It's time to go through the Oscar nominations again! The past five years I attempted to make analyses of the Oscar nominated short films. Last year I had other stuff to do, but now I'm back! Albeit a bit late.
Below is a list of the animated short films that got nominated, the people that got credited for them as well as the studios involved in their creation.
In the next post I'll add trailers (or the full short films where possible), a synopsis of the film and my personal analysis of the short film. (Full list of Oscar nominees can be found here: http://oscar.go.com/nominees )
Animated short film nominations:
Blind Vaysha
Theodore Ushev, director
(National Film Board of Canada)
Borrowed Time
Andrew Coats and Lou Hamou-Lhadj, directors
(Interplay Entertainment)
Pear Cider and Cigarettes
Robert Valley, director, and Cara Speller, producer
(Massive swerve studios, Passion Pictures Animation)
Pearl
Patrick Osborne, director
(Google)
Piper
Alan Barillaro, director, and Marc Sondheimer, producer
(Pixar)
I've only seen the trailers of these, except for Piper which I've seen and I totally loved. Seeing as recently the Oscar for this category usually (not always) goes to Disney or Pixar, I'm guessing up front that this will go to Piper. So that means that this time around, I'll be seeing how the other short films measure up to Piper.
(Unfortunately, my next post will come out after the winner has been announced, but no matter! It's still a fun and educational experience seeing and writing about the short films.)
Here's a quick roundup of 2015's Oscar nominated animated short films. Normally I'd write a separate post on every short film, but as I want to start focusing on the 2016 entries asap, I'm going to keep this short and sweet! So let's get going!
Synposis:
Every day, a melancholy old bear takes a mechanical diorama that he has created out to his street corner. For a coin, passersby can look into the peephole of his invention, which tells the story of a circus bear who longs to escape and return to the family from which he was taken. Verdict: My first impression wasn't great, mainly because I didn't like the animation of the "real" bears. It's a kind of basic, unembellished animation and it's unappealingly simple. But then the diorama started and the longer it went on the more I loved it. The robotic animation in the diorama looks like exaggerated animatronics, it's wonderfully done!
The design of the stages in the diorama are inventive and every new stage brings a new fresh perspective to the concept of dioramas. The music is cute and memorable. The story got to me emotionally, it was definitely effective. In the end I really, really liked it. I just wish the animation of the bears at the start was better!
Prologue
Synposis:
2,400 years ago, four warriors -- two Spartan and two Athenian -- battle to the death in an intense struggle witnessed by a little girl, who then runs to her grandmother for comfort.
Verdict:
So I was actually really looking forward to seeing this one. Richard Williams is one of the greatest animators of our time. As an animator you'll know him as the writer of "The Animator's Survival Kit", and I've admired him ever since I saw "The Thief and the Cobbler". But this, this is not what I hoped it would be.
I'm certainly very impressed by the effort, but not by the end result. Some of the shots look really great on their own, like the guy that comes into frame behind the dandelions, that's amazing to see done in handdrawn animation. BUT, in the trailer he explains that this came from an idea he had when he was 15 years old and unfortunally the story really feels like it was just that.
It starts of being very artistic, then there's a lot of action, then suddenly it gets VERY shocking, and then out of the blue it tries to be sensitive at the end. It was just an incoherent mess. I didn't get it. I didn't like it. It didn't grip me. I loved the dandelion shot, but that's about it.
Sanjay's Super Team
Synposis:
Young Sanjay, a first-generation Indian-American, is obsessed with television, cartoons and his superhero action figures. He is reluctant to spend time in daily prayers with his devout Hindu father, but a flight of imagination helps him develop a new perspective that he and his father can both embrace. Verdict:
This short film is really fun and the story is cute! But it has two sides to it. On the one hand you have all the action stuff. This seems to be aimed at kids and I lost my focus a little during this part. It felt a bit like filler content and I just wanted the short film to get on with the story. On the other hand you have the story side, which is aimed more towards an older audience I'd say. It's about connecting with your parents, which would probably resonate more with "older kids". It might just be me, but I really started appreciating my parents later on, as I grew up, but as a young kid, not so much.
So it has two sides, and I only enjoyed part of it myself. For an older audience, I think most would experience it as I did, and I'm afraid that for a younger audience the part about connecting with your parents would just go over their heads.
It has very cool visuals and flawless animation. It's solid. I enjoyed it but I didn't love it.
We Can't Live without Cosmos
Synposis:
Two best friends have dreamed since childhood of becoming cosmonauts, and together they endure the rigors of training and public scrutiny, and make the sacrifices necessary to achieve their shared goal. Verdict:
I loved every second of it. It was funny, it was unique and it was also surprising!
It starts us off with two close friends who share the same dream; going into space. It's all they ever wanted. I want to write about this without giving anything away, just know that this story is very much about more than just cosmonaut training!
When I was done watching it I immediately shared it with some friends, it's that good. Please watch it, my write-up doesn't do it justice.
World of Tomorrow
Synposis:
A little girl named Emily is taken on a fantastical tour of her distant future by a surprising visitor who reveals unnerving secrets about humanity's fate. Verdict:
Wow, this was one hell of a trip. It's difficult to explain what this short film is like, because it's so unlike anything else I've seen. It's plain crazy!
I love how the kind of craziness in this short film isn't hard to follow at all, it actually starts to make more and more sense as it goes along. It's crazy, and still very accessible!
The characters are the funniest thing. We the viewers can understand both of the characters perfectly, but the characters don't understand eachother! The characters are incredibly funny on their own as well; the little girl because of her believable childlike mannerisms and the woman for her alien qualities.
This must be seen to be understood! Of all of the short films listed, I recommend watching this one most of all!
Final conclusions:
And the Academy Award winner was: Bear Story
While I do understand that Bear Story won (because of it's accessible story and it's visual appeal), it is not necessarily what I had expected to win. It also wasn't what I would've voted for myself.
Personally I would have voted for World of Tomorrow, it really blew me away. It's crazy, incredibly funny and super entertaining.
If I'd had to make a guess before the Oscar show was held, then I'd have guessed that either Sanjay's Super Team or maybe Bear Story would've won. The reason for that is that Sanjay's Super Team had the widest release as the accompanying short film to Pixar's The Good Dinosaur. Bear Story is visually and story-wise as accessible as Sanjay's Super Team, and both have a lot of heart. Maybe people voted for Bear Story because after watching the short film, you want the bear to win for once?
So there you go, last year's roundup has finally been completed, just in time for this year's Oscars.... I'll make a roundup for this years nominations in the same style as this one. Look forward to reading that within the next couple of weeks!
I came across this post talking about different breakdowns in animation, using examples from the Zootopia trailer, and another post about breakdowns in Mulan. Being aware of different ways to break down movements elevates your animation! Always try to prevent your animation from being simple pose to pose without dynamic movement.
The post shows examples of breaking up the animation like the one below, where the timing of the eyes and ears are different.
It also shows a way of not making hand animations too similar by making on of the hands lead the other.
The Mulan post is about breaking up movement using different timing for the hands and face respectively.
In short the posts has some great insights and I recommend checking it out!
Last January I abruptly stopped posting, right after I announced my next run-through of the Oscar nominations for animated shorts. This happened because I was preoccupied with moving abroad and starting my new job at 2K Czech!
Now that I've settled in, I'd like to start writing posts again! Albeit less regularly than before. I'll make sure to finish what I started and write about the Oscar nominations from the last Academy Awards soon(ish).
It's time to go through the Oscar nominations again! The past four years I made analyses of the Oscar nominated short films, which I really enjoy doing, so here I go again!
Below is a list of the animated short films that got nominated, the people that got credited for it as well as the studios involved in the creation.
In the posts that are to follow I'll cover a synopsis of the short film, it's accomplishments, a bit of backstory about the makers and my personal analysis too, I'll just see what I can find! (Full list of Oscar nominees can be found here: http://oscar.go.com/nominees )
Animated short film nominations:
Bear Story (Historia De Un Oso)
Gabriel Osorio, director, and Pato Escala, producer
(Punkrobot Animation Studio)
Prologue
Richard Williams, director, and Imogen Sutton, producer
(Animation Masterclass)
Sanjay's Super Team
Sanjay Patel, director, and Nicole Grindle, producer
(Pixar Animation Studios)
We Can't Live without Cosmos
Konstantin Bronzit, director
(Melnitsa Animation Studio)
World of Tomorrow
Don Hertzfeldt, director
(Bitter Films)
I didn't know of any of these except that I knew of Prologue beforehand. It'll be nice going into this blind! I wonder how I'm going to get my hands on some these though.. Wish me luck
Wrist and forearm stretches for artists to prevent soreness and injury!
We all get this some times, a soreness in your wrist or hands that just doesn't go away. I'm sharing this for easy access, and because I think it's important! Please prevent any injury to your wrists! Also, please share it with others, anyone who can benefit.
The website states that it's for animators, but I figure it's really important for any frequent mouse or tablet user.
This video perfectly describes what makes Hayao Miyazaki's films so great; his approach to characters and their stories (as well as other things!). We as animators and storytellers can learn a lot from this incredibly talented director.
This very well written and enjoyable video was created by Lewis Bond, who has a great understanding of Miyazaki's work.
