''Lifted'' is a 2006 American animated

science fiction Science fiction (often shortened to sci-fi or abbreviated SF) is a genre of speculative fiction that deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts. These concepts may include information technology and robotics, biological manipulations, space ...

short film written and directed by

Gary Rydstrom Gary Roger Rydstrom (born June 29, 1959) is an American sound designer and film director. He has been nominated for twenty Academy Awards for his work in sound for movies, and has won seven times. Life and career Rydstrom was born in Chicago. H ...

and produced by

Pixar Animation Studios Pixar (), doing business as Pixar Animation Studios, is an American animation studio based in Emeryville, California, known for its critically and commercially successful computer-animated feature films. Pixar is a subsidiary of Walt Disney S ...

. This is the directorial debut of Rydstrom, a

Academy Award The Academy Awards, commonly known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit in film. They are presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) in the United States in recognition of excellence ...

-winning sound designer, editor and mixer, and the first produced by Katherine Sarafian, who went on to produce Pixar's '' Brave'' released in 2012. Inspired by ''

Metropolis A metropolis () is a large city or conurbation which is a significant economic, political, and cultural area for a country or region, and an important hub for regional or international connections, commerce, and communications. A big city b ...

'' (1927), the short debuted on October 12, 2006 at the 42nd Chicago International Film Festival at Columbia College, and was released theatrically with Pixar's ''

Ratatouille Ratatouille ( , ; ) is a French Provençal dish of stewed vegetables that originated in Nice and is sometimes referred to as ''ratatouille niçoise'' (). Recipes and cooking times differ widely, but common ingredients include tomato, garlic ...

'' on June 29, 2007.

Plot

A young alien named Stu is inside a

spacecraft A spacecraft is a vehicle that is designed spaceflight, to fly and operate in outer space. Spacecraft are used for a variety of purposes, including Telecommunications, communications, Earth observation satellite, Earth observation, Weather s ...

taking an

alien abduction Alien abduction (also called abduction phenomenon, alien abduction syndrome, or UFO abduction) refers to the phenomenon of people reporting what they assure to be the real experience of being kidnapped by extraterrestrial beings and subje ...

test. He must snatch a sleeping farmer named Ernie under the watchful eye of his impassive examiner, a gelatinous blob named Mr. B. Working from memory, Stu is expected to use an array of thousands of identical unlabeled toggle switches for this purpose; Mr. B's neutral expression gives no hints of which ones to use. Stu's hesitant flicks of the switches turn out to be wrong, causing Ernie to bump into the walls and ceiling, albeit without waking him up. As Stu grows infuriated, he suffers from impatience by going crazy, while randomly swiping at the array. Ernie bounces randomly around the room like a

pinball Pinball games are a family of games in which a ball is propelled into a specially designed table where it bounces off various obstacles, scoring points either en route or when it comes to rest. Historically the board was studded with nails call ...

, knocking over the furniture in the process but remaining asleep. Eventually, after checking his notes, Stu finds the switch that will maneuver Ernie out the window, but since it’s half open, Ernie gets stuck in it shortly, and then the tree near his house. When Ernie gets up into the ship, Stu shuts off the

tractor beam A tractor is an engineering vehicle specifically designed to deliver a high tractive effort (or torque) at slow speeds, for the purposes of hauling a trailer or machinery such as that used in agriculture, mining or construction. Most commonl ...

without closing the cargo hatch. As Ernie plummets toward the ground, Mr. B takes over and catches him. Stu tries to help him but he pushes the poor guy far away and starts working the switches with incredible speed to put him back in his bed and clean up the mess Stu created. Dejected over his failure, Stu struggles to hold back tears. With a sigh, the sympathetic Mr. B allows him to launch the spaceship for the trip home. Stu cheerfully grabs the steering yoke and begins to maneuver; a moment later the ship slams to the ground, crushing Ernie's house. When it lifts off, its underside is covered with dirt and debris, and nothing is left of the house except a tall pillar of dirt in the center of a crater, cut out by the open cargo hatch. Atop this, Ernie is still sound asleep in bed. As the end credits run, the sound of Ernie's alarm clock is heard, followed by his yawn, a

Wilhelm scream The Wilhelm scream is an iconic stock sound effect that has been used in many films, TV series, and other media, first originating from the 1951 film '' Distant Drums''. The scream is often used in scenarios when someone is shot, falls from a g ...

and a crash sound while falling into the crater.

Production

Production on the film began in mid-2005 and was completed in the summer of 2006.Taylor Jessen. "2007's Oscar-Nominated Animated Shorts: Three Fords, a Vespa and a Kit Bike", ''Animation World Magazine'', 2-27-2007
The short was inspired by Gary Rydstrom's own experiences as a sound mixer, and how uncomfortable and difficult it is to operate the large, complex piece of equipment when there are lots of people watching and taking notes. There were no large technological advances used in ''Lifted'', only the use of a new program called ''Jiggle''. This program gives the animators a way to resonate, or jiggle, certain parts of a body. The animator can control how far out to resonate, such as only within a limb, or to stay away from specific parts of the body such as the face.

Awards

''Lifted'' was nominated for Best Animated Short Film on January 23, 2007 for the

79th Academy Awards The 79th Academy Awards ceremony, presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), honored the best films of 2006 and took place February 25, 2007, at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles beginning at 5:30 p.m ...

. It was also included in the Animation Show of Shows in 2006.

Home media

Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment Buena Vista Home Entertainment, Inc. (doing business as Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment) is the home entertainment distribution arm of the Walt Disney Company. The division handles the distribution of Disney's films, television series, a ...

included the film on the

Blu-ray Blu-ray (Blu-ray Disc or BD) is a digital optical disc data storage format designed to supersede the DVD format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released worldwide on June 20, 2006, capable of storing several hours of high-defin ...

and

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for digital video disc or digital versatile disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any ki ...

release of ''Ratatouille'' and as part of ''

Pixar Short Films Collection, Volume 1 ''Pixar Short Films Collection, Volume 1'' is a home video, home video compilation released by Walt Disney Home Entertainment on November 6, 2007, containing 13 of Pixar's short films. It was followed by ''Pixar Short Films Collection, Volume 2' ...

'' in 2007.

Notes

References

External links

* * {{Pixar 2006 computer-animated films 2006 animated short films 2000s American animated films 2000s science fiction comedy films Films about alien abduction American animated science fiction films American science fiction comedy films Animated films without speech Animated films about extraterrestrial life Films scored by Michael Giacchino Films directed by Gary Rydstrom Pixar short films 2006 comedy films Films produced by Katherine Sarafian American animated short films