Posts Tagged ‘weird’

The Psychiatrist by Emily Howells

Written by andy 21st October 2009, 3:10pm

Posted in: 2D, Reviews

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I love the yellow beak of the toucan. You probably shouldn’t draw any conclusions from that. The gentleman in this animation keeps one under his hat and is afraid of being left under the stairs after a party like an umbrella full of sick. Do you think the underside of an umbrella is sick-proof? I’m not sure.

Emily Howells has made a mad, 2d animated, poetic rant. It’s done with a mixture of breeziness and menace. The oddball paranoid versifier is voiced by Rodger McGough who speaks of fantastical, fearful and funny imagery whist a chattering toucan sits comfortably in the brain-space of the patient, smoking a pipe. Depending on wether you found a moose head on your pillow this morning, have recently receive a parcel of encyclopaedias in the mail or saw the ghost of King Edward VII fighting with a Chihuahua through your kitchen window, you might find this deeply disturbing or hilarious. I’m off to look for missing prawns.

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The Red Suitcase by Saul Freed

Written by andy 6th October 2009, 2:10pm

Posted in: Channel 4, Reviews

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I love cardboard and I always have trouble putting it into the recycler. Yeah it might be a fire hazard and possible rat nest but you never know when it might come in handy, right?

Well, I guess Saul Freed would agree and maybe if, like him I also had  some yarn, a gravelly-voiced, Jazz narrator and a talent for animation, I might be able to make something like The Red Suitcase.

There’s a whole lot of home-made charm in this animation, with its painted cardboard scenery and people that look like knitted versions of Mr Peanut’s hill-billy cousins. There’s a lot of neat story telling moments and fun in here, but there’s a serious slice of life story behind the off-cute style. It’s the small life of a fix-it man and what happens when a stranger comes to town. Someone crosses the tracks. and things change. Suffice to say it involves jazz, wicked, wicked Jazz.

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Love Triangle by Yasmeen Ismail

Written by andy 29th September 2009, 12:09pm

Posted in: 2D, Channel 4, Reviews

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My mother used to warn me that I might turn into something.

There’s a deep truth in this film. Alright, I admit it, I once had a partner and… she turned into a triangle. I didn’t deal with it very well. There, I said it. I’ve come clean. Sometimes geometry gets in the way of life. I knew somebody who turned into a rhombus. A former flatmate of mine even turned into a 4 dimensional hyper cube AHHHHHHRRRGHH! It’s a modern plague!

Yasmeen Ismail’s simple, uncluttered, hand drawn style gives this slice of life with a twist, real heart.  This charming little film has genuine warmth and humour and more importantly shows how to deal with interpersonal triangulation. It turns out you need a hot oven and a tolerance for infanticide.

Now, is it lunchtime yet, I’m hungry.

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Icycle, a game by Reece Millidge

Written by madevi 24th September 2009, 11:09am

Posted in: Games, Reviews

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Play Icycle.

We’re lucky here at 4mations.  We sit in large, comfortably upholstered chairs, receiving offerings from the internets - animated films, yes, comedy gems, sometimes, but also offers of credit, diplomas, and piles of medication that would make the NHS blush.

I’m particularly suspicious when reviewing non-film submissions, so when “Icycle” landed in our submissions pile, I hovered dangerously over the delete button.

I’m glad I didn’t. Because how else would I have played a naked middle aged business man riding through an ice age, collecting bubbles on a BMX? (Take that, keyword spammers).

I could tell you many things about this game. How every part of it is lovingly crafted, the backgrounds elegantly simple and stylishly textured, the animation full of life and humour.  How the sound design, by Stilton Studios and Studio 42, is chillingly atmospheric and effective. Or how Reece Millidge of ‘Damp Gnat‘, the talented animator and compositor behind the game, taught himself Flash and spent 4 months over a period of 4 years making Icycle, in between full time gigs at Nexus Productions, making sure the unfunded production would allow him to develop his own illustration and art direction skills.

I could tell you all this, and make us all marvel at Reece’s commendable dedication and remarkable talent, but I’d have to get out of this plush chair and stop playing this blasted, fun, addictive game. So go and play it, will you? Because I have bubbles to collect work to do.

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Middle dog gets angry by George Gendi

Written by madevi 16th September 2009, 2:09pm

Posted in: 2D, Reviews

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George Gendi is a mind controller. No no, stay with me here.

Try to watch the short animated film “Middle dog gets angry” without clapping at the end. Is it those big bulgy eyes? The simple, slyly expressive drawing style? The exuberant dance moves? The heart-warming finale?

Whatever the formula is, I was drawn in to this simple tale from the very beginning.  With minimalist visuals but plenty of timing and acting flair, George Gendi managed to tug at my heart strings, make me laugh out loud, raise my eyebrows in surprise, and clap delightfully. And that’s when I realized that the characters were watching me clap. I freaked out.

George Gendi, you are the Derren Brown of movement. The Paul McKenna of animation. The James Randi of dogs. Now go and update your blog, will you? I want more. MORE! MORE!!!

If, like me, you are an impressionable, pliable soul, you can see more samples of George Gendi’s work on Sherbet’s site. He has a youtube channel too. Who’s for forming a fan club?

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My First Crush by Julia Pott

Written by andy 10th September 2009, 2:09pm

Posted in: 2D, Reviews

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If you’ve ever fallen in love with a blue fox then this is the film for you. The animation makes use of interviews with people talking about their first crushes. Then using the magic of imagination, Julia Pott transforms ordinary citizens into a seahorse knocking on a castle door or a polar bear on a telephone. It’s a more oddball take on the Creature Comforts idea.

Julia’s surreal drawing style combines the comically twee and the slightly unsettling with an eye for strong design. She makes these commonplace stories into something transformative.

Like this? Watch Julia Pott’s music video for White Corolla.

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Harry by Sam Jones

Written by andy 9th September 2009, 9:09am

Posted in: 2D, 3D, Reviews

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Bad hair day? Well unless you have a giant scribbly pom-pom of orange hair like Harry, I’d count your blessings. Sam Jones’s “Harry” is a short animation telling the story of a boy and his massive, unruly, orange hair. Everything gets tangled in this mop, from hedgehogs to footballs, and people recoil from it in fear when it approaches.

Sam uses a nice mixture of stylish flats, cut out and placed in a 3D space. The short has a sort of abstract pop up book feel about it which is appealing. I particularly like the transitions between scenes.

If you like the feel good funkiness of this animated short, you’ll love Sam Jones’ portfolio site. There’s a floating penguin, a selection of more design and animation work, and a purple knitted dinosaur who goes “ROOOOAR”. Bliss.

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Life Without Gabriella Ferri

Written by madevi 4th September 2009, 9:09am

Posted in: Festivals, Reviews

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Woman strokes fish. Fish squelshes. Man strokes fish. Fish squelshes. Woman strokes man. Woman strokes knife. Man strokes fish…. and so it goes on. I may reveal myself as an animation dunce when I say I had no previous knowledge of Pritt Parn’s work before attending the screening of his feature film Life Without Gabriella Ferri last night at the London Animation Festival.

It’s hard to say what the film is about, and perhaps it’s completely unnecessary. Life without Gabriella Ferri, fittingly, only briefly references Gabriella herself. There’s a one legged chicken, an impassible runner, a wandering spider, a thief, and a number of creepy ophthalmologists. While the drawings are scratchy and messy, there’s a precise, almost choreographed fluidity to the movements of the characters. The 44 minutes of the film are no easy watch. I experienced growing anxiety. Everything here, from the unrelenting soundscape to the neglected child with the bandaged hand, feeds a sense of unease, a clear message that something is wrong. And yet the film cultivates its own internal, inexorable logic, a weird structure in the chaos.

Yup, that’s Estonian animation for you. Tomorrow, light relief in the form of sexy zebras and clumsy undertakers when I review the LIAF programme of Siggraph Asia shorts.

Have you seen Pritt Parn’s work? I’d be interested to hear what you made of it.

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Ugly Love

Written by andy 2nd September 2009, 11:09am

Posted in: 3D, Reviews

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SPOILER: La La Lah, it’s a lovely day, look at the cardboard clouds. I am a cute deer with my cute doe. Everything is peachy. Oh what’s that on the ground? Holy crud my face! There’s a metal thing on my ever-so-cute-deer-face! And now my eyeball has popped out of its face-hole. Hey where’s my doe? Hey babe, you’ll never guess what happened…where are you going? Is it the blood-drenched dangling eyeball?…

This piece of animated animalia was Created by Jane Ashby, using painted cardboard, collage and toy-like animated animals. It has a nice, stagey, constructed feel about it. I just hope it isn’t autobiographical.

You’ll find more animal mal de vivre in ‘Panda Love’ and other animated goodies on Jane Ashby’s website.

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Throw Me To The Rats

Written by madevi 27th August 2009, 11:08am

Posted in: 2D, Reviews

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You don’t fool me, Ratatouille. Oh sure, you may look all plump and cute, with your soft glossy fur, teeny tiny paws and uncanny dexterity with a wooden spoon, but I know where you been at, punk. Sewers. That’s where. Dark stinky sewers, and the dark recesses of the night, when I hear you scuttling, scuttling endlessly, worrying away at my sanity…

Clearly rats are up to no good, and nowhere more so than in this video. Rats are dancing suspiciously. Rats are being taunted by a matador. One rat is messing , threateningly, with a cog. All of this set in a riotous theatrical set of detailed cut-out puppets, live-action, and plenty of behind-the-scenes compositing. Alasdair Brotherston, who directed this video, was recently noticed by Kanye and is now represented by Trunk, along with his collaborator Jock Mooney.

What role did this nefarious rat-filled music video play in this? Draw your own conclusions.

Watch more kuh-razy music videos from the dynamic duo on Alasdair’s vimeo page.

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