Paperman is Disney’s Oscar winning ingenious short film that was first screened before Wreck It Ralph and stole the hearts of young children as well as adults in 2012, with its loveable lead characters and endearing love story. The short film is a wordless and intimate tale of two unsuspecting strangers who meet at a railway station in New York City, who go to great lengths to meet one another again. There main meeting device is the paper airplane with Meg’s lipstick stain that is thrown between George’s work building and the one opposite to gain Meg’s attention. What follows is a beautiful whimsical chase that eventually sees the characters reach there happily ever after.
This short film is beautifully rendered in black and white with the only colour being the vibrant red of Meg’s lipstick. This minimalist view along with the combination of computer animation and hand drawings emphasises the expressiveness of the characters which harks back to Disney’s classic style and is often compared to 101 Dalmatians. The film had great viral success as Disney posted it on YouTube and it was later shared by millions on Facebook and other social media websites. The film went on to have award success, as Paperman marked the first short film academy award win for the Walt Disney company since 1969’s It’s Tough To Be A Bird.
Paperman (2012), directed by John Kahrs, is distributed in the UK by Walt Disney Motion Pictures. Certificate U.
