Comparing 9, the short, and 9, the full-length movie

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In the short film "9", a post-apocalyptic world is where 9 finds himself when he first comes to life


. It is only by coincidence that he finds a small community of people who are similar to him hiding from terrifying machines that wander the world determined to wipe out all humanity. Despite being the group's novice, 9, persuades the others that staying hidden won't help. The film 9 dynamically examines the will to live, the strength of community, and how one soul can alter the world while presenting amazing "steampunk"-styled visual splendor. While still a student at UCLA, Shane Acker first created 9 (2009) as a ten-minute short film. Although it didn't win the Best Animated Short Oscar, Acker was given the opportunity to turn the short into a feature film. The main plot is the same, but there are more characters, they can speak now, and there is a greater explanation of why the world is going to end. The full length film of the same title is about a world destroyed in a war between man and machine, where a hand-stitched doll with the number 9 written on its back comes to life. The world he has awakened in is frightening, but he quickly learns that he is not alone and that there are others like him, also with a single digit written on their back. The first one he encounters is 2 who tells him something of what happened to the world. 2 is also thrilled with the disk 9 is carrying, one with three unique symbols on the front. 9 soon learns that the disk and some of the other dolls who are prepared to die for the good of humankind may be the last hope for man's salvation.

It pays off because 9 feels like a story instead of just an idea, joke, or twist—devices that shorter movies frequently have to use.

The short film is what it is; it is a short film that tells the same story but lacks many plot details that the feature/full-length film had. The first was also a student-made CG film for one of his classes. It combined mature and dark animation to make a captivating story. Tim Burton saw it and bought it up and made it the full-length film it has come to be. He took clay and made like Michaelangelo. The lighting was totally different, the animation was cleaner, and there were many many more details. Acker, the director, credits his past as an architecture as the reason he was able to create such a beautiful world in the short. Tim Burton, with a multi-million dollar budget, was able to take everything Acker had and blow it up, improving it only so much.

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