Archive for January, 2006

Disarmed

Saturday, January 28th, 2006

Disarmed
(click to play)

My cousins used to play this odd little game; they were about five and three years old at the time. The older one would pick up the remote control to the TV, point it at her sister, and say “Turn you off”–she’d obligingly fall to the ground and play dead. Then the remote changed hands, they’d change places, and the game would begin all over again. It was carried out with the solemn gravity of an execution by firing squad.

This short is a grown-up version of the same game, played with a grown-up weapon…

format: DV video
software: Commotion, AfterEffects, Painter, Final Cut, Audition
Pittsburgh, 2002.

Broadcast on CBC TV 2002.

Posted in Live Action, My Top Ten, Television | 3 Comments »

The Story of Enoch

Monday, January 23rd, 2006

The Story of Enoch
(click to play)

Enoch receives a premonition of disaster, so he sets out to collect as many books as he can find, to preserve the knowledge of the world. But, lacking reliable divine guidance, all his careful preparations come down to a straight-ahead, all-or-nothing gamble….

format: DV video
software: Final Cut, Audition, Photoshop
Los Angeles, 2003.

Broadcast on CBC TV 2005.

Posted in Animation, My Top Ten, Student Film, Television | 1 Comment »

The Little Bird of Disaster

Thursday, January 19th, 2006

The Little Bird of Disaster
(click to play)

This is a story about a little bird who claims to be able to predict the future. Don’t trust him.

The Little Bird of Disaster was developed at The Kitchen’s 2003 summer workshop. The speaking characters are real-time “video puppets,” controlled with Mark Coniglio’s Isadora software. The piece was actually performed, like they say, in front of a live studio audience (you can hear them in the background).

format: DV video
software: Flash, AfterEffects, Painter, Isadora, Final Cut, Audition
Los Angeles, 2004.

Screened at Rotterdam Film Festival 2005.

Posted in Animation, Major Festival, My Top Ten, Student Film | No Comments »

A Good Joke

Monday, January 16th, 2006

A Good Joke
(click to play)

This short is based on an old joke, a perennial in compilations of Jewish humor. Although the details differ between versions, the scene remains the same: a priest challenges a rabbi to a debate on the spiritual condition of Jewish people. But neither speaks the other’s language, and…well, I won’t spoil the punch line.

format: HD video
software: Flash, AfterEffects, Final Cut, Audition
San Francisco, 2005.

Screened at Ottawa Animation Festival 2006.

Posted in Animation, Available in HD, Major Festival, My Top Ten | No Comments »

Mother of All Bombs

Wednesday, January 11th, 2006

Mother of All Bombs
(click to play)

I’d seen pictures of it before, but an especially dramatic photograph caught my eye on a magazine cover in the grocery store. It almost looked like another vegetable: a brilliant marigold-orange “fuel-air” bomb, the most powerful non-nuclear weapon on the market.

format: DV video
software: Commotion, AfterEffects, Painter, Final Cut, Audition
Los Angeles, 2003.

Posted in Live Action, Student Film | 2 Comments »

The Option of War

Friday, January 6th, 2006

The Option of War
(click to play)

In this adaptation of an early Kafka story, a soldier is taken prisoner in the night by a pack of jackals. Offering a pair of scissors, they demand that he use the makeshift weapon to kill his sleeping friends. They overwhelm his initial, shocked refusal. Slowly, incredibly, he begins to see their point of view. He takes the scissors, and…

format: HD video
software: Flash, AfterEffects, Painter, Final Cut, Audition
Montreal, 2005.

Screened at Ottawa Animation Festival 2005.

Posted in Animation, Available in HD, Major Festival, My Top Ten, Student Film | 1 Comment »

Bird’s Eye Bull’s Eye

Wednesday, January 4th, 2006

Bird's Eye Bull's Eye
(click to play)

The painter in this short may think she’s only painting circles on the ground. But from our privileged vantage point, we can see well enough where it’s all going to lead….

format: DV video
software: Commotion, AfterEffects, Painter, Final Cut, Audition
Los Angeles, 2003.

Posted in Live Action, Student Film | No Comments »

All About the Magnet

Monday, January 2nd, 2006

All About the Magnet
(click to play)

“Is the nail attracted to the magnet?” “Yes!”

This oddly martial drill on the properties of the magnet comes to us from an old, damaged album of ’50s educational songs. I just couldn’t help imagining what the recording session must have looked like, and out came this little cartoon.

format: DV video
software: Flash, AfterEffects, Final Cut, Audition
Pittsburgh, 2002.

Posted in Animation | No Comments »