Moving Image and Motion Graphics at the International Short Film Festival
February 2nd, 2012 in Animation, Insight, Motion Graphics, Promotional, Social, Video Production, Viral Posted by Lee
Much like a viral, the best short films and animations need a ‘hook’ – usually a technical feature worth talking about or a plot twist. Some of the more gimmicky short films were the big successes of this year’s festival because they didn’t rely solely on their ‘hook’, but nevertheless used one to great effect – Billy Lumby’s ‘God View’ was shot almost entirely top-down (the ‘God View’ angle) and told the story of a quite troubled father in Hackney, and ‘Armadingen’ by Phillipp Kassbohrer used tilt-shift effects and quirky models to depict a sleepy German village under a meteor attack.
High-production video and motion graphics composites were also a great watch, most notably Ruairi Robinson’s ‘Blinky TM’ – the story of a robot helper and the fractured relationship with his high-maintenance owner. Expect to see Ruairi invading the long-form big screen and your telly – I imagine he’ll be working on some even bigger commercial videos and video ads soon.
Till Nowak of Germany took us on a rollercoaster of motion graphics and video, imagining some quite crazy amusement park rides and their supposed psychological side effects in the not-so-scientific ‘The Centrifuge Brain Project’ (also called ‘Fliehkraft’). Nowak has been producing commercial video and virals through his animation studio since 1999.
‘Graffitiger’, directed and animated by Libor Pixa of the Czech Republic, portrayed the story of a graffiti tiger and his lost love across the walls of Prague – it reminded me of a motion graphics version of BLU’s stop motion viral MUTO from 2008 (which has recently influenced a video ad for a major car manufacturer, no less).
Amongst a number of often indecipherable, philosophical (though I can think of other words) animations, the Dutch and French co-produced ‘Chase’ was quite astounding in its speed and attention to detail, as we were whisked along into a world composed entirely of arrows by Dutch animation studio il Luster Productions. Latvian-produced stop motion animation ‘Ursus’ was a well-made, illustrated animation about a circus bear’s longing to be free, whilst Joseph Pierce‘s latest offering ‘The Pub’ utilised stark black and white animation and video to depict some of the more grotesque characters in a North London pub. Pierce’s trademark style of animation I can also see being used in video advertising and viral marketing in the near future.
The 2012 festival was also a big year for Cuban film. Six programmes comprising 41 films made up ‘Hoy Cuba’ – bringing the Caribbean nation to several big screens across the city. Whilst not technically superb (and barely any with English subs), a passion for the country was evident across the festival – expect to see a lot more from Cuba on the international cultural stage and in online and video advertising.
So, once again a great trip to the Clermont Ferrand International Short Film Festival, and enough short films and Frenchness to keep me going ‘til next January. Keep an eye out for the directors mentioned here – their motion graphics and video production skills will surely see them in commercial production this year.