Flatpack Festival Review- Shorts on Walls

This year’s flatpack festival was a big success, and I enjoyed event that I attended and took full advantage of my free wristband given as thanks for volunteering.

Shorts on walls was an opportunity to network with fellow animators and professionals and watch the region’s short films. It was a mix of work from both students and professionals. I also took the opportunity to hand out flyers for our end of year Animageddon. Here are some of the films shown.

First up was A Model Christmas by Chris Randall. A combination of creature comforts and Lego, shoppers around Birmingham city centre were asked “What would you like to win this Christmas?” and the vocals were used with the Lego characters in a quirky stop motion animation. As it was ‘what you like to win’ as apposed to ‘what would you like’ it allowed the people interviewed to be as ambitious as they liked with their ‘prizes’.



Dougie’s First Day was a stop motion animation that uses slapstick humour as its main device. Though some of the gags were funny, they seemed a bit repetitive after a while but I enjoyed the style of the animation.



Trolley was an interesting film about quiet young man, misunderstood by his peers. I enjoyed the mix of live action and animation in this one, the animation used to express the guy’s quirky imagination, entertaining thoughts of conquering the taunting individuals with a giant metallic bird and a dragon made of trolleys.



Arguing is a Nice Hobby was a CGI animation about an old couple who argue a lot at each other, they then get signed a record deal where their shouting matches make them famous. I wasn’t too keen on this animation, I liked the style of the characters but they seemed a bit too simplistic for the poses and emotions targeted. Also the story didn’t have much to it other than the novelty of an old couple arguing on stage in a rock band.



Bicycle Diaries/ Revolution by Steve Chamberlain was an interesting film constructed from videos of Steve’s long cycle across Mexico overlaid with a rotoscoping and abstraction technique that worked well to make the videos more like memories of a journey, fragmented time where one day blends into the next with the turning of a bicycle wheel.

The highlight of the evening was Moonbird by the Brothers McLeod, a dark fairy tail about a little girl and an evil witch, a story of an ultimate battle of dark and light. The use of black and white emphasises the good and evil sides, and the soundtrack works fantastically with the visuals. Definitely a must- see for all.