ANIMATIONWorld — December 29, 2016
Leo Matsuda’s ‘Inner Workings’ Finds Balance Between Work and Play

Inner Workings, the latest short film from Walt Disney Animation Studios, is about a man who goes to work at his soul-crushing job but is constantly distracted by his heart’s desire to get out of the office and live a little. Voiced by storyboard artist Raymond S. Persi (also the voice of Zootopia’s Flash) the delightful short is currently playing in theaters ahead of Moana.

A combination of hand-drawn and CG animation, Inner Workings employs the studio’s proprietary 2D interpolation software Meander, which was previously used in the Oscar-winning shorts Paperman and Feast. Written and directed by Leo Matsuda, Inner Workings co-stars a man and his organs: The heart and its lung buddies are driven by emotion and spontaneity, pulling the rest of the body along in search of instant gratification. The brain is a tedious task-master trying to curb these outbursts of frivolity so its host can focus on his mundane job. Evoking an 80s pre-Internet vibe, the original score for the film was composed by Ludwig Göransson.

Produced as part of the WDAS short film program, Inner Workings was selected from a group of 73 pitches. Matsuda and producer Sean Lurie presented the world premiere screening of the six-minute, 23-second project at this year’s Annecy festival, where it was enthusiastically received, and Inner Workings is now one of 10 titles under consideration for an Oscar nomination in the short film category. (Read full story…)