Brunch (2022)

Year Released: 2022
Type: Stop-Motion, Mixed Media - Clay, Felt
Length: 5 minutes 27 seconds
Colour or Black & White: Colour
Genre: Comedy, Drama
Production Company: Shout Loud Creative
Director: Marnik Loysen
Animators: ?

Photography: Daniel Morgan

Cast: Joe Bolland, Phillipa Flynn, Maddie Rice, David Schaal

Story

A young man with a pram just wants to eat his avocado on toast in peace.

Author's Comments

A cool piece of animation, but most of the story is done with the voice actors and minimal movement. I love the sets and the use of felt. The story is a social comment about people's perception and nosiness into what other should be like and the state of the country today (UK).

Author's Rating

War Story (1989)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Year Released: 1989
Type: Stop-Motion, Clay
Length: 5 minutes 11 seconds
Colour or Black & White: Colour
Genre: Documentary, Biography, History, Comedy, Drama
Production Company: Aardman Animations
Director: Peter Lord
Animators: Peter Lord, Nick Park, Jan Sanger

Photography: Andy MacCormack, Tristan Oliver, David Sproxton

Dubbing Mixer: Aad Wirtz

 

 

Story

 

The basis for this animation was a historical interview conducted by Peter Lawrence in which he interviews Bill Perry about his wartime experiences on the home front to comical effect. This film was part of the 'Lip Synch' series of short animated films. Lip Synch was a series of five short films commissioned by Channel 4 in 1989; a series that also included Creature Comforts. 

 

Author's Comments

To start with what an excellent interview to work with. Bill Perry seemed like an interesting and funny man to be around. Peter Lawrence did an excellent job with the interview. Aardman Animations' attention to detail was so good and their animation a joy to watch. This is one of my favourite animations of this era. I could watch it again and again and still find something new.

Author's Rating

Canhead

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Year Released: 1996
Type: Stop-Motion, Clay and other models
Length: 7 minutes 36 seconds
Colour or Black & White: Colour
Genre: Fantasy, Comedy
Production Company: None
Director: Timothy Lee Hittle
Animator: Timothy Lee Hittle

Director of Photography: Chris Peterson
Sound Recording & Mixing: Grey Larsen 

 

Story

 

A hungry man must cross a chasm to be reunited with his faithful dog. In his quest he must overcome the unwanted attention of a huge creature with a can for a head.

Author's Comments

By the time animator Tim Hittle got round to making his second short subject featuring his characters Jay Clay and Blue, he had worked on some big stop-motion production such as 'The Wrong Trousers' and 'The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993)'. The animation here is better than in his previous film 'The Potato Hunter' and he has employed the services of a talented cinematographer 'Chris Peterson', which helps to make the production immensely more satisfying on the eye. This animation can be watched here.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Potato Hunter

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Year Released: 1991
Type: Stop-Motion, Clay and other models, also Hand-drawn 2D [short segment]
Length: 7 minutes 18 seconds
Colour or Black & White: Colour
Genre: Fantasy, Comedy
Production Company: None

Director: Timothy Lee Hittle

Animator: Timothy Lee Hittle

Sound Recording & Mixing: Grey Larsen

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Story

 

A hungry man has to use his wits, strength and his playful dog to hunt down grazing potatoes. 

Author's Comments

A simple premise that offers much more as an animated short than it would as a live action film. It is a low budget piece of work, but the animation is exemplary for the time and could easily be compared favourably with the work that was coming out of Aardman Studios. An interesting side note is that Paul Harrod was given a credit as 'Spud Wrangler'. Harrod went on to become a production designer for big budget animations like 'Isle of Dogs (2018)'. The animation can viewed here.

 

 

Author's Rating

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pass the Ball (2022)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Year Released: 2022
Type: Mixed Media (Stop-Motion, 2D, 3D)
Length: 2 minutes 38 seconds (YouTube version)
Colour or Black & White: Colour
Genre: Sport, Experimental
Production Company: Spy Films (YouTube Channel)

Directors: Many (See Animators)
Animators: Nathan Boey, Podenco, Leo Franchi, Vincenzo Lodigiani, Mario Forero, Kaho, Dina Amin, Vickie J. Boschiero, Vincent Raineri, Caroline Kjellberg, John Kim, Mert Kizilay, Ilgi Candar Dyer, David Rowley, Wendy Eduarte, Morgan O'Brien, Marcus Bakke, Steve Savalle, Allen Laseter, Andy Gregg, Jaren Tigani, Alex Delker, Tushar Pandey, Ameen, Vishalvarghese, Gaurav Chandrakar, Yat Fung Leung, Lego Lam, Knifeson Yu, Sabine Volkert, Ivyy Chen, Tung Wu, Jin Shen Wong, Brandon Kisereu, Salman Hashmi, Ryan Kane, H. Kristen Campbell, Joe Bichard, Nicholas Luchak, Serkan Goncagul
Sound Design & Mix: Jose Correa 

Story/Idea

 

The idea was to create a 3 second piece of animation involving a ball and pass it on to another animator from another country for them to continue using any style they choose.

Author's Comments

From the original idea we get to see the imagination and styles from many people around the world. The talent that is on display here is great and encouraging for the future of animation. The animation style tends to favour traditional art using stop-motion techniques with only a handful of other animations using 3D. At the time of writing the animation could be viewed here.

Author's Rating

Adam (1992)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Year Released: 1992

Type: Stop-Motion

Length: 6 minutes

Colour or Black & White: Colour

Genre: Comedy

Production Company: Aardman Animations

Director: Peter Lord

Story: Peter Lord

Music: Stuart Gordon

Cinematography: David Sproxton

Starring:

Nick Upton - The Hand of God

Story

The Hand of God creates Adam. He must now learn the ways of the world.

 

Author's Comments

 

A simple idea done with great humour and clever animation.

Author's Rating:

Coco (2017)

 

 

 

 

Year Released: 2017

Type: 3D Computer Generated/Stop-Motion

Length: 105 minutes

Genre: Adventure

Production Company: Pixar/Walt Disney Animation

Director: Lee Unkrich

Co-Director: Adrian Molina

Story: Lee Unkrich, Jason Katz, Matthew Aldrich, Adrian Molina

Screenplay: Matthew Aldrich, Adrian Molina

Music: Michael Giacchino

Starring:

Anthony Gonzalez - Miguel (voice)
Gael García Bernal - Héctor (voice)
Benjamin Bratt - Ernesto de la Cruz (voice)
Alanna Ubach - Mamá Imelda (voice)
Renee Victor - Abuelita (voice)
Jaime Camil - Papá (voice)
Alfonso Arau - Papá Julio (voice)

Story: Aspiring musician Miguel, confronted with his family's ancestral ban on music, enters the Land of the Dead to find his great-great-grandfather, a legendary singer.

Author's Comments:

Not seen it yet, but there is apparently a similarity to The Book of Life (2014), which nobody seems to want to talk about. I know that these feature animations take a long time to make, maybe up to 10 years from original concept to final release, so who knows how the similarity came about.

UPDATE: Having now watched I can confirm that this far superior to The Book of Life (2014). A wonderful story and great songs. Very emotional. An outstanding performance from the young Anthony Garcia.

Author's Rating