The Toy Soldier and the Ballerina

A few meters can be a long way if that is what separates you and the object of your desire. Here, however, the toy soldier leaps over to his ballerina with ease and grace, so enabling them to dance together for the first time.

This charming animated short was created by sbn for their final animation project for their Bachelor degree at Teeside University in the UK. For some reason this piece works as if it is one of the fairy tales written by Oscar Wilde rather than any other writer.  Answers on a postcard as to why I might think why....

A Christmas Card from Austria

Why is it that people confuse Australia and Austria? Of course, if they are not doing that they are then confusing Austria and Germany.

So, just to put the record straight, Kris Hoffman from Australia has put together this animation for you.

It’s all done with a great sense of humor, which is typically Austrian. No, wait… well, whatever the case, enjoy this – and no, I am not from Austria, Australia or even Germany!

Homeless

One young hermit crab is fast outgrowing his shell so he decides to go in search of a new home. Unfortunately, this is not as easy as it first seems... One of the most important thing is animation is character development and Yevgeni Krachak has succeeded in this brilliantly. We really feel for this little guy and hope that he finds a home soon.

This animated short was created by Krachak as his third year project at the Bezalel Academy of Art and Design in Jerusalem.  His brief was to combine CG with live footage. It’s rather more than an exercise in the bringing together of two formats – he has created a little character here around which a whole movie could be created.

Heartburn

A girl finds herself with strange dinner companions in a regimented meal.  Yet she is lively of spirit and more than a little rebellious and decides to do things her own way! This is a strange but alluring animation from Heartburnfilm, which is a thesis project by a group of students from the Istituto Europeo di Design (IED) in Milan.

There are elements of the fairy tale here and the clever use of different kinds of animation sets the little girl apart from her dining companions.  Of course a child’s imagination can often go overboard and you must stick around this animation until the end to see the twist in the tale, as it were!

There is also an interesting Tumbler page associated with Heartburn where you can find lots more about how it was made.