OIAF 2008: Shorts Competition 2
Animated Shorts Compete At Ottawa International Animation Festival
Sep 23, 2008
The Ottawa International Animation Festival's Shorts Competition 2, running on Thursday September 18th at 9 pm, showcased 13 short films from around the globe. While not as out-and-out stunning as in previous nights, there was nevertheless some worthy material produced by up-and-coming artists.
It Rocked
PES's "Western Spaghetti" was a delightful 'animated objects' piece that used random objects in order to give a demonstration on how to cook spaghetti and meat sauce. The animation was witty and the short didn't overstay its welcome. A lot of fun.
Yann Jouette's "Berni's Doll" depicted a pathetic factory worker assembling a woman from spare parts made in developing countries. It was a tragi-comic story with much to say about First World exploitation.
Rémy Schaepman's "Quidam Dégomme (A Sheep on the Roof)" featured a man whose miserable life is turned upside down when a fun-loving sheep takes up residence on a roof across the street. The man's response speaks volumes about how tranquility may not be the most ideal place for humans.
Christopher Hinton's "Twister" was a great promotional animation for the Idaho Lottery. It depicted a caller pitching the idea to an unimpressed executive.
"It'll never work," she says, just before hanging up. But it just did.
Not so Much
There was more good than bad in this night's selection, but there were some shorts that didn't whose execution didn't live up to their potential. Derek Roczen's "Baerenbraut" was a tale about a woman's relationship with a bear: it had an interesting concept but needed a few more rounds at the script and storyboard level.
Similar problems plagued Mirai Mizue's "Lost Utopia," an experimental/abstract retelling of the classic Adam & Eve story. Mizue's appealing designs unfortunately overstayed their welcome.
Finally, Gerd Gockell's "Optical Percussion," a reconstruction of an unfinished collaboration between abstract animator Oskar Fischinger and avant-garde musician John Cage, is a reminder that what is mind-blowing in 1937 can look stale and dated in 2008.
The Winner?
But it was Smith & Foulkes' short "Box" that stood out. The title sequence from the Platform International Animation Festival used motion capture to depict a little white cube's epic journey to the fest. It was a stunning display of animation prowess that managed to tell a perfect little story (once again, folks, story always trumps razzle-dazzle!).
"How the **** did they make the truck roll like that?" gasped one young animator directly after the screening. Based on other overheard comments, it's clear that Smith & Foulkes wowed many others at the Ottawa International Animation Festival.
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