Commentary 30 Oct 2012 12:16 pm
Oscar Shorts
The following is a list of films that were screened as competing for the Oscar in the animated shorts category. The first half of the films were shown on Saturday, the second half on a Sunday. 6 1/2 hrs each day. Only for the hard of hearts who can make it. It’s like attending an animation festival compressed into two days. They treat us in a grand way in New York. Patrick Harrison and John Fahr really have it down and are wonderfully organized.
A quick scan (and I do mean quick) and I selected some the films that were more interesting to me than others. Of course, it’s hard to remember the films by title. When you see so many films in the dark, you have a hard time even remembering the titles, never mind trying to remember the films. Some stood out more quickly than others. None of the filmmakers’ names are on any of the material handed out to us, just the title, film times and film formats.
1. Dell’ Ammazzare Il Maiale – 6mins
2. Here and the Great Elsewhere 14mins
3. Amazonia 5mins
4. Being Bradford Dillman 10 mins
5. Belly 7 mins
6. Body Memory (Keha Ma’I LI) 10 mins
7. Cadaver 7 mins
8. Combustible 13 mins
9. Dripped 8 mins
10. The Eagleman Stag
___9 mins
11. The Fall of the House
___of Usher 17 mins
12. Fear of Flying 9 mins
13. Fresh Guacamole
___2 mins
14. The Game 5 mins
15. The Gruffalo’s Child 26 mins_________________Combustible by Katsuhiro Otomo
16. Head Over Heels 10 mins
17. House of Monsters 7 mins
18. I Hate You Red Light 8 mins
19. I Saw Mice Burying a Cat 6 mins
20. Junkyard 18 mins
21. Kubla Khan 4 mins
22. La Detente 9 mins
23. Lost and Found 4 mins
24. The Making of Longbird 15 mins
25. The Missing Key 30 mins
26. Oh Willy… 17 mins
27. Pepe & Lucas 7 mins
28. The Pub 8 mins
29. Reflexion 4 mins
30. Slow Derek 8 mins
31. The Story of Pines
___16 mins
32. Tram 7 mins
33. The Wind Girl (La Nina de Viento) 14 mins
34. Wolf Dog Tales
___7 mins
35. Zeinek Gehiago Iraun
___12 mins ___________________Oh Willy by Emma De Swaef & Marc James Roels
36. 7596 Frames 5 mins
37. The Hybrid U-nion 5 mins
38. The Maker 6 mins
39. Paperman 7 mins
40. Adam and Dog
___16 mins
41. Chase 13 mins
42. Kara 7 mins
43. Pasteurized 8 mins
44. Sammy 10 mins
45. Shift 5 mins
46. The Tale of a String
___ 8 mins
47. Wiggle Room 8 mins
48. It’s Such a Beautiful
___Day 23 mins
49. Overcast 9 mins _______________________Adam and Dog by Minkyu Lee
50. Traces 7 mins
51. Bydlo 9 mins
52. Kali the Little Vampire 9 mins
53. The Last Bus (Posledny Autobus) 15 mins
55. Edmond Was a Donkey 15 mins
56. Daffy’s Rhapsody 4 mins
57. Maggie Simpson in “The Longest Daycare” 5 mins
I don’t really have much information about the films or the film makers. However if you go to google and type in the title something should come up which will give you a lot of back information about the films and their creators. Worth the effort. For example type in “Oh Willy” and you get a whole series of photos and information about the puppet shoot etc.
Bill Benzon on Tissa’s Memorial
On his blog, New Savannah, Bill Benzon has written an excellent piece entitled What I Learned from Tissa David. The piece speaks about an animator’s style and how seeing a compressed number of films with the voice of the animator so obviously front and center helps allow us to recognize that voice. This, I have to say, is made easier by someone like Tissa who speaks so articulately through the visual emotions her characters display on screen.
Tissa gave every director a gift: deep and rich characters that spoke through their body language even more clearly than they could through verbalizing. Perhaps because Tissa had a bit of a problem with her speech (once a Hungarian, always a Hungarian) she was able to give her characters more communicative skills with their movements than they had with their language. This was something of a treat for me. In the final project she was doing for me, Tissa was working with highly articulate characters in POE, and adding the body language was giving the characters an amazing richness that is hard to express. Edgar Allan Poe was developing as an introverted character who lashed out and railed wen he spoke. All those words were spoken through a violent frustration that the character would have preferred not to vocalize. He always had to go in before he could lash out.
on 31 Oct 2012 at 1:59 am 1.Phil Willis said …
To the person that said qualifying for an Oscar Short doesn’t represent a special accomplishment: You have clearly never made a film.
Ever.
And don’t understand the criteria.
Qualifying for an Oscar pretty much means you have to win “best animation” at one of only a certain number of Oscar-eligible festivals.
Finishing a film is an accomplishment.
Getting your film accepted into a festival is a great accomplishment.
Winning best animation at that festival is an incredible accomplishment.
If you can’t recognise that, I don’t think you have any place commenting on animation.
on 31 Oct 2012 at 1:57 pm 2.Michael said …
Been there, done that. I was nominated and it was as much of a surprise as anything. You’re absolutely right. It’s very difficult to be nominated especially when you’re up against big budget films like Paperman or The Gruffalo’s Child. But let the best person win. I’m pleased to be able to vote for the films I like, and wish some year my selection would be the winner. (Well, that did happen once.)
on 01 Nov 2012 at 6:10 am 3.Hisko Hulsing said …
So do you have any advices for me, Michael?
We haven’t met yet, apart from facebook, but I made “Junkyard” (which is not a typical Oscar film at all).
I’ve been giving lectures at Disney and Dreamworks and will give one at Blue Sky (and maybe Pixar)to promote my film. I’ve worked on Junkyard for over 6 years with a very small team and I see it as my responsibility to make sure it has some chances.
Or is it just chance….or luck (or what is the right english word)?
on 02 Nov 2012 at 2:35 pm 4.Michael said …
Hisko. Your film is wonderful. I know it is being well received on both coasts, and I believe you won a major prize at Annecy. There is not question that your film is a success regardless of how the Oscar nominations turn out. You should learn soon whether it’s on the short list.
on 02 Nov 2012 at 3:10 pm 5.Hisko Hulsing said …
Thank you very much, Michael!! Very good to hear that coming from you. Junkyard won the Grand Prize in Ottawa, not in Annecy. But that was a huge recognition for me. So much work went into Junkyard….
But there are a lot of good films this year, and not one that wins all the prizes (as it often goes). So I think no one can say which way it will go.
on 03 Nov 2012 at 8:48 pm 6.Bill Benzon said …
Do you remember enough about “Kubla Khan” to say whether it was about the historical figure or about Coleridge’s poem? The poem, as I discovered a year or so ago, is a favorite subject for high school and college video projects, some of which are really quite interesting.
on 22 Nov 2012 at 9:54 am 7.Bloostudio - | A List of Every Animated Short That Qualified For An Oscar This Year said …
[...] Here is the the complete list of 57 animated shorts that qualified for the 2012 animated short Oscar, courtesy of Michael Sporn. Bear in mind, anyone can qualify a film for Oscar consideration if they follow the proper steps so being on this list doesn’t signify any kind of special accomplishment. [...]
on 02 Nov 2013 at 5:18 pm 8.P. said …
Hi Michael. I just wondering if do you know when is going to be avaliable this year’s Oscar contenders for que animation short film awards list. I cant wait!
. Cheers.
on 09 May 2016 at 6:57 am 9.Oscars 2013 – Best Animated Short | Directors Notes said …
[…] the Oscars, all the awards accumulated over the festival circuit mean nothing. Many eligible films that I enjoyed did not made the short list and each year, the results feed discussions on animation […]