at

Blur Studio Blur Studio is an American-based production company which specialises in CGI visual effects, CGI animation and CGI design. Located in Culver City, California, the studio has produced CGI-animated films, teasers and ad spots for television, as wel ...

. The film is about a hungry

gopher Pocket gophers, commonly referred to simply as gophers, are burrowing rodents of the family Geomyidae. The roughly 41 speciesSearch results for "Geomyidae" on thASM Mammal Diversity Database are all endemic to North and Central America. They are ...

who hatches a clever plan to get a quick snack, but discovers that even the best laid plans can go awry. The short film was also released in theaters with ''

Doogal ''The Magic Roundabout'' (known as ''Pollux – Le manège enchanté'' in France) is a 2005 computer-animated adventure fantasy film based on the original stop motion and computer generated imagery reboot television series of the same name. It ...

''.

Synopsis

A gopher finds himself on a road where trucks are hauling produce to market. He hits on the idea of shaking some of the produce loose for himself, but other animals always beat him to the punch. That is, until a truck comes along with a cow.

Production

''Gopher Broke'' is the fourth short film produced by

. The short was in production for five months with a team of 25 people. Tools included

3D Studio Max Autodesk 3ds Max, formerly 3D Studio and 3D Studio Max, is a professional 3D computer graphics program for making 3D animations, models, games and images. It is developed and produced by Autodesk Media and Entertainment. It has modeling capabil ...

Brazil R/S Brazil Rendering System was a proprietary commercial plugin for 3D Studio Max, Autodesk VIZ and Rhinoceros 3D. Steve Blackmon and Scott Kirvan started developing Brazil R/S while working as the R&D team of Blur Studio, and formed the company Spl ...

Digital Fusion Blackmagic Fusion (formerly eyeon Fusion and briefly Maya Fusion, a version produced for Alias-Wavefront) is post-production image compositing developed by Blackmagic Design and originally authored by eyeon Software. It is typically used to crea ...

, and 100 IBM IntelliStation Z workstations. After directing two of the company's last three shorts, executive producer Tim Miller gave up the director's chair to

. Miller admitted that

slapstick Slapstick is a style of humor involving exaggerated physical activity that exceeds the boundaries of normal physical comedy. Slapstick may involve both intentional violence and violence by mishap, often resulting from inept use of props such a ...

comedy was not one of his own strengths. The short was pitched to

Nickelodeon Nickelodeon (often shortened to Nick) is an American pay television television channel, channel which launched on April 1, 1979, as the first cable channel for children. It is run by Paramount Global through its List of assets owned by Param ...

, but Fowler told the network the studio had no feature plans for it when asked.

Accolades

The film was nominated for the 2004

Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film The Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film is an award given by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) as part of the annual Academy Awards, or Oscars, since the 5th Academy Awards (with different names), covering the year ...

.Short Film Oscars:2005 Oscars
/ref> It is the fourth Blur film shortlisted for an Oscar in three years and the first to be nominated.

References

External links

Official website
at Blur Studio * {{Jeff Fowler 2004 films 2004 animated films 2004 short films American animated short films Blur Studio films 2000s animated short films Films directed by Jeff Fowler Films about gophers Animated films about mammals 2000s American films