The Mosquito and the Horse was made for television as a personal project within the Multi Film and Nukufilm studios, with support from the Estonian Film Foundation and the Cultural Endowment of Estonia. It employs a variety of production tools: dpsReality Animate, MAYA Alias|Wavefront, Creatoon, and Digital Fusion. It has screened at film festivals around the world.

Tongues and Taxi. © Michael Overbeck.

Tongues and Taxis
I distinctly recall watching Tongues and Taxis (2000) at a film festival screening of student works and thinking that it stood out from the rest quite clearly. The reason, basically, is that its characters and story are remarkably interesting, surprising and imaginative — I hate to add — ‘for a student work.’ Essentially, it tells the story of a man who becomes angry and bites off his tongue. His pet cat comes to the rescue with a staple gun, which readies the man for his trip to the doctor, where the tongue launches into adventures of its own. The cat comes through again at the end of the film, as the tongue — which grows to gigantic proportions — threatens the city. The story rests somewhere between a dreamlike stream-of-consciousness work and a perfectly synchronized almost linear narrative.

Director Michael Overbeck explains that Tongues and Taxis grew out of a ‘blind storyboarding’ process, in which he drew up a storyboard from a single picture and gathered ideas for actions and characters as he drew. The result, he explains, is that he began by developing visual gags and characters, with themes and plotlines emerging later. Watching the film, one can see how his process influenced his work, in a positive way. Clearly apparent, too, is the influence of Monty Python, Richard Condie and especially Gary Larsen. Overbeck created the film as his degree project at Rhode Island School of Design using Flash 4 and Maya 2.0 to create its images, as well as Final Cut (for sound editing) and After Effects. It has shown at a wide range of festivals across the world and has won several prizes.

It's Alive! © 2001 Paul George/Terry Ziegelman.

It's Aive!
Drawing upon the conventions of the horror film genre, It’s Alive! (2001) tells the story of a creature who brings to life a little Frankenstein-like dog. To suggest the look of an old movie, a ‘scratchy’ effect is added to the muted color images in the computer-generated production. English-language dialogue is included on black and white intertitles, suggesting a silent film aesthetic. In creating It’s Alive!, the two directors of the film approached the project from very different perspectives. Terry Ziegelman drew upon his background in illustration and painting, using a self-described ‘pragmatic approach,’ while Paul George came to the project with training in music and a more improvisational attitude.

The directors endeavored to create stylized characters and animation, avoiding a photo-realistic look that they felt might overshadow the film’s story. The project originated with George, who designed its characters, drawing inspiration from Chuck Jones and Tim Burton. Originally, Zeigelman, who is currently employed by Big Idea Productions, was brought on the project as a lighting/texture artist. However, he took over as the project’s director after George accepted a position at Digital Domain. It’s Alive! was completed as a graduate thesis work at Savannah College of Art and Design. SCAD later developed it into a promotional DVD, using it as a showpiece to represent its student work.

A wide range of software packages were used in creating It’s Alive!, including Maya, Deep Paint, Photoshop, Renderman and After Effects. Many textures and backgrounds were painted traditionally and applied digitally. The film has shown in various film festivals, including the World Animation Celebration, where it won second place in the Student category.

Caged. © Ashley Hoffman.

Caged
Ashley Hoffman’s computer-generated work, Caged (2002), was created as a second-year work at the University of California, Los Angeles Animation Workshop. It tells the story of a girl who ventures into her basement and finds a caged object, which looks a bit like a piece of crumpled paper. She takes out a key, removing it from the cage and attaching it to a leash. Eventually, the once-caged object breaks free of the leash and the basement and soars upward, joining birds in the sky.