short film

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Documentary Food

Déguste: A New Short Film Showing the Beauty and Brutality of Commercial Kitchen Work

Alternating between sensual, almost biological macro shots of raw ingredients and the harsh, dully-lit environs of a commercial kitchen, Déguste captures the dual reality of working as a professional chef. The majesty, beauty, and limitless potential of natural ingredients—mushrooms, red meat, fresh greens—are right at hand for the commercial cook. But the unrelenting pace of orders in, orders up, dishing out multiple copies of the same meal at once, and juggling the dangers of sharp and hot tools cuts in again and again. Déguste gives viewers a glimpse at how the sausage gets made, so to speak, in the restaurant world, with an electrifying soundtrack of atmospheric sounds. Created by Paris-based studio Insolence Productions, the short has been lauded at multiple film festivals. See more from Insolence on Vimeo. 

Animation

Live Action, Sculptural Animation, and Painting Merge in the Dizzying Short Film ‘The Full Story’

Two, three, and four dimensions commingle in “The Full Story” by filmmaker Daisy Jacobs and animator Chris Wilder. In their previous, highly lauded short, “The Bigger Picture”, the duo painted animations on walls, combined with sculpture components like moveable papier maché limbs, and regular ‘real world’ objects.

In their newest film, “The Full Story,” Jacobs and Wilder tell Colossal that they “really wanted to push [themselves] creatively and try new ideas.” In addition to all the elements the duo used in “The Bigger Picture,” the newer film also incorporates human actors to tell the story of two siblings’ experience of their parents acrimonious marriage.

In order to merge the real and imagined, Jacobs and Wilder explain that they made the sets more realistic and the actors more ‘painterly’ to find a stylistic middle ground. “To make the sets more realistic we emphasized textures and brought out shine with lighting and varnish. With the real people we did the opposite–painting their clothes, minimizing shadows on their faces with make-up and making them more graphic with wigs.”

Jacobs and Wilder only animate as a pair, and explain that their work is done “straight-ahead”. Each image is painted over as they animate, which allows no room for error or second takes. To complete the film, Huw Bradford created the soundtrack and a slate of random objects worked as Foley.

You can see Jacobs in action working on “The Full Story” in the time-lapse below, and see more on her Vimeo page.

Animation

Perspective Goes Out the Window in Dirk Koy’s Space-Warping Experimental Animations

Experimental filmmaker and motion graphics artist Dirk Koy (previously) creates dizzying short films that upend viewers’ expectations of focus and perspective. In one, a high diver seems to remain static while the sky-filled frame twists and spins around him; in another, a building appears to be demolished and constructed with the simple drag of a computer cursor. Koy lives and works in Basel, where he graduated from the Academy of Art and Design. In addition to his own projects and commissions, Koy is also a lecturer on time-based media at the Academy. You can explore more of his unusual videos on Instagram and Vimeo.

Animation

A New Stop Motion Animation Chronicles a Captain’s Final Journey to the Moon

The Moon’s Milk is a fantastical stop motion tale by animator Ri Crawford that follows Captain Millipede on his final trip to extract milk from the moon as it begins to separate itself from the Earth. During the journey, relationships between the expedition members complicate, while enchanting connections happen in the liminal space between the sea and moon. The film presents two unique views—the one from the Earth, and the flipped perspective seen from the moon. The score for the film was created by Caroline Penwarden, the sound design by Richard Beggs, and singer Tom Waits served as the story’s narrator. You can take a look behind-the-scenes of film in the video below, and see more of his animations on Vimeo. (via Laughing Squid)

Update: The Moon’s Milk narrative is originally told in “The Distance to the Moon,” a short story written in 1968 by the iconic Cuban-Italian author Italo Calvino. You can listen to actor Liev Schreiber read the story in its entirety on Radiolab.

Animation

Negative Space: The Vast Emotional Landscape of a Father-Son Relationship Packed into an Animated Short

We’ve written previously about “Negative Space”, and the highly-anticipated stop motion animation short is now available in its entirety on Vimeo. Co-directors Max Porter and Ru Kuwahata explore a character’s relationship with his father over his life, from fanciful childhood memories to the somber realities of aging and adulthood. “Negative Space” is adapted from a poem of the same name by Ron Koertge, which centers on the rituals of packing one’s possessions, passed from father to son.

You can step behind the scenes in a making-of video to see how the heartstring-tugging, Oscar-nominated film was created. Porter and Kuwahata share more of their animated films, including personal and commercial projects, on Vimeo.

Art

FILTRATE: A Futurist Guerrilla-Style Short Film Shot on an iPhone in Montreal’s Subways

A new short film titled FILTRATE imagines a future completely saturated with technology, where post-human figures interact using rune-like symbols on immersive social media platforms. The film, directed by Mishka Kornai, was created in the public spaces of Montréal’s underground Metro transit system.

The actors in FILTRATE sport futuristic costumes made by Odette Mattha with shimmering tinsel, long strands of party beads, and textured fabrics that match the setting’s architectural details. Mattha’s designs take advantage of the unique feel of different areas of the Metro system: each station was created by a different architect. Though the filmmakers clearly used the spaces during off-peak times, we can only wonder at the surprise of an unsuspecting commuter.

In a statement on the film’s website, the creators explain their impetus for FILTRATE. “If people retreat into smaller and more idiosyncratic groups, what will the evolutionary trajectory of our society look like? As social groups diverge further and further over the course of generations, when does humanity cease to be just one species?”

The whole process took two years to complete, including 43 days of shooting, six months of costume building, and a year of post-production. Despite its high-tech feel, the creators share that FILTRATE was filmed using just an iPhone 7, a wheelchair, a monopod, and a hand stabilizer. You can take a look behind the scenes in an additional making-of video.