A Tale of Momentum & Intertia

One of the shortest short films you'll probably ever see!




It doesn't have any music which seems odd to me. Music could've elevated the humor and made it more memorable. It's still fun though!

Acting performance tips for animators

By Dana Boadway-Masson.

There are lots of things to consider when working on an animation. This blog posts is excellent in that it discusses some of those major things to pay attention to besides the animation principles.

Click to go to the blog post.


Sharing this too because it was shared in the blogpost and I love Spanish Buzz!

Oscar nominated animated short: A Single Life

A Single Life

Synopsis (from A Single Life Oscar nomination page):
A mysterious vinyl single gives a young woman the power to move back and forth through the years of her life.


Credits:
Job Roggeveen
Joris Oprins
Marieke Blaauw

Trailer:



My personal opinion (no spoilers):
I watched this one with my family and all of us had a good long laugh about it afterwards. We watched it again soon after because it only lasts for 2 minutes and we wanted to see more! I would definitely recommend watching it, again and again.

Out of all the shorts this year, this is easily the most enjoyable and easy to watch. The animation is brilliantly done and super fun. The style of the character is something I've seen before in a Dutch music video, so it wasn't new to me, but I can imagine how it might seem a little strange to see for the first time. Still, I think the designs are very appealing too!

The music and the audio design fits short perfectly, the song fulfils its key part skillfully.

A Single Life is a short film made by Dutch people. Seeing as I'm Dutch as well, I'll be silently rooting for this one to win! Even though I don't think it's better than The Dam Keeper, which I personally think should win the Oscar this year. Even so, I'm very proud to say that our country managed to produce something like this!

Oscar nominated animated short: Feast

Feast

Synopsis (from Feast IMDb page):
The story of one man's love life is seen through the eyes of his best friend and dog, Winston, and revealed bite by bite through the meals they share.


Credits:
Robert Kondo
Dice Tsutsumi
(A bunch more people helped produce it, but the above two are the ones nominated for an oscar.)


Trailer:


Artwork:

My personal opinion (no spoilers):
Feast is a very enjoyable film, definitely one I can recommend to any audience! We get to follow a pet as he is adopted by his new owner, and we follow him as he is fed all kinds of things. From what I saw in the trailer I thought there wasn't very much story, and I was right about that, but it's enough to make us feel for the dog and the other characters.

The animation is absolutely gorgeous, I watched it again just to fully observe the animations. The lineless style is amazing too. The music matches the short very well and is very lovely.

I have nothing more to say about this! It's lovely, but maybe a bit simple.

If you've been following the oscar nominated animated shorts for some time as I have, you'll know that having a Disney nominee is almost a given. (And having that Disney nominee win while it is not the best of the lot, is a possibility.) So as for the chances this short film makes in winning the oscar, aside from the above mentioned chance it'll win merely because it came from Disney, I don't think it should win. There are at least 2 that I hold in higher esteem because they give us the chance to experience deeper emotions, which Feast doesn't.

Oscar nominated animated short: Me and My Moulton

Me and My Moulton

Synopsis (from Me and My Moulton IMDb page and Me and My Moulton Vimeo Trailer Page):
A personal animated story about a girl which wishes for a bicycle from her parents, but gets something completely different, showing the different reality in which children and grown ups live in.

This short animation by Oscar®-winner Torill Kove (The Danish Poet) follows a seven-year-old girl and her sisters, who ask their parents to get them a bicycle. Our young protagonist struggles with her sense that her family is somehow unconventional, and her loving yet hopelessly out-of-touch parents prove to be a source of quiet embarrassment and anxiety. With a bright palette, this film views the creative attitudes of the parents through the eyes of their introspective daughter. Me and My Moulton tells the charming story of a young girl whose sensitive nature sometimes makes it difficult for her to be honest with the ones she loves most.


Credits:
Torill Kove
(A bunch more people helped produce it, but the above person is the one nominated for an oscar.)


Trailer:



Artwork (check out more (also other short tidbits with the same characters) on their website):

My personal opinion (no spoilers):
Usually I start out watching an oscar nominated animated shortfilm in "review mode", judging the art, the animation, the music. At some point during that, a really good short film would pull me out of that mode and sweep me along with the story. Me and My Moulton did not manage to get me out of review mode, it most definitely didn't. During every moment I was questioning the choices they had made making this film.

This short film is, well, a little unique, as in that it's a little strange. I guess the story about a quirky family must be a little quirky too. The story is a little girl slowly finding out that she doesn't have a run of the mill kind of family. The story is told by a girl of about 11 years old, but the narrator has a woman's voice, which made it a little hard to believe. Besides that it is told in a very dry manner, which didn't make it more interesting either.

"Is everything alright at school?
My daddy has a moustache."

It was funny at times, but I was trying to figure out the meaning of the weird bits, and the jokes didn't help.
At some point the music set in and that gave me even more question marks. The music didn't fit the feeling of the short film at all.

All in all, some parts of it were enjoyable, but to me there wasn't enough story to it, and a lot of it was a bit too 'random' for my taste.

I don't really understand why this was nominated. There were 2 other short films that I would sooner have nominated over this one. I'm quite sure this won't win.

Oscar nominated animated shorts: The Dam Keeper

The Dam Keeper

Synopsis (from The Dam Keeper IMDb page):
A young pig with an important job, and a new friend who changes everything. In a desolate future, one small town has survived because of a large windmill dam that acts as a fan to keep out pollution. The dam's operator, Pig, works tirelessly to keep the sails spinning and protect the town, despite abuse from classmates and an indifferent public. When a new student joins Pig's class, nothing will be the same again.


Credits:
Robert Kondo
Dice Tsutsumi
(A bunch more people helped produce it, but the above two are the ones nominated for an oscar.)


Trailer (from The Dam Keeper youtube page, which has loads of videos to offer!!!):


The art of collaboration:




Artwork (check out more on their website):

My personal opinion (no spoilers):
I've been following this one for some months, so I'd been looking forward to seeing this very much. When I'd finally seen it I loved it as much as I hoped I would! This is just one of those you have to see to understand how special it is. Plus, it's just so darn cute!

Let me start off by saying that this short film looks like it has been drawn in a style suitable for a kids' story, but it must certainly is not a childish story. This story will touch you whether you're a child or an adult. The art style is simple, but so beautiful at the same time. They were really clever about getting the most out of the simplicity. As for the audio, it has the same kind of simple appeal that the art direction has.

Quite simply put, this short flm has a lot of heart. The story is full of heart, but when you watch it you can just feel that this was a work of love.

Now to judge the chances for this to win an Oscar. This lived up to my high expectations, and I expect this will win at the Oscars tonight. I think this one has the advantage because of its simple beauty and appeal, and the fact that it has so much heart.

Oscar nominated animated short: The Bigger Picture

The Bigger Picture

Synopsis (from The Bigger Picture trailer page and The Bigger Picture IMDb page):
The Bigger Picture is a larger than life-size animated film that tells the stark and darkly humorous tale of caring for an elderly parent.

'You want to put her in a home; you tell her; tell her now!' hisses one brother to the other. But Mother won't go, and their own lives quickly unravel as she clings to life. Director Daisy Jacobs uses two-metre-high painted characters in full-size sets to tell the stark and darkly humorous tale of caring for an elderly relative.


Credits:
Daisy Jacobs - Director/Writer/Animator
Chris Hees - Producer
(A bunch more people helped produce it, but the above two are the ones nominated for an oscar.)

Cast/Voices
Christopher Nightingale - Nick
Alisdair Simpson - Richard
Anne Cunningham - Mother


Trailer:



Making of:




Stills (check out more on their website):

Quote from the creators (from Yesh and Tash):
Daisy: I had a fit of hysterical laughter- which lasted late into the night once but at least I didn't cry (Chris did five times...)!
Chris: This film broke me. I cry at least once a week now. I'm a mess. However now that the film's finished it does feel odd not to be eating my lunch next to a pile of discarded body parts.


My personal opinion (no spoilers):



I wish I could see this, because it looks so darn promising! But because it's not available yet, I'll have to base my opinion on the trailer, the making of, and the stills alone.

I don't know much about the story, but we can see the essence of it. It deals with something very real, which is taking care of a parent who is nearing death, but it seems to do so with a great deal of dark humor. So they manage to have us enjoy ourselves, while also making us realise some of the very real burdens that life can bring us. And on top of that it strenghtens this world when fantastical things happen (which are probably metaphorical). Quite a feat to accomplish all of that, but whether they succeed in pulling it off is hard to say from what we can see right now.

They used a combination of 2D and stop motion animation in a way I've never seen before, and this together with the multifaceted story is what makes it looks so promising to me. They paint the characters on the wall (aka a flat surface) but have them also exist in 3D. I thought it was a strange choice to make, but even though I've only seen a short bit of it, very soon I forgot that there was 2D in it at all. So it seems to work!

I can't say much about the music without having seen it, but the voice acting seems solid enough!

As far as predicting whether this will win the Oscar, it's hard to say without having seen it or any of the competitors yet, but I have a feeling this might be able to win. It's progressive in the method they used for the animation and it has dark humor together with a real heartbreaking story. I think this does in fact have a shot at winning the Oscar, but we'll see!