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Fresh From the Festivals: February 2000's Film Reviews

Within the world of animation, most experimentation occurs within short format productions, whether they be high budgeted commercials, low budgeted independent shorts, or something in between. The growing number of short film festivals around the world attest to the vitality of these works, but there are few other venues for exhibition of them or even written reviews. As a result, distribution tends to be difficult and irregular. On a regular basis, Animation World ...

Within the world of animation, most experimentation occurs within short format productions, whether they be high budgeted commercials, low budgeted independent shorts, or something in between. The growing number of short film festivals around the world attest to the vitality of these works, but there are few other venues for exhibition of them or even written reviews. As a result, distribution tends to be difficult and irregular. On a regular basis, Animation World Magazine will highlight some of the most interesting with short descriptive overviews. If you have the QuickTime plug-in, you can view a clip from each film by simply clicking the image.

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3 Misses. © Channel 4 Television.

3 Misses A recent production by Paul Driessen, 3 Misses is in many respects typical of the Dutch director's work. Anyone familiar with some of his other films, such as The End of the World in Four Seasons (1995), might expect a complex narrative filled with subtle humor. In this case, a series of would-be rescuers fall just a bit short of saving three damsels in distress. Among them are seven dwarfs running to get to the unfortunate Snow White, along the way crossing paths with an assortment of other fairy tale characters who inevitably impede their progress. In 3 Misses, Driessen's narratives do not appear simultaneously on the screen (End of the World had up to nine panels appearing at one time), but rather are woven together in a linear way. However, in this film he continues to play with the edges of the frame, sometimes placing his characters within boxes on the screen. Also familiar in this drawn and painted on cel film is Driessen's characteristic tendency to flatten perspective and employ a thin wavy line in rendering his figures. Driessen's animation stands out in part because of its self-referential quality (revealing its status as a series of created images), as well as the timing and complexity of the stories he tells; they can be watched and appreciated many times. 3 Misses was produced by Nico Crama and Cinété Filmproduktie in the Netherlands, in association with the British Channel Four Television and with funding from the Dutch Film Fund. It runs 10.5 minutes and contains no dialogue.

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Fishing. © Pacific Data Images.

Fishing From Pacific Data Images comes Fishing, a computer-animated "independent project" directed and animated by David Gainey and produced by John "JR" Robeck. Watercolor effects in the film were created by Cassidy Curtis, using PDI's image processing tool-set. PDI has supported the production of several independent projects that showcase the accomplishments of its artists and serve as a ground for research and development. This film employs PDI's Fluid Dynamics Simulation System, developed by Nick Foster, who received a Sci/Tech Certificate from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in 1999. The four-minute film was debuted at SIGGRAPH `99, where it was touted as the first use of the water simulation system since the "flood sequence" in the company's feature, Antz (1998).

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Mum. © AtomFilms.

Mum The Experimental Animation program at the California Institute of the Arts is known for its exceptional student work; headed by Jules Engel, it is considered to be one of the best animation programs in the world. Among its recent productions is Mum, a puppet animation that tells the story of a woman who appears to be trapped in a marriage with a violent man. The film was produced and directed by undergraduate Nicholas Peterson, whose faculty advisors included Raimund Krumme and Mark Osborne. The film opens with a slow pan along wooden floorboards, slightly parted and tacked unevenly with nails. Eventually we see the fine lace of a wedding dress, followed by the fidgeting hands and tense face of a young bride. From the onset, one can see that among the film's primary strengths is its set design, which is quite detailed and lends much to the creation of mood. Producer-director Peterson created the sets, plus served as director of photography and editor. Although his use of soft focus and quick edits is sometimes distracting, on the whole the photography (on 35 mm film, using some CGI) helps with setting the mood as well; slow pans, accompanied by a mournful score by Jasper Randall, reflect the sense of entrapment and dread the character feels. To be honest, the film's "story" itself is not very clear -- though I know there is resolution at the end of the film, I am left wondering about what transpired to get to that point. Among my other questions is why the director selected the film's title sequence, which features a zoom into the stomach of a sculpted female figure, followed by the film's title overlaid on what appears to be swirling ink in water. This part of the film was shot in high speed live-action photography, as opposed to animation. Lacking texture and suggesting to me at least that the film is about childbirth, it (thankfully) seems quite out of character with the rest of the production. Dotted though it is with elements that could be refined, the film nonetheless suggests that Peterson holds great promise, particularly as a designer. Credit also goes to lead animator and puppet construction artist David J. Candelaria, for his work with the film's armatured figures, made from wire, latex, a clay/wax mixture and fabric. The film already has won top awards for Best Undergraduate Film in two festivals, plus received numerous screenings in official selections. Completed in 1999, after two years of work, Mum runs 7.5 minutes and contains no dialogue.

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The Queen's Monastery. © Pearly Oysters Productions.

The Queen's Monastery

Emma Calder's film, The Queen's Monastery, is also quite interesting visually. This work was created with ink and paint on paper, creating the look of individually painted images combined to create a stylized animated production. The film's "story," told without words, is about the way war has changed a young man who returns home to his lover. The playful man the woman once knew (he worked as an acrobat) has been transformed into a sword-bearing warrior who lies silently in bed. She herself appears more distant too, until her flowing hair -- tied tightly to her head when he returns -- is released once more before the end of the film. Calder studied at the London College of Printing and the Royal College of Art, with an emphasis in graphic design. Having worked in cut-outs, potato stamping, and other innovative techniques, it is not surprising that The Queen's Monastery has a strong visual element, largely consisting of black and grays on a white background. The film was produced by Pearly Oyster Productions, a company Calder founded in 1989 with Ged Haney.

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Little Dark Poet. © bolexbrothers.

Little Dark Poet

From >bolexbrothers, the studio which produced the pixillated feature The Secret Adventures of Tom Thumb (directed by Dave Borthwick, 1995), comes another film combining animation and live-action material in an unusual way: Little Dark Poet, directed by Mike Booth (whose first film, The Saint Inspector, was widely screened at festivals). Little Dark Poet depicts a clay figure writing a silent-era film scenario in which two live-action lovers interact in various ways. However, the "actors" become aware of the author's manipulations and are increasingly unhappy, particularly when the ending is a tragedy of sorts. In order to create the sense of a "silent" film, a nostalgic look is given to Little Dark Poet through effects such as tinted frames, as well as "scratches" and "lines" laid over the images (see Osamu Tezuka's Broken Down Film for somewhat similar effects). It also appears that a visual reference to F.W. Murnau's Expressionist classic Nosferatu is created, as a large shadow of a vampire-like image is reflected onto a wall. These effects are moderately interesting, but the lighting and design of the three-dimensional writer and his environment seem more complex. This film was commissioned by the British Television Network, Channel 4. In keeping with the idea of a silent-era film, Little Dark Poet contains no dialogue. Maureen Furniss, Ph.D., is Assistant Professor and Program Director of Film Studies at Chapman University in Orange, California. She is the Founding Editor of Animation Journal (John Libbey, 1998)

Attached Files 
AttachmentSize
1518-3misses.mov1.12 MB
1518-fishing.mov1.55 MB
1518-mum.mov1.52 MB
1518-queen.mov1.54 MB
1518-darkpoet.mov1.45 MB