| Pixels | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Directed by | Patrick Jean |
| Written by | Patrick Jean |
| Produced by | Johnny Alves Benjamin Dara |
| Cinematography | Matias Boucard |
Production company | One More Production |
Release date |
|
Running time | 2 minutes |
| Country | France |
Pixels is a 2010 French live action/computer-animated short film written and directed by Patrick Jean. It is about an invasion of New York City by real-life versions of classic arcade video game characters, such as those from Space Invaders, Pac-Man and others.
The film won "the Annecy Cristal" (le Cristal d'Annecy) for Best Short Film at the 2011 Annecy International Animated Film Festival.[1]
Plot
[edit]On a Brooklyn sidewalk, a man walks over to a trash can, leaves a 1980s-era television set by it and walks away. After a few seconds, the television suddenly reactivates and an 8-bit picture of a bomb appears. When its fuse runs out, the television's screen shatters and releases a mass of pixels (illustrated as voxels because of the three-dimensionality of the scene). They fly over to Manhattan and form into various characters from arcade video games from the set's era.
Space Invaders start to shoot downwards; on contact, the projectiles cause a delivery truck and a pair of taxis to degenerate into pixels. More pixels then enter a metro station, eventually forming into Pac-Man, which destroys it and other stations while travelling through the tunnels. Its progress is shown on the status display, similar to the cleared-away dots from its origin series. Giant recreations of tetrominoes from Tetris then fall from the sky and match up with floors of skyscrapers. One building gets a "Tetris", eliminating several mid-level floors as its top crashes onto the remainder of the building. Recreations of the Vaus from Arkanoid appear and destroy one of the piers of the Brooklyn Bridge, resulting in the structure collapsing. Donkey Kong then throws a barrel from the Empire State Building which knocks down a traffic light and dislodges a fire hydrant, the latter of which sprays out suddenly pixelated water, while Frogger is seen trying to cross traffic in the form of pixelated cars.
Finally, a giant bomb is shown. When it explodes, everything around it becomes pixelated. The effect envelopes the entire cityscape and eventually the whole of the Earth, transfiguring it into a single giant pixel, which continues rotating as it drifts away. The short's end credits are then shown in the form of a high score list.
Feature film adaptation
[edit]Columbia Pictures and Happy Madison Productions developed a film loosely based on this short,[2] in which its threat behaves more like an alien invasion rather than a natural disaster. Tim Herlihy and Tim Dowling wrote the script,[3][4] which Chris Columbus directed.[5] Adam Sandler, Kevin James, Josh Gad, Peter Dinklage, Brian Cox, Ashley Benson and Michelle Monaghan star in the film.[6][7][8]
The feature film shot principal photography in Toronto, Canada in June 2014 using downtown streets decorated to resemble Washington DC.[9] It was released on July 24, 2015.
See also
[edit]- "Anthology of Interest II", a 2002 episode from the TV series Futurama
References
[edit]- ^ Hopewell, John; Keslassy, Elsa (2011-06-11). "'Rabbi's Cat' wins Annecy best feature". Variety. Retrieved 2011-06-12.
- ^ Fleming, Mike Jr. (12 May 2010). "Sony, Happy Madison Playing With Viral Sensation 'Pixels'". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on May 14, 2010. Retrieved 5 March 2014.
- ^ Kit, Borys (10 November 2010). "Happy Madison Hires Writer for 'Pixels' Feature". hollywoodreporter.com. Retrieved 5 March 2014.
- ^ Sneider, Jeff (16 July 2012). "Tim Dowling to rewrite vidgame-themed 'Pixels'". variety.com. Retrieved 5 March 2014.
- ^ Sneider, Jeff (30 May 2013). "Chris Columbus in Talks to Direct 'Pixels' for Sandler and Sony". thewrap.com. Retrieved 5 March 2014.
- ^ Sneider, Jeff (26 February 2014). "Adam Sandler to Star in Sony's Big-Budget Video Game Movie 'Pixels'". thewrap.com. Retrieved 5 March 2014.
- ^ "Game of Thrones' Star Peter Dinklage Joins Cast of Adam Sandler's 'Pixels'". variety.com. 28 March 2014. Retrieved 29 March 2014.
- ^ Kit, Borys (4 April 2014). "Michelle Monaghan Joining Adam Sandler in 'Pixels'". hollywoodreporter.com. Retrieved 5 April 2014.
- ^ Christine. "Pixels". Onlocationvacations.com. Retrieved 2014-06-04.