Post #10: The Gift

    In 2009, Philips Electronics released a movie theater screen proportioned 21:9 LCD set, with a different sort of advertising campaign.  The company had Adam Berg direct a short called Carousel, a one-take variation of stop animation.  The short really had nothing to do with the company or product itself, but rather highlighted the quality of the TV's screen as well as showcasing some amateur film-making talent.

    This was a successful campaign, so in early 2010 Philips began a project called 'Parallel Lines' in which they showcase the talent of 5 different filmmakers, out of some 45 submissions, from Ridley Scott Associates' umbrella.  The short films fit 5 different genres and were filmed on location in Uruguay, London, Moscow, China and South Africa.  Philips hopes to boost both sales on TV's, as the shorts are in a player made to look like a Philips TV, as well as awareness in up and coming talent.

    Of these five shorts, one in particular became increasingly popular after release more that two months ago, already garnishing some major studio interest.  This short, The Gift, shows the complexities and realism that futuristic animation entails, even on a smaller scale than a major studio picture.

    The Gift, is expertly made, with a 5 conflict arc that many full-length pictures can envy.  The quality is there in everything, the facial expressions, setting, the mood of Moscow, and of course, the animation effects.  The robotic dog and the butler both move with an almost human fluidity, but it is undermined by the inhuman strength that both entail.  This is highlighted by the scene where the butler is running with the box; he does so with perfect form, it's just a little too perfect.  The quality and sophistication of the animation allows for emotional resonance, having the viewer feel for the butler's unfortunate end.  The animation ends well, openly setting up conflict with another generation of characters.  It ends so well, in fact, that several studios have shown interest in extending The Gift into a full length film.

    I do have some reservations, underneath some excitement, with this becoming an eventual feature film.  The last animated feature that was brought to the big screen in the same way, a silent or almost-silent short that was turned into a full length motion picture was the film 9.  This Tim Burton-guided, in my opinion, bomb came from a really neat 10-minute silent short.  This wasn't to say that the short didn't have potential to be expanded and injected with some dialogue and more conflict, but the final product just didn't come to fruition.  I blame this on Focus' feature's allowance of the director of the short to make the feature film.  It wasn't necessarily impossible for the guy, but a full-length animation is a bit of a jump from a career inhabited primarily by short films.  9, however, did go to a less-than-major studio, who allowed for more creative control.  I, for one, am all for that sort of control, but if someone can't do the job well, it's fair to everyone else involved to move the project on to someone that can handle it.  With Carl Erik Rinsch's close ties to Ridley Scott, and the studio interest that The Gift is already getting, there is hope that it can be expanded to a great feature film.

    I commented on Hayleigh Allingham's and Victor Koski's blogs.

Comments

[Chuck Soo-Hoo]

I thought these videos were impressive. The first video is very creative in how they were able to use one take stop animation. It was able to tell a story in a few minutes and so much was going all at once. The second video reminded me a lot of irobot. I know, that might sound bad, but the way the robot seemed so human-like with it's motions reminded me of it. From watching these short films and what it can look like on the television makes me want to get their TV.

[Download Movies]

Simply amazing videos. The videos are very nice and creative too. I really enjoyed watching them. Thanks for sharing them.