By Ewelina Ferruso.
Le Moine et Le Poisson
The Monk and The Fish is the simple story of an obsessive monk and a naughty fish. Standing next to a water reservoir in a monastery enclave, a monk sees a fish and goes to get his net to catch it. The fish eludes him and the monk gets rather agitated as he tries increasingly extreme ways of catching the fish. Suddenly, the monk's chase and the fish's teasing flight become a spiritual journey.
Michael Dudok De Wit doesn't need dialogue to make a great short: the animation and background artwork have to carry this one and do so superbly. The action is engaging and hypnotic at times. It reminds me of the peaceful and sweet portions of Bozzetto's Allegro, ma non troppo.
Michael Dudok De Wit doesn't need dialogue to make a great short: the animation and background artwork have to carry this one and do so superbly. The action is engaging and hypnotic at times. It reminds me of the peaceful and sweet portions of Bozzetto's Allegro, ma non troppo.
La Vieille dame et les pigeons
This short has an original storyline: Sylvain Chomet puts hiss grotesque characters into a world all of their own, where the gendarme fantasises about food, is irritated by pigeons, and eventually dresses up as one of the birds himself to continually visit the old lady for slap-up meals.
Like Les Triplettes de Belleville, this reveals in its quirky, hand-drawn detail and characterisation.
What especially distinguishes Chomet is the fearlessness of his singular point of view. In an age of cultural timidity, Chomet frankly deals in clichés as well as in caricatures about nationality. But all this is done with so much cleverness and so little malice that it's impossible to do anything but smile.
Although this short is silent, language isn't missed because of Chomet's gift for creating characters that almost magically articulate in body language and facial expression makes dialogue seem superfluous.
If the Old Lady remind you of Les Triplettes de Belleville's Madame Souza, you're right. Originally there isn't Madame Souza, but a second film "The Old Lady and the Bicycles". But the producer of this short asked to Chomet too many money for the copyrigh of the Old Lady. Personally I think Madame Souza brought us a great deal more than the original Old Lady would have done.
You can buy La Vieille dame et les pigeons
.
Like Les Triplettes de Belleville, this reveals in its quirky, hand-drawn detail and characterisation.
What especially distinguishes Chomet is the fearlessness of his singular point of view. In an age of cultural timidity, Chomet frankly deals in clichés as well as in caricatures about nationality. But all this is done with so much cleverness and so little malice that it's impossible to do anything but smile.
Although this short is silent, language isn't missed because of Chomet's gift for creating characters that almost magically articulate in body language and facial expression makes dialogue seem superfluous.
If the Old Lady remind you of Les Triplettes de Belleville's Madame Souza, you're right. Originally there isn't Madame Souza, but a second film "The Old Lady and the Bicycles". But the producer of this short asked to Chomet too many money for the copyrigh of the Old Lady. Personally I think Madame Souza brought us a great deal more than the original Old Lady would have done.
You can buy La Vieille dame et les pigeons
.Botanical Photograph
Kaitlin Wilson Bryant's work revolves around themes of memory, family, and horticulture. Her photographic work is paralleled by the journals that she keeps.
Rejected (2000)
The opening sequence is simply the word "Rejected" in a typewriter font shaking around as though it had been shot on a hand-held 8mm camera held by someone on speed, and the music, an orchestra at full tilt. Instantly, you know something is different than other films you've ever watched.
Rejected is a collection of short, surreal vignettes. An animator's commissioned works, rejected because of their increasingly absurd and violent tone, eventually find their entire animated world collapsing in upon itself.
Although the film is fictional and Don Hertzfeldt never did any commercial work, he received many offers to do television commercials after his short Billy's Balloon garnered international attention and acclaim. In public appearances, he often tells the story that he always wished he could just make a cheap, nonsensical commercial to give to the company intending to hire him, make off with their money, and see if the terrible cartoons would actually make it to air. Eventually this became the germ for Rejected's theme of a collection of cartoons so bad they were rejected by advertising agencies, leading to their creator's breakdown and, presumably, his fictional demise.
Don Hertzfeldt almost never uses a script during production and prefers to improvise and shape a film as it goes along. This was no different, and over eighty hours of post-production was spent radically retooling the entire piece through sound and editing. Some of the film's dialogue wasn't even written until after the film was animated and photographed, to allow for fresh improvisation and experiments.
You can buy Animated Shorts by Don Hertzfeldt.
Rejected is a collection of short, surreal vignettes. An animator's commissioned works, rejected because of their increasingly absurd and violent tone, eventually find their entire animated world collapsing in upon itself.
Although the film is fictional and Don Hertzfeldt never did any commercial work, he received many offers to do television commercials after his short Billy's Balloon garnered international attention and acclaim. In public appearances, he often tells the story that he always wished he could just make a cheap, nonsensical commercial to give to the company intending to hire him, make off with their money, and see if the terrible cartoons would actually make it to air. Eventually this became the germ for Rejected's theme of a collection of cartoons so bad they were rejected by advertising agencies, leading to their creator's breakdown and, presumably, his fictional demise.
Don Hertzfeldt almost never uses a script during production and prefers to improvise and shape a film as it goes along. This was no different, and over eighty hours of post-production was spent radically retooling the entire piece through sound and editing. Some of the film's dialogue wasn't even written until after the film was animated and photographed, to allow for fresh improvisation and experiments.
You can buy Animated Shorts by Don Hertzfeldt.
Lifted (2006)
Lifted observes the foibles of a klutzy alien during his training as a human abductor. According to Rydstrom's mother, this short, is partially based on Rydstrom's Driver's Education experiences.
Pixar regularly uses its short films to implement new software plug-ins and techniques. This film implemented a jiggle program (used to animate Mr. B.), wherein an animator can pick a certain section of the computer model, and tap on it to make it resonate.
Rydstrom comes from the world of sound design. Animation is all about rhythm and timing: Rydstrom, in fact, believes that working in sound endowed him with a great sense of timing. Sound is, in fact, really about rhythm. Rhythm helps delineate sound effects, sound tracks, and telling a story with these kind of rhythms is really key. In fact, on Lifted before animation had begun Rydstrom used a temp soundtrack to express the timing that he wanted, so that the animators had some reference of what he was after. It was also a way for Rydstrom to communicate with the animators.
You can buy Pixar Short Films Collection: Volume 1 and Art of Pixar Short Films
.
Pixar regularly uses its short films to implement new software plug-ins and techniques. This film implemented a jiggle program (used to animate Mr. B.), wherein an animator can pick a certain section of the computer model, and tap on it to make it resonate.
Rydstrom comes from the world of sound design. Animation is all about rhythm and timing: Rydstrom, in fact, believes that working in sound endowed him with a great sense of timing. Sound is, in fact, really about rhythm. Rhythm helps delineate sound effects, sound tracks, and telling a story with these kind of rhythms is really key. In fact, on Lifted before animation had begun Rydstrom used a temp soundtrack to express the timing that he wanted, so that the animators had some reference of what he was after. It was also a way for Rydstrom to communicate with the animators.
You can buy Pixar Short Films Collection: Volume 1 and Art of Pixar Short Films
.
Strange Invaders (2001)
Cordell Barker is more famous for his previous film The Cat Came Back, but Strange Invaders has a lot of deeper meaning to it than the other shorts.
The structure of film is the same: put a baby instead of a cat, give the story to Barker and you can be sure that gags will come thick and fast!
Roger and Doris live a quiet, comfortable life until one night they are awakened by the arrival of a strange visitor. It's a child--the answer to their dreams! A gift from heaven... or, from much farther away? The strange little thing takes over, wreaking havoc on the entire household. Life, as the couple knew it, is over.
The structure of film is the same: put a baby instead of a cat, give the story to Barker and you can be sure that gags will come thick and fast!
Roger and Doris live a quiet, comfortable life until one night they are awakened by the arrival of a strange visitor. It's a child--the answer to their dreams! A gift from heaven... or, from much farther away? The strange little thing takes over, wreaking havoc on the entire household. Life, as the couple knew it, is over.
Harvie Krumpet (Oscar 2003)
You'll be surprised to see how such a sad story about a 'retarded migrant' could be so humorous. The naïve simplicity of Harvie is an extended metaphor for all that youth values in life - a clear sense of values and strength of family.
Continuing the themes of the intriguing outsider that Adam Elliot explored in his previous trilogy of short films - Uncle, Cousin, Brother - Harvie Krumpet is his most endearing character to date. Elliot, through his signature mix of comedy and pathos, carries us through the upside-down and back-to-front turns of Harvie's unusual, imaginative and imaginary life.
All his films deal with difference; people who are afflicted or marginalised. Elliot is interested in people who don't seem to fit in; the underdogs and the forgotten.
The story revolves around the life of Harvek Milos Krumpetzki, born in Poland in 1922. At the outbreak of World War II he comes to Spotswood in Australia as a refugee, and changes his name to Harvie Krumpet. Despite a life filled with bad luck, Harvie remains ever optimistic, living out his own eccentric way of life. He struggles constantly with what it is to be human. He is always looking for answers and has moments when everything seems so clear and the secret of life seems obvious. Throughout his disaster-ridden life, people around him come and go, but right to the end Harvie delights in the simple pleasure of life.
You can buy Harvie Krumpet.
Continuing the themes of the intriguing outsider that Adam Elliot explored in his previous trilogy of short films - Uncle, Cousin, Brother - Harvie Krumpet is his most endearing character to date. Elliot, through his signature mix of comedy and pathos, carries us through the upside-down and back-to-front turns of Harvie's unusual, imaginative and imaginary life.
All his films deal with difference; people who are afflicted or marginalised. Elliot is interested in people who don't seem to fit in; the underdogs and the forgotten.
The story revolves around the life of Harvek Milos Krumpetzki, born in Poland in 1922. At the outbreak of World War II he comes to Spotswood in Australia as a refugee, and changes his name to Harvie Krumpet. Despite a life filled with bad luck, Harvie remains ever optimistic, living out his own eccentric way of life. He struggles constantly with what it is to be human. He is always looking for answers and has moments when everything seems so clear and the secret of life seems obvious. Throughout his disaster-ridden life, people around him come and go, but right to the end Harvie delights in the simple pleasure of life.
You can buy Harvie Krumpet.
Olympics 2008 Monkey Movie
Oh, yeah, I know this is only a marketing video, but... wow this video is fantastic!
It's possible that I'm so excited because it's based upon the traditional Chinese folklore Journey to the West.
It's possible that I'm so excited because it's based upon the traditional Chinese folklore Journey to the West.
The Mysterious Geographic Explorations of Jasper Morello (2005)
The film opens in the city of Gothia, a smoky industrial metropolis where steam-powered dirigibles are the primary mode of transportation, and where a terrible flesh-eating plague is decimating the population
This gothic horror mystery tells the story of Jasper Morello, a disgraced aerial navigator who flees his Plague-ridden home on a desperate voyage to redeem himself. The chance discovery of an abandoned dirigible leads Jasper through unchartered waters to an island on which lives a terrifying creature that may be the cure for the Plague. The journey back to civilization is filled with horrors but in a shocking climax, Jasper discovers that the greatest horror of all lies within man himself.
Set in a world of iron dirigibles and steam powered computers, the creepy Victorian look of the film reminded me Hayao Miyazaki 's "Nausicaä of the Valley of the Winds", and Tim Burton's movies.
In his brilliant, visually mesmerising The Mysterious Geographic Explorations of Jasper Morello, Anthony Lucas has us believing that bulky contraptions with iron-girder rib cages and massive air screws weighing thousands of tonnes can sail through the air with effortless grace.
Using sepia tones, silhouettes and a variety of animation techniques, this vision of Victorian-era retro-futurism looks like the kind of automated, mechanised world of tomorrow that Jules Verne or H. G. Wells might have conjured up had they had access to computers. Visually fascinating, highly imaginative stop-motion animated short where characters were shot in a silhouette-like style. The backgrounds often have added textures and colours rendered using CGI, while certain sequences are entirely computer-rendered 3-dimensional scenes. The final product consists of all of these elements brought together using a compositing program.
Everything about the film is deftly executed. It does borrow from familiar ideas and themes, but the presentation is undeniably original and exciting. It is very dark and not exactly the kind of thing made for the young ones; there is a great deal of violence in the film. The bleak ending is well staged.
This gothic horror mystery tells the story of Jasper Morello, a disgraced aerial navigator who flees his Plague-ridden home on a desperate voyage to redeem himself. The chance discovery of an abandoned dirigible leads Jasper through unchartered waters to an island on which lives a terrifying creature that may be the cure for the Plague. The journey back to civilization is filled with horrors but in a shocking climax, Jasper discovers that the greatest horror of all lies within man himself.
Set in a world of iron dirigibles and steam powered computers, the creepy Victorian look of the film reminded me Hayao Miyazaki 's "Nausicaä of the Valley of the Winds", and Tim Burton's movies.
In his brilliant, visually mesmerising The Mysterious Geographic Explorations of Jasper Morello, Anthony Lucas has us believing that bulky contraptions with iron-girder rib cages and massive air screws weighing thousands of tonnes can sail through the air with effortless grace.
Using sepia tones, silhouettes and a variety of animation techniques, this vision of Victorian-era retro-futurism looks like the kind of automated, mechanised world of tomorrow that Jules Verne or H. G. Wells might have conjured up had they had access to computers. Visually fascinating, highly imaginative stop-motion animated short where characters were shot in a silhouette-like style. The backgrounds often have added textures and colours rendered using CGI, while certain sequences are entirely computer-rendered 3-dimensional scenes. The final product consists of all of these elements brought together using a compositing program.
Everything about the film is deftly executed. It does borrow from familiar ideas and themes, but the presentation is undeniably original and exciting. It is very dark and not exactly the kind of thing made for the young ones; there is a great deal of violence in the film. The bleak ending is well staged.
Koyaanisqatsi (1982)
The film is the first in the Qatsi trilogy of films: it is followed by Powaqqatsi and Naqoyqatsi. The trilogy depicts different aspects of the relationship between humans, nature, and technology.
Koyaanisqatsi is also a visual concert of images set to the haunting music of Phillip Glass The film consists primarily of slow motion and time-lapse photography of cities and many natural landscapes across the United States. Godfrey Reggio made an extensive use of them to comparise different types of physical motion. This technique of comparison exists throughout the film, and through it we learn more about the world around us. The film progresses from purely natural environments to nature as affected by man, and finally to man's own manmade environment, devoid of nature yet still following the patterns of natural flow as depicted in the beginning of the film, yet in chaos and disarray.
The power of Reggio's imagery is a function not so much of his subject matter, but of the way in which the imagery is presented. The Glass accompaniment emphasizes the grace of movement, which have the impact of a miracolous dance.
The visual tone poem contains neither dialogue nor a vocalized narration: its tone is set by the juxtaposition of images and music. In the Hopi language, the word Koyaanisqatsi means 'crazy life, life in turmoil, life out of balance, life disintegrating, a state of life that calls for another way of living', and the film implies that modern humanity is living in such a way.
Reggio's montage is as fully slow motion as his individual images. We foreswear normal consumption patterns and meditate on individual human beings. Reggio's combination of slow motion and extended shots allows for a contemplation of the variety and beauty of individual, laboring human being. Beyond the headlines and every day crises of international events, a deeper shift in human affairs has occurred: Humanity no longer exists in the natural world, we are no longer connected to it!
You can buy Koyaanisqatsi - Life Out of Balance.
Koyaanisqatsi is also a visual concert of images set to the haunting music of Phillip Glass The film consists primarily of slow motion and time-lapse photography of cities and many natural landscapes across the United States. Godfrey Reggio made an extensive use of them to comparise different types of physical motion. This technique of comparison exists throughout the film, and through it we learn more about the world around us. The film progresses from purely natural environments to nature as affected by man, and finally to man's own manmade environment, devoid of nature yet still following the patterns of natural flow as depicted in the beginning of the film, yet in chaos and disarray.
The power of Reggio's imagery is a function not so much of his subject matter, but of the way in which the imagery is presented. The Glass accompaniment emphasizes the grace of movement, which have the impact of a miracolous dance.
The visual tone poem contains neither dialogue nor a vocalized narration: its tone is set by the juxtaposition of images and music. In the Hopi language, the word Koyaanisqatsi means 'crazy life, life in turmoil, life out of balance, life disintegrating, a state of life that calls for another way of living', and the film implies that modern humanity is living in such a way.
Reggio's montage is as fully slow motion as his individual images. We foreswear normal consumption patterns and meditate on individual human beings. Reggio's combination of slow motion and extended shots allows for a contemplation of the variety and beauty of individual, laboring human being. Beyond the headlines and every day crises of international events, a deeper shift in human affairs has occurred: Humanity no longer exists in the natural world, we are no longer connected to it!
You can buy Koyaanisqatsi - Life Out of Balance.
Oseam (2003)
Two orphans, Gamie, a young blind girl and her little brother Gil-sun, are taken in by a Buddhist monk. While the shy little girl finds her at ease at the temple, the enthusiastic and dynamic little Gil-sun soon starts to disturb this quiet place. After his sister told him their mother had visited her in a dream, the little boy tries to understand why his mom did not come to see him too. In order to meet her again, he decides to follow the monk for a very long initiatic trip.
Oseam is based on a novel by Korean author Jung Chae-bong, who has described it as being a a compassionate philosophical and poetic fable for adults.
Baek-yeob Seong saturated the frames with brilliant colors and imagery that are alternately haunting and inspiring. This film possess a deliberately old fashioned look, comprising of paintings that form a lush backdrop to the moving characters.
It would have reeked of precociousness and suffered far more of emotional manipulation than it already does.
Oseam is based on a novel by Korean author Jung Chae-bong, who has described it as being a a compassionate philosophical and poetic fable for adults.
Baek-yeob Seong saturated the frames with brilliant colors and imagery that are alternately haunting and inspiring. This film possess a deliberately old fashioned look, comprising of paintings that form a lush backdrop to the moving characters.
It would have reeked of precociousness and suffered far more of emotional manipulation than it already does.
The Periwig Maker (1999)
The Periwig-maker is based on The Plague Years by Daniel Defoe. It took many years of hard work to the brother and sister Schäffler team. Their parents made the sets and props in Germany, Spitting Image provided studio space in London for the shoot animated by Phil Dale with puppets by Mackinnon & Saunders.
This short is about one of the many plagues that racked Europe. A Periwig maker seals himself off in medieval plague infested London to escape the danger of infection. When a little girl seeks his help his life is turned upside down. He, locked in his shop, observes the events and writes about them in his journal.
There is nothing sentimental about this film: it just seems to be a straight and no holds barred retelling of events during this plague. Mostly, we see shrouded bodies, and a young girl who lives in the tavern across the way that gets progressively sicker.
The animation style is beautiful and captivating even if the subject matter of the film is grim and unpleasant.
There are references to Jesus Christus' religion. The Pigmaker and the little girl were both mortal. The real story is about the periwig maker's great mistake: his attempt of self-preservation at the expense of Christian charity and mercy.
This short is about one of the many plagues that racked Europe. A Periwig maker seals himself off in medieval plague infested London to escape the danger of infection. When a little girl seeks his help his life is turned upside down. He, locked in his shop, observes the events and writes about them in his journal.
There is nothing sentimental about this film: it just seems to be a straight and no holds barred retelling of events during this plague. Mostly, we see shrouded bodies, and a young girl who lives in the tavern across the way that gets progressively sicker.
The animation style is beautiful and captivating even if the subject matter of the film is grim and unpleasant.
There are references to Jesus Christus' religion. The Pigmaker and the little girl were both mortal. The real story is about the periwig maker's great mistake: his attempt of self-preservation at the expense of Christian charity and mercy.
Snowsheet
JustinVisnesky makes photographs of the simple, quiet times in life; taking the ordinary and making it something more, something for the keeping.
Das Rad (2003)
Rocks is written and directed by Chris Stenner, Arvid Uibel and Heidi Wittlinger. They used a mixture of stop motion, puppetry, and CGI animation.
Thus short is about the evolution of the mankind through the vision of … two rocks.
The film tracks a hillside from ancient times through the present and into the future, usually moving through time at high speed but occasionally switching to real time and showing the inhabitants and objects in motion in their day-to-day existence.
The stone-people Hew and Kew have seen a lot in their everlasting lives on top of their mountain. Therefore they're only mildly amazed by the ongoings in the valley below, they've got their own little problems to deal with. Mankind is discovering and inventing, instead of just woozeling, and this new behavior starts to threaten Hew's and Kew's stoic peacefullness...
They were imbued with so much personality.
Thus short is about the evolution of the mankind through the vision of … two rocks.
The film tracks a hillside from ancient times through the present and into the future, usually moving through time at high speed but occasionally switching to real time and showing the inhabitants and objects in motion in their day-to-day existence.
The stone-people Hew and Kew have seen a lot in their everlasting lives on top of their mountain. Therefore they're only mildly amazed by the ongoings in the valley below, they've got their own little problems to deal with. Mankind is discovering and inventing, instead of just woozeling, and this new behavior starts to threaten Hew's and Kew's stoic peacefullness...
They were imbued with so much personality.
The Moon and the Son: An Imagined Conversation (Oscar 2005)
John Canemaker uses a dazzling array of animation styles and techniques, from black and white photographs to colorful childish drawings and much, explores the difficult emotional terrain of father/son relationships as seen through Canemaker's own turbulent relationship with his father.
It creates a wonderful mix between the reality and the dream, a true person and his image and for the director, between the desire of rediscovering his childhood and the fear about it. It's very sad as the father died before the film was made and it's strange what someone who didn't talk can say to his child and how love can impersonate itself in our lives and stories.
He made this film to resolve long-standing emotional issues he has with my late father. He wanted to find answers to our difficult relationship, to understand the reasons his father was always a feared figure in his childhood, why his father was always angry and defensive, verbally and physically abusive, and often in trouble with the lawuses.
The drawings are really simple but there's so much emotion and creativity that you go out of this film deeply moved and absolutely fascinated. It's the kind of film which makes you want to make animated films, thinking that it's something great and making you think something you didn't think before : animated films can be sometimes more powerful than any other films.
It is a very unusual perspective on The American Dream across all of the 20th century as it swings back and forth from bitter and cynical to loving and almost forgiving.
It creates a wonderful mix between the reality and the dream, a true person and his image and for the director, between the desire of rediscovering his childhood and the fear about it. It's very sad as the father died before the film was made and it's strange what someone who didn't talk can say to his child and how love can impersonate itself in our lives and stories.
He made this film to resolve long-standing emotional issues he has with my late father. He wanted to find answers to our difficult relationship, to understand the reasons his father was always a feared figure in his childhood, why his father was always angry and defensive, verbally and physically abusive, and often in trouble with the lawuses.
The drawings are really simple but there's so much emotion and creativity that you go out of this film deeply moved and absolutely fascinated. It's the kind of film which makes you want to make animated films, thinking that it's something great and making you think something you didn't think before : animated films can be sometimes more powerful than any other films.
It is a very unusual perspective on The American Dream across all of the 20th century as it swings back and forth from bitter and cynical to loving and almost forgiving.
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