Thursday, May 19, 2005

The Animation Show 2005! (2005)

Popcorn wins King of Celluloid!

Genre: Animation Shorts

Starring: Don Hertzfeldt's and Mike Judge's work and many others

Directed By: Don Hertzfeldt, Mike Judge (Office Space; Beavis And Butt Head Do America)

Overview: The second animation shorts film by these guys, it showcases animators from around the world.

Acting: The acting in most of the shorts was minimalist. I know there were really only two of the shorts that actually had real dialogue in it (F.E.D.S., Ryan), while the rest had the speaking parts as, "Blah Blah Blah" or squeaking or somesuch. This approach left it up to the animators to make sure that we got the message, and they all did well.
Rating: 7

Cinematography: The mixing of cinematographic styles in these shorts was all very unique. From low budget stop-motion to my favorite incredibly sophistically animated Fallen Art there's something here for everyone. From Plymptoons' Guard Dog to the Ward 13 hospital nightmare, the styles will amaze and impress you, including the Oscar winning Ryan.
Rating: 8

Script: The minimalist scripts were great. The sounds and grunts of the speechless films spoke volumes, whereas the documentary style of F.E.D.S. and Ryan were more about realism than fantasy. Good stuff.
Rating: 7

Plot: The plots range from a Robert Frost poetry narration to The Meaning of Life, so I'm fairly certain something in there will interest you. All the shorts were entertaining and ranged from light humour to heavy political commentary. You'll come for the look but stay for the stories.
Rating: 8

Mood: The overall mood was "look at this crazy range of great animators", and they pulled it off splendidly. The other thing about short film is you don't really have to immerse your audience into a common mood, besides the obvious intended theme. Shorts instead put the onus of mood-setting on the contributors. In this case, the animations were almost all perfect, always immersive in their particular style.
Rating: 8

The less popular Soylent Fuscia was made of cartoon characters

Overall Rating: 76% (Fun Times!)

Aftertaste: This was a great little show and a great reason to go out. I'm not sure if this'll be available on DVD rental, though my favorite of all spoke volumes with it's dark anti-war sentiment. www.fallen-art.com tells more, but sadly doesn't have the actual short available to watch, though there is a trailer. I know that this is these director's second showcase and I will certainly attend the next one. Hopefully it won't take another 2 years.