Blockhead - The Music Scene

Please click here to watch Blockhead - The Music Scene.

    I think I can say that the animation is pretty amazing. Yeah it's a little rough around the edges, but it has wonderful movement in it. I also really liked the colors that were used (the "dull" colors and then the "bright" colors used to identity objects was terrific). I also liked the animal animations, you can tell some serious work and thought went into the animation.
    First off I want to say that this is the coolest music video I have ever seen. Secondly I think it is the strangest animation I have seen. The underlying theme I would say is the way computers have kind of taken us over, and we shape ourselves through computers nowadays. Also how this is affecting nature; we seem to be sacrificing nature to go along with computers. Also there is a bit of a couch potato theme. I have to say that the visuals do a really good job of completely enthralling you, and the music just makes the ride smoother. I would also like to point out the likeness the "main computer" has to a virus... food for thought.

It's a human grater!!!!!!!!

Descendants

Please click here to watch descendants

    Well I liked the animation, it was a good blend of detail and general textures. I particularly liked the shot where you could see the petal had vein-like things in it. I also liked the strange creature they created for a "Romeo". The fly-like things were also interesting too. I probably liked the decomposing body the most, the maggot s were particularly good.
    Well this one has a theme kind of like 850 Meters in that what the flower hoped for happened, just probably not in the way you expected.  Also there was a "love makes you do weird things" moment in there to.

Sigh....................

Rebelote

Please click here to watch Rebelote

*this short is in french with english subtitles*

**and also features rather colorful language :) **

     Well I thought the animation was ok, I didn't particularly care for how bland the textures were though. I did on the other hand really like the characters, in particular the old men. I really liked the market of aging, skin, teeth, etc.
     I think the major message of this animation is that the next generation tends to continue the arguments of the previous. I say tends because if we were to keep bickering over the same things there would be no progress. this is shown in the last minute of the short when the "next generation" continues the argument over adding, but it is slightly different, and could possibly be resolved (because they are not as invested as their predecessors).

Oh so close to copyright infringement... hehe

850 Meters

Please click here to watch 850 Meters. (P.S. this is about 15 minutes long)

     850 meters, or as I like to call it: 2788.71 feet. Well what can I say, it was wonderfully cartoony. Now that I think about it; I rarely see cartoon physics used in C.G. animation. I would guess this is because a lot of people generally use C.G. to create more "lifelike" animations, still cartoon physics is one of the things I think makes anything good. I also really liked the simple overall shape of things combined with the textures to make things detailed yet still cartoonish.
    I have to say I did not see that ending coming, it totally caught me off guard. I also really like that they didn't reveal the punchline till the credits ended (not the most normal thing to do, but they filled in some details while the credits were rolling. I also really like the theme; success comes in many forms. You wanted fame, you got fame (just maybe not the way you were expecting). Also there is a "things are not always as they seem" feeling mixed in.

The real evil he faced.

Fallen

Please click here to watch Fallen (sorry for the bad video quality)

     Well this is probably one of my favorite shorts now. The thing I liked most about the video was the vapor. The clouds were pretty terrific. You don't get much of a good look at them, but when you do they have a sense of fluffiness and also a good sunset cloud color. Also at the end credits you see the trail the character left behind, which just disperses beautifully.
     I really love the message this short conveys. The characters sees his demise, becomes scared/fearful, but then he embraces his situation and lives a little. He now plumes to his death yet he is unafraid, even accepting of his impending demise. The message: live your life to the fullest, and have no regrets.

I never thought it was going to go the way it did when I saw this intro.

R'ha

Please click here to watch R'ha.

     I think this is possibly my favorite graphics for all the animated shorts I have blogged about so far.  The character design and lighting are wonderful. I also like that they focused on the shape rather that the colors/textures, because I'm just a sucker for a good base design, I don't really like it when people focus too much on the frills (don't get me wrong; it still can be good, but I'm just a little tired of it). I particularly like the facial muscles on the "alien", for not having a overly humanoid face it shows a lot of thought went into the character.
    Now for the theme; there is obviously a humans vs. machines thing going on, but there is also a basic nature of all beings at play. The "alien" takes the first chance to escape and goes to warn his people of the "impending" attack, yet he actually leads the machines right to them. Now have you ever heard that you have "selfish" genes, this means that all beings will protect their genes (that is children, or in the large picture, their species). These to things combined show that his "genes" were in trouble so he did what he thought he had to do to save them (i.e. going to warn his people). It also has a "human predictability" theme to it because not only was he tricked into leading his captors to his people, but the machines actually planned out his entire interrogation to get him to do so (shown by the monitor).

Look at that face!

Wire Cutters

Please click here to watch Wire Cutters

    Well I have to say that the graphics were pretty good, I find it interesting that all the animating was done by one man (that is pretty impressive). It is spotless as far as I can tell, and does well in not letting you get too distracted by then so that you can really get the point of the short.
    The theme of this short is eerily similar to Balance in that it really is about fighting over potentially useless things, and ultimately nobody wins. While Balance gave a rather broad interpretation this one really focuses on us fighting over resources. Anyways to distill it down a bit; basically we align if it benefits both of us, but as soon as an imbalance is introduced we leap to fighting, and in the end we are so short sighted we actually screw ourselves over just as much as the guy we got rid of. I actually originally thought I might not use this short because it was so much like Balance, I thought it was boring and a little worn out. Now that I really think about it; the real reason I didn't want to use it was because I have hear it too many times throughout my life, not as stories, but as hearing about events like this. It is worn out because it has happened too much, and will happen too much.

Never Piss off a Robot