One of the best parts of seeing a Disney or Disney-Pixar animated film is the animated short that always precedes the main feature. The shorts are always heart-warming and full of love and meaning. The short that comes before “Finding Dory,” out in theaters on June 17, is no exception.

Directed by Alan Barillaro and produced by Marc Sondheimer, “Piper,” the new short from Pixar Animation Studios, tells the story of a hungry sandpiper hatchling who ventures from her nest for the first time to dig for food by the shoreline. The only problem is, the food is buried beneath the sand where scary waves roll up onto the shore.

This new short incorporates the very latest animation technology – some of which created in the development of the short. Barillaro has been working on Pixar features since 1997, working as an animator and then supervising animator on films including “The Incredibles,” “WALL•E” and “Brave.” Following his work on “Brave,” Barillaro went to work with Pixar’s software development team to help craft an animation tool that would help provide additional creative flexibility to the studio’s filmmaking process. As a proof of concept, Barillaro created a short animation test about a small bird – a sandpiper – on a beach. This animation test soon grew into a full-fledged short film you will now see before “Finding Dory.”

In order to create the short that shows what “real life” might be like for a sandpiper, Barillaro and his team spent a lot of time at beaches in Northern California and Hawaii to figure out how to create Piper’s sandy world and the right perspective for an animal that is only four inches tall. They even used underwater cameras so that they could create the movement and feel for the underwater shots.

Here are some other fun facts about “Piper.”

• Look for the blades of grass in the film, as they are all hand placed–not just populated in by the computer. Every detailed bend or twist of the grass was deliberate and used to provide depth to Piper and her experience on the beach.
• Animators wanted the short to really be about its main character, so they stripped out things like hills and elaborate background so that the audiences would be focused on Piper. This allows film goers to be immediately drawn into Piper’s world and her struggles.
• Animators treated the water as a character in the short. It was important to perfectly time its interactions with Piper and how it impacted the bird and her surroundings. The waves were hand animated and then attached into the digital film.
• Even the bubbles were carefully considered and added to the film. They were hand animated and then special effects were laid over them so that they too could be a “character” in the film.

Don’t forget to catch Piper and Finding Dory when they open in theaters June 17! If you haven’t seen the latest trailer yet, be sure to check it out!

I received a complimentary trip to Monterey so that I could write this post and others about the aquarium and “Finding Dory.”