Title: Frank DanCoolo: Paranormal Drug Dealer
Director: Andrew Jones
Hit or Miss: Miss
http://www.shortoftheweek.com/2010/11/28/dancoolo/
When initially presented with this short, I wanted to think"Frank DanCoolo" is just a short not for everyone. After finishing it, I kind of found myself more under the idea that "Frank DanCoolo" is just a short not really for anyone.
I take that back, a little bit, maybe. While I can definitely appreciate the filmmaker's bravery in creating a short with visual effects and style "outside the box" I still felt a bit irritated with the film. Now don't get me wrong, I can definitely get into Japanese movies, I'll even appreciate some grindhouse b movies with all the cheesiness glued on, and still appreciate it. I'm also a sucker for film noir type characters, so Holly Malone's character thrown into the futuristic Japanese world seemed like it could definitely be a fun, crazy, eccentric and original ride. Still, no matter how much I wanted to like it, the problem here is a simple but large one: Pretentiousness. And unfortunately, style over substance does not triumph in this situation.
While the effects were pretty decent overall, considering they probably intentionally wanted them to to fit in with the cheesy style of the movie, it just felt too forced and too much. It almost felt as if every little over the top effect was pushed and crammed in. This is a bit overwhelming and annoying.
While Holly was definitely an "interesting" character, and while I would venture to say I prefer characters with a "weird" or "different" feel to them, I still want the character to be somewhat likeable. Instead, she just wound up getting on my nerves. While she maintained a good "voice", style and mannerisms suitable for her character, a giddy reporter from 1940's era, she just seemed a bit too abrasive and for lack of a better word, annoying.
I will say that the plot was pretty original while it borrowed from and paid homage to classic elements found in Japanese kung fu, grindhouse, and film noir. It was, overall, original, and that is something positive that I can respect.
Overall though, the film just felt like "too much". Forced and pretentious. I feel like the filmmaker tried to "push the envelope" for the sake of pushing the envelope. To try to be "weird" for the sake of being weird in hopes of being seen as original and pushing the boundaries. In reality, it just comes off as he bit off a bit more than he could chew by forcing too much and coming off as trying to be weird where it really doesn't need to be that strange.
Overall, it's a miss for me, but I do respect the attempt and the throwbacks to the other film genres that inspired this short.
Thursday, November 10, 2011
Wednesday, November 2, 2011
Hit or Miss: The Third and the Seventh
Title: The Third and the Seventh
Director: Alex Roman
Hit or Miss: Hit
http://www.shortoftheweek.com/2010/01/12/the-third-and-the-seventh/
Wow. What can be said about "The Third and the Seventh" other than it honestly blew me away. I know that expression can be overused a lot and can seem rather cheesy but in all sincerity, this short was truly mindblowing. Fantastic!
It's strongest point is really it's beautiful cinematography. The shots were so beautiful (hands down the best I've seen in any of the shorts so far). Composed wonderfully, lit well, dramatic, and just absolutely stunning. The camera work here is top notch and the editing (two paneled shots) were really a visual treat.
There really isn't a plot but here is one instance where I really am okay with "Style" over "Substance". This film sets itself up that it doesn't really need a plot. As long as you just sit back and know what you're going into and enjoy the beautiful cinematography, you will be in for a wonderful experience.
Perhaps one of the coolest parts of this film was the sequence with the clouds. The CGI here is so realistic that many people have actually debated on whether it is all CG or not.
Take the time to watch this short and you will truly be glad you did. It is honestly one of the most beautiful shorts that I've had the opportunity to see. This is what true and beautiful cinematography is all about.
Hit or miss: Hit.
Director: Alex Roman
Hit or Miss: Hit
http://www.shortoftheweek.com/2010/01/12/the-third-and-the-seventh/
Wow. What can be said about "The Third and the Seventh" other than it honestly blew me away. I know that expression can be overused a lot and can seem rather cheesy but in all sincerity, this short was truly mindblowing. Fantastic!
It's strongest point is really it's beautiful cinematography. The shots were so beautiful (hands down the best I've seen in any of the shorts so far). Composed wonderfully, lit well, dramatic, and just absolutely stunning. The camera work here is top notch and the editing (two paneled shots) were really a visual treat.
There really isn't a plot but here is one instance where I really am okay with "Style" over "Substance". This film sets itself up that it doesn't really need a plot. As long as you just sit back and know what you're going into and enjoy the beautiful cinematography, you will be in for a wonderful experience.
Perhaps one of the coolest parts of this film was the sequence with the clouds. The CGI here is so realistic that many people have actually debated on whether it is all CG or not.
Take the time to watch this short and you will truly be glad you did. It is honestly one of the most beautiful shorts that I've had the opportunity to see. This is what true and beautiful cinematography is all about.
Hit or miss: Hit.
Hit or Miss: Please Say Something
Title: Please Say Something
Director: David O'Reilly
Hit or Miss: Miss
All I can really say about "Please Say Something" is that it is definitely interesting. "Interesting" when applied to films generally either means either of the following choices: Good interesting or Bad interesting. In this case, it was a little bit of both, but when it comes down to it personally, it's more of a miss for me.
"Please Say Something" is a story about a couple-a cat and a mouse-who are experiencing a little turbulence in their relationship. They aren't really "getting" each other, specifically the mouse, who is oblivious to his partner the cat's feelings. Throughout the short, the cat is trying to get the mouse to understand her feelings but he is too busy writing. Although I do appreciate the interesting exploration into a common problem faced in relationships, the film as a whole just didn't work as well as I had hoped. It's depressing, it's jumbled, it's a little bit of a "headache" to be honest.
Director: David O'Reilly
Hit or Miss: Miss
All I can really say about "Please Say Something" is that it is definitely interesting. "Interesting" when applied to films generally either means either of the following choices: Good interesting or Bad interesting. In this case, it was a little bit of both, but when it comes down to it personally, it's more of a miss for me.
"Please Say Something" is a story about a couple-a cat and a mouse-who are experiencing a little turbulence in their relationship. They aren't really "getting" each other, specifically the mouse, who is oblivious to his partner the cat's feelings. Throughout the short, the cat is trying to get the mouse to understand her feelings but he is too busy writing. Although I do appreciate the interesting exploration into a common problem faced in relationships, the film as a whole just didn't work as well as I had hoped. It's depressing, it's jumbled, it's a little bit of a "headache" to be honest.
Although I don't typically mind nonlinear storytelling, this was just still a bit too hard to follow in some spaces for me. I like to think and I like being able to have the opportunity to try to piece things together as a viewer so I do appreciate the way the filmmaker is trying to get the audience involved in that aspect. But altogether, it really is just a bit too confusing. When you think there's going to be some explanation into a character's decision or why they said something, it's just brushed aside with some random test pattern screens, which although is "stylishly" unique to some degree, is just a little bit annoying to be honest. Instead of resolving and clarifying, the filmmakers just try to use this abstract imagery and "randomness" as a way to look creative without really giving a real clearer understanding of what's going on.
Overall, I felt sympathy for my characters. I understood what the cat was going through and why she felt left out. I liked that even though these characters were speaking a made up language, I could really get what they were going through (perhaps that was due to the helpful use of subtitles) but I still feel like despite the emotions and strong themes present, I feel like the film was overpowered by the filmmaker's decision to use their random abstract style that unfortunately left me more confused and annoyed, feeling as if the style was a lazy cop out and a bit pretentious to look "cool" and insert randomness to add more "Style" while seriously lacking substance and clarification.
Hit or Miss: Miss.
Wednesday, October 19, 2011
Hit or Miss: D-I-M, Deus in Machina
Title: D-I-M, Deus in Machina
Director: Axel Ricke
Hit or Miss: Miss.
http://www.shortoftheweek.com/2010/03/07/d-i-m-deus-in-machina/
While I typically really enjoy films in the Sci-Fi genre, I couldn't get into this short as much as I wanted to. There were just several things about it that just seemed to fall through for me. While I applaud the team behind this short for having the bravery to attempt to take on this project, as Sci-Fi on a low budget isn't always easy to do, I feel that there were still a few more negatives that outweighed the positives in terms of originality that unfortunately I must give this short a a "Miss".
The story is set up as your typical dystopian future. Bleak, cold, technology laden. I kind of felt like I had seen this story before and while this is the general set up for many sci-fi movies, I feel some are able to play with this set up better than others. Still, all in all, there was some originality in the story despite visually looking quite familiar to many other sci-fi stories I've seen such. The plot picks up with Lutz, a dreamer discontent with the controlled world he lives in ( "1984", "Brave New World","Equilibrium", " style) where life is dictated by the number of social points you have. Trying to rise above this, he sets off to "Fight the system" embarking on a race around technology to break into the office that controls the social points (feeling just a little bit like "Gattaca"). Overall, despite offering something a little different (although I'm not entirely sure what that was considering the plot felt a bit uneven to me, dragged on a bit, and was a little unclear) it still rang all too familiar and didn't feel that original to me. Although, I can accept it is hard to make an original story out of the old standard "Dystopian society run by rules and technology", maybe that's why they maybe should have gone with something else.
When it comes to technicality, science fiction can be extremely hard to tackle and make successful. Understanding that this was shot on a low budget and that is is just an independent film and not a big budget Hollywood "Minority Report" style movie with the financial capabilities to be able to have impressive visual effects, I still found myself wrestling with enjoying the film with mediocre-bad visual effects. I applaud them for their hard work, but for my taste personally, I just couldn't get into it. A lot of the time the animation went from average to somewhat terrible, and I just couldn't really enjoy that. I felt like a lot of the time they tried to focus on using their visual effects which felt forced in what felt like "Look at our impressive visual effects, look how much we have here!" when in reality it never really looked that impressive to begin with.
My biggest complaint still was honestly the music, which I found to be pretty cheesy and made it harder for me to take it seriously. I did however like the Title and Credit sequence even though I felt again like I had seen it before. Another minor complaint I had was with the editing which in some instances it just seemed to cut weirdly or almost too abruptly with weird transitions.
Overall, I applaud them for their attempt to make something original out of the Sci-Fi genre while not entirely getting there.While I have taken budget into consideration, and understand that it is very hard it make an impressive looking sci-fi short, perhaps if they could redo it they should spend less time trying to make it look more impressive and try to cram in all of their visual effects as frequently as possible and focus more on the story, which doesn't take a lot of money, they might have something better.
Hit or Miss: Miss.
Director: Axel Ricke
Hit or Miss: Miss.
http://www.shortoftheweek.com/2010/03/07/d-i-m-deus-in-machina/
While I typically really enjoy films in the Sci-Fi genre, I couldn't get into this short as much as I wanted to. There were just several things about it that just seemed to fall through for me. While I applaud the team behind this short for having the bravery to attempt to take on this project, as Sci-Fi on a low budget isn't always easy to do, I feel that there were still a few more negatives that outweighed the positives in terms of originality that unfortunately I must give this short a a "Miss".
The story is set up as your typical dystopian future. Bleak, cold, technology laden. I kind of felt like I had seen this story before and while this is the general set up for many sci-fi movies, I feel some are able to play with this set up better than others. Still, all in all, there was some originality in the story despite visually looking quite familiar to many other sci-fi stories I've seen such. The plot picks up with Lutz, a dreamer discontent with the controlled world he lives in ( "1984", "Brave New World","Equilibrium", " style) where life is dictated by the number of social points you have. Trying to rise above this, he sets off to "Fight the system" embarking on a race around technology to break into the office that controls the social points (feeling just a little bit like "Gattaca"). Overall, despite offering something a little different (although I'm not entirely sure what that was considering the plot felt a bit uneven to me, dragged on a bit, and was a little unclear) it still rang all too familiar and didn't feel that original to me. Although, I can accept it is hard to make an original story out of the old standard "Dystopian society run by rules and technology", maybe that's why they maybe should have gone with something else.
When it comes to technicality, science fiction can be extremely hard to tackle and make successful. Understanding that this was shot on a low budget and that is is just an independent film and not a big budget Hollywood "Minority Report" style movie with the financial capabilities to be able to have impressive visual effects, I still found myself wrestling with enjoying the film with mediocre-bad visual effects. I applaud them for their hard work, but for my taste personally, I just couldn't get into it. A lot of the time the animation went from average to somewhat terrible, and I just couldn't really enjoy that. I felt like a lot of the time they tried to focus on using their visual effects which felt forced in what felt like "Look at our impressive visual effects, look how much we have here!" when in reality it never really looked that impressive to begin with.
My biggest complaint still was honestly the music, which I found to be pretty cheesy and made it harder for me to take it seriously. I did however like the Title and Credit sequence even though I felt again like I had seen it before. Another minor complaint I had was with the editing which in some instances it just seemed to cut weirdly or almost too abruptly with weird transitions.
Overall, I applaud them for their attempt to make something original out of the Sci-Fi genre while not entirely getting there.While I have taken budget into consideration, and understand that it is very hard it make an impressive looking sci-fi short, perhaps if they could redo it they should spend less time trying to make it look more impressive and try to cram in all of their visual effects as frequently as possible and focus more on the story, which doesn't take a lot of money, they might have something better.
Hit or Miss: Miss.
Wednesday, October 12, 2011
Hit or Miss: Nuit Blanche
Title: Nuit Blanche
Director: Arev Manoukian
http://www.shortoftheweek.com/2010/02/05/nuit-blanche/
Hit or Miss: Hit
It was honestly a little difficult for me to find the right words to review "Nuit Blance" as it somewhat left me speechless. With excellent direction, writing, cinematography, and music, this film is just a phenomenal example of what shorts should strive to be and is probably my very favorite one to review to date.
The story is simple: what it feels like to feel love at first sight. But the feelings associated with this moment are not quite so simple as we see the two characters lives changed in one moment.
What makes this film work wonderfully are is the fact that it is so emotionally powerful. They take the idea of love at first sight and plunge it into hyperdrive by creating these intense feelings. Love is not just love, a look is not just a look, attraction takes a much more powerful feel. Water plunges up in slow motion, a wine glass shatters to the table in a moment of forgetting all cares and being only able to focus on her one true love. The man drops his suitcase and the whole entire world and focus to him becomes her. He steps in front of a car and it even shatters around him as she shatters through glass. These dramatic events all happening around them evoke a lot of emotion from the viewer as they feel love as a much more dramatic and powerful thing when it's presented in such an intense light. This really makes you feel love on a very powerful level.
The film itself is shot beautiful with fantastic lighting, costuming, and set decorating, they are really able to give you this feel of the 1940's/50's film noir scene. It works absolutely perfectly. The music in this film also helps enhance the intense drama and romance felt by the actors. By using appropriate music to enhance the scene, you could really feel what they felt without having to have any unnecessary dialogue. When you're able to provide and evoke a lot of emotion without the use of dialogue, you know you have done something great with your film. It's strongest point perhaps, in addition to music, was really the cinematography. This short had breathtaking imagery and the high speed camerawork was incredible. The overall look of this film, the lighting, the shots, the color, are absolutely beautiful to watch. I also really enjoying seeing the classic "Fin" at the end of the film paying homage to classic French new wave cinema.
This short will be both a treat for the eyes and the heart. A definite "Hit"
Director: Arev Manoukian
http://www.shortoftheweek.com/2010/02/05/nuit-blanche/
Hit or Miss: Hit
It was honestly a little difficult for me to find the right words to review "Nuit Blance" as it somewhat left me speechless. With excellent direction, writing, cinematography, and music, this film is just a phenomenal example of what shorts should strive to be and is probably my very favorite one to review to date.
The story is simple: what it feels like to feel love at first sight. But the feelings associated with this moment are not quite so simple as we see the two characters lives changed in one moment.
What makes this film work wonderfully are is the fact that it is so emotionally powerful. They take the idea of love at first sight and plunge it into hyperdrive by creating these intense feelings. Love is not just love, a look is not just a look, attraction takes a much more powerful feel. Water plunges up in slow motion, a wine glass shatters to the table in a moment of forgetting all cares and being only able to focus on her one true love. The man drops his suitcase and the whole entire world and focus to him becomes her. He steps in front of a car and it even shatters around him as she shatters through glass. These dramatic events all happening around them evoke a lot of emotion from the viewer as they feel love as a much more dramatic and powerful thing when it's presented in such an intense light. This really makes you feel love on a very powerful level.
The film itself is shot beautiful with fantastic lighting, costuming, and set decorating, they are really able to give you this feel of the 1940's/50's film noir scene. It works absolutely perfectly. The music in this film also helps enhance the intense drama and romance felt by the actors. By using appropriate music to enhance the scene, you could really feel what they felt without having to have any unnecessary dialogue. When you're able to provide and evoke a lot of emotion without the use of dialogue, you know you have done something great with your film. It's strongest point perhaps, in addition to music, was really the cinematography. This short had breathtaking imagery and the high speed camerawork was incredible. The overall look of this film, the lighting, the shots, the color, are absolutely beautiful to watch. I also really enjoying seeing the classic "Fin" at the end of the film paying homage to classic French new wave cinema.
This short will be both a treat for the eyes and the heart. A definite "Hit"
Wednesday, October 5, 2011
Hit or Miss: Old Fangs
Old Fangs
Directed by: Adrien Merigeau
Hit or Miss: Hit.
http://www.shortoftheweek.com/2010/10/11/old-fangs/
Adrien Merigeau's short "Old Fangs" is one of the best I've seen, period. His style and writing help create one heavy and aesthetically beautiful short that takes a hold of you and keeps you engrossed the entire time.
The story follows a young wolf who goes with his friends into the woods in search of reconnecting with his estranged father. As he goes deeper into the woods his friends ask him if he knows where he's going. As he goes deeper he starts to remember until he finds his father's house. Hoping for something a bit more positive as he reminisces on the old times, he is disappointed to find that his father isn't exactly what he hoped for. He lives a life much different from his son and these differences don't mesh well for either. His father proves to be too powerful and forceful as well as being a bit dirty and slob-like. Disappointed, the son leaves and begins his journey home. He separates from his friends for a while and in his lone journey has flashbacks of why their relationship failed. As he goes home with his friends, the audience sees the father wolf one last time as he sobs in his house proving a glimpse weakness. The once powerful father wolf sheds his "all too tough" exterior in this final scene as he proves that even the strongest and meanest can be vulnerable as he misses the very son he pushed away.
What makes this film work is not just it's powerful and emotional storyline but it's sense of blending realness in a surreal place. As the son wolf is in this new place he feels a bit lost as he can't remember where exactly he is going. This helps to create a feeling of being lost and confused, very dreamlike, a bit surreal. Still, as he journeys into the woods and finds his father and is able to remember and feel these very powerful emotions, the dreamlike feeling of anticipation and wonder into finding home, begins to lose its magic. Anticipation is gone. Reality has struck, and this is a very real feeling. The emotions he is feeling now are very strong and relatable to a lot of people. When you lose your sense of anticipation and realize that everything you were dreaming for is everything you didn't want it to be and you are reminded as to why that is, it hits hard. As for the protagonist here, he feels reality hit as he remembers why he is estranged from his father. As these powerful feelings flee from dreamy anticipation to confusion to finally recognizing, remembering, and accepting the truth and reality are very real. The emotional rollercoaster felt by the wolf from wonder to anticipation to confusion and finally sadness are very powerful and helps create a great display of emotions for the viewer to also feel themselves as they watch his struggle.
Although filled with a lot of emotion, the storyline was able to remain simple and understandable enough for the viewer to understand without any real questions. It was concise and to the point. Despite having a simple plot and relatively simple characters, the characters themselves were developed well even in their simplicity. We don't need much story or overly complex characters to understand the insight and what is going on in the minds of each character. Even with little dialogue, we can tell that the wolf's friend share empathetic and show concern for their friend. Even as the wolf son doesn't speak very much in his journey, we can see the emotions and feel as if we can read his thoughts along the way. When he walks home, we can sense his disappointment without having a lot of dialogue needing to explain along the way. Being able to portray emotions and thoughts without having to explain it in words is something every filmmaker should strive to be able to do.
The artistic element of the film without a doubt plays a very large role in this short. The shots of real images, photographs of the woods, intertwined with the animation gives us a very aesthetically beautiful look and also helps to tie in nicely with the surrealism blended with realism theme that is present throughout. While the photographs are lovely, the hand drawn animation which is shown predominantly in the film is very visually appealing. The style of the animation is unique and I personally really liked the way in which the characters were drawn. By giving the animals anthropomorphic features, the wolf and his friends having tall and slender bodies standing upright and wearing clothes, was not only interesting in an artistic and stylish way but also helped make them feel more human which in turn helps us as the audience empathize with their emotions when we feel we can relate to them. I also found it interesting to see that whereas the son wolf and his friends wear clothes the father wolf is shown to be naked. I believe that this is an artistic decision made purposefully by the filmmaker to help portray the wolf and his friends as more human and the father wolf to be shown as much more savage (which ties in perfectly with his personality as the brash and beastly personality).
The use of color was also another stylistic element that I found to be used very well in this film. As the emotions of the character changed, the colors would change to help reflect the mood of what was going on at the time. Depending on the scene, there could be yellows, reds, blues, or greens used to help convey the feeling. This deliberate and particular use of color worked wonderfully.
One of my favorite things about this short was it's use of sound and in particular, the score. It was beautiful and powerful and worked perfectly, altering slightly to fit each feeling and mood appropriately. Music can really make a big difference in conveying emotions and in this case it was a brilliant touch.
After finishing this short, I believe that this was absolutely one of my favorites that we have watched this year. The beautiful imagery, developed characters, original and emotionally gripping plot, excellent use of color and sound, really helped work together to create a fantastic short.
This is absolutely, without a doubt, a Hit.
Directed by: Adrien Merigeau
Hit or Miss: Hit.
http://www.shortoftheweek.com/2010/10/11/old-fangs/
Adrien Merigeau's short "Old Fangs" is one of the best I've seen, period. His style and writing help create one heavy and aesthetically beautiful short that takes a hold of you and keeps you engrossed the entire time.
The story follows a young wolf who goes with his friends into the woods in search of reconnecting with his estranged father. As he goes deeper into the woods his friends ask him if he knows where he's going. As he goes deeper he starts to remember until he finds his father's house. Hoping for something a bit more positive as he reminisces on the old times, he is disappointed to find that his father isn't exactly what he hoped for. He lives a life much different from his son and these differences don't mesh well for either. His father proves to be too powerful and forceful as well as being a bit dirty and slob-like. Disappointed, the son leaves and begins his journey home. He separates from his friends for a while and in his lone journey has flashbacks of why their relationship failed. As he goes home with his friends, the audience sees the father wolf one last time as he sobs in his house proving a glimpse weakness. The once powerful father wolf sheds his "all too tough" exterior in this final scene as he proves that even the strongest and meanest can be vulnerable as he misses the very son he pushed away.
What makes this film work is not just it's powerful and emotional storyline but it's sense of blending realness in a surreal place. As the son wolf is in this new place he feels a bit lost as he can't remember where exactly he is going. This helps to create a feeling of being lost and confused, very dreamlike, a bit surreal. Still, as he journeys into the woods and finds his father and is able to remember and feel these very powerful emotions, the dreamlike feeling of anticipation and wonder into finding home, begins to lose its magic. Anticipation is gone. Reality has struck, and this is a very real feeling. The emotions he is feeling now are very strong and relatable to a lot of people. When you lose your sense of anticipation and realize that everything you were dreaming for is everything you didn't want it to be and you are reminded as to why that is, it hits hard. As for the protagonist here, he feels reality hit as he remembers why he is estranged from his father. As these powerful feelings flee from dreamy anticipation to confusion to finally recognizing, remembering, and accepting the truth and reality are very real. The emotional rollercoaster felt by the wolf from wonder to anticipation to confusion and finally sadness are very powerful and helps create a great display of emotions for the viewer to also feel themselves as they watch his struggle.
Although filled with a lot of emotion, the storyline was able to remain simple and understandable enough for the viewer to understand without any real questions. It was concise and to the point. Despite having a simple plot and relatively simple characters, the characters themselves were developed well even in their simplicity. We don't need much story or overly complex characters to understand the insight and what is going on in the minds of each character. Even with little dialogue, we can tell that the wolf's friend share empathetic and show concern for their friend. Even as the wolf son doesn't speak very much in his journey, we can see the emotions and feel as if we can read his thoughts along the way. When he walks home, we can sense his disappointment without having a lot of dialogue needing to explain along the way. Being able to portray emotions and thoughts without having to explain it in words is something every filmmaker should strive to be able to do.
The artistic element of the film without a doubt plays a very large role in this short. The shots of real images, photographs of the woods, intertwined with the animation gives us a very aesthetically beautiful look and also helps to tie in nicely with the surrealism blended with realism theme that is present throughout. While the photographs are lovely, the hand drawn animation which is shown predominantly in the film is very visually appealing. The style of the animation is unique and I personally really liked the way in which the characters were drawn. By giving the animals anthropomorphic features, the wolf and his friends having tall and slender bodies standing upright and wearing clothes, was not only interesting in an artistic and stylish way but also helped make them feel more human which in turn helps us as the audience empathize with their emotions when we feel we can relate to them. I also found it interesting to see that whereas the son wolf and his friends wear clothes the father wolf is shown to be naked. I believe that this is an artistic decision made purposefully by the filmmaker to help portray the wolf and his friends as more human and the father wolf to be shown as much more savage (which ties in perfectly with his personality as the brash and beastly personality).
The use of color was also another stylistic element that I found to be used very well in this film. As the emotions of the character changed, the colors would change to help reflect the mood of what was going on at the time. Depending on the scene, there could be yellows, reds, blues, or greens used to help convey the feeling. This deliberate and particular use of color worked wonderfully.
One of my favorite things about this short was it's use of sound and in particular, the score. It was beautiful and powerful and worked perfectly, altering slightly to fit each feeling and mood appropriately. Music can really make a big difference in conveying emotions and in this case it was a brilliant touch.
After finishing this short, I believe that this was absolutely one of my favorites that we have watched this year. The beautiful imagery, developed characters, original and emotionally gripping plot, excellent use of color and sound, really helped work together to create a fantastic short.
This is absolutely, without a doubt, a Hit.
Wednesday, September 28, 2011
Bottle
http://www.shortoftheweek.com/2010/12/19/bottle/
Title: Bottle
Director: Kirsten Lepore
Hit or Miss: Hit.
This week's video comes from Kristen Lepore bringing a short entitled "Bottle". Lepore's original take on the classic love story formula of complicated love from afar is both fresh and emotional. You can't help but feel your heart warm up and break at this bittersweet romance.
Lepore opens by introducing us to a sandman who is pining for love found in his snowwoman counterpart. In order to communicate with her, the sandman sends out sand in a bottle. When she receives the gift she pours out the sand and fills up some snow for him casting the bottle out into the ocean again. Their exchange continues as he sends out kelp and in return she sends small red pinecones. This time they find a way to use each others gifts on themselves as she uses the kelp to make hair and he uses the pinecones to construct a face. As time progresses they follow the same cute routine, sending each other such items as seashells, sticks, even a hair comb, gloves, and pennies. They use these items to build themselves up as people implementing each object to create looks for themselves. After they have created their ideal look, the sandman decides to write out a letter to her with drawings suggeting that they should meet. In a final sequence, they decide to meet. As they march toward each other in the ocean, they begin to loose all of their decorations and begin to dissolve/melt until they (very sadly) are no more.
In comparison to the other shorts films I have reviewed so far, this one was absolutely up at the top as one of my favorites. It's story is both original and engaging. It's story is very simple and very cute-you can't help but want to see this unlikely couple together. As for a plot, this definitely finds itself up in the top of one of the best written shorts even in it's simplicity. Being able to have the ability to stir up such an emotional response, especially in a simple plot, is something that is very difficult to do and the filmmaker has mastered wonderfully.
As far as technical components, I really enjoyed the style of the animation. It is always refreshing to see a well made stop motion animation that flows beautifully. The cinematography, including the natural light was a great key component in this short that really helped create a gorgeous picture for the viewer. The editing was additionally spot on which is very necessary in this type of animation.
The film's direction, character development, and overall "look" were entirely engaging and well made. I would definitely recommend this to anyone looking for an outstanding short. Lepore has left us with a "Hit" that will should leave any viewer very pleased.
Title: Bottle
Director: Kirsten Lepore
Hit or Miss: Hit.
This week's video comes from Kristen Lepore bringing a short entitled "Bottle". Lepore's original take on the classic love story formula of complicated love from afar is both fresh and emotional. You can't help but feel your heart warm up and break at this bittersweet romance.
Lepore opens by introducing us to a sandman who is pining for love found in his snowwoman counterpart. In order to communicate with her, the sandman sends out sand in a bottle. When she receives the gift she pours out the sand and fills up some snow for him casting the bottle out into the ocean again. Their exchange continues as he sends out kelp and in return she sends small red pinecones. This time they find a way to use each others gifts on themselves as she uses the kelp to make hair and he uses the pinecones to construct a face. As time progresses they follow the same cute routine, sending each other such items as seashells, sticks, even a hair comb, gloves, and pennies. They use these items to build themselves up as people implementing each object to create looks for themselves. After they have created their ideal look, the sandman decides to write out a letter to her with drawings suggeting that they should meet. In a final sequence, they decide to meet. As they march toward each other in the ocean, they begin to loose all of their decorations and begin to dissolve/melt until they (very sadly) are no more.
In comparison to the other shorts films I have reviewed so far, this one was absolutely up at the top as one of my favorites. It's story is both original and engaging. It's story is very simple and very cute-you can't help but want to see this unlikely couple together. As for a plot, this definitely finds itself up in the top of one of the best written shorts even in it's simplicity. Being able to have the ability to stir up such an emotional response, especially in a simple plot, is something that is very difficult to do and the filmmaker has mastered wonderfully.
As far as technical components, I really enjoyed the style of the animation. It is always refreshing to see a well made stop motion animation that flows beautifully. The cinematography, including the natural light was a great key component in this short that really helped create a gorgeous picture for the viewer. The editing was additionally spot on which is very necessary in this type of animation.
The film's direction, character development, and overall "look" were entirely engaging and well made. I would definitely recommend this to anyone looking for an outstanding short. Lepore has left us with a "Hit" that will should leave any viewer very pleased.
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