Fumi and the Bad Luck Foot is a humorous story based on a personal dilemma. © 2005 Thunderbean Animation. All rights reserved.

Fumi and the Bad Luck Foot (USA, 2005, 7 min., color, Sony HD Cam) Director: Davie Chai

Fumi faces a shotgun barrage, wild moose attack and infant electrocution, but still manages to transform the curse of her unlucky foot into a means to save the world.

This humorous story, based on a real person’s personal dilemma, was done in traditional 2D animation. The project took 55 days and had a large crew composed of director David Chai’s students. The students worked on different areas — from animation to backgrounds — keeping a consistent look and style by following model sheets created by Chai.

Originally inspired by the purity of the image of a white owl against a dark sky, Fable was developed into a study of the conflicts between men and women. © Daniel Sousa.

Fable (USA, 2005, 7 min., color, 35mm) Director: Daniel Sousa

The story organically grew without a script from different sketches of animals. Director Daniel Sousa was drawn to the purity of the image of a white owl against a dark sky. It evolved into a study of the conflicts between men and women.

The animation is hand-painted and etched into acetate. It was colored digitally under the pencil line work. Sousa took five years working in his spare time to create the film, although in the last year he spent about 50% of his time to complete the work.

A bizarrely humorous short, A Half Man’s big problem is his organs keep falling out. © Firas Momani.

A Half Man (Canada, 2005, 5 min., color, Sony HD Cam) Director: Firas Momani

In this bizarrely humorous story, a half man has to live in society. The only trouble is, his organs keep falling out. The idea for the film came from the anatomy charts seen in doctor’s offices where the human figure is halved to should its inner parts.

Director Firas Momani created the puppets and sets for his stop-motion animation film, animating from the inside out. He has an animation background, but also used music as an inspiration. Using lighting to create mood is an important part in his creative process. His tools included Adobe Photoshop, After Effects and Premiere.