Aphton Corbin is the director of the new hand-drawn Pixar short Twenty Something, which premieres this Friday September 10th on Disney+. It’s about a memorable 21st Birthday for Gia, who looks to her past for guidance on her future. Corbin, a story artist on Soul, shares with me her joy in making Twenty Something and teases her next big task at the studio.

Jackson Murphy: The setting is a nightclub, which is a more mature setting than what we usually see in Pixar content. Did you kind of think, ‘Maybe I’m breaking new ground here’ in terms of making this the setting of your Pixar short?

Aphton Corbin: I did think about that. It was a tad bit of a worry, to be honest. I didn’t want to alienate any age group when making this. I just tried to think of the most uncomfortable or, I guess, adult setting to place a kid in. At first it was an office and I was thinking, ‘I feel like we’ve treaded that ground a lot of times in a lot of cool animated films.’ For me, I think going out and socializing… back then… now it sounds great, but back then, going to a club… my introverted side was like, “Ooh, anything but that!” It felt like such a great place as a 21-year-old marker to have to be flung into. I kept it very PG. Nothing crazy.

JM: Yes. And the emotions are very authentic. And during this time when we’re stuck inside for most of this period of time, even getting out to a nightclub sounds like an escape and exciting. And not quite as rare in the Pixar world but still kinda rare is having hand-drawn animation, as opposed to CG. What kind of freedom did hand-drawn give you?

AC: When I had this idea of three kids in a trenchcoat, that’s a low-budget SparkShort [CG] nightmare of… how we’re gonna get this trenchcoat to move and the logistics of setting up a camera inside the trenchcoat. Whereas in 2D it was, we can make this up as we go and this jacket being able to be drawn so easily was automatically freeing and fun. And even the positioning of where the kids are – getting a chance to scramble them up a bit made for a very fun 2D short.

JM: Obviously this short will make a lot of people think about their childhood. What’s the Pixar movie that stands out to you when you think back to your childhood?

AC: Memory-wise, I feel like all the Toy Story [films]. I was at different ages for all of them. For the third one, when Andy went off to college, I was about the age of going to college. So that [series] does span all the childhood ages for myself. I was a little baby seeing the first one, getting a little bit older for the second and then getting to college by the third.

JM: And when the 4th came out, and I came out of the screening of it, I thought, “This is the most mature out of the four Toy Story films.” The age focus kept going up, so you’re so spot on with that. Have you always had that sort of feeling a lot of people do: “As a kid you really wanna grow up and then when you’re grown up, you really wanna revert back to your kid years”?

AC: I feel like I’m never cool with the age that I am. To me, there’s always something further I need to attain instead of just enjoying the time that I’m in. I never went back to that, “Oh, I wanna be a kid again.” It was always, “I can’t wait to get grounded as an adult.” It’s always something just slightly out of reach in my experience.

JM: And how did making this at home give you a sense of escape? I’m sure this must not have been easy.

AC: Doing this at home was definitely a challenge but it was nice… making this really fun short and getting a chance to speak with people and their kids as they’re running around while they’re trying to animate. We all got a chance to go home and dig through some photos. I had some of the team bring photos of them when they were kids and I was able to go into my old garage and find photos of myself at different ages. It was fun to utilize that time in the pandemic.

JM: One of the key elements of [Twenty Something] is having conversations with ourselves – and guiding ourselves on the next steps. Do you often have conversations with yourself, especially when it comes to the moves that you’re making in the animation world and specifically when it came to making this?

Aphton Corbin

AC: That’s an interesting question. I think I kinda do. That little pep talk she has in the bathroom… I feel like I’ve had that pep talk with myself several times. “It’s gonna be fine. You’re gonna have fun. Get out there and have fun.” Psyching yourself up to calm the nerves. That’s the first idea that I had when I came up with the short. I do have to do that for myself. And it’s so entertaining – this internal dialogue. “We’re an adult and it’s gonna be fine.” I think I still do that all the time.

JM: Talking with yourself and helping out yourself is really important. [Writer’s Note: this interview took place a few days before my birthday.] In two days, I’m turning 23. I’m turning a little ‘twenty-something’.

AC: Whoa! Yeah!

JM: Thank you. What advice do you have for 23-year-olds who are navigating the world?

AC: My advice in making this whole short was to just relax and enjoy it. I think I spent most of my twenties panicking or feeling like I wasn’t doing it quite right. No one expects you to be perfect. Just have fun. Fall forward… and enjoy the youth of your twenties and not stress about it.

JM: Thank you. I appreciate that advice. I think all the readers who are in their twenty-somethings will appreciate that advice. Now is it true you’re working on a Pixar feature right now?

AC: I am! Yeah! After the stress of making a short, I decided I wanted to do it again in a long format. I’m in development figuring out the feature process.

JM: Okay! How’s it been going so far?

AC: The SparkShorts process was a crazy crash course, so I feel now I get a chance to expand more and see what other stories I really wanna tell.

JM: And what have you discovered about the SparkShorts program itself? It’s done massively well on Disney+, through the Disney platforms, the Academy Awards and many other awards organizations. What surprised you the most about the SparkShorts program itself?

AC: Part of it I already knew, but then it’s like really knowing how talented people are at the studio. The SparkShorts program, like myself, taps people to give them a chance. I tried to do that with all the other roles I hired on. We have crazy talented people at the studio. Seeing all these people stretch past their job descriptions and do really amazing work… I knew it, but now I *really* know just how great everyone is here.

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Jackson Murphy

Jackson Murphy is a movie critic and entertainment columnist. He is the creator of the website Lights-Camera-Jackson.com, and has made numerous appearances on television and radio.

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