| Knick Knack | |
|---|---|
 Poster forKnick Knack | |
| Directed by | John Lasseter |
| Written by | John Lasseter |
| Cinematography | Tony Apodaca Don Conway |
| Edited by | Craig Good |
| Music by | Bobby McFerrin |
Production company | |
| Distributed by | Direct Cinema |
Release dates |
|
Running time | 4 minutes |
| Country | United States |
Knick Knack is a 1989 American animatedshort film produced byPixar that was written and directed byJohn Lasseter.[1] The short is about a snow globe snowman who wants to join the other travel souvenirs in a summer-themed party. However, the glass dome that surrounds him prevents him from doing so, thus leading to his many tries to break out of hissnow globe.Knick Knack is Pixar's fourth short and the final short produced during the company's tenure as a hardware company. It was also the final Pixar short film released before the company's first feature-length filmToy Story.
The short stands out from Lasseter's other early short films at Pixar in its reliance on pure comedy to drive the story. It was inspired byTom and Jerry,Looney Tunes, and the work of animatorsChuck Jones andTex Avery. Lasseter and his wife, Nancy, collected snow globes and also enjoyed souvenirs from distant places and those elements made their way into the short as well. SingerBobby McFerrin improvised thea cappella vocal jazz soundtrack to the film while watching a rough cut which was eventually left unchanged in its final edition.
Knick Knack debuted at the 1989SIGGRAPH convention inBoston and was presented in3D. The short has enjoyed positive reviews since its debut and has been screened as a part of numerous film festivals. The short has now been associated withFinding Nemo, with a remastered version of the short being shown before it in that film's original theatrical run.
On a bookshelf filled withvacation-themedsouvenirs, a lonely and grumpy playboy knick-knack snowman named Knick, who resides in a "Nome SweetNome, Alaska" snow globe, wants to reach a female "SunnyMiami" knick-knack that shows an attractive blonde and tanned pool-lounger, wearing a bluebikini and sunglasses. Knick tries several unsuccessful methods to break out of the globe, which includes ramming the glass with the snow globe's igloo backdrop, using his carrot nose and a hammer on the glass, using ajackhammer (which causes his facial features to fall off), trying to cut the glass using ablowtorch and an igniter, and detonatingTNT explosives. The latter causes the globe to fall over the edge. Knick notices an emergency exit in the base and frees himself just before he and the globe fall into a fishbowl where Knick sees an identicalmermaid souvenir from "SunnyAtlantis" and starts gawking at her, only to backfire when he attempts to run towards her, the globe settles to the bottom and traps him again, much to his annoyance.
In 1988, Pixar's third short film,Tin Toy, won theAcademy Award forBest Animated Short Film, the first computer-animated film to claim the Academy Award. It was also the first win for the hardware company, which was still struggling to sell its main product: the Pixar Image Computer. The key animator and director behindTin Toy, John Lasseter, had once worked atDisney several years prior but was fired by unknowingly stepping on his superiors' toes with his support for computer animation. Now, Disney took notice of the Oscar win forTin Toy and began a campaign to win Lasseter back.[2]
Lasseter turned the studio's offer for a directorial position down, remarking to Pixar co-founderEd Catmull, "I can go to Disney and be a director, or I can stay here and make history."[3]Jeffrey Katzenberg, the then-head ofWalt Disney Studios, had a reputation for being difficult and controlling. In contrast, Lasseter received complete creative freedom at Pixar's small animation division and was highly respected by his colleagues.[3] In addition to capturing Disney's interest, Pixar ownerSteve Jobs' interest in the animation group was invigorated, and he approved production of another short.[3]
After the headaches of animating Billy the baby inTin Toy, Lasseter backed away from depicting human characters. The team all agreed to do something simpler that would not "drive us all crazy," according to producer Ralph Guggenheim.[3] When watchingWho Framed Roger Rabbit during the production ofTin Toy, Lasseter became inspired to create aChuck Jones-type of cartoon. Rather than challenge the limitations of the computer as they had done in the previous shorts, the animators wanted to make a short based on geometric shapes instead, which was a strength of the computer.[4] In a discussion with the group, Lasseter brought up famedWarner Bros. andMGM directorTex Avery, noting that his cartoons were wild and exuberant, yet not necessarily very complex. Lasseter collected snow globes and also enjoyed souvenirs from distant places; from those elements,Knick Knack—the only pure comedy among Lasseter's early short films at Pixar—began to fall into place.[3]
The rest of the team were also fans ofTom and Jerry cartoons and the work of Chuck Jones and found the idea of cartoonish violence appealing.[5] Animator Flip Phillips and production coordinator Deirdre Warin simultaneously hit on the idea of the snow globe falling into a fishbowl. Craig Good came up with the idea of an "iris out," a shrinking circle at the close, as a reference toLooney Tunes.[5] A skeleton on the shelf in the short was a 3D model from anOhio State University skeleton data set called George, though the Pixar team stretched George's arms for comic effect.[5] Also distorted were the two female characters—the bikini-attired woman and a mermaid—whose breasts were ultra-exaggerated thanks to a technical director who was apinup enthusiast.[5]
The singerBobby McFerrin created the musical soundtrack anda cappellavocal jazz track which he improvised while watching a rough cut of the film. As the rough cut ended, the placeholder credits readblah-blah-blah-blah, so he sang those words and it remained in the film's score.[5] McFerrin did the score for free out of a belief that the film was cool to be involved with.Gary Rydstrom ofLucasfilm created the sound effects for the short.[5]
Knick Knack debuted at the 1989 SIGGRAPH inBoston.[6] It was one of the last pieces of animation that Lasseter would animate personally during Pixar's years as an independent company.[5] In 1990, it won the Best Short Film award at theSeattle International Film Festival. When Lasseter presented it at theLondon Film Festival in 1991,The Independent of London called it "a four-minute masterpiece" andThe Guardian hailed Lasseter as "probably the closest thing to God that has ever graced the electronic images community."[5] In 2001,Terry Gilliam selected it as one of the ten best animated films of all time.[7] AfterKnick Knack, Pixar took a break from animated shorts and re-focused on animating television commercials to build income and hire new animators.[8]
The film has been released in two versions, and each of these has been shown in both 3-D and 2-D. The original version was shown in 3-D in 1989 at theSIGGRAPH program,[6] and was released on theVHS andLaserDisc,Tiny Toy Stories, and also on theToy Story Deluxe CAVLaserDisc edition. The short was later released on May 30, 2003, in theaters withFinding Nemo. For this release, the film was re-rendered with design adjustments for the woman on the "Miami" knick-knack and themermaid in the fishbowl. Both characters now have much smallerbreasts and the mermaid is now wearing a seashell bra rather than just starfishpasties. Lasseter defended the changes by saying, "It wasn't big bad Disney coming in and insisting we do this … it was our own choice. It was just crossing the line for me personally as a father. So I decided to reduce [these characters'] breast size."[9]
This updated version is preceded with the message"In 1989, six years beforeToy Story, Pixar Animation Studios made this short film." This version was first made available with theFinding NemoDVD &VHS. This version is subsequently onNemo'sBlu-ray, thePixar Short Films Collection – Volume 1 DVD and Blu-ray, and on digital services that feature Pixar's shorts includingDisney+. A 3-D version of the new edition played to the public as a short attached to the 2006Disney Digital 3-D release ofThe Nightmare Before Christmas.[10]
In theToy Story franchise, a book titledKnick Knack is often seen on a bookshelf along with other books named after Pixar shorts.[11] Knick and his snow globe appear inToy Story That Time Forgot.[12]
Clips from the short can be seen on the TV when Hamm is flickering through the channels inToy Story 2.[13]
Sunny Atlantis is seen on the shipwreck in the dentist's fish tank inFinding Nemo.[14]
The Snowman is seen in the snowglobe in Lizzie's Curios Shop inCars.
Sunny Miami appears on a passport inUp when Carl buys plane tickets.[15]
Knick's snow globe appears in the antique store inToy Story 4.[16]
During 2007–2008, a series of commercials released in the United Kingdom forBupa featured theKnick Knack theme tune as their soundtrack.[17]
A store atPixar Pier atDisney California Adventure references this short film. The name of the store is Knick's Knacks. The sign at the front of the store displays Knick the snowman in his snow globe.[18]
