"Three professional musicians, the Bear the Rabbit and the Wolf are practicing their art in the forest, but suddenly the hunter turns up…"
Best sound design, Flip 2008
Comedy in this short is achieved effortlessly through the brilliant sound design. It illustrates the importance of a great soundtrack in a film and also that the best films are a simple idea, done in a complex way.
Muto (Blu- Italy)
"An ambiguous surrealistic animation painted on public walls indoor in Baden, Outdoor in Buenos Aries."
Best abstract film, Flip 2008
I have seen Blu’s work online before, his work spreads virally through fans passing on links and stirring curiosity. It is truly stunning to look at with its sheer scale and ambition. Its innovative in that its never been done before on such a scale and others are catching on with animated graffiti appearing in adverts. Due to the rough tracking and the faint lines and marks left behind, there is a certain raw quality to the film, you can see some of the process behind it. Though it has little story or narrative- just metamorphosis and evolution- I can see why it won the award.
Skhizein (Jermt Clapin - France)
"Having been struck by a 150 ton meteorite, Henry has to adapt to living precisely 91cms from himself."
Best international film, Flip 2008, In addition, the film has won over 15 international awards
The concept for this film is utterly brilliant, imagine being out of place from the rest of the world, lost from yourself. You can gather your own meanings from the film, from philosophy to insanity. It’s a brilliant story with beautiful art direction.
This way up (Smith & Foulkes - United Kingdom)
"Laying the dead to rest has never been so much trouble."
Oscar nominee 2009
The story for this short is well scripted to be funny, but in my opinion a little too long. It does however illustrate perfectly what Ed Hooks is always saying: Animation is an action, in pursuit of an objective, overcoming an obstacle. There are plenty of obstacles in this, but perhaps too many, there are points in which you expect the film to end and yet there is still more. The film is beautifully made though, using hand painted textures for backgrounds, walls etc and its highly stylised. It takes on the dark look that stop motion has naturally, and yet it’s CG.
The Pearce sisters (Luis Cook - United Kingdom)
"A bleak hearted tale of two weather lashed old spinsters."
Best British film, Flip 2008; BAFTA winner 2008
This film has the feeling of ‘Salad Fingers’ in the strange isolated personalities of the sisters. It has plenty of atmosphere; the sound combines fantastically with the imagery of harsh weather conditions and a bleak landscape. You can really get a sense of how lonely the sisters must be in their isolated life together. You get the feeling –especially with the smaller sister- of a child with few friends playing dolls with whatever (or whoever) the sea washes up. It feels raw in the story, bleakness of the landscape and ugliness of the sisters yet it has a certain aesthetic beauty to it that makes it appealing to watch.
Codswallop (The Brothers McLeod - United Kingdom)
"Based on a series of stream consciousness postcards sent by the filmmaker to their son. ‘Codswallop’ features a collection of surreal characters at crucial moments in their briefly glimpsed stories."
BAFTA nominee 2009
The method of two screens side by side is an interesting one and the audience automatically attempts to find meaning and links between one image and the next, even if there are none. While the effect is random, the small clips by themselves hold small gags or actions that hold the audiences attention, you simply can’t stop watching as you anticipate what will happen in the next box. Throughout the film there is a unified aesthetic with the texturing, drawing and line style that may be the only thing linking the clips together.
One Nice Family Photo (Tom Senior - United Kingdom)
"My family rarely get together, so when it happens we need always to take a photo. As if dinner with nine people and the dog isn’t memorable enough!"
Best newcomer, Flip 2008
I enjoyed the documentary aesthetic to this film and the technique of animating to a soundtrack or video. The line quality may be rough but I think it adds to the personality of the film and characters. You can really get a sense of the emotions and moods of the characters involved.
Small birds singing (Linda McCarthy - United Kingdom)
"Every day is Monday at the home of the unbelievable family. Tiny elephants, arguing apples and a body in the hedge… Just an ordinary day at Small Birds Singing."
Selected for Edinburgh 2009, Annecy 2009
This film has a good, quirky, sense of humour and interesting characters. While the story and events are a little odd, they all have a unified theme of strangeness. For a student film and a stop motion the cinematic techniques are well thought out and the film ahs many interesting camera angles. The events themselves tie together in an ‘a day in the life of’ way, there is little story but it has structure to make up for it. The small snippits are like the comics that its based on.
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