Beyond the Dust

This animated short directed by students at ESMA tells the story of two distinctly different robots who have the unenviable job of cleaning and maintaining an abandoned home.  As the dust piles up, they both begin to be aware of the possibility of a life beyond it, but any attempt to leave the mundanity of their existence is quickly halted by their all-seeing supervisor.  It comes to a head when the smaller of the two robots accidentally turns on the TV and watches a nature documentary. Will they ever get to experience what lies beyond the dust?

This very touching science-fiction animated short is nothing short of brilliant.  I’ve said this time and time again about ESMA graduation work – it is so very difficult to distinguish their work from the professionally created shorts that one can only imagine a very rewarding future ahead of  them in the animation industry.  The characters of our two protagonists come across very well through their actions right from the start – and this is what really makes the short work (and is very difficult to pull off in something without dialogue even when your characters are human, let alone animated robots).

There are tropes at work, to be sure, but that is very nearly always the case in very nearly all works of science fiction these days.  I have to say that this would fit right in as an episode in the LOVE DEATH + ROBOTS series on Netflix (I think it’s superior to some of the works shown there, I have to say).  So, congratulations to all involved, especially the directors Alexia Ameline, , Marin Benitez, Lucien-Paul Bigey, Marine DuPot, Benjamin Hack, Matteo Michel, Salomé Quillien and Juliette Vignollet.

Finito

If you work for a living then you probably know how these little robots feel in the lives of repetition and mundanity.  Yet one of them notices that another is sneaking off from his duties and decides to investigate.  The decision is a revelation but for the robot that decided to take some breaks there will be consequences. Finito, very bitter-sweet, was created by Mauricio Bartok and Gabriel D'Orazio.

Wind Up Bots

Imagine a world where all the wind up robots of your childhood suddenly came to supersize life. Well, no need really when you have this fun video from Fernando Livschitz of Black Sheep Films.  This is great fun – and gave me a number of nostalgic moments.  Plus it’s all beautifully wrapped up in a summertime feel and when you add the perfectly chosen soundtrack it is quite enough to chase away those winter blues…

Old Umbrella

This is a simple story very beautifully told and it is the work of Keisuke Ito as part of his graduation thesis from the Digital Hollywood School.  It tells the story (in wonderfully colorful CGI) of a time of robots – and a time of rain.

You are left to imagine just when this story is set but if it is in a future without us then it is one we would at least recognize.  There are still divisions between the rich and the poor and a small act of kindness can be remembered forever.

So, sit back and enjoy. I know I usually feature animations with lots of bells and whistles, explosions and action but this is very, very different to those.  It is also one of the lovelier shorts I have come across recently.

Discobot

When the lights go off each evening in a factory the robot workers are left in the dark. Unbeknown to their human masters the machines have something of a life of their own and very soon the factory is bumping and grinding as the sometime obedient automatons become discobots!

They even have a very clever way of ensuring that the slow song necking can go ahead…

This is an amusing and engaging animation by Michel Doidic. It is amazing how something like a factory robot can acquire a personality when animated by someone who knows what they are doing!

Operation White Widow

Operation White Widow is something awesome: unexpected, extremely visual and an animation that you really have to wait until the end to get it.  So hold on to your seat - the plot is simple (and wordless) but it is action all the way.  A group of alien soldiers prepare to go in to battle from above against our little world.  As they leap out of their ships in to mid air they chute down and form their battle formations. Yet not everything is as it seems.

The script, direction, modeling, texturing and animation for this complete trip is Jacek Mazur with music, sound and design by Tommy Zee.

Doctor Who Bots

Image Credit Jenn and Tony Bott

We always like to feature unusual items associated with the long running TV science fiction series Doctor Who so when we saw these Doctor Who bots then we knew where they were going to end up! Created by Tony and Jenn a pair of artists collectively known as Bot seem intent on converting anyone (real or fiction) in to their cute robotic counterpart. These bots of the Doctor, Amy and Rory were created for a friend of a customer. However once the customer set her eyes on these creations she (quite rightly) kept them for herself!

Image Credit Jenn and Tony Bot

Image Credit Fen and Tony Bott

You can visit the website of the bots to see the whole of botworld!

Three Fifteen

This is wonderful and represents part of the final year degree project at Toonskool Advanced Animation Academy (the leader in Animation Education in India) for five very talented students, Aditya Tawde, Harsh Sharma, Kushal Bhor, Dipesh Motivaras and Perzan pandol. You will very quickly realize why the wonderfully named Toonskool has such a good reputation – this is very fine work for undergraduates – one can only guess at the work they will produce in the future.

A robot awakes to find himself on a mission – and I think I will leave the description for fear of spoilers! You may well guess the reveal (as I did) fairly early on but that did nothing to diminish my enjoyment of this enigmatic animated short. Plus there is another twist in the tale right at the end which I didn’t guess (but perhaps should have). I could say that if the young M. Night Shyamalan had turned his hand to animation, this could easily have been the result!

Somali Pirates Vs Robots

I am really not too sure about whether to post this or not - see what you think and please do make comment, perhaps I am being oversensitive and should just take it as the fun it is intended to be.

Created by Saatchi and Saatchi for the Turkish export company Vestel, this CGI drenched TV advert pits Somali pirates against a team of robots hidden on board a cargo ship, you know, just in case they are boarded by Somali pirates. While its production values are extremely high I do wonder whether or not this TV advert would make it on to the screens in many countries, being so absolutely sure which specific nationality the robots are fighting. 

As Somalia is effectively without government or leadership it does seem like kicking an entire country while it is down.  However, having said that, none of the pirates featured here look or sound like any of the many Somalis I have had the pleasure to meet.  I do too, wonder what Paul and Rachel Chandler, the British couple captured and held by Somali pirates for over a year would think of this. Wryly imagine what they would have done with their very own Vestel robot? I doubt it.  Let me know what you think? Should this be regarded as just for fun or in poor taste?

Alley Dog

Humanity has abandoned the planet and all that is left are robotic vestiges of the lives which were once played out here.

A robot mutt, looking for its next meal of nuts, bolts and general circuitry stumbles across some potential prey and a chase through the derelict city ensues.

This is a very cool animation by the team of Trisha Johnson and Casey Pike. Both attended South Oregon University and have since graduated.

This is their collaboration for their degree – an ambitious project it has to be said for undergraduates. Yet they pull it off with aplomb and panache.

SadBot 4000

If Sundays make you feel a little melancholy, then here is something to cheer you up.  After all, they say that misery loves company.  This is the tale of a sad little bot who has nothing much to do on a rainy day – in some ways he reminds me of me when I was a kid.  Yet you can read something a little darker and more adult if you chose to so – it’s just I prefer not to!

Talking of childhood this also reminds me of the way my grandmother would take the leftovers of one meal and turn it in to something quite new the next day.  So it is with this short movie – SadBot 4000 is the remains of a previous project by filmmaker Eric B Shanks.  I know there isn’t a real cutting room floor anymore but metaphorically that is where this footage would have been had it not been for a case of creative cabin fever as he puts it.  SadBot 4000 was created in three hours.  I know -  I have just gone a little green around the gills too.

The song, just in case you are wonderfing is Holocene from Bon Iver.

Rose’s Retro Robots Rock!

Image Credit Flickr User mediadeo

This is the kind of art that Kuriositas is all about. We recently came across the work of Cris Rose and had to share it with you because it is just so bloody brilliant, to be quite frank. It might be described as an acquired taste for some, but for us the attraction was immediate. Beautifully designed little robots with a mission – and a back-story you can simply make up as you go along.

Image Credit Flickr User Mediadeo

Image Credit Flickr User Mediadeo

Rose is an artist and designer in his twenties who graduated from Brunel University with a degree in Product Design. Yet – fortunately for us – he is concentrating on products of his own and these robots are objects which you just want to pick up and enjoy (and there might be some hugging involved too, but don’t tell anyone!).

Image Credit Flickr User Mediadeo

Image Credit Flickr User Mediadeo

Image Credit Flickr User Lunabee

What we particularly like about these robots is their decidedly retro look and they also have something of the steampunk about them. There is also more than a little manga thrown in for good measure.

Image Credit Flickr User Lunabee

Image Credit Flickr User Mediadeo

Yet each is unique and looks like it has had a life full of adventure. Some TV producer should really take a look at Cris Rose’s work – an animated kid’s TV series focusing on their escapades would be brilliant – especially if the focus of their exploits was the ecological and green.

Image Credit Toybot Studios

Image Credit Flickr User Mediadeo

It would be a little like The Wombles for the twenty first century! At the moment, as all of Rose's robots are hand made there are very few for sale - but you can still get them for prices which to us seem more than fair for all the work and care that goes in to their production.  Click here to see what is currently available.

Image Credit Flickr User nrivera

Image Credit Flickr User nrivera

Image Credit Flickr User nrivera

Alternatively, you can always head over to Cris Rose's Flickr Photostream where he keeps a very up to date catalogue of his creations.

Robots

Can a Google search give us any psychological insight in to what people think of something? That is certainly a subject for someone's Doctoral thesis, if it hasn't already been done. Natalia Buckley, a design student at Goldsmith's College, University of London, has certainly given us insight in to what people think about robots in this short animation.

What she does is enter the word robots and then suffix it with the letters of the alphabet.  Interesting enough but this gets more so when she adds first the word are and then the words will in to the search.

You may want to pause this more than once (as I did) to see what results she got!  Going by the results we have very mixed feelings about our robot friends.  Is there a collective noun for schizophrenia?

Circuit

You probably know about the Digital Divide but you may never have seen the issue put across this animatedly before.  This short animated film shows what may happen in the world of continual updates of both hardware and software and works extremely well as an extended visual metaphor for those left behind.

It simultaneously addresses the issue of eWaste (and waste in general).  The continuous desire to upgrade (without sounding too much like a Cyberman) can lead to problems for those at both ends of the spectrum.

Or, you could simply see it as a robot vs robot story, extremely well animated and put together with a few knowing chuckles thrown in for good measure.  Either way it works well, though I imagine younger audiences may be somewhat nonplused by it all (but then, to paraphrase Frank N Furter, they didn't make it for you!).

Talking of creators. The producer and lead animator was Yannick Gillain with modelling and 3D effects being created by Felix Telfer.  The music was by Keir Husson and the Matte painting, texturing and lead compositing work was done by Shinji Dawson.  They are (or perhaps were) all students and the animated short was produced at Massey University Wellington, New Zealand.

I have to say (even though I have said it before) that the standard of undergraduate animation work these days is simply quite stunning.  With these guys going in to the industry we can only hope that their creativity is given further time to flourish and develop.  They certainly deserve it - one can only hope they do not end up doing desultory animation work for breakfast cereal but get the chance to take their promise and flair to the next level.

Nora

It has been said that all the stories have been told and there are only different ways of telling them to be explored.  This said, for science fiction fans the premise and many of the elements of Nora will be very - perhaps overly - familiar.  In the far future robots have become sentient.  Some, through whatever possibly evolutionary process have developed their own feelings - and these robots are then assigned special missions that recognise their capacity to feel.

This is the case with our Nora.  She is assigned to explore a new planet as a potential home for humanity in the future.  However, all is not as it seems.  As such the plot is a familiar one, but do not be contemptible too soon.  The creator of the animated film, Amy Engles, has created something quite special, quite different here.  I love the design of the robots, especially at the point where Nora recharges her batteries through solar power - quite different.

The concept for Nora was devised by Engles who had sketched her several years before the project finally got its feet.  She then gave her sketches to the comic book artist Tiernan Trevillian and the concept artist Dave Derby.  The result is the exquisite creation that we see in the film.  She is a combination of human grace and inhuman, mechanical power and is visually amazing to look at - in fact it is the time and effort obvioulsy taken in terms of character design that really is at the heart of the animation.

There are a number of nods in the direction of some science fiction movies, including AI and 2001: A Space Odyssey.  However, the film stands very much on its own two feet.  It is a story about tenacity and perseverance as well as the unforeseen consquences that alienation of a group of individuals can have - as well as being, above all, about hope.  Nora is an animated short film that will reverb in my memory for quite a while.

Archive Harrison Ford Star Wars Interview from 1977

In 1977 a little known actor by the name of Harrison Ford got his big break when Star Wars was unleashed on the world.  Here a remarkably fresh faced Ford is interviewed by Bobbie Wygant, the legendary NBC 5 reporter who is still going strong today.  Wygant questions Ford about the film and his role within it - neither particularly hiding the fact that they don't really get it - that much - at all.  He does, however, wax lyrical (or as lyrical as he gets) about the opening shot.  And who wouldn't?

Ford is famous not only for his acting but his dislike of the publicity machine which surrounds movies and in particular the interview treadmill.  What makes this particularly special is that the interview was conducted just after the premier when Harrison Ford could still walk the streets without being recongnized by one and all.

What comes across here (apart from his general disinterest in science fiction as a genre) is how laid back Ford is with the whole issue of fame.  He is certainly thankful for Star Wars in terms of opening doors for him as an actor - in his own inimitable and unforced way.  A very cool blast from the past.