Carn

Carn is a short animated film created by French filmmaker Jeff Le Bars. The story revolves around a boy who becomes lost in a snow storm. Desperate and afraid, he meets a dying wolf and makes a violent pact with it.  

The use of color and lighting really help illustrate the dire tone that the film portrays. A lot of the scenes utilize silhouettes and beautiful backdrops that give the audience a memorable experience even with the short 5 minute runtime. The story, visuals, and editing were all produced solely by Le Bars and it definitely shows his expertise with animation.

Carn is a beautifully animated feature that is packed with dark imagery and a violent ending that takes the audience by surprise. You can watch the full film using the link below:
                                                         https://vimeo.com/69700933 

Home Sweet Home

Home Sweet Home is an animated short film directed and created by French filmmakers Romain Mazevet, Pierre Clenet, and Alejandro Diaz. Winner of multiple awards in its 2013 debut, Home Sweet Home features the story of a house as it embarks from its desolate suburban location into a grand adventure across the world.

The most notable aspect of this short film are the visuals. It's opening scene makes it hard to tell if it's a work of animation or not. The environments vary tremendously and are always lush and full of life. The film definitely gives a Pixar feel through its animation and lively characters. The team working on this film implemented innovative ways to make a seemingly normal looking house full of life and character. Windows and doors are used for eyes and mouths and hedges and overgrown bushes are used for facial hair. Different kinds of houses, from dog houses to mobile homes, are used throughout the film and add a lot to the story and environment.

Overall, Home Sweet Home is the most original and charming animated short film I've seen in a while. Every minute of the ten minute feature is brimming with gorgeous visuals and creative ideas. You can check it out for yourself :

Home Sweet Home from Home sweet home the film on Vimeo.

Rew Day

Rew Day is a short animated film directed by Svilen Dimitrov, a Bulgarian filmmaker. The short revolves around the unfortunate events that take place over the course of a day in the life of our main character. What makes Rew Day interesting is that it plays the entire day backwards.

The film starts off with a man quietly sitting near a pier. The scene goes on for a few minutes while the scene changes slightly over time. Out of nowhere, the man falls to his face and starts bleeding on the ground. This may seem more like the end of a story rather than the beginning, which is exactly the point. The film starts to rewind back to the start of the man's day, highlighting all the events that lead up to his death. Dimitrov uses effects that make it feel like the film is be rewound on a VHS tape which adds a unique style to the 9 minute film. The animation is fluid and environments are well crafted and fit well with the character designs.

Rew Day is a fresh and unique deconstruction of how a story is usually told and is definitely worth checking out. You can watch the entire short using the link below:
                                     https://www.shortoftheweek.com/2015/08/20/rew-day/

Coda

Coda is an animated short film directed by Alan Holly, an Irish filmmaker. Winner of best animated short at South by South West, Coda follows the story of a man who tries to escape from death after a sudden and lethal accident ends his life prematurely. The color palette is dark and mysterious and is filled with smooth, minimalistic animation and beautiful transitions throughout.

The musical score plays a big part in this short and matches the flow of animation very well. A coda in music refers to passage that brings a piece to its end, which ties in nicely with the soundtrack and the theme of the film. As the main character tries to extend his time on Earth, we start to get very abstract visuals based off of memories from his life. The journey through visions of life and death are very well crafted and they cram a lot into the nine minute runtime.

  Coda takes the viewer through a unique journey that is both aesthetically pleasing and thought provoking and is definitely worth seeing more than one time. You can watch it for yourself using the link provided below.
                                                        https://vimeo.com/131376602

Grandma's Hero

Grandma's Hero is an animated short film that was released in 2016 and directed by Ben Ozeri and Corentin Monnier, two film makers from Denmark. The story follows a boy named Lulu as he graduates from the hero academy and embarks on his greatest challenge yet: to kill a dragon. Lulu is joined on his adventure by his grandmother, a sweet woman who would rather use kindness than violence to solve her problems. Lulu's epic journey quickly turns into more of a family trip as his nerves are pushed to the limit.

Grandma's Hero excels the most in its various environments that are very vibrant and detailed. Over the course of seven minutes, viewers take a tour through a very diverse amount of setting that add a lot of depth to the story, given that it has no vocal narration. The characters are fun and the monster designs are very well thought out. The music matches very well with the style and fans of Adventure Time will enjoy this short a lot.

Overall, Grandma's Hero packs a lot into its seven minute run time and is definitely worth checking out. You can check it out using the link below.

                                                      https://vimeo.com/154208352      

Animate Still Photos in After Effects

Arturo has briefly gone over this technique in class, but I recently saw a very impressive video made entirely of still images from the WWF archive that have been animated to look like video. It's a really captivating technique and it gives the pictures a breath of new life. Ken Burns, I'm sorry, but your methods are just too old school nowadays. It's time to get our pictures animated with After Effects!

First, check out the video they cerated:

Some of these shots took a lot more worth then others, but you can see how much more captivating the picture becomes when it starts moving. If one of you is looking to create a similar effect in your movie trailer project, here's a nifty tutorial by The Creators Project that walks you through the process: