Commercial or Movie???

The Chase  

 Intel Nexus Productions and the Uk-based animation due Smith & Foulkes join forces for one of the most action packed 2 minute film my laptop has ever seen! Though I've many chase scenes in various cinemas, this one approaches the classic situation by mixing reality with the virtual world. The Chase begins with a beautiful woman who has something a group of goons want badly. Throughout the movie we follow her as she goes through video games, file windows, graphic programs, quick time video and even Facebook. The mere creativity behind the cat and mouse like chase is what I find to the most entertaining element to this short story. Since I am an 90's baby that grew up in the the 20th century computerized world, I find this film located in the virtual world to be very appealing. I was surprise to see the movie end with a bumper from Intel which lead me to believe that this was a commercial! What the case may be, The Chase is adventurous, creative and brings a new look to the classic chase seen. 

http://www.shortoftheweek.com/2011/10/03/the-chase/

Femme Fatale

British born photographer, Greg Williams, takes the classic Femme Fatale to debut his first dramatic film. Tell-Tale gets its inspiration from Edgar Allen Poe's The TellTale Heart, this film tells the complicated story of a couple's crime and the guilt which follows afterwards. It uses visually striking shots in a produced by Red One Mysterium X and prototype Epic Cameras and significant lighting techniques to create a world of mystery and adds to an all around impressive mise-en-scene. The film starred notable talent such as Carla Gugino, Adam Arkin and Clifton Collins Jr.

That fact that Williams was able to direct such an entertaining and suspenseful piece in only eight minutes was very admirable. On shot in particular at 1:18, caught my eye immediately. It was an OTS but the person in which the shot uses for a shoulder is a sort of medium close-up of the character's face looking to the gentlemen across from her. This was the portion of the film where the femme fatale suspect was being interrogated and I thought this shot seemed to add to the intensity of the moment.  With the help of the incredible talent of Carla Gugino, Williams was able to use the limited amount of time presented by a short film and tell the story of a plan that went wrong that drove the main character to guilt then eventually to insanity. And at the end, the viewers are left wondering what will happen next after their is a possibility that the couple had been caught. The mysterious is never truly solved!


http://www.shortoftheweek.com/2010/09/07/tell-tale/

Runaway

I must admit. I am a big Kanye West fan. The Chicago rap artist makes unique music that often ranges in it's subject matters while others in his profession can become vaguely repetitive. The same can be said for their music videos. But in Runaway Kanye attempts to do something new with his music genre and creativity.

After discovering a beautiful phoenix/woman as he drives in the woods, Kanye begins to fall in love as he introduces her to his world, our world. But Phoenix, however, can't continue in this new strange place and has to return to her world by burning. Throughout the short, we are faced with a Scottish bands and a large Michael Jackson like figure, ballet dancers, an acting debut from Kanye and a host of other fantastical elements. Though I admire his film for it's creativity and effort, I have to admit that I thought, at times, that it was doing too much that unfortunately distracted it's viewers from some of his music. His songs were all good and entertaining in their individual way but once he puts them together to tell the story of the George Bush infamous criticizer and a beautiful leading lady, we felt a little lost and drug along as this unnecessarily long music video took 34 minutes of my life.

I will note that their were some impressive things that caught my eye throughout the film as well. One was the way in which the director, Kanye with the help of fair Spike Jonze, used a red filter in the sky in the beginning. The graphics were fairly nice as the Phoenix came to earth and a stream of fire. The costumes and set designs all work perfectly with each scene. For instant, the part in which Kanye takes his new found love to a dinner party, we she a garage like area, with a large dingy painted teal door, white ceiling, a long white table with delicious foods scattered among it and his guest all wearing white. When he enters with the Phoenix, who is basically naked with skin tone feathers on her breast and private areas and a collection of them on her back, she stands out from her surroundings creating a picture perfect scenery. The cinematography was the most important element of this film but its ability to properly tell a story and its attempt to mix its ideas into a music video seemed to be its biggest conflict.

http://www.shortoftheweek.com/2010/10/25/review-of-kanye-wests-runaway/

Did You Hear About The Terrys?

"The Terrys are the especially wicked blight of the dunnersville trailer park. Violent, Drug-addled, sex-crazed, and mutually abusive, the couple Terry Grutt, played by Tim Heidecker, and Terry Brovart Played by Eric Wareheim, are a terror of unbridled love/hate. When they aren't rutting like animals in a drug-induced stupor, they are threatening to kill one another. Things look belak for their lonterm surviaval,, let aloe happiness and self-actualization. Now a baby is coming, and in a weird twist of fate this life that they are supposed to take care of ends up taking care of them."

The Terrys is a combination of crude humor and a inspiring love story. How might you ask? Well the Terrys, played by Tim and Erica from Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job on adult swim, are a trailer park couple who's addicted to crack cocaine. The wife, who is actually played by a man, sells herself to buy drugs and her abusive and deranged husband cheats on her and verbally assaults her on a daily bases. One day they conceive a son who is a puppet boy that sets his parents straight. In their old age, they become better cleaner individual and comes to the point in their lives where they are ready to "pull the plug." When their puppet son does so, his tears send a magical plant to heaven and on the top of it, a flower blooms and the flower petals open to reveal a real-life digitally animated son.

I thought this short film was hilarious. It reminded me of something I would see on comedy central or adult swim. If you find yourself offended then I think the movie's point has been made. It's rude, crude, filled with profanity and disgusting but all this works together for an entertaining variety to Kyerra' Wonderful World of Blogs. It was shocking and absurd but in the end. You'll find yourself holding your side laughing at the male and male leading roles.

http://www.shortoftheweek.com/2011/07/21/the-terrys/

Video Home System

All My Dreams on VHS by Timonthy X Atack, is a British awkward comedy about a first date and how the main character has the ability to put his dreams all on video home systems. He makes the mistake of leaving his date alone with the VHS and she discovers a dream about her. He is nervous when he finds her looking at the tape but is surprised to learn that she was actually flattered by the dream and then the date gets a intensely romantic until she knocks some more videos down and find that he not only dreams of her but many other women. When this happens, she is embarrassed and fleas without hearing any explanations.

I thought the films was cute and funny. However, I was disappointed to see that I couldn't see the dreams myself. I would of liked to see what it would look like to have a dream on VHS! But other than that, I thought the concept was new and interesting. The characters chemistry worked well on scene and the scenery and cinematography wasn't anything notable but it all work well in setting up the mise-en-scene of the 13 minute long film. I felt bad for the man when he discovered his intimate dream of his date had been watched and I felt even more sorry for him when she finds the many other videos like hers. All and all, it was a good movie and I think I would like to see a possible sequel. Maybe of the dreams on DVD or YouTube.
http://www.shortoftheweek.com/2011/12/01/all-my-dreams-on-vhs/

Le Petit Dragon

Bruce Lee is reincarnated as an adventurous rubber made toy, in this stop motion real-life film mixture. Le Petit Dragon which means little dragon follows the mini-Bruce Lee as he magically comes to life in a young man's room and explores the contents of his environment. The audience follows the character as he goes from the desk to under a dresser where he finds old broken toys hidden under spider webs. He soon makes an enemy with a robot and has to fight for his life. He is victories but ironically, when he sees a Bruce Lee video game and tries to karate kick the image, he ends up breaking himself into pieces. But the spirit of the little dragon lives on and finds a new home in a t-shirt Lee on the back.I liked how this movie re framed from using dialect and used scores and sound effects to tell the story. The motions of the rubber toy were steaminess done and each second caught my attention.


http://www.shortoftheweek.com/2011/11/24/le-petit-dragon/

Let's Get Fucked Up And Die (LGFUAD)

This movie by Kelsey Stark goes beyond being an obscene and graphic story.  It reminds me of a 90's MTV cartoon like Beaves and But-head. At first, you are taken back by some of the things the movie brings up. It begins with a girl eating pizza express desires to be a ghost. She gives reasons why it would be fun and though are explanations are grotesque and almost disguising, there is a short of art behind it. I'm reminded of the youth's revolt throughout passed times. Specifically, the hippies in the seventies. It was a culture with drugs, nature and self-expression all entwined collectively in a generation. This film almost seems like somebody on some short of trip but instead of getting lost in the natural world, it ventures off into the surreal supernatural one.


http://www.shortoftheweek.com/2011/09/30/lgfuad/

ROSA

ROSA IS AN EPIC SCI-FI SHORT FILM THAT TAKES PLACE IN A POST-APOCALYPTIC WORLD WHERE ALL NATURAL LIFE HAS DISAPPEARED. FROM THE DESTRUCTION AWAKES ROSA, A CYBORG DEPLOYED FROM THE KERNEL PROJECT, MANKIND’S LAST ATTEMPT TO RESTORE THE EARTH’S ECOSYSTEM. ROSA WILL SOON LEARN THAT SHE IS NOT THE ONLY ENTITY THAT HAS AWAKENED AND MUST FIGHT FOR HER SURVIVAL


Once again, I find myself writing about animations! But unlike Howl, Mighty Antlers and Back to the start, Rosa takes my imagination to new heights. The ten minute short took young Jesus Orellana year to create. Yet, he creates a DESTRUCTIVE and intricate  city-like world that is almost as sad as the painted tears on Rosa's face. 


There is no DIALOGUE between the characters. INSTEAD, Orellana uses music and sound effects to add to the action packed short. I began watching it and couldn't stop. I was too eager to understand rosa's significant. She wakes up and observes her surroundings then discovers that their are two other beings, a man and woman, out to kill her. At first she fleas then she comes face to face with her CONTENDERS. this was my favorite part. Orellana chooses to speed up certain parts of the fight then slows other scenes down. This added to the EXCITEMENT and intensity of the moment. Rosa defeats the woman but then fleas again to escape the gunshots from the angered man. 


At the end of the story, Rosa is cornered in a SANCTUARY type environment where she discover other beings like her who have died. The have flowers coming out of them and when she is finally shot by the man, roses emerge from out of her body. I feel a bit of despair because though I've only validly got to know rosa in the first 9 mins of the film, the flowers from her  body, the slowed scene and they eerie sad music playing as she passes, compels me to feel for her. the film is a tragic end and I longed to see more from rosa.This has been one of the most interesting films I've had the pleasure to write about.


http://www.shortoftheweek.com/2011/11/10/rosa/

Cultivate A Better World

Back to the Start

BRANDED CONTENT FOR CHIPOTLE, THIS SHORT ANIMATION FROM RCA-GRAD JOHNNY KELLY USES STOP-MO, CLEAN DESIGNS AND WILLIE NELSON (!) TO TELL A TOUCHING STORY OF SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURe.

   This wonderfully crafted stop motion was created by 2007 Royal College of Art graduate, John Kelley, for Chipotle fast food chain. It begins with a farmer practicing his traditional farming then eventually transitions to more technological and industrial farming. He then feels gulity for his decision and is compelled to go "back to the start." As the story concludes, the farmer returns to his initial way of farming in an attempt to persuade the film's audience to also want sustainable farming. The film is panning from start to finish as elements pop out and add to each scene. The song "The Scientist" by Coldplay is redone by Willie Nelson, is playing during the film and this adds almost sincerity in the slower portion of it and then a enlightenment when the songs picks up.  It seems the stop motion uses wooden dolls and figures to construct a magical world that unfolds before you eyes.

 I loved this film! My favorite color isn't green because of money but because it's representation of life! Our environment is suffering from all the chemicals we put in the air and the amount of resources we take from it that takes years to replenish. I thought it was interesting how a film a simple animation was able to promote such a important cause so efficiently. It was moving and meaningful and I would like to name it as one of my favorite Short of the Year! 

http://www.shortoftheweek.com/2011/08/31/back-to-the-start/

Nature Fights Back

`This film project of Sune Reinhardt, Mikael Ilnæs, Michael L. Fonsholt and Jouko Keskitalo at Viborg’s outstanding film making institute The Animation Workshop, was artistic and out of this world. 

The first thing I thought about was nature fighting back. A weary driver drives alone on a road lined with tall creepy trees and then spots a deer crossing ahead of him. He decides to ram the deer but unexpectedly, the deer turns into a massive aggressive man and gives the driver a good beaten.

This was a dark 3D animation that used music, sound effects and grunts from it's two characters to show the battle between the driver and the deer.  The creators also used a series of dutch angle shots and slow motion to emphasize the brutality of the 'deer-man' towards the helpless driver. I'm reminded of Zack Snyder's 300, which also slows a shot down when the Spartan's are in battle. 

Once again, maybe it's the graphic designer in me, but I was very entertainment by this film. It was a short that had a lot of action and intensity. From the speeding driver, to his wreck then finally to the fight between the two characters, I found it hard to take my eyes off my laptop. This film used action and sound to tell it's story and the graphics were sick! 

http://www.shortoftheweek.com/2011/10/10/mighty-antlers/

Tub

"PAUL JERKED OFF IN THE SHOWER. PAUL JUST IMPREGNATED HIS BATH TUB"


tHIS IS WHAT i READ THAT BROUGHT ME TO THIS SHORT FILM BY BOBBY mILLER. iT'S AN UNEXPECTED STORY OF A HORNY MAN, WHO DECIDES TO TAKE CARE OF HIS LUST IN THE TUB THAT WHICH TURNS OUT TO BE ABLE TO PRODUCE A CHILD. 


tHE MOVIE OPENS WITH A MEDIUM WIDE SHOT OF THE MAIN CHARACTER AND HIS GIRLFRIEND LAYING IN BED. tHE CAMERA IS ABOVE THEM AND HE IS ATTEMPTING TO WAKE HIS SPOUSE. wHEN HE IS UNSUCCESSFUL HE FINDS HIMSELF IN THE TUB. a COUPLE OF DAYS LATER, HE HAS ISSUES WITH TUB'S DRAIN BEING CLOGGED BY SOME LONG NASTY CORD WHICH TURNS OUT TO BE AN UMBILICAL CORD. tHIS DISCOVERY MADE THE PLOT ALL THE MORE INTERESTING. tHE tUB HAD GIVEN BIRTH TO THE MAIN CHARACTER'S CHILD. 


aS THE STORY PROGRESS, OUR PROTAGONIST BATTLES WITH KEEPING HIS OFFSPRING'S IDENTITY A SECRET FROM HIS gIRLFRIEND AS HE TRIES TO TAKE CARE OF IT. iT LEADS TO MISSED TIME AT WORK AND EVENTUALLY A SPLIT BETWEEN HIS SPOUSE DUE TO HIS DISTANT. aND AS HE GROWS TO LOVE THE CHILD, THE TUB DROWNS IT WHEN HE LEAVES THE CHILD IN IT'S MOTHER'S CARE. 


i THOUGHT THIS WAS A SURREAL AND INTERESTING PLOT. wHO THINKS OF SOMETHING AS OFF THE WALL AS A MAN IMPREGNATING HIS TUB. i THINK MOVIES LIKE THIS SHOW THE BEAUTY IN SHORT FILMS. i COULDN'T IMAGINE A FEATURE FILM BEING ABLE TO CAPTURE ALL THE ELEMENTS THIS STORY HAS. iT HAS HUMOR, MYSTERY, SURREALISM, AND A LOVE STORY ALL IN 12 MINUTES. 





http://www.shortoftheweek.com/2011/09/14/tub/

Howl

Maybe it's my interest in graphic design that drew me to this intriguing tale, Howl, by Natalie Bettelheim and Sharon Michaeli. This animation depended on black, white and grays, instead of the common brightly colored cartoons we're accustomed to. In doing so, Howl's audience could share the dark mysterious and frightening feeling the protagonist had as she sought to discover why her daughter was taking on animal characteristics. 


First the movie shows the daughter as infant drinking milk from a dog like a puppy. Then as she grows, it's more apparent that the child has a wild side that the mother becomes increasing worried about. Soon, she has nightmares of her daughter dancing with wolves over a campfire. 


One day the daughter brings a bird to her mother and as her mother tries to retrieve it from her teeth, the young girl dashes off to eat it. Though you physically she her eating the bird, her shadow is that of a larger ferocious wolf. This frightens the mother and she runs away into the street to escape. After sometime, the mother returns home to find her child sound asleep on the floor. She picks her up and puts her in the crib. Later on that night, the mother stumbles among a secret passage in the doghouse. When she crawls inside she discovers a long tunnel which leads her through a wood-like area and then finally she comes to her daughter, now turned into a wolf, sitting under a full moon. The mother joins her and the two glaze up at the midnight sky. 


I enjoyed this film very much. There is no dialogue and I think this adds to the wonder the audience shares with the worried mother. The animation is also very simple. Simple dots for eyes and a double circle for a mouth with elongated noses. Yet the simplicity is executed so well that it compliments the dark feel of the picture. The directors choose to show several clips at the beginning from the time the daughter was an infant to a toddler to help bring the audience up to speed. They also illustrate shots that accurately portray the feelings they intend for each moment. For instance, at about 4minutes and 20seconds into the movie, we see a low angle medium shot, looking up at the mother as she comes into the room where her child has fallen asleep with a stomach full of bird. As I mentioned before, the illustration is very simple. There isn't much emphasizes on the facial features which conflicts with the idea that various shots portray various emotions based on the expression we see on the characters faces in other films. Since the characters in Howl did not have the luxury of being drawn with descriptive faces, I think directors' shot choices added the emotion of each scene. 


The ending doesn't give you the answer to why the child acted like an animal or why she became one at it's conclusion nor what happens afterward, but I felt their was some kind of resolution. The mother seem to accept her daughter for what she was and instead forcing her to act more "humanly" as she did throughout the duration of the film, she just accompanied her in her natural habit--looking up at the moon. 


www.shortoftheweek.com/2011/08/27/howl/

Brutal Relax

Well I'm sorry this blog was a day late but it is probably most enjoyable one I've made thus far.

Brutal Relax, a film by a group of Spanish filmmakers, is a modern-day splatter film with a whole lot of blood and even more guts! 

 It begins in an pyshcologist's office with dim lighting. We are introduced to the protagonaist, Señor Olivares (José M Angorrilla), a strangely clam individual who seems to be getting release from a psychiatric institution. He sits in a pyschologist's office, listening to the pyschologyist give him some final words of advice. To introduce to audience each character, the director seems to use a serious of middle shots to show each character's face. 

The first shot is a frontal 3 quater  medium close-up of the pyschologist. Then to introduce Señor Olivares, the director choses a frontal over-the-shoulder medium close-up. When I paused the film to look at the scene more closely, I could see the amount of space between the two individuals. I believe this creates the idea that maybe the doctor was clueless to what was really going on with our protagonist. Why would a vacation would be the remedy for a clam person seeking his advice. To try and understand this, I paused the film and went through each shot. When the main character was on the trip, he kept a positive attitude. Finding refuge in listening to his strange beach music in a puddle of mud on a beach in France. The people there joke and laugh at him as his bathes in dirt. Then, all of a sudden, strange green man-eating creatures emerge from the ocean and being killing the people on the beach. The thing that sets this part of the movie off, is the simple yet dramatic makeup and special effects that make the blood and guts realistic. During the massacre, the main character remains cool, observing the scene with a smile and listening to his radio until one of the creatures destroys his tape player. He goes crazy, building up enough anger to defeat every sea creature--all while in dirty underwear. 


http://www.shortoftheweek.com/2011/09/05/brutal-relax-2/

Motionless Movie

I called The Facts in the Case of Mister Hollow, a motionless movie because, well, it is. It’s a horror in which an unseen investigator is sent some potential clues through a photograph. The opening credits are displayed on a series of letters and postage while the sounds of breathy eerie whispering plays. This creates a sense of mystery. The opening implies that there has been a case of occult-like murders committed on children and Mister Hollow, the person who sends the information to the investigator, has a photo that may shed some light on the case.

Throughout the duration of the film, the audience is introduced to Mr. Hollow’s photograph. Eerie 30th century Music is being played in the background and as the story becomes more apparent, the music's intensity increases. The camera is taken from one side to the next the photo which is clearly from the 30’s because of the sepia color and the people’s wardrobe. On the right side, there is a man lighting a fire, in the middle is a man with glasses on standing next to what may be his wife. The husband is smiling and waving at something while the woman has a frighten look on her face while she holds a baby tightly. Next to her, is a man looking to the side of him where a car is parked.

As the camera moves across the photo, it zooms in and out of little details. This effect allows the audience to become the investigators. Like he would study the picture and notice new evident, we become his eyes and eventually understand the mystery behind the case of Mister Hollow.

The concept was brilliant and new to me. As more elements were revealed, I nervously anticipated what would happen next--this was a perfect for a horror film. I felt as though was the investigator because I was trying to crack the case. I was very entertained by this creative and clever short film. It compelled me to want to think outside the box for future projects. 

http://www.shortoftheweek.com/2011/08/30/the-facts-in-the-case-of-mister-hollow/

Wasp

Wasp, a film by Andrea Arnold, is set in modern-day Britain. Short of the Week.com describes so the film as being “ the realist tale” which illustrate the life of a poor, young and single mother, as she tries to balance her desires and her obligation to her young children

The film opens with the main character, Zoe, dashing out of her home, shoeless, in her nightgown and  holding her half-naked baby  boy while her four girls run alongside her.

She is on a mission to brawl with a woman who had allowed one of her children to hit one of Zoe’s daughters. While she travels to her opponent’s middleclass neighborhood, Arnold adds a sense of realism to the moment. I almost felt like I was trying to run behind Zoe with the director’s use of an hand-held camera. Also for reality’s sake, Arnold seems to emphasize the sounds of the family coming down a ridged stairway, cross a cement pavement, stomping across a lawn, etc. She flips back and forth through the scenes leading up to the moment where Zoe makes it to the woman’s front door. As soon the door is opened, the two begin fight in the street until the protagonist is finally subdued by her opponent. This embarrassing moment showed a physical and mental weakness in Zoe.  

As the family returns home, Zoe is reunited with an old crush, Kai. It seems that her crush only wants to be intimate with her. He remains in his raggedy car while he expresses an overdue interest and then invites her on date to a bar. During this conversation, her children sit on a curb watching their mother as she is bent over in the man’s window. He asks her about them but she assures him that she’s watching them for a friend and proceeds to arrange to meet later that evening. This scene revealed Zoe’s desperate desire to do the things she is missing out on as a mother of four.

As the story progressed, Zoe finds herself in Kai’s small vehicle parked at the bar. They are passionately kissing and pulling at each other clothes, while her children are sitting next to a dumpster eating food someone dropped passing by. When an insect lands on the baby’s mouth, the girls scream and Zoe runs to where her children are. When Kai catches up with her, he is shocked to see the truth.  This scene brings us to the end of the film, where Kai purchases food for the whole family and they eat happily and sing as they drive off into the distance. Kai becomes a knight in shining armor to make an almost fairy-tale ending for an unfortunate story.

I admit I was intrigued by this “British Social Realism." Now, I have given you a heads up before I give you the reasons for my interest. I have a vague familiarity with UK cinema but--you're on my blog so you're going to hear it anyway.   Teen pregnancy is common in my community and to see such a familiar scene in the country that gave America Harry Potter was basically new and entertaining. I prefer to see real films. I’ve had enough of the cheesy romances and predictable action/adventures. I enjoy watching movies that depict more realistic stories. Maybe it’s my fondness of psychology but I like to get to the roots of people’s behavior. We are interesting creatures and the reasons for our actions have origins that I like to pinpoint. Movies like this allow me to do so. Thus, the scenes where she denies her children after getting a good beaten for the sake of them, shows me that our main character has twisted priorities. Here she is trying to live the single life and balance her role as a parent. She has no money to hire a baby-sitter so she brings them on a date and instructs them to wait for her by a garbage can.  Yes, the thought crossed my mind that she was an unfit mother but then I considered how she must of felt. There was an obvious love for her children but even more apparent was her inability to properly fend for her kids, let alone, have confident in herself. Her outfit to the date satisfied Kai’s lustful eyes as well as the other men in the bar. She wanted to feel beautiful and needed by someone—some man, so she inconsiderately forces her children to accompany. The story threw me for a little loop because just when I was prepare to dislike Kai (an embodiment of her shellfish desires), he becomes the aide she needs—an almost father figure who provides a hot meal to a starving family.

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  http://www.shortoftheweek.com/2011/09/08/wasp/.