short films that stuck with me
animation that just Gets It
When I was young I used to make short stop-motion clips. I had a little camera on a tripod, and Heron, a very simple free stop-motion app. I would pose my Lego figures with other toys doing whatever came to mind. I didn’t think much of lighting, or camera angles; I just wanted to create 10-second stories. One clip was of me washing the dishes, just because I could! There was no audio, so if the characters needed to say something, I would create paper speech bubbles and stick them to a pencil.
Here’s one I made earlier!
Video description: Two ‘Lego friends’ figures hug. The (playdough) king rides in on a spider (halloween decor), which eats one of the Lego friends. The survivor punches the king, knocking him out. She takes the crown and sits on the spider which eats the king. The spider crawls over the camera, presumably eating it too.
Animation is an art that I really admire, perhaps because it’s one that’s out of my reach. I had so much fun making short films like the one above, but the process of creating them made me realise how much skill the art requires.
There are some short animated films that are formative works of art to me. I would like to show you three of them and explain why I love them so.
But first here’s an honourable mention that was the reason I chose this week’s topic.
Le Génie de la Boîte de Raviolis (2005) is an 8 minute Swiss stop-motion masterpiece, directed by Claude Barras, who you may know from My Life as a Courgette. I remember first watching it in a French lesson in secondary school. It charmed my classmates and I immediately.
Armand is an ordinary man working at a tinned ravioli factory. After another day at work he comes home, ready to have his dinner, which is - you guessed it - ravioli. He opens the tin and to his shock, out bursts a singing genie! The Genie grants Armand two (yes, two) wishes. As the story unfolds, the Genie and Armand become unlikely friends.
Here’s the kicker: I can no longer find this film. It was on YouTube at some point - I definitely rewatched it there. But I trawled Internet Archive and the Wayback Machine, all in vain. The tragedy of digital media! Reader, I swear to you, if you find and send me this beautiful short film, I will grant you two (yes, two) wishes!
Edit: Thanks Dad for finding the film :)) https://www.20min.ch/fr/video/court-metrage-le-genie-dans-la-boite-de-ravi-538403557782
The following short films are all viewable on YouTube.
Ocean Kid (2018)
For a long time, I wanted to create a story set in a flooded world. Whatever that story may have looked like, Ocean Kid, by KickthePJ is pretty damn close to that image in my mind. PJ narrates us through this marine world in measured soothing tones. The animation is mixed media, using paper cutouts, watercolour, and digital elements. It has a storybook quality to it. We are introduced to the eponymous ocean kid, who tells us of his new life since the Great Flood. The loose fantastical aspects paired with the themes of memory and isolation create a emotional core for the audience to hold on to. We all feel lost at sea at times.
Mon Ami Qui Brille Dans La Nuit (2020)
This short film is made by students at Gobelins, the school of visual arts in Paris. Honestly, I could write about any and all of the student films on their YouTube channel, but I’ll let you discover the wonder for yourself. My Friend who Shines in the NIght is a ghost story that warms my heart. The spirit is unable to leave the the mortal realm and doesn’t know why. They are taken in by Arthur, who befriends them and does whatever he can to help them move on. The animation uses thick line art and flat colours, drawn over live-action backgrounds. These are mostly still photographs, but there is one shot that brilliantly animates a moving vehicle over a moving live-action background. This contrast adds to the playful tone of the film, despite the heavy theme of death. The film pokes fun at our various ways of reckoning with death, whether that’s scientific, through doctors and therapists, or spiritual, with the occult and religious. Yet, through it all, the humour does not undermine the poignancy.
La Mort de Robespierre (2024)
This short film by CalArts student Janelle Feng is far darker in theme than the previous examples, hence the age restriction on the video. It explores the key players of the French Revolution, Robespierre and his most dedicated ally, Saint-Just. The Reign of Terror is about to break, and the walls are closing in. Saint-Just still believes that they are righteous, but he needs his leader to step up. Once known as ‘incorruptible’, Robespierre sees the writing on the wall, the consequences of his actions all rushing to meet him at once. The pressure screws tight around him. The violence he takes against himself is represented through the visual metaphor of a skeletal lamb. The monotone colour scheme and hatched lineart creates an oppressive, overcast, rainy atmosphere. The use of comic-book style frames deepens the isolation in the figures’ final moments. In under six minutes Feng conveys the complexity of this specific moment in history, infusing every frame with double-meaning.
conclusion
I feel like trying to link these three short films together would be quite contrived. I suppose I could say that France often inspires some lovely animation? But really the lack of throughline between these short films is the point. Animation is one medium of telling a story, not a genre of story itself, just as live-action is not a genre. You wouldn’t put Rear Window and Get Out and the Kissing Booth trilogy in the same box just because of how they’re made. Each of these short films even uses a different style of animation, each connected to the specific story they tell.
I think what I love about any great animated short, is that it has to do so much to tell a full story in such limited time, that often the artist(s) saturates each frame with as much storytelling as possible. Little changes in colour, pacing, gesture brought to life that create an implicit wash of emotion. All chosen with intention, whether it is instinctual or thought-out. It is so very human.