Student Two
The Box (Die Kiste)
Dir. Kyra Buschor / Switzerland / 2010
"Three frogs have a discussion about the contents of a mysterious box."
This film didn't do anything for me, in fact it bored and frustrated me! And then the end wasn't even worth waiting for. CGI was used to create this animation, the style went well with the mood of what was happening but thats about all of it's good points.
The Renter
Dir. Jason Carpenter / USA / 2011
"A young boy is dropped off at an elderly woman's home for the day. A lone man adds to the unsettling atmosphere. The savage slaughter of a chicken makes this daycare a harsh and confusing world for the boy, who learns caring can be shown in unexpected ways."
I wasn't too keen on this animation, it was certainly unsettling but I didn't really get what the boy character was feeling about the man and how we as an audience was meant to feel about the man. The description also threw me as I didn't feel quite like it was talking about the same film that I was watching. I certainly didn't feel that the boy learnt that caring can be shown in unexpected ways. this just didn't work for me.
Discarded (Hors-jeu)
Dir. Elodie D'Ambrosio / France / 2011
"Following a printing error, a 53rd figure, without symbol or value, slipped into a pack of playing cards.
I didn't like this animation either, it was a good idea but the chase bit went on far too long and I lost interest. When I first saw an image from the film in the BAF programme I got quite excited as I quite liked the style and thought that it would be a good film but I was pretty disappointed. It just shows that something can look pretty but if the story isn't good then there's no point.
Laszlo
Dir. Nicolas Lemee / France / 2010
"Laszlo is a man with no past who just wants to live in peace- anywhere will do."
Again, unfortunately I didn't enjoy this one either. I just could keep up with the story and didn't understand a lot of things. However, I loved the style, with cut out and ripped round photos etc this made an interesting effect and would love to try this sometime.
Strings (Lyannaj')
Dir. Guillaume Lorin / France / 2010
"After the abolition of slavery, a former female slave and a land-owner who has lost everything are forced to learn to live side by side."
I thought the concept and message behind this animation was good but I don't feel that it was put across very well and was described in the BAF programme too clearly either. This was a very short film and I feel it ended a bit abruptly and part of the story was missing in the middle. The sytle was ok, nothing too outstanding.
The Backwater Gospel
Dir. Bo Mathorne / Denmark / 2011
"As long as anyone can remember, the coming of the Undertaker has meant the coming of death. Until one day the grim promise fails and tension builds as the God fearing townsfolk of Blackwater wait for someone to die."
I loved the style of this, it was really different and the story was brilliant too. It keep me on the edge on my seat, there was a lot of anticipation in it and the ending wasn't expected either!
A Life Well Seasoned
Dir. Daniel Rieley / UK / 2011
"A man loses the most important person in his life, but as the story unfolds we see how he overcomes his loss. Through a series of extraordinary events, the man deals with his grief in a way that may seem absurd to others."
This animation was made using stop motion. The style was beautiful and it had lots of different textures, and the story was very touching. The story of the man is told in a sensitively lovely way.
Journey to the Sunflowers Field (Voyage au Champ de Tournesols)
Dir. Alexandre Siqueira / France / 2010
"Nicolas, a five year old boy, has an accident while playing with his kite."
I didn't full understand what was happening in the story until I read the description in the BAF programme, after that it made perfect sense! I wasn't so keen on the style though.
Heldenkanzler
Dir. Benjamin Swiczinsky / Germany / 2010
"Heldenkanzler is based on the true story of Engelbert Dollfuss, who wants to keep up with european fashions of the 1930's by enforcing his own facist dictatorship in Austria."
I didn't like this one, I found the story very crude and the style emphasized this.
John & Betty
Dirs.Luke George, Alex Hancocks / UK / 2011
"Elderly couple John and Betty are happily married until John's unhealthy obsession with solving crimes leads him to grow dangerously suspicious of his wife."
This was quite a nice little story with a bit of fatal ending! Not too sure on the style, they used stop motion puppets but I found these quite average, it was nothing special visually!
Arrietty (Kari-gurashi no Arietti)
Hiromasa Yonebayashi / Japan / 2010 / Voices: Mirai Shida, Ryunosuke Kamiki
"14 year-old girl Sho discovers Arrietty, a tiny 'borrower' who lives in a tiny house beneath the floorboards and who borrows things from the adult world. A magical adaptation of Mary Norton's children's classic The Borrowers by Studio Ghibli, the much-loved animation studio behind Spirited Away, Ponyo and Howl's Moving Castle."
I thoroughly enjoyed this feature film, it had a lovely little storyline to it, both touching and fun. The style had plenty of detail to it and went with the story really nicely. I would definitely watch this film again given the chance.
Studio M.I.R. - Irina Margolina
Studio M.I.R. was founded in 1991 by film director Mark Lyakhovetski and script writer Irina Margolina.
"The Studio initially focused in producing documentaries, but since 2005 the Studio has been producing animated films and series, and has recieved numerous international awards at international animation festivals. Award winning scriptwriter, director and producer Irina Margolina, Head of Studio M.I.R. joins us to introduce a retrospective of their stunning films."
A number of Studio MIR's films were screened including 'Tales of the Old Piano: Beethoven', 'Tales of the Old Piano: Rossini', 'Tales of the Old Piano: Prokofiev', 'Contemporary Fairytales of the World: Three Little Pigs', 'Contemporary Fairytales of the World: Art' and 'Contemporary Fairytales of the World: La Si Do-Sharp'. These are made for the purpose of being educational for children, I felt that the Tales of the Old Piano ones were slightly old for children and felt that they would easily be bored from the very start. The Tales of the Old Piano animations would not just be boring to children because of the content but because they are also very dreary and the colour palette is very dull, something that you would least expect a child to watch! Another thing that bothered me was that although all three were made for the same 'series' they all had different styles because each one had someone make them. This may just be me but I found this very strange, it gave no continuity.
The Contemporary Fairytales were a definite improvement as far as its targeted audience is concerned! I thought that The Three Little Pigs story was very creative and expressed a brilliant message - that you should find out both sides of a story before coming to any conclusions. Art was also very good, but I wasn't so keen on La Si Do-Sharp.
Richard MacGuire in Conversation with Paul Gravett
"Richard McGuire designed and directed the animated film 'Micro Loup', which is the first part of omnibus feature film, 'Loulou et autres Loups' (Loulou and other Wolves, 2003). He also created the closing film of another omnibus feature, 'Peurs du Noir' (Fears of the Dark, 2007). He is a regular art contributor to the New Yorker Magazine. He has written and illustrated both children's books and experimental comics. his comics have appeared in Art Spiegelman's RAW magazine, The New York Times, McSweeney's, Le Monde, and Liberation. And he is the founder and bass player of the punk-funk band Liquid Liquid. He is currently working on a graphic novel expanding his comic entitled 'HERE'."
This man has many skills and talent - animator, illustrator, graphic novelist and musician! His animations, and work in general have a very graphic style. My favourite piece was 'Fears of the Dark', I felt that style was thought out really well to suit the story and the mood and was animated really well. You couldn't see every object because of the style and the lighting but you still felt their presence. It was just a brilliant piece.
My second favourite was 'Mirco Loup', this had a very simple style to it but was very effective and visually exciting. This had also been thought out very cleverly and the story was brilliant! If you haven't watch either of these then do! In fact I'm going to link a video to make it even easier for you..
'Peurs du Noir' (Fears of the Dark)
'Micro Loup'
This man has definitely been an inspiration to me and proves that the more skills you have and the more you can do the more work you will have. It's also lesson on how collaboration with other designers is good. This was a great end to the day.
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