Wednesday, October 30, 2013

Online Shorts: Drums West, Mute, Chocolate Bacon, Agamemnon Counterpart, Solipsist


I plan to highlight online short films as a regular feature, and here are five experimental and animated shorts that I've seen and enjoyed over the past few weeks.

Lately my two favorite resources for online shorts have been Mike Everleth's Underground Film Journal and Amid Amidi and Jerry Beck's Cartoon Brew.  I decided to avoid a Halloween-themed list, but if you're looking for one check out Everleth's "Great Underground Horror Films Streaming For Halloween." Yesterday, Cartoon Brew posted an article about the month-long National Film Board of Canada showcase, Get Animated! Both resources are worth following on their respective Twitter feeds and Facebook pages.

The final selection below, along with six other online experimental titles, can also be found in the Cultural Weekly article, "The New Innovators of Experimental Short Cinema" by Amy Cobb.

I prefer to watch online shorts on my television for a better viewing experience, and Plex and its myPlex media queue has become my go-to resource for collecting any online video for later viewing. I first discovered Plex as an app on my Samsung Blu-Ray Smart Hub, and I use it even more extensively with its channel on the Roku Streaming Device.



The procedure is very simple if you first install the myPlex bookmarklet in your bookmark bar, or add the Chrome myPlex Queue Extension. Simply find a video online, then click the bookmarklet to add it to your myPlex queue.  On pages with multiple videos, you might want to go to the video's source page first to make sure you're queueing the right video.  The videos in your myPlex queue are then available to watch on your television using your Samsung Smart Hub app or Roku Channel. Depending on the quality of the video source, the myPlex image and sound quality is very good (although it can take a little bit of time to access the video in your queue).




"Drums West" cut-paper animation from Jim Henson. This newly rediscovered short was created in Jim's home studio in Bethesda, MD around 1961. It is one of several experimental shorts inspired by the music of jazz great Chico Hamilton. At the end, in footage probably shot by Jerry Juhl, Jim demonstrates his working method.




MUTE from Job, Joris & Marieke on Vimeo.
MUTE is an animated short about a world populated by people born without a mouth. When a gory accident leads to the discovery they are able to create their own mouth by cutting themselves, this releases an enthusiastic chain reaction among the population…

This 4 minute cgi short has been created by Job, Joris & Marieke, a Dutch studio for animation, illustration, character design and music. In 2011 Job, Joris & Marieke made the music video 'I'll take you along' for Dutch rapper Gers Pardoel which has been viewed over 15 million times. The music was made by Happy Camper, and all voices were done by Fresku!

MUTE premiered at the Dutch Film Festival in the Golden Calf competition and was screened at the Anim'est festival in Bucarest. More festival news can be found on the MUTE website

http://jobjorisenmarieke.nl/mute





Chocolate Bacon (2012) from asavari kumar on Vimeo.
SYNOPSIS
Chocolate bacon is a portrait of a young woman’s experiences in the first year of grad school, presented through a series of conversations re-contextualized by abstracted characters. The film is divided into 6 episodes showing slices of life from a 7 month time period and the voices are from real audio recordings. The vignettes are interspersed with pieces where the main character talks more specifically about her trials and tribulations in making the film.

WEB : http://asavarikumar.com/chocolate-bacon/

AWARDS AND SELECTIONS
(Innovation Award) No Budget Film Festival ’12 (CA,US)
(Official selection) Ottawa International Animation Festival ’12 (Ottawa, Canada)
(Official selection) Lone Star Film festival ’12 (TX, US)
(Official selection) BUtiful Film festival ’12 (Bournemouth, UK)
(Official selection) Dirt poor filmmakers festival ’12 (NC, US)
(Official selection) Victoria Film Festival ’13 (Victoria, Canada)
(Official selection) Pune International Film Festival ’13 (Pune,India)
(Official selection) Women and minorities in media Festival ’13 (MD, US)
(Official selection) Fort Myers Film Festival ’13 (FL, US)
(Official selection) Toronto Animation Arts Festival International (Canada, 2013)





Agamemnon Counterpart from Michael Robinson on Vimeo.
Original Recipe (made in 2005):

"In 2571 in the heap of crushed stone among the ruins of that not determined turn blue planet it was found video cassette. The fact that you intend to see, has to it no relation. This is completely different record."

Music and character drawings by Jason Kovac aka Dave From 2001 (D2K1).

Free downloadable video game based on Agamemnon Counterpart created by Jason Baum aka Giz/Gizmonicgamer (PC only)-

fileupyours.com/view/127688/Agamemnoncounterpart_gamezFINASH.rar

Another way to watch:

http://www.yooouuutuuube.com/v/?rows=16&cols=16&id=ZqzESY7SIqU&startZoom=1





Saatchi & Saatchi New Directors' Showcase 2012





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