Within the world of animation, most experimentation occurs within short format productions, whether they are 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.

Dragon (2006), 7:35, directed by Troy Morgan (U.S.) Contact Troy Morgan [E] troy@troymorgan.net [W] www.troymorgan.com

The Love Train (2005), 7:53, directed by Eva Bennett (U.K.) Contact: Eva Bennett [E] evabennett@hotmail.com

A Plan (2004), 8:00, directed by Tom Schroeder (U.S.) Contact: Tom Schroeder [E] tom_schroeder@mcad.edu

Stasis (2005), 7:30, directed by Jason Hite (U.S.) Contact: [E] jason@hitestudios.com [W] www.hitestudios.com

Vaudeville (2005), 5:10, directed by Chansoo Kim (U.S./S. Korea) Contact:Allison Melanson, University of Southern California [T] 213.740.4432 [E] allisonm@cinema.usc.edu [W] www.chansookim.com

One hot mama has a rendezvous with a lonely reptile on The Love Train. © Eva Bennett.

The Love Train
The Love Train is a lyrical short in two scenes about a recently widowed lady dragon looking for love in a world where she has frankly too much to offer. The traditionally animated short begins poignantly in a drowsy tilt down a wall of photographs of a dragon and her mate, a Guy Fawkes dummy. The dummy looks less and less pleased, and a bit more singed, as the years go by. A pan to the right reveals the dragon is by herself now, sitting on the edge of her empty bed, and she takes her husband’s last lonely shirt out of the closet and inhales a long whiff of scent before she folds it neatly, puts her wedding ring in the pocket and shuts it in a drawer.

There are no messages on her machine tonight. She’s saved a business card for a singles service, as well as a train ticket, and she sets it next to the lamp as she cuddles up with the cat and goes to sleep. The next morning she boards her train and reads the paper, her eye lingering over a classified ad she’s placed (“FIRE BREATHING DRAGON seeks kind man with asbestos suit”). She watches forlornly as the train pulls in to a station and stops, a group of snowmen waiting on the platform. In short order a snowman does join her in her coach, and immediately tries to put the moves on the attractive lady dragon. She laughs demurely and looks aside as the snowman tries to nudge her affectionately, but when she looks back he’s gone, a heap of steam and two bits of coal on the floor. Self-consciously she cleans up the mess and goes back to staring out the window.

In the front of the train is a lonely coalman, a gecko whose tic-tac-toe board on the cabin wall hints that he’s been keeping score in a singularly lonely game for some time. He sighs and shivers as he blows on the fire and takes the train out into the countryside, through deep valleys piled with fresh snow. It’s avalanche country, and drifts are starting to settle on the tracks. Suddenly a big one piles right on to the engine car, covering the coalman, and the train drifts to a stop.

The curious dragon exits her coach and climbs to the front of the train, where she sees the coalman, blue and stiff. She of course breathes fire to get the engine going again, but she administers more gentle care and attention to the coalman, taking his hand in hers and slowly turning his blue hue brown again. Their eyes meet…

The Love Train is a sweet and simple concoction with some real grief at its core, which nevertheless plays out in a whimsical world of fantasy just next door to our busy commuter universe. Animator Eva Bennett completed it at Southampton Solent University last year as her third-year degree project in animation, and the rough drawings have been composited into a digital environment of muted browns, grays and blues. The music is quiet and Satie-influenced.