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.

Stanley (2000)

Suzie Templeton will intrigue audiences with her darkly comic film Stanley. While his wife wreaks violence and death in the kitchen, Stanley finds life and love in a cabbage he is growing in his barren back yard.
This short features just two human puppets and shows deep feeling and melancholy.



It's her first work and every element is already perfect. The background is delivered so well it's amazing. The final punch line is a bit subtle but up till then it's all sublime. Little details, little expressions, little movements tell so much about the inner feelings.

Kataku (1979)

Kihachiro Kawamoto is a pioneer in the neglected field of stop motion puppet animation. He takes inspiration from his fortuitous meeting with the Czech maestro Jiri Trinka and from the Russian Ladislaw Starewicz. He was impressed by how Trinka's and Strarewicz's puppets truly began to take on a life of their own. But today, Kawamoto's puppets are so beautiful and expressive he can't envy his masters.



Kawamoto turned to Japan's aesthetic traditions for his subject matter.
House of Flame is based on the Noh play ‘Motomezuka - the Seeker’s Mound’, which tells the story of a young woman named Unai-Otome who is loved by two men. Not knowing which to choose, in anguish, she chooses death. And although her intentions are pure, not even the grave brings the respite she longed for from her earthly dilemma.
The short is haunting and poetic, at the same time. It narrates of passion and loss.



House of Flame isn't a pure stop motion. It's melded with more conventional 2d techniques, such as the painted matte foregrounds of flames and water as the young maiden finds herself plunged into the very depths of hell itself, both masking out and balancing the colour composition across the frame.
You can buy The Exquisite Short Films of Kihachiro Kawamoto (1968-1979) and The Book of the Dead.

Shaun the Sheep (2007)

Shaun the Sheep is a British show from Aardman Animations ('Wallace & Gromit') about a Sheep named Shaun. The character of Shawn the Sheep made his TV debut on Christmas Eve 1996 in Nick Park's Academy Award-winning short film A Close Shave where one of Wallace's contraptions sheared off all of Shaun's wool. Shaun later appeared in the 2002 series Cracking Contraptions episode, Shopper 13, ostensibly to rescue a wayward wheel of cheese.

The spin off series, Shaun the Sheep, consist of fourty episodes, each seven minutes long.

In this series, Shaun has many adventures with his barnyard compatriots and the rest of his flock. He is a sheep who doesn't follow the flock. The series is hilarious, adorable and far too good for the children it is clearly aimed at. Inquisitive, imaginative and mischievous, Shawn's independent nature can lead him into tricky situations. He is still young and quite naïve and his curiosity and inexperience can prove a recipe for trouble.
Every episode is a combination of slapstick and classic silent comedy in Aardman’s recognisable animation style. There is no spoken dialogue, even by human characters. In this way the series is reminiscent of early silent comedy films.

You can buy Shaun the Sheep - The Box Set and Shaun The Sheep - Saturday Night Shaun.

Vormittagsspuk (1928)

Ghost Before Breakfast was produced for the International Music Festival at Baden-Baden with a score by Paul Hindemith. The film came out in 1927-1928, so it was conducted from a rolling score. But the Nazi regime saw this film as a form of degenerative art, so it destroyed the sound version.
Hats flying, guys with suits climbing ladders, etc. It's a very rhythmical story of the rebellion of everyday objects against daily routine.

Ghost Before Breakfast is different from previous films by Richter. For the first time, he makes a narrative film characterized by a subtly absurd humour, instead of attempting to make music through images. However, there is a great rhythm to this film: cut outs and the repetition of actions give to this film order and chaos.
This short is also considered a lesson in stop-motion cinema for its many interesting special effects and inventive visual tricks, although the animation of the hats did not succeed.

Dog Interface (2000)

The Most Gigantic Lying Mouth of All Time (TMGLMOAT) is a Radiohead DVD released on December 1, 2004. It is directed and edited by Chris Bran. The film contains all four episodes of TMGLMOAT and features new songs with numerous live videos. It also has animations and interviews with the band.
One of the episodes is The Dog Interface, a short film directed by the acclaimed Juan Pablo Etcheverry. It's pure poetry!

In a futuristic world, human society has been annihilated. People continue to live but they have mutated and even if their knowledge of science and techology continues to grow, they no longer comunicate with each other.
Their life is impersonal, without a soul. Everything, every human life can be "rehealed" artificiously. People don't need anything, they no longer need to be human.
Dog Interface is the most poetic cyberpunk tale I've ever watched!

AM Syndicate - To the Peasants of the Emperor (2005)

In many ways, this film is experimental as it makes you dance around the line between reality and fiction through the use of animation and meta-narration. The final effect is awesome. You become a child once more as you watch it.

The music is by AM Syndicate, a band formed in the Spring of 2004 by Omar Chavez of Rhythm of Black Lines, Danny Wood of The Rise and later.
The animation is by Eric Power. He created Clear Productions, an independent production company spanning multiple styles of cinematic expression. Apart from creating films, he works freelance in the fields of photography, art and videography.

Finding Madame Tutli Putli (2007)

Dog (2002)

A moving tale from Suzie Templeton about a young boy who, grieving for his dead mother, seeks reassurance from his father.
This film is about a relationship between a father and son. To protect each other they bravely hold their agony inside, where it festers.

Suzie will intrigue you with this darkly comic film. Dog captures frail, complex emotions that teeter on the edge of darkness, like when the father rubs his temples or like the lifeless swing of his arm after he flicks off the bedroom light.
Everything about this animation is wonderfully subtle and delicate. The puppets are beautifully crafted and the music is just right!
Winner of the 2002 BAFTA for best short animation and of the Grand Prix at the Ottawa Student Animation Festival

Madame Tutli Putli (inspiration, 2007)

You might be interested in Madame Tutli Putli (integral video), in The making of Madame Tutli Putli and in Madame Tutli Putli(eyes created by Jason Walker)

La Flor Más Grande del Mundo (2007)

Based on the novel of the same name by Jose Saramago, 'La Flor Más Grande del Mundo(The World's Largest Flower)' is a poetic juvenile story that proclaims the value of small actions and respect for the nature. Juan Pablo Etcheverry, who was nominated for the best Goya 2005 with the short animation' Minotauromaquia, Pablo en el laberinto', has begun again to fuse digital effects with plasticine. One of the characters in La Flor Más Grande del Mundo is actually Jose Saramago, who narrates the story.

This short film, full of symbols and enigmas, is aimed at the childhood audience that is growing in a world which has not yet being broken by individualism, violence and the lack of ideals. In this short film we can find two messages, one for children (the discovery of our value and altruism) and another one for all men and women who interrogate themselves about their place in the world.

You can watch the video here.

You buy the novel LA Flor Mas Grande Del Mundo/the World's Largest Flower.

Madame Tutli Putli(eyes created by Jason Walker, 2007)

You might be interested in Madame Tutli Putli (integral video) and in The making of Madame Tutli Putli

Madame Tutli Putli (The Making of, 2007)

If you want to watch Madame Tutli Putli, click here.

Madame Tutli Putli (2007)

Madame Tutli Putli is Lavis & Szczerbowski's first professional film. They, in fact, wrote, animated and directed the film entirely by themselves. The National Film Board of Canada presents a stunning, stop-motion animated film that takes the viewer on an exhilarating existential journey. The film introduces groundbreaking visual techniques and is supported by a haunting and original score. Puppets, costumes and sets are very detailed. Lavis & Szczerbowski rejected traditional stop-motion puppet armatures and built aluminum wire skeletons by hand: it took seven months of work! The same level of intricacy and attention to detail went into costuming. All of the film sets were hand built, too.

The special visual effects were produced in collaboration with acclaimed portrait artist Jason Walker. For each scene, he analyzed the puppet's animation with great patience and precise notes. The he positioned, digitally scaled, painted and re-timed the footage for nuance and believability of gesture.
They have done an incredible job: the changing light which moves across the travelers' faces; the figure of Madame Tutli-Putli, who embodies a wide range of emotions and displays an authentic feminility! It just might represent the technical high-point of stop-motion technique to date.
Madame Tutli-Putli boards the Night Train, weighed down with all her earthly possessions and the ghosts of her past. She travels alone, facing both the kindness and menace of strangers. As day descends into dark, she finds herself caught up in a desperate metaphysical adventure. Her past remains sketchy, but we can perceive enough to become involved in her story.
The Canadian animated short Madame Tutli-Putli has won two awards at the Cannes film festival and now it could be the next Oscar winner.
Enjoy the video! It takes time to download the movie, please be patient.
If you want to buy it, click here

Meme le pigeons vont au paradise (2007)

(Even Pigeons Go To Heaven) by Samuel Tourneux

A funny story about a priest who tries to sell an old man a machine that he promises will transport him to heaven. There are many amusing characteristics in the short's brief running time which abounds in the dialogue exchange between the two characters. Its narrative style reminds me of the Pixar animation style.
Watch this cartoon now! This is the only version with English subtitles I could find.

Peter & The Wolf (2006)

The film was made at the Se-ma-for Studios in Łódź, Poland between February and August 2006. The live premier was held on September 29 2006 at the Royal Albert Hall in London, accompanied by the Philharmonic Orchestra. Since then the film has toured with both live and recorded accompaniment around Britain, in Hong Kong and in Australia. The British television premier was shown on Channel 4 on Christmas Eve, 2006, and was accompanied by pre-recorded music performed by the Philharmonic Orchestra.
Peter & The Wolf took two of the top prizes at Annecy - the Annecy Crystal for Best Short and the coveted Audience Award.

Peter is a tormented soul, living as he does with an old drunken relative. On the edge of the vast forests of Russia, where wolves still roam, lies a little cottage surrounded by a big, high fence. This is where Peter lives with his grumpy Grandfather. Grandfather will not let Peter go out into the forest. "What if a wolf comes? What then?"
Peter and the Wolf is exceptional in its use of stop-frame animation to create serious movies with impact. The quality of the set and of the models is quite exceptional. The subtle expressions on the faces of all the parties is very revealing. The detail of the old house and the make-shift wall protecting it from all-comers put the best excesses of Waterworld in the shade. Without giving the game away for those yet to see this gem, not everything goes to plan.
In this version, instead of hunters there are two ugly and brutal militiamen. The grandfather is not a kindly old man, the house is a mess and Peter is bullied unmercifully by the neighbourhood thugs. The wolf is all menace. All this and no mention of the conclusion and theme. Templeton's adaptation is very modern, providing psychological depth. When Peter spares the wolf it is not out of naive sentimentality, but it's more of a statement against the brutality of our world!