Loop (2020 film)

Loop
An image of the Loop film poster Official film poster
Directed by	Erica Milsom
Produced by	Michael Warch Krissy Cababa
Screenplay by	Erica Milsom
Story by	Adam Burke Matthias De Clercq Erica Milsom
Starring	Madison Bandy Christiano Delgado Louis Gonzales Asher Brodkey
Music by	Mark Orton
Cinematography	Danielle Feinberg Sylvia Gray Wong
Edited by	Jason Brodkey
Production company	Pixar Animation Studios
Distributed by	Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures
Release dates	January 10, 2020 (2020-01-10) (Disney+)
Running time	9 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English

Loop is a 2020 American computer-animated drama short film directed and written by Erica Milsom with the story being written by Adam Burke, Matthias De Clercq and Milsom, produced by Pixar Animation Studios, and distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures. It is the sixth short film in Pixar's SparkShorts program and focuses on a non-verbal autistic girl and a chatty boy, learning to understand each other. The short was released on Disney+ on January 10, 2020.

Plot

Renee, a 13-year-old non-verbal autistic girl, sits patiently in a canoe waiting for a partner while playing with a sound app on her phone. Marcus arrives late and the camp counselor tells him to partner with her, much to his annoyance. Marcus attempts to speak with Renee, who is only able to mutter and make noises to express her feelings. When Marcus attempts to show off his paddling skills, Renee is unimpressed and starts rocking the boat. Marcus asks her to tell him what she wants and she responds by showing a poop emoji on her phone and signaling to a couple of outhouses. Marcus obliges and paddles her to land.

When they pass by some reeds, Renee reaches out to let them brush past her arms. She has Marcus paddle through multiple times, and he realizes that she did not actually need to use an outhouse, but just wanted to touch the reeds. He tries doing the same thing, and then Renee goes back to her phone. This gives Marcus an idea to connect with her. He paddles them to a tunnel and has Renee play her phone so that the sound can reverberate. At first, she enjoys it. Then a speedboat races by and the sound of that boat reverberates, overwhelming Renee. She frantically paddles out of the tunnel, nearly colliding with the speedboat in the process. When they crash onto land, Renee has a meltdown and throws her phone, which falls into the lake. Sobbing, she hides under the canoe while Marcus watches this unfold in bewilderment.

Eventually, Marcus pulls up a reed and places it next to the canoe where Renee can see it. He sits nearby until Renee calms down. She sits up, takes the reed, and begins to giggle. The two repeat the sound that the phone made together. The two of them get back into the canoe and paddle back to the camp.

In a post-credits scene, Renee's recovered phone is resting in a bowl of rice and it receives a message from Marcus asking if she wants to go canoeing again.

Cast

• Madison Bandy as Renee
• Christiano (Chachi) Delgado as Marcus
• Louis Gonzales as Camp Counselor

Additional voice cast

• Asher Brodkey
• Erica Milsom

Production

Loop was directed and written by Erica Milsom, with a story created by Adam Burke, Erica Milsom and Matthias De Clercq. Michael Warch and Krissy Cababa produced the short.

The team brought in consultants from the Autistic Self Advocacy Network to ensure that Renee's portrayal would be authentic.

Loop features Madison Bandy in the role of Renee, who herself is non-speaking and autistic. The audio recording for her voice performance was done by Vince Caro, on location in her home, as part of an effort to make the recording process as comfortable as possible.

The director and animators on Loop spoke with the consultants to gain a sense of the way that a non-speaking person might communicate their feelings differently. They then developed a gestural language for Renee, equating specific behaviors, like holding her ears, or poking her cell phone, with specific emotional states. [1]

Music

Mark Orton composed the music for Loop. The score was released on February 28, 2020.

Loop (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)
Film score by Mark Orton
Released	February 28, 2020 (2020-02-28)
Genre	Film score
Label	Hollywood

Track listing

All music composed by Mark Orton.

No.	Title	Length
1.	"You Gotta Help Me Out"	0:37
2.	"Renee's Place"	1:26
3.	"Tunnel Magic"	0:46
4.	"Overload"	0:50
5.	"Processing Time"	0:47
6.	"Marcus' Patience"	1:26
7.	"Loop Theme"	1:38
8.	"Surface (Bonus Track)"	0:38
9.	"Echoer (Bonus Track)"	0:48
10.	"Slow Time (Bonus Track)"	0:39
11.	"Loop Redux (Bonus Track)"	1:25
Total length:		11:00

Release

Loop was released on Disney+ on January 10, 2020.

Reception

Loop received mostly positive reviews. Reviewers commented on its decision to portray the world through Renee's eyes. Jonathon Briggs wrote "By training our eyes to imagine what the world might look like from someone else's perspective, Loop encourages us to practice empathy in what feels like an increasingly divisive and judgmental world."

The autistic community responded enthusiastically to Loop. Autistic people on Twitter expressed excitement prior to the film's release. Autistic reviewers praised the portrayal of Renee for being positive and authentic.

Loop won the SIGGRAPH 2020 Computer Animation Festival Electronic Theater Best in Show-winning award in 2021.

It was also nominated that year for an NAACP Image Award.

External links

• Loop at IMDb
• Loop on Disney+