Shaun Tan’s The Lost Thing trailer. In word, awesome!

Shaun Tan’s fifteen minute animated adaptation of his book The Lost Thing—the story of a boy’s empathy with a lost, er, thing and his attempts to help it find its place—is completed and making the festival circuit. If anyone gets a chance to see it, please report back! I’m dying to see it.

In the meantime, anyone else as in love with Shaun’s work as I am can play around on thelostthing.com.There are character studies, color keys and production drawings to see. And if that is not enough, check out this 5 minute documentary on the movie.

Animation

Last week on Saturday Morning Cartoons:

The Cat Piano: A beat-noir-feline-Poe-ish horror story. Beautifully drawn. Narrated by Nick Cave—it’s as great to listen to as it is to watch. (8.30 minutes.)

The Lighthouse Keeper: Sometimes bugs are the good guys. A Goeblins film. Which means, of course, it’s beautifully designed and animated. (3.15 minutes)

Animation: "This Way Up" and "The Falcom"

Again, falling behind on the animation notices here but I love "This Way Up" to much not to give it a shout-out here. It's hilarious and surprisingly sweet.

Tor.com Saturday Morning Cartoons

This Way Up: This one's a charmer if you're up for some gallows humor that's somehow very endearing. I watched it three times in a row and laughed each time. (8.48 minutes)

The Falcon: A menagerie in camera parts. A techno soundtracked mood piece. (2.50 minutes.)

Animation on Tor.com: The Hungry Squid and The Girl Who Hated Books

This week on Tor.com's Saturday Morning Cartoons:

The Hungry Squid: This is very strange, both story and art. But a lot of fun. A bizarre take on “my dog ate my homework.” (14.30 minutes)

The Girl Who Hated Books: And the moral is: Books are cool. Not news to anyone here but it’s still a delight to watch. More for kids than the above story. (7.23 minutes)

To see all Saturday Morning Cartoons, click here.

Animation on Tor.com: Disney's Mars and Beyond

Disney’s “Mars and Beyond”
I’ve been shy about posting movies that have cut into parts but I stumbled into this 1957 Disney animation “Mars and Beyond” and, holy smokes, is it the coolest thing I’ve seen in ages. It's a great mix of fact and supposition with an amazing, and seemingly endlessly creative, design. It covers historical astronomical beliefs, the beginnings of science fiction literature, “current” science, and a fantastical array of what-if Martians. It’s both delightful and scientific without ever being silly or dry.

Animation on Tor.com "Red Rabbit" and "8848"

Red Rabbit: Embrace your oddity. (8 minutes)

8848: A young man remembering his father. (5.23 minutes)

For more animation: Saturday Morning Cartoon Index

Props from Lines and Colors

It's been a good week for back-pats. One of my (and many others) favorite art blogs, Lines and Colors, has written a blush-worthy post on Tor.com's Saturday Morning Cartoons.

"These shorts are from a variety of creators and sources (though many are sponsored by the national Film Board of Canada), and traverse the spectrum of subject matter, style, emotional tone, animation technique and cinematic direction.

They share one characteristic, they are all terrific examples of short form animation, and a treat to watch."

Although my involvement in Tor.com runs pretty deep and is always rewarding, the Saturday Morning Cartoons are a little extra special to me. It's my own quiet corner of site and has allowed me to indulge in a love of something that is completely unrelated to work. (Something I should do more of.) I am extra proud that Lines and Colors has highlighted it.

And a call for help/inspiration. If you have any animation suggestions, please mention them here. I've discovered a lot of great movies from you guys.

And, and, a shout-out to a few of the great sources I have been filching from:
National Film Board of Canada
Vague memories from a History of Animation class with John Canemaker.
Cartoon Brew
Tickle Booth
Drawn
Gobelins
+ a whole lot of internet hopscotch

Animation on Tor.com

La Marche des Sans-Nom: Beautifully designed and choreographed anti-war piece. (5.30 minutes)

Dynamo: Keeping the world balanced, Rube Goldberg style. (6 Minutes)

Tor.com animation

Too much traveling has let me fall behind on these animation notices. Saturday Morning Cartoons have, however, been continuing on. I'll post daily updates until I catch up.


Das Rad and Accro

Das Rad: “Apparently, rocks are having conversations all around us, but they talk very, very slowly.” Rocks Hew and Kew watch the evolution of human civilization...and complain about lichen. This is a particularly cool movie. (Thanks to Kurt Huggins for the heads up!)

Accro: I love the drawing in this. These guys tirelessly keep trying, but they never quite get there.

Quay Brothers Exhibit

FLICKR SET HERE.

Early yesterday Kristina Carroll tweeted that she would be meeting Kurt Huggins and Zelda Devon at Parsons to see the Quay Brothers exhibit. Quay Brothers exhibit!? How could I not have known. No matter, Parsons is just five blocks away so I ran to met up with them during my lunch-hour.

I stumbled onto the Quay Brothers when I was in high school and while I quickly jumped from them to Jan Svankamjer, there is no denying seeing Street of Crocodiles was a mind-blower for me. Until then, stop motion animation consisted of "The California Raisins". (For you youngin's, you'll have to imagine a time when the world was not at your keyboard, especially out in the burbs.) Ever since, animation, and stop motion in particular, has embodied a perfect melding of visual art, sound, and dance for me. An art form that always feels deeply internal yet just outside of comprehension. When done right.

Dormitorium: An Exhibition of Film Decors by the Quay Bros.
Through October 4th / Free
Set decors and projected film excerpts.
12:00 p.m. - 6:00 p.m. Thursday until 8:00 p.m.
66 Fifth Avenue at 13th Street.

The exhibit consists of eleven miniature sets and their corresponding puppets. The scenes are presented in a dark room in boxes lit from within. Some of the boxes had magnifying portals to look through which not only forced you to step close into the environments but also created constant distortions and changes in focus. All in all, they are every bit as isolating and claustrophobic as the movies they were in service to.

The layout of the room, while sparse, does a good job of making feel as if you are in an encased exterior. The walls are made of black curtains. It took me a while to realize that behind the curtains were giant windows -- as clouds would come and go outside, the room would (almost subliminally) grow lighter and darker. Tall spindly lighting stands extended from the floor until they and branched out at the tops to grab the ceiling. the whole effect is like walking through a dark and wiry minimalist forest.

Excerpts from the films are projected in an alcove which not only allows you to see the sets and puppets in action, but gives the whole exhibit the same attention to sound and music as the movies. Having a chance to see some of the movies on a larger-than-television screen will mean I spend a number of lunch hours there before closing.

Animation

Saturday Morning Cartoons: Surface and Infinity:

Surface: A Film from Underneath: I love this. A thousand playful narratives, albeit one unhappy ending. At first glance you may think it’s about the technique but it quickly becomes more than that. (2.30 minutes)

Infinity: An ode to Tokyo. A sweet mood piece. (3.55 minutes)


Monsieur Cok and The Terrible Thing of Alpha-9

Monsieur Cok: “Mister Cok is the owner of a large bomb factory. Looking for efficiency and profit, he decides to replace his workers with sophisticated robots.” (9.45 minutes)

The Terrible Thing of Alpha-9: Space-age bounty hunters after a scary monster. Very funny and very cute and a little sick.

Animation: "Through My Thick Glasses" and "Thoughts of a Falling Glass Man"

This week on Tor.com animations....

Through My Thick Glasses: One of the best short films I've seen—poignant, surprising, with an amazing fantastical sense of design. It's the story of an older man telling his granddaughter about his experiences during World War II. (12.30 minutes)

Thoughts of a Falling Glass Man: Harmony disrupted...and rebuilt. (3.10 minutes.)

Animation: Beatles Rock Band and Sea Orchestra

This week, crass commercialism wrapped up in awesomeness.

Beatles Rock Band: I watched this commercial for the Beatles Rock Band twelve times in a row. Every scene is drawn so beautifully, and the progression through time is handled so well...and it gets plenty trippy enough to call it sf/f.

Sea Orchestra: United Airlines has a number of amazing commercials, this one by the people that brought us one of my favorite surreal shorts, “The Tale of How.”

Animation: Oceansize, Scoop Volante, Next, and Sonnet 138

We have two weeks to catch up with...

Oceansize and Scoop Volante:

Oceansize: When oil fights back. This is a very cool SF adventure story. The setting steals the show. I never thought I’d love the look of an oil rig so much.

Scoop Volante: Photographing aliens. Pure slapstick fun.

And, a Shakespearean couplet with: Next and Sonnet 138.

Next: Shakespeare performs all of Shakespeare in 5.14 minutes.

Sonnet 138: As it says, with lovely imagery by Dave McKean. (1.20 )

As always, you can check out the full list on our Saturday Morning Cartoons Index page.

Animation: modernist flash cards and obsession.

This week on Tor.com's Saturday Morning Cartoons:

Kunstbar: Modigliani walks into a bar. Bartender says, “Why the long face?” (3.40 minutes)

The Last Knit: It’s about knitting...and obsession. (6.45 minutes)

Beatles Rock Band animation

OK, now I want to play Rock Band. Because A) It's the Beatles, B) it's beautifully drawn, and C) it's the Beatles.

I've watched this three times in row...I'm off to watch it ten times more.

[via Kevin Dart]

Animation: "Fallen Art" and "Canine Goodbye"

This week's Tor.com Animation picks:

Fallen Art: This is brilliant, albeit difficult to watch. An interview with the filmmaker, including concept drawings, is on CG Society. (5.45 minutes)

Goodbye Canine: And now to lighten things up a bit, a fun adventure story. Apparently in France the tooth fairy is a mouse. (5 minutes)

Animation on Tor.com "Hello" and "Who's Hungry?"

This week's Tor.com animation picks:

Hello: Apologies for the commercial up front but, this was too great to pass up. The same ol’ story: Boom Box falls for cute CD Player. Gramophone offers sage advice. Shy and sweet. (6:30 minutes)

Who’s Hungry?: I’d say it’s a demented Hansel and Gretel story, but Hansel and Gretel is pretty demented to start with. At any rate, this is not for kids...or the squeamish. Via Cartoon Brew, who also have an audience reaction video up. (5 minutes.)

For the full list of animation picks, check out the Saturday Morning Cartoon Index.

Animation on Tor.com

This week on Tor.com Saturday Morning Cartoons...

la Femme Papillon: An admirer attempts to liberate the marionette of his desires. Beautifully designed, it sets a claustrophobic but lush world.

le Cadeau du Temps: When is it time to share and when is it time to quit?

Animation on Tor.com: "The Sandman" and "Sebastien"

This week, a nightmare and a daydream:

The Sandman: A truly scary bedtime story. Great expressionist backgrounds and lighting. I’d say it’s Tim Burton-esque but it was made before Nightmare Before Christmas. (9 minutes)

Sébastien: Flights of fancy are contagious. From the amazing french animation school Gobelins. (1.50 minutes)