ANIMATION WORLD MAGAZINE - ISSUE 5.02 - MAY 2000

Fresh from the Festivals: May 2000’s Film Reviews
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© 3D Films.

Slim Pickings
This plasticene animated short tells the story of a little creature who is so hungry he is forced to eat his best friend, who happens to be a plant. In better days, the two had shared picnics and joyful times, but now they are in a post-apocalyptic setting -- the last two beings on earth. To his horror, he realizes -- too late -- that his friend had produced a big tomato for him to eat. Director Anthony Lucas describes the film as Hitchcock suspense combined with classic tragedy, explaining, "On a hungry planet theirs was a friendship that was all-consuming."

The film’s success lies in its use of music to enhance the emotion in the film, which is created quite well through animation of the central figure. Also well designed is the environment in which the action takes place, which consists primarily of a dimly lit home and a junkyard. Lighting effects and a variety of camera angles and movement, as well as cinematic editing add greatly to the storytelling. Slim Pickings was shot with a motion control camera with in-camera effects on 35mm, using a Mitchell GC. It runs approximately 4 minutes and has no dialogue. The film was produced in association with the Australian Film Commission and has been shown at a variety of film festivals, including Sundance. It is distributed theatrically by Spike & Mike (contact: Sara Henson by e-mail: spectra@cts.com).

In 1995, Lucas founded his company, 3D Films, to produce all kinds of three-dimensional animation. To date, it has specialized in clay and model animation, making mostly television commercials and an occasional work for children’s television. Currently in production is a series of station IDs in the style of Jules Verne and an internationally co-produced short film about a drought in the Australian desert.

© Van Phan.

Wild Card
Van Phan’s computer animated student project, Wild Card, depicts the search of a Queen of Hearts card for her true love. No King or Jack can satisfy her; instead, she holds out for the Wild Card. This work actually began as an exercise with cutouts, then progressed to an animated production using a deck of cards, which were sturdier and more suitable for animation. Through his study of various other works, Phan decided that his focus in the film should be on story elements, rather than detailed models and environments. However, he has used effects such as rack focus, shadows and silhouettes creatively, to add variety to his visuals. The card-like characteristics of his central figures, which are flat and simply colored, made them easier to model, bone, texture-map, animate, light and render. Skillful use of sound effects makes the hard card figures even more convincing. Textures were applied using scanned images and textures painted with Alias|Wavefront StudioPaint 3D. Animation was created in Alias|Wavefront Maya running on an SGI O2. Altogether, the project took nine months to complete. The 3-minute film contains English-language dialogue.

After winning several prizes for Wild Card, including SIGGRAPH’s Big Kahuna Award and a Student Emmy, Phan continued his work as a graduate student at the University of Southern California. He also interned at Sony Pictures Imageworks where he worked with animators on Stuart Little. Phan is currently working on his thesis film, Family Values, which should be finished by August 2000. The complete version of Wild Card, as well as interviews with Phan, can be seen on the AtomFilms Web site.

© Christopher Leone.

To Build a Better Mousetrap
In this 2-minute computer animated short, director Christopher Leone has introduced the mousetrap of the future: the Merchant of Death 2000. An English-language voice-over describes the technology, which seeks out and destroys household rodents. As one might suspect, the short contains elements of the ‘sick and twisted’ variety, including a razor that neatly slices off one mouse’s head and a blender that does its work on two others, though not particularly graphically (as far as mice in a blender go). Leone says he discussed these actions with his crew and decided to downplay the gore. His intention is to make the audience feel compassion for the mice, who can never win against such a powerful opponent.

Movements are captured through a number of rapid tracking shots, following the ill-fated mice as they run across the floor. Suction effects are used within the mouse hole, as the contraption pulls its victims out. Lighting effects are used to enhance the environment, though overall the visuals are quite typical of computer-animated work. The mice are soft and bouncy and the surfaces of the room for the most part are clean and hard. A booming voice-over describes the equipment but does not lend ambiance to the mice or the working of the equipment; it is meant to suggest a promotional short or commercial, which would advertise the device. Leone says his major influences have been Warner Bros. classic animated shorts and Nick Park.

To Build a Better Mousetrap was produced in the studios of Digital FilmWorks in Hollywood, California. It was modeled, animated and rendered with Alias PowerAnimator on a SGI Indigo 2, Octane and Onyx. The short was edited on an Avid and shot to 35mm film with Digital FilmWorks’ LUX Laser Film Recorder. It has been screened at festivals worldwide. Leone works for Digital FilmWorks and is also currently writing a script for a science-fiction film called Extinction, to be released by Columbia Pictures. His future projects are included on the Blackmire Industries Web site , and To Build a Better Mousetrap can be viewed at AtomFilms.

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).
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