AGI Studio 1: Week 9 Related Work

Week 9

Turtle Journey

1. ‘Turtle Journey’ is a stop motion animated short film that tells the story of a turtle family heading home through a polluted ocean.

2. The animated film is created to raise awareness about the pressure the ocean is under from climate change, all kinds of pollution, and overfishing. The creator implemented all sorts of problems they are facing in the background of the story, some of them interact directly with the turtles, others affect the environment the turtles are living in. It uses the loss of one of the turtle family members to trigger empathy and sympathy in the audience’s mind and therefore raising awareness about ocean pollution.

3. This work shows us the potential of using short animated film to raise public awareness of certain important and life-changing issues. In fact, as the characters’ actions are very human and the character design is adorable, it relates and engages with the audience on a deeper level than a documentary film.

Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1iJbo3fhJFk

Negative Space

1. ‘Negative Space’ is an Oscar Nominated stop motion animated short film that tells a story about the relationship of a father and a son when the son travels for the father’s funeral.

2. The animated short film uses the art of packing a suitcase to describe the relationship between the father and the son in the story. The father and son bond over packing suitcases. They strive to pack their suitcase with calculation, not leaving any empty space. Their relationship is exactly like their suitcase packing skill, they are cold and perfect. Even when the son attends the father’s funeral, the only thing he could think about is the negative space in his father’s coffin. For this animated film, the suitcase is a perfect metaphor for the relationship between the father and son, it is full but it is also a hollow place for emotion. 

3. This work shows us that a stop motion film can be used to convey a sad and depressing story about child neglect. The calm and slow narration helps to bring out the deeper meaning of the story as well. This work also shows us the effect of a well-planned transition in an animated short film, such as the scene of the son travels under the sea and the scene where a driving cab turns into a toy car in a living room. 

Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KI2lsdXJQ40