Film S Djevojcicom (Film with a Girl), directed by Daniel Suljic. © Zagreb Film. 320x240 | 160x120

Film with a Girl
In Film with a Girl, director Daniel Suljic tells the story of a young girl who confronts many situations in the course of her day, some frustrating and some a little scary. Using the technique of oil on glass, he creates a sketchy, child-like drawing in black and white, which is effective in telling the story of the spunky character. Though Suljic doesn't go so far as to develop the personality of the girl, he certainly creates an individual that is full of energy and a certain charm. The part I like best is where she bops a dopey boy on the head after he is unresponsive; other instances, where she is offered drugs, for example, are a little heavy handed, but would seem to get a clear message across to kids. Later, the girl is rescued by an Elvis-like figure, an action I think contributes to the film's success (I've never seen a film including 'the King' that I didn't like!).

A variety of Croatian artists contributed to the realization of the eight-minute film, including animator Stjepan Bartolic, editor Bajko I. Hromalic and musician Tomislave Babic. Suljic not only directed the film, but served as animator and writer as well. Born in Zagreb, he studied at the School of the Applied Arts and the Zagreb Academy of Arts before graduating from the Hochschule fur Angewandte Kunst in Vienna in 1997. He is a successful musician and created a number of other animated works while he was a student. Film with a Girl, which is without dialogue, is distributed by Zagreb Film.

Legend Bob Godrey's Millenium - The Musical. © Channel 4. 320x240 | 160x120

Millenium - The Musical
Animation director Bob Godfrey is a legendary figure within the British animation industry, having established a studio in London, Biographic Films, in the mid-1950s, with partners and later branching off on his own. Over the years, he has created a number of irreverent short works, including Kama Sutra Rides Again (1971), which captures his off-beat humor, often developed around sexual content. That film was created in conjunction with scriptwriter Stan Hayward, whom he worked with on several occasions. Some of his other films have been biographical, such as, Great, a half-hour production on engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel (1975) and a fifteen-minute work on Margaret Thatcher (1999).

In Millenium - The Musical, Godfrey takes on the challenge of telling the last one thousand years of English history within a twenty-two minute short. To do so, he combines traditional cel animation techniques with stills and a bit of live-action footage; post-production was digital. The film was commissioned by Channel 4 Television in the United Kingdom on a very tight schedule. Although he had been thinking of doing the project as a ninety-minute feature for ten years, when he received approval for a shorter version, he had only twenty-two weeks in which to complete it. Working without a storyboard, he created a spontaneous feeling in the work, which employs a variety of stylized limited animation techniques.

At times, the film's lyrics are difficult to understand -- at least for a Yank like me -- because of a strong English accent and relatively fast pacing. I also think that the narrative frame, which involves a town cryer who tells the history of England on stage before a somewhat frantic modern-day producer, could have been reduced a bit in favor of the actual events being told (they focus mainly on political rulers, wars, disease and inventions). However, I realize that the film is as much about Bob Godfrey's own brand of humor as the actual telling of British history, so concessions should be made. Using music and humor as a means of enlivening history is, in the long run, a good choice. The Bubonic plague is so much more interesting when it is described by singing skeletons. The ruthlessness of Richard III makes more of an impact when a chorus sings, "What a very tricky chap, that Richard!" in a lively way. With more pre-planning, timing could have been tightened a bit. However, to have accomplished the film at all on such a tight schedule reflects Godfrey's skills and experience as a well-seasoned animation director. Aiding him in his effort was writer Colin Pearson and composer Rowland Lee, both of England.

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 and the author of Art in Motion: Animation Aesthetics (John Libbey, 1998).