One Man Band (film)

One Man Band is a 2005 Pixar computer animated short musical comedy film. The film made its world premiere at the 29th Annecy International Animated Film Festival in Annecy, France, and won the Platinum Grand Prize at the Future Film Festival in Bologna, Italy. It was shown with the theatrical release of Cars.

The short was written and directed by Andrew Jimenez and Mark Andrews and produced by Osnat Shurer, head of Pixar's Shorts group. The score for the short was written by Michael Giacchino. Like many Pixar shorts, the film is completely free of dialogue and vocal effects, instead using music (played by the characters) and pantomime to tell the story. Unlike most Pixar shorts, which are solely driven by storyboarding and scriptwriting, the music in One Man Band was developed directly alongside the film's story; Giacchino collaborated extensively with the film's directors due to the large role of music in the short.

On January 31, 2006 it was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film, but lost to The Moon and the Son: An Imagined Conversation by John Canemaker and Peggy Stern. It was included in the Animation Show of Shows in 2005.

Plot
Bass, a skilled and proud street performer, plays a routine tune in a deserted Italian village square in the afternoon, waiting for a pedestrian to tip him in his rusty iron cup. Soon, he spots Tippy, a humble peasant girl clutching a big gold coin, with the intention of dropping it in the plaza fountain to make a wish. Bass, seizing the opportunity, immediately plays an impromptu piece, capturing the young girl's attention.

Just when Tippy is about to drop the coin into Bass's cup, a newcomer steps onto the scene. Treble, a suave and flamboyant street performer, plays a more attractive song, effectively stealing Tippy's attention, much to the anger of Bass. Not to be outdone, Bass ups his ante, with Treble daring to take it even further. As the two rivals unleash their arsenal of musical weapons, trying to vie for the attention (or rather, the tip) of Tippy, the girl cowers in their wild musical cacophony, and in the process, accidentally drops her sole gold coin, which falls down a drain and gets lost in the sewers of the village.

Heartbroken, Tippy sniffles, but then angrily demands from Treble and Bass a replacement coin for the one they made her lose. When both musicians come up empty-handed, Tippy insists she take one of Treble's violins and Bass's iron cup in an attempt to get her money back by playing solo. She then tunes the violin and begins to play it like a true virtuoso, prompting a passing pedestrian to drop a large bag of gold coins onto her cup.

Elated, Tippy hugs the bag and approaches the fountain, but not before she pulls two coins out of her bag and tempts Treble and Bass. But as they eagerly reach out to grab them, she tosses the coins into the top of the fountain, out of reach, much to their dismay. A post-credits scene shows that it is now nighttime, with Treble standing on Bass, trying to reach for the coins in vain. As the two start to fall backwards, the film ends.

Production
Beginning development shortly after the completion of The Incredibles, One Man Band was directed by Andrew Jiminez and Mark Andrews, who had previously worked together on films such as The Iron Giant and Spider-Man. In late 2004, they were approached by Ed Catmull and asked to visit his office; according to the duo, they were initially concerned about the implications of this, but were later relieved after Catmull requested that they begin working on a brand new short film for Pixar. Jiminez and Andrews decided to create a film centered around music, a subject which they were both decidedly passionate about, and began developing a story about two musicians quarreling over the donation of a young peasant girl. The short was pitched to Pixar CEO John Lasseter and The Incredibles director Brad Bird, who quickly accepted the film for production.

Music
The violinists featured in the score for the film are:
 * Clayton Haslop ("Treble")
 * Mark Robertson ("Tippy")

The score was recorded at the Paramount Scoring Stage in Hollywood, CA. The filmmakers used a 38-piece orchestra as well as several soloists, including the ones listed above.

The music during the credits is Pablo de Sarasate's Zigeunerweisen.

Release
The film premiered on June 11, 2005, at the Annecy International Animated Film Festival in Annecy, France. It was shown with the theatrical release of Cars, which was released in the United States on June 9, 2006.

DVD release
Pixar included the film on the DVD release of Cars in 2006 and as part of Pixar Short Films Collection, Volume 1 in 2007.