Watch This: Glen Keane Debuts New ‘Duet’ Short

Animator Glen Keane made the highly anticipated debut of his latest post-Disney animation project at the Google I/O 2014 developer conference held recently in San Francisco.

Keane showed his short film called Duet which will be part of the Google Spotlight Story series of interactive animated shorts available to view exclusively on Android devices. The story, which was animated and directed in its entirety by Keane, tells the story of a boy and girl and how their lives are intertwined from childhood to adulthood. Keane’s demonstration was part of an overall presentation about new innovations under development by Google’s Advanced Technology and Products (ATAP) group.

The Google Spotlight Story team is creating innovative animation and stories designed specifically for a mobile format. The stories “blend world-class artistry with innovative rendering and interaction technology for mobile to create a new canvas for the next generation of storytelling.” To watch the Google Spotlight Stories, you need an Android device (Android 4.2 and up) and the Motorola Spotlight Player app (available from the Google Play store), which delivers “immersive and interactive stories in real-time.”

The first two Google Spotlight Story entries were Windy Day (directed by Jan Pinkava, former Pixar animator and director) and Buggy Night (directed by former Pixar animator Mark Oftedal). Duet is third Google Spotlight Story and it’s the first traditionally animated, hand-drawn entry to the series. According to Google, “Glen wanted to draw and animate by hand and [Google] answered his call by pushing our technology to create a new pipeline and a studio for traditional animation.” The shorts offers a glimpse into how mobile devices can provide “a rich, modern canvas for creative expression and immersive works of art and technology.”

Duet will officially launch later this year.

Sources: Animation Magazine