Leeds International Film Festival - World Animation Part 3 (1 of 2)

I only managed to catch the Third part of the World Animation event at Leeds International Film Festival due to how quickly the tickets sold out. However I did quite enjoy the third screening, I noticed that their were far more stop motion animations, which means that stop motion is finally starting to come back into trend with animation. There were a few animations in which I thought were trying to hard to be thought provoking so the actual story was lost.

Here are my quick notes on each short animation at the screening:

The Master (Estonia) (Stop motion)

I loved the style of the animation, it was beautiful with the attention to detail and the movement of the dog and monkey were smooth and worked with the style of the animation. I felt that the actual story lasted for too long, it was too slow and once the pace picked up alittle bit with the dramatic plot, it went back down to a slow pace. In addition some of the scenes weren't needed, it could have cut straight to drama to help the pace of the storytelling but the ending seemed to be lacking in my opinion, it just happened. I understand that the monkey is only a monkey so picking up the gun is understandable, but I would have expected the monkey to swing the gun rather than shoot it. Apart from the ending the living room and kitchen set were what gave the animation that aesthetic appeal. It really aided the animation with telling the spectator what era and what culture the world was built upon. This really was needed with the lack of dialogue the animation was dependent on body language and visuals of the animation.

Air Mail (France and Switzerland) 

I really liked the storytelling of this animation, it was simple sweet working successfully with the style of the 2D animation. It reminded me of an infographic through the movement of the characters and the colour palette chosen. I enjoyed the humor in the animation, and how through the characters pets, they met each other. I would have liked the animation to have held more depth, however the style of the animation needed the lack of depth, so the added textures and lack of space in the animation was needed to help create a cut out animation appeal.

Amelia and Duarte (Portugal and Germany)

This pixilation animation was very light-hearted and worked really well with the storytelling. Even though the movements were jagged, expected from pixilation as it adds to the charm of the style, it works with the romantic genre. I enjoyed the narration over the animation, it worked with the story and portrayed the narrative well alongside the movement of the characters.

The overall animation was very charming and made a change from the serious tone of the previous animations.

Wellington Jr (France) 

This stop motion animation held a bizarre story but was told quite well, their wasn't too much dialogue in the animation, it was mainly sound effects and ambience which worked with the narrative. I loved the style of the characters and the backgrounds, the humor worked really well with the movement of the characters as well as the narrative. In comparison to The Master I personally felt the main character was easier to connect with and understand the choices that the main character took. The Master pulled the heartstrings with the death of the dog which was more of a shock attempt towards the audience rather than trying to emote and convey a message to the audience.

The animation of the characters were sometimes jarred but it added to the charm of the models and worked with the fear that the main character went through when he was left in the woods.

Haircut (Italy and France) 

It is difficult to express what this animation was trying to convey. There are so any themes that this animation could be trying to tell the audience which I personally think the narrative was going for. I think it was trying to show mental manipulation, being controlled by someone or even your own thoughts. Subsequently the method of the animation works well, the use if graphite, the line shading and the constant movement of the background makes the audience uncomfortable. Matched with the lack of sound and ambient backing track it definitely made an impact at the screening.

This animation emphasised to me how important sound really is to animation, how it is dependent to audio, in order to create a completed piece. I need to ensure that the sound effects and general sound is added to my extended practice animation.