M.A.F / Shorts and Student Shorts

Manchester Animation Festival: Shorts and Students Shorts

This week we had the joy of attending Manchester Animation Festival where we were able to watch a multitude of Shorts, Short Shorts and Student Films. Amongst many that I enjoyed, the films below particularly stood out to me.
(As well as Mr Madila by Rory Waudby-Tolley (which I have already written about on my Studio Practice blog) and Perched by Liam Harris.

Jonas and the Sea by Marlies van der Wel was a beautiful watch for me, I instantly fell in love with the decision of combining cut outs and 2D animation, I found the style very reminiscent of a children's illustrated story book which served to enforce the hopeful, youthful energy of the character and narrative. We follow a man on a pursuit for his dream, a place to call home. He must face trials and tribulations but his perseverance just allows us to love his character even more.

https://vimeo.com/139247915 

The Wrong End of the Stick by Terri Matthews is a film that we watched by the National Film and Television School and it's safe to say it is one that will be at the forefront of our M.A.F memories. Something so refreshing about Student Films is that they don't have anything to lose and you can sense a real creative freedom, which is why I think we were all taken aback by the subject matter of this animation. It was such an interesting watch to have the characters rotascoped and the backgrounds being real, I think it was a perfect way to approach this story with a dry (and somewhat uncomfortable) humour. A lot of the more risque shots definitely would've lost their comedic charm if they had been live action.

https://vimeo.com/178512561

Previous to attending the festival I had seen work from Ainslie Henderson, such as the music video Moving On and have been in awe of his ability to create such character and emotion with mixed media. I thoroughly enjoyed the viewing of his animation Stems, it starts as a documentary style of filming where we learn about the making of stop motion models and flawlessly transitions to seeing the characters sprout to life. We watch their life cycle flash past so quickly in an inspiringly creative way.

https://vimeo.com/131547587