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Disney-Pixar Animator and Marquette Graduate Makes Directing Debut

Pixar Animation Studios
Marquette Alumni James Murphy directs the short animated film, "Lava." The film is a story about Uki, a lonely volcano searching for love.

Disney - Pixar movies are enough of a big deal on their own. Years of work are put into a two hour animated blockbuster that leaves children and adults talking about the film decades later.

But there is one element of every new film that often takes the same amount of effort into creating: the animated short films that are shown before each feature. Jim Murphy, a Marquette University 1986 graduate,  is the director who finally got to see his original idea chosen for the next short project, titled LAVA.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GzZezqJ9VgI

The story is of two volcanoes falling in love and Murphy explains that it is inspired by his love for tropical islands and active volcanoes. He wanted to capture the charm that can be found in Disney and Warner Brothers animations from the 1940's and 50's.

"I wanted to create stories about things that I really loved and that I could connect with emotionally and connected me to that feeling that I get from those older cartoons," says Murphy.

Murphy earned a bachelor’s degree in Journalism at Marquette University in 1986, later joining Pixar Animation Studios in 1996 working as an animator on the most notable animated films such as Monsters, Inc. and Finding NemoLAVA will be Murphy's directing debut and will screen in front of the Disney - Pixar feature film Inside Out on June 19th.