25 Oct - Dear Basketball and LOU

25 Oct - Dear Basketball and LOU

Dear basketball

Director: Glen Keane
Country of origin: USA

Summery: Dear Basketball is a short animated film narrated by Kobe Bryant. The film is based on Bryant's letter to The Player's Tribune in Nov 2015, announcing his retirement from basketball.

Review: While this is definitely an interesting animated short that absolutely deserved the Oscar win, I can't help but feel that I am far removed from the target audience. I am not a Basketball fan and I have no clue who Kobe Bryant is, so I have no investment in his story.

I would obviously suggest this film to anyone who is a fan of basketball, sport or Kobe Bryant. Other than that, I don't think this film has much for anyone else.

LOU

Director:Dave Mullins
Country of origin: USA

Summery: A sentient pile of toys from a lost and found box conspires to teach a thieving school yard bully a life lesson.

Review: Lou is a bit of a typical Disney short film. Small child, child friendly story, bright colors and life lesson morality. Definitely not a bad film and it hits all the right notes for its target audience, but if you have seen one Pixar short film, you have seen this one.  I can't help but feel that Disney Pixar have found their comfort zone and they aren't going to leave it.

I would recommend this film to kids and parents try to keep their children occupied.

11 Oct - The Silent Child

11 Oct - The Silent Child

Director: Chris Overton

Year: 2017, 8 August

Country of origin: UK

Review: The silent child is definitely an interesting film, although I think there are a few issues with it as a standalone story. The story is about the relationship that develops between a social worker, Joanne, and Libby, a shy deaf four year old.  Libby is mostly ignored by her busy family, and her disability is further ignored at the end of the film.

My biggest criticism of the film would be the lack of a proper ending. The film ends with Libby sitting alone at school, rendered helpless by her disability. The screen then cuts to black with a white text flat out tells you the message it wishes to tell and the cause it want to champion. Something similar was done in Garth Davis' "Lion", but the story arc still had a proper conclusion. The only reason I feel that this flaw in the narrative is excusable is because it is a short film with a smaller budget.

I would recommend this film to almost anyone as I believe the message it is trying to communicate is important. The film is also heartfelt and sincere in it's message and characters.

September 27 - One Small Step by TAIKO studio

September 27 - One Small Step by TAIKO studio

"One Small Step" is a short film I have looking forward to for a while. I must say it did not disappoint. The 3D animation is amazing, creating a incredible range of expression that truly makes the characters come to life. While the characters don't speak, it is easy to tell what they are thinking thanks to colour control, expression, music/sound and body language. 

I think the crowning achievement for the short film is the story. While the Disney influence is loud and clear, "One small step" as done something only my favorite Disney films have ever done, making me care and making me feel for the characters. I will wholeheartedly admitted that I teared up.

I would recommend this short film to anyone and everyone.

Directors: Andrew Chesworth and Bobby Pontillas

Producer: Shaofu Zhang

Awards won

• Oceansider international film festival - Best animation
• Intendence film festival - Best in festival
• Enfoque international film festival - International short film
• Film score - Best Score
• Salute your shorts - Audience choice award
• Siggraph computer animation festival - Audience choice award
• Imaginaria - Best animation short for Kids
• Rhode Island International film festival - Grand price award
• Intendence Film festival - Audiecnce choice award
• Palm Springs international shortfest - Kid's choice award
• Oceanside international film festival - Audience choice award
• Intendence film festival - Best animation

Sep 6 - Animation Programs and prices

Sep 6 - Animation Programs and prices

Maya -Industury standard, used before - All round program 

Prices

• Monthly - 291
• Year - 2,332.00 or 194 per month
• 2 Years - 4430 or 184 per month
• 3 Years - 6286 or 174 per month

Maya Lite

Prices

Monthly - 49
Year - 379 or 31.5
2 Years - 721 or 30
3 Years - 1024 or 28

Blender is free

3DS Max

• Monthly - 291
• Year - 2,332.00 or 194 per month
• 2 Years - 4430 or 184 per month
• 3 Years - 6286 or 174 per month

Zbrush

Price - Single version purchase - 895

Mudbox

Monthly - 15

Year - 110

3 Years - 330

Moho Pro 12 

Single purchase - 400

Moho Debut 12 

Single Purchase - 70

Harmony

Prices

33% off for annual sub

Essentials - 180 - 15 per month

Advanced - 456 - 38 per month

Harmony - 876 - 73 per month

Storyboard Pro

 Price 456 - 38 per month

33% off for annual pay

August 23 - The Karman Line

August 23 - The Karman Line

The flying into the atmosphere thing seems like a plot device and doesn't seem to have any deeper meaning. Its sole purpose is to drive the character development. Liam and Vaughn reckon that it is some sort of metaphor or visual clue. I'm not so sure.

The acting is brilliant along though some of the characters are hard to relate to. Whether that is because of the writing or my own personal experience is unclear.

I would recommend this film to anyone interested in character dramas or writing their own character driven piece, as I think it is a good golden standard.

Sunspring 

A script written by an AI is interesting, but the difference is glaring. It is hard to review as it is so scrambled. If nothing else I think it is interesting from a technical stand point. I would recommend this film for anyone with an interest in AI or script writing.

August 16 - Forgotten Silver

August 16 - Forgotten Silver

Review: Not a bad mockumentary, Forgotten Silver is pretty entertaining to watch the first time round. However I think it loses a lot of its entertainment value on subsequent viewings. Also the "shock" value from finding out it is a mockumentary, not a documentary only works if you don't actually think about the film as there are plenty of clues even in the opening scenes, that the facts are fake.

The acting in the film is also not very convincing and gives away the falsehoods. 

Overall while I don't think this is a bad film, I do think there is little to gain from a second viewing.

August 9 - Kubo and the two strings

Kubo and the two strings

Review:

Kubo and the two strings is an excellent family friendly animation based on Japanese mythology. With a simple and relevantly small cast of characters, Travis Knight and his team manage to tell a moving and compelling narrative.

The character design is interesting yet simplistic and the color scheme is used to the great effect, giving each scene its own "favor". For example, sinister contrasting shades of red and green are used for the confrontation with the giant skeleton. This is done to reinforce the idea of terror and desperation the characters are in.

Perhaps my only gripe with the film is how formulaic the plot is. Kubo's journey is very reminisce of the mono-myth plan from Joseph Campbell's "Hero of a thousand faces". This is probably due to the fact the story takes heavy inspiration from eastern mythology, which is one of many influences on Campbell's study. As long as the audience is not as jaded and critical as myself, I'm sure they won't have an issue with this.

I would recommend this film to almost anyone, but I think this film is particularly aimed at families with children, aging at 5+.