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My brief animation show reviews.
Aug. 11th, 2005 01:06 amI went to see The Animation Show tonight. Fun people and fun movies. It was a big crowd, too. Especially considering that they had two shows of it. I am glad I got a chance to see the actual show. I have been lurking at the Animation Show forums off and on for about a year now. I don't know much about animation, but it is fun to read what true aficionados have to say, as well as the animators. Their forums, as well as Animation Nation have the real people involved in the day to day making of shorts, and feature films. Really cool to read things from their perspective. I think it is an under appreciated art form. Especially, the animated short. There isn't enough of an opportunity for people to see animated shorts. And, when they do see them people either expect them to be really funny (which they can be. Hilarious.) if not just for kids. I think deeper messages can be put across with animation, as well as any other form of expression. The show was great. I will try to write a quick write up of each short as much as I remember of each. Actually, to save myself some typing time - I would say this about all of the films. I am absolutely amazed that these things get made. The amount of work and skill behind them all is unbelievable. Not even thinking of the drawing skill, which is considerable. The camera work and the score featured in these small productions works together as well, if not better than some full length films.
This is just in the order that I click on the link at the website. And, by the time I get to the end I will probably be pretty tired so it will be something like. "It was good. Um. And stuff."
Hello
A story about a shy boombox who is trying to work up the courage to talk to his MP3 player neighbor. The character design is what really made this one stand out for me. He was able to pull out full moods using the facial expression and body language of each character. In less than 10 minutes and with no actual dialog (aside from musical interludes that ranged from touching to hysterical.) he put together an engaging story that had a satisfying ending.
Guard Dog
OH man. This one was probably the funniest of the night. A guy takes his dog out for a walk and we get to see into the dog's imagination and find out why everything he barks at poses such a threat to his owner. This was made by Bill Plympton who apparently is a legend to younger animators. I remember his stuff being popular on MTV a few years ago. Some of it I found a bit dry, but this was really good. The same sort of drawing style, just a bit more laugh out loud funny.
The F.E.D.S
The F.E.D.S animation swam. Facial features never stayed in the same place, and perspective seemed to move from frame to frame. It reminded me of bits of Waking Life. I know my roommate found it offputting- but I liked it. The F.E.D.S were Food Education Demo Specialists. Talking about their work and the customers they dealt with. Going by the end credits it looks like these were real people talking about their jobs - which makes it a bit more fun.
Fallen Art
This one has it's politics out on it's sleeve. It was good. The story was interesting and the animation was well done and cool to look at. But, I didn't care much for the design of the characters.
Rock Fish
They were able to convey a real personality with the main character of Rock Fish. A well done computer animated human. They were able to convey comic book heroism and tough guyness without using a voice just with a well designed character and some action movie cliches. Aside from what I thought was a really well done human this one left me a little bit dry. Now, they were able to use the cliches to draw a full character out of the main character. They relied on them too much, so on a whole the short felt more like a reel made to sell the company's skills (which I am sure it is.) than an actual short story.
Pan With Us
I think this is the one that I most need to see again. There are plenty that I want to see again, but this one I need to see again because there is so much going on. Dozens of animations rolling across the screen as someone reads a poem by Robert Frost. Being illiterate, I of course have never read the poem. So, I was really enjoying it. But, I became distracted (in a good way) by the images on the screen so I was unable to pay attention to both. I chose the images. This time.
The Meaning of Life
Reading about how this was made makes it sound even more amazing, and I was already impressed by some of the visuals in this short. There is a section of the film where we pan back from the earth and then the solar system and the screen is filled with stars. The stars put off so much light that you can see beams of light stretching across the theater from each star. It's an amazing affect that meshes well with the amorphous stick figures Hertzfeldt (I met him. So, I can call him Don.) uses to convey evolution, life, and possibilities of life. I am sure I missed a bunch. I liked this one a lot. But, as it was the last one, and Campbell Hall doesn't have the most comfortable chairs my butt was starting to hurt, so I was not giving my utmost attention. I might have missed bits. Really surprised to learn that it was all hand drawn, though. That's incredible.
Ward 13
Ward 13 made me extremely excited about the upcoming Wallace and Gromit movie. Ok. Sure Ward 13 is a little bit creepier. .. ALOT creepier. But, similar styles. So, it had me thinking about Wallace and Gromit - thats a good start for anything. This was a creepy action movie short with plenty of twists and turns and broad comedy. I think this might have been my favorite of the night. Top 2 or 3 for sure.
When the Day Breaks
Oh yeah. When the Day Breaks was fun. I think it did the best job of having a dramatic story, and being funny at the same time. It reminded me a bit of a Carver short story. It asked as many questions as it answered and it told a story by showing and hinting at emotions and not going outright and banging us over the head. In this one little story there was a ton of other little stories that branched out like a city's electrical grid. The design on this also made me realize how much more interesting house fixtures from the past are. All of the kitchen and bathroom fixtures looked like they are from the 50s or earlier and just looked interesting. While, thinking about the sort of thing that goes standard into a house nowadays. It doesn't seem like it would make for a visually interesting anything.
In all the show really turned a bad day into a good day. Hopefully, tomorrow can be a good day without the aid of animation. And then friday? Beercicles.
This is just in the order that I click on the link at the website. And, by the time I get to the end I will probably be pretty tired so it will be something like. "It was good. Um. And stuff."
Hello
A story about a shy boombox who is trying to work up the courage to talk to his MP3 player neighbor. The character design is what really made this one stand out for me. He was able to pull out full moods using the facial expression and body language of each character. In less than 10 minutes and with no actual dialog (aside from musical interludes that ranged from touching to hysterical.) he put together an engaging story that had a satisfying ending.
Guard Dog
OH man. This one was probably the funniest of the night. A guy takes his dog out for a walk and we get to see into the dog's imagination and find out why everything he barks at poses such a threat to his owner. This was made by Bill Plympton who apparently is a legend to younger animators. I remember his stuff being popular on MTV a few years ago. Some of it I found a bit dry, but this was really good. The same sort of drawing style, just a bit more laugh out loud funny.
The F.E.D.S
The F.E.D.S animation swam. Facial features never stayed in the same place, and perspective seemed to move from frame to frame. It reminded me of bits of Waking Life. I know my roommate found it offputting- but I liked it. The F.E.D.S were Food Education Demo Specialists. Talking about their work and the customers they dealt with. Going by the end credits it looks like these were real people talking about their jobs - which makes it a bit more fun.
Fallen Art
This one has it's politics out on it's sleeve. It was good. The story was interesting and the animation was well done and cool to look at. But, I didn't care much for the design of the characters.
Rock Fish
They were able to convey a real personality with the main character of Rock Fish. A well done computer animated human. They were able to convey comic book heroism and tough guyness without using a voice just with a well designed character and some action movie cliches. Aside from what I thought was a really well done human this one left me a little bit dry. Now, they were able to use the cliches to draw a full character out of the main character. They relied on them too much, so on a whole the short felt more like a reel made to sell the company's skills (which I am sure it is.) than an actual short story.
Pan With Us
I think this is the one that I most need to see again. There are plenty that I want to see again, but this one I need to see again because there is so much going on. Dozens of animations rolling across the screen as someone reads a poem by Robert Frost. Being illiterate, I of course have never read the poem. So, I was really enjoying it. But, I became distracted (in a good way) by the images on the screen so I was unable to pay attention to both. I chose the images. This time.
The Meaning of Life
Reading about how this was made makes it sound even more amazing, and I was already impressed by some of the visuals in this short. There is a section of the film where we pan back from the earth and then the solar system and the screen is filled with stars. The stars put off so much light that you can see beams of light stretching across the theater from each star. It's an amazing affect that meshes well with the amorphous stick figures Hertzfeldt (I met him. So, I can call him Don.) uses to convey evolution, life, and possibilities of life. I am sure I missed a bunch. I liked this one a lot. But, as it was the last one, and Campbell Hall doesn't have the most comfortable chairs my butt was starting to hurt, so I was not giving my utmost attention. I might have missed bits. Really surprised to learn that it was all hand drawn, though. That's incredible.
Ward 13
Ward 13 made me extremely excited about the upcoming Wallace and Gromit movie. Ok. Sure Ward 13 is a little bit creepier. .. ALOT creepier. But, similar styles. So, it had me thinking about Wallace and Gromit - thats a good start for anything. This was a creepy action movie short with plenty of twists and turns and broad comedy. I think this might have been my favorite of the night. Top 2 or 3 for sure.
When the Day Breaks
Oh yeah. When the Day Breaks was fun. I think it did the best job of having a dramatic story, and being funny at the same time. It reminded me a bit of a Carver short story. It asked as many questions as it answered and it told a story by showing and hinting at emotions and not going outright and banging us over the head. In this one little story there was a ton of other little stories that branched out like a city's electrical grid. The design on this also made me realize how much more interesting house fixtures from the past are. All of the kitchen and bathroom fixtures looked like they are from the 50s or earlier and just looked interesting. While, thinking about the sort of thing that goes standard into a house nowadays. It doesn't seem like it would make for a visually interesting anything.
In all the show really turned a bad day into a good day. Hopefully, tomorrow can be a good day without the aid of animation. And then friday? Beercicles.
