Pianissimo is a 1963 animated short film (six minutes) directed by Carmen D'Avino.
It has no story, but is instead a plotless study in color and motion. Various objects appear, including a cabinet, a Venus de Milo sculpture, and, most importantly, a piano. Everything is white, even the piano which has all-white keys. The piano starts playing and the rest of the film is nothing more than color appearing everywhere as every object in the room gets painted in stop motion.
Tropes:
- The End: The cartoon ends with the record on the record player shattering and revealing "END" on the turntable beneath.
- No Plot? No Problem!: No story, just a few minutes of an automatic piano playing a jaunty tune as vibrant colors spill all over the room.
- Record Needle Scratch: The film opens with a record player (the only thing in the room that isn't white at the beginning) playing a record. The record needle scratch as the armature of the record player moves off the record is the kickoff to the cartoon.
- Stop Motion: The whole film is in stop motion, as paint in a kaleidoscope of colors appears on the objects in the room, while the piano keys move up and down, the cabinet opens and closes, all in stop motion.
- Visual Pun: The piano is a player piano, which at one point ejects a piano roll in a manner similar to vomiting; the joke is underlined with a "bleah!" vomiting noise on the soundtrack.
