Week 10

Week 10

Georges Schwizgebil (Switzerland) - Man without a shadow 

- Paint on glass techniques
- About a man who sells his shadow to a devil-like character in exchange for wealth and a happy life. He finds out that without his shadow he is shunned and avoided.
-Transistions are done using colour and perspective
-Won awards at the Cannes Film Festival and the Zagreb world festival of animated films.

Run Wrake (UK)

-Made a series of short films that have been influence Len Lye, Oskar Fischinger and Jan Svankmajer
- Made Rabbit (2005) by placing imagery from old children's books/ Stickers and transforming them into a story about the consumerism's corrupting nature.

Stephen Irwin (UK)

-Made "The Black Dog's Progess" a flick boom animation which tells the depressing story of an unwanted black dog.

Regina Pessoa 

- First film "The Night" was made by engraving plaster plate.
- Made "Tragic story with Happy Ending"

Pedro Serrazina (Portugal)

-Made his first directorial debut in 1995 with Tale about the Cat and the Moon
-Also made The Eyes of the Lighthouse (2010) that is a combination of drawn animation, painting, CGI and live action for the sea

Modern Toss (UK)

-T.V series - Lo-fi adaption of Mick Bunnage and Jon Link’s surreal adult cartoons
-The Modern Toss characters first appeared on a website, then in comic books and on t-shirts and greeting cards before the first airing of the T.V show in 2006

Eyes of the Lighthouse Review 

"Eyes of the Lighthouse" is an interesting blend of 2D and CGI animation. I think if anything this short film is probably aimed at a younger audience as the story is rather simple. With that said, the animation is interesting even to an older audience. Personally I think the film would have been better if it was completely 2D as some of the CGI element, mainly the water effects, don't match up the amazing quality of the hand drawn animation. My personal favourite scene is when the father enters the cave to find the daughter's hoard of random trinkets, as I think the drawing captures the chaos and love of a young girl's hoard of personal treasures.

Overall "Eyes of the Lighthouse" is a great animated short film, especially if watching with children.

Week 8

Persepolis

Director: Marjane Satrapi
Year: 2007
Source Material: Based on a graphic novel/ Biography by Satrapi
Themes: Freedom, family, morality in the face of oppression, the oppression of thought and belief, growing up in Iran during 70's and 80's

Review

Persepolis is an interesting look at war ravaged Iran through the eyes of a woman who grew up during the turmoil of the 70's and 80's. While I enjoyed the animation and its simple drawing style, I found the movie somewhat dis-interesting to watch for a few reasons. Firstly the film is in french, while not the film maker's fault its still isn't very entertaining to read the subtitles.

Secondly, I know this is about real life events and a woman's experience, but the film feels a bit uneventful. It also feels a bit like it has a crisis about what moral it wants to tell. Some points seems to be about the personal mistakes of the main character, some parts are about Iran and the problems caused by fanaticism and international politics.

While I think the animated film is very good and should be show to high school kids who might be thinking about animation or world politics, I can't really recommend it as a entertainment watch. The pace of the movie is indecisive and the story suffers as it is missing large chunks of the author's/ Director's life. It is also very dark at points, so don't expect the film to raise your spirits.

In short I couldn't work out if the biographical film was about Majane Satrapi's view's on her homeland's trouble past and the terrors she saw growing up, or if it is simply Satrapi's biography and a  character study of herself and the important people in her life. Overall good animation and storytelling, but the pacing and tone are all over the place (This is probably due to the fact they are trying to fit several decades worth of story into 96 minutes of film, so take me review with a grain of salt)