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The magic of graphic art and animation
With the superb Janitor Joe animated video and the wonderful inspiring interview with graphic artist Natalie Palumbo, I had a little animated video binge this weekend watching a bunch of animated short films, some of them award winning. They are good, and goes to show what a little creativity, imagination and graphic arts skills can do. So in honour of MLTs brilliant imaginative Janitor Joe and wonderful talent of Natalie Palumbo, here are a few delightful short animation films
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12 Replies
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Award Winning “Windup”: https://youtu.be/efGqe1j3RNk?si=_1BW51fEtUHKUwGT
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Charming film “Rubato”: https://youtu.be/1D7D3_HFB3o?si=-EIGPJeAIDuoX_w0
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Here’s a link for a Dusty Springfield animation video
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And the famous ” Take On Me ” animated video from A-Ha band
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Hi Jacki, oh yeah that is a great animated music video. I believe it is Mojo who rated this one the greatest music video of all time.
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Here is another really heart warming one.
These short animation films are like songs, with a message or feeling to express.
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Hi Jung,
thank you for the beautiful and entertaining short films.
Animated films often still struggle with the image of being just children’s films and not serious art, but I don’t think they really were. For me it is still an interesting art form in its own right, which opens the door to the imagination, which begins where reality has its limits. But the combination of music and animation also opens up new creative possibilities, as the video for Janitor Joe proves.
Probably a milestone of the animated music film is Fantasia, which was produced by Walt Disney as early as 1940 and is loosely based and inspired on a ballad by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.
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One of the most beautiful musical animation movies I’ve seen lately is “Soul”. The film is about the love and passion for music. The focus of the story is the music teacher Joe, who dreams of being able to live out his love of music. A balancing act between his gray everyday life and his love for music. A lovely film with many surprising twists.
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Hi Jurgen
Yeah I totally agree with what you said. Don’t count out graphic art animation films, there are some amazing ones I’ve discovered. There was a time I also felt animations were for kids too, but I saw some really amazing animated films that made me realize they can be every bit as good or better than regular cinema films, as animated films free the artist to express almost unlimited imagination not limited by logistics of reality. Janitor Joe was perfect for animation, I don’t think it could have been done better to express the imaginative story line short of Mona and Lisa going up in the Space X and playing with Janitor Joe in the stars.
I really enjoyed that first 10 mins clip of Soul. That first music class scene sounded just like my grade 8 band class and I tried to learn to play trumpet. I didn’t try that sucking up the M & M’s from the floor trick with the trumpet though. I really love getting lost in the beauty and magic of music where time stands still and that moment is like eternity. I’ll have to watch that whole movie. Thanks for posting it.
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Here is another charming one about friendship.
Short films have their appeal Sometimes the message or sentiment can get lost in a longer drawn out film, and often times people don’t have an hour or 2 to spare. These are like the short concise songs common in the 60s that were often only 2 to 4 minutes, but never the less are powerful with great impact. At work, one of the skills in a good presentation is keeping it short and sweet while driving the point. Peoples attention span is limited. There is an elegance and beauty in efficiency.
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Thanks Jung, a thoughtful film, not only about friendship but also about lonliness, getting older and not losing your role in life. You’re right: the magic of such films is that in a short time and without words, these kind of films can express feelings and ideas in such a compressed form that classic movies take at least 90 minutes to do the same.
Not only since Wallace & Gromit, stop motion films have been a great way to bring physically impossible things into an enchanting form.
The following one is a beautiful metaphor about two people who live together and yet have grown so far apart over the years that they practically live in two parallel worlds. Sometimes it takes a small but important reason or a nice memory for their worlds to sync up again.
PS: you will like “Soul”
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Hi Jurgen
That’s a great story. It’s amazing how with some creative ideas you can create a metaphor like that, that drives the message so effectively. It’s also like that in a poem, with a few carefully chosen words you can convey some profound meaning. Plainly spoken words can never fully express feelings or sentiments adequately but songs, poems, animated short stories, picture, paintings can. That is the magic of art. Art is worth a thousand words and then some.
These short animated films are great. Thanks for sharing that.
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