AGI Studio 1: Week 10 Related Work

Week 10

Lost & Found

1. ‘Lost & Found’ is a stop motion animated short film that tells the story of a decision the knitted toy dinosaur has to make to save the love of its life.

2. The theme of the animated film is about love and sacrifices. The knitted toy dinosaur unravels itself completely to save the love of its life. The knitted toy fox, the dinosaur’s love, gathers the unravel dinosaur and its cotton to try to put it back together. It uses the feature of a knitted toy to form the main plot of the story, which is easily damaged if accidentally hooked up to a sharp object. It also uses the feature of a knitted toy to provide a resolution to the story.

3. This work shows us the potential of combining stop motion animation with camera-filmed video footage. There are a few moments where the film is using filmed video footage. For example, the video the phone is playing in the room the dinosaur toy lives in and the water the pipe pours out once in a while. The camera placement and lighting transition in this animated film are well-planned. The reaction shot of the dinosaur when the fox drops into the water is a perfect example of enhancing the emotion of the character by using suitable camera placement and lighting choices.

Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=35i4zTky9pI

Behind the scene: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=henHHho1GS4

In a Heartbeat

1. ‘In a Heartbeat’ is a 3D animated short film that tells the story of a closeted boy, his own playful heart, and his dream boy.
2. ‘In a Heartbeat’ is a story about the hardship between same-sex love. As animated film’s target audience is normally children and teens, it will encourage acceptance in the age group easier and raise public awareness of the issue better. The film uses a playful heart character to represent the emotions of a closeted boy. The closeted boy chases after his heart to stop it from expressing itself and therefore outing himself to the public. Nevertheless, the heart is still freely roaming around happily even when it is under the suppressed of its owner, showing that a heart is always true to itself and will do whatever it wants no matter what. 
3. This work shows us the potential of addressing existing and ongoing social issues, such as homophobia and people’s fear of being out of the closet, effectively in an animated short film. It also shows us the potential of different lighting/atmosphere setup in conveying the story in an animated film. The overall lighting of the film is vibrant at the start, less saturated and dimmer when the protagonist is outed in public, bluer in the aftermath, and vibrant again when a resolution happens.  

Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rTYAZulxGsg