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 attests to the vitality of these works, but there are few other venues for their exhibition, nor are they often reviewed. As a result, distribution tends to be difficult and irregular. On a regular basis, Animation World Magazine will highlight some of the most interesting of these films.

Life Line (2007) 6:30, directed by Tomek Ducki (Hungary). Contact: Tomek Ducki [W] www.tomekducki.com [E] duckitomek@gmail.com

Procrastination (2007) 4:15, directed by John Kelly (U.K.). Contact: Johnny Kelly [T] +447930436653, [W] www.mickeyandjohnny.com, www.nexusproductions.com [E] johnny@mickeyandjohnny.com

The Tale of How (2006), 4:30, directed by The Black Heart Gang (South Africa). Contact: The Black Heart Gang [T] +27 (0)214686030 [W] www.theblackheartgang.com [E] ree@theblackheartgang.com

To Shoot a Rurf (2007), 8:40, directed by Shane Sheils & Paula Sheils (Ireland). Contact: Shane Sheils and Paula Sheils, Dwarfed Films [W] www.dwarfedfilms.blogspot.com, www.toshootarurf.blogspot.com [E] dwarfedfilms@eircom.net

Life Line is a beautiful piece of animation, and is anything but simple. The impressive attention to detail makes the film worth watching in slo-mo a few times. © Tomek Ducki.

Life Line
Time waits for no one. Young or old, great or small, all of us are moving forward, constantly, forever.

Hungarian director Tomek Ducki explores this notion of predetermined, fatalistic pathways in his compelling new short film Life Line.

The story follows beings constructed entirely of gears skating along a series of trackways. Forward motion is their raison d'être -- they skate onward, forever, or they cease to be. Day in, day out, for all eternity, and no one questions the system.

That is, until love enters the picture. Our nameless, identity-lacking protagonist nearly crosses paths with a female skater racing along a parallel track. A series of tantalizing near misses leads him to do the unthinkable, and he attempts to change his existence and pursue his newfound reason for being. Unfortunately, the system doesn't take kindly to variations from the norm, and our hero's efforts to change himself are ultimately in vain, as the system conquers all.

Life Line is a beautiful piece of animation, created by Ducki using Moho 2D animation software and Adobe After Effects. The plain, soothing sky in the background provides a great contrast with the stark, simple gear people that populate its universe.

Actually, "simple" is the wrong word to use in describing Ducki's characters. Each one is composed of dozens of interlocking gears, most of which move and rotate individually as each character progresses along its pathway. The attention to detail within each character is impressive, and it's worth watching Life Line in slow motion a few times in order to fully appreciate just what Ducki was able to accomplish in this short.

The peaceful, relaxing, repetitive soundtrack puts the viewer at ease throughout the film, and no matter how much individual suffering the characters endure, the "don't fight the system" theme of Life Line is constantly reinforced. In the words of Ducki, "rules are set, paths are narrow, mistakes fatal, and there's no way back. Sound familiar?"

Finally, after years of thinking about maybe possibly doing something about it, director Johnny Kelly has bravely addressed Procrastination. © Johnny Kelly.

Procrastination
Why do today what you can put off until tomorrow? Or the next day? Or the day after that?

Everyone is familiar with procrastination, but finally, after years of thinking about maybe possibly doing something about it, director Johnny Kelly has bravely stepped up to the plate and addressed this serious malady, which affects just about every man, woman and child on the face of the earth.

Procrastination was created as Kelly's thesis project in pursuit of his postgraduate masters degree in the field of animation. Armed with a budget of $900, Kelly's own difficulty in determining subject matter for his thesis led him to choose procrastination itself as his topic, and he's got nine festival awards and honors to confirm that he made the right choice.