It is a short film created by John Lasseter and others at Pixar in 1987. Like other Lasseter films, it combines keyframe animation and classical techniques of animation.
Red is a unicycle in the damp corner of Eben's Bike Shop, alone and unsold, despite his adorned 50% OFF tag. On one rainy night, Red dreams of being away from the dreary bike shop. Red imagines himself under the seat of a circus clown, capturing the applause of the crowd during an amazing juggling act.
Like Luxo Jr. before it, Red's Dream is the animation of an unadultered inanimate object. Red doesn't have any humanized alterations (eyes, a mouth, etc.). He simply becomes alive through the magic of animation.
The film is surprisingly dark, a quality rare in computer animation. The somber mood is accented by the bluesy background music, and does not have a happy or funny ending. Red's Dream stands out for this, though, and makes it unusual and interesting.
Since Red juggles by bouncing balls off of his seat and pedals, this scene is a very good one to watch to learn how to bounce a ball. Observe in the title graphic the different states of the three balls. At this point, the red ball is resting on Red's seat; this is the normal state of the ball. The green ball on the right pedal, however, is mid-air. Notice it's elongation. Finally, the blue ball on Red's left pedal is mid-bounce. Notice how very flattened the ball is. It's this exaggeration that conveys the elasticity of the balls; exaggeration, of course, is a very common method of cartooning.
Stretching of the laws of physics is also present in the clown. The clown hangs mid-air, not unlike Wyle E. Coyote, until he realizes that he is mid-air. This kind of law-bending, like exaggeration, is what makes cartoons funny. It's part of what makes cartoons like Red's Dream enjoyable.
Clip : Red's Dream (1.95M, SGI)