The Chiaroscuro and Rembrandt Lighting

In order to achieve the beautiful contrast between light and dark, known as chiaroscuro there is a method employed by photographers – Rembrandt Lighting. Here, with some beautiful examples, is how it is done. Image Credit Flickr User Mai En Hoa

Image Credit Flickr User 85mm.ch

Nicholas Was... by Neil Gaiman - Animated Version

If you haven't been looking forward to Christmas and you think you are going to have a terrible time then spare a thought for Saint Nicholas.  Father Christmas, Santa Claus - whatever name you use for him, consider this.  Howe many centuries has this poor man endured his yearly task to take presents to the (sometimes ungrateful) children of the world?

Not only that, he disappears before the children wake up and have a chance to thank him.  Well, by way of thanks - or at least commiseration - here is a wonderful animated version of the Neil Gaiman poem Nicholas Was...

It is actually the creation of 39 Degrees North, a Beijing based animation studio and there way of doing the same thing.  Don't have nightmares for poor old Santa...

A Good Wife

This is a rather sombre and quiet meditation on the nature of infidelity, juxtaposed with some of the most beautifully colored animation I have seen in some time. It also has a wonderful retro film and reminds one of the 1950s melodramas of Douglas Sirk.

We see the eponymous wife heading home after a meeting with her lover. There are no words, just reflection and music which enhances the mood of the piece.

This is a wonderful piece of animation by W Scott Forbes. Music is provided by Cyrille Marchesseau and sound by Julien Begault.

Girl #9 – A Dark Short about Perils Online

Every actor has to have a showreel and Eme Essien is no exception.  However, when she approached Studio Hansa for a little assistance they politely declined- but offered instead to collaborate with her in creating Girl #9.

It certainly shows that Essien can portray a wide range of emotions and maintain a narrative story and she held my attention throughout in this chilling 8 minute short film (watch till the end for the reason why the film has the title it does). As showreels go, this is one of a kind – I suspect we will be seeing a lot of Ms Essien in the future. It sets a new benchmark for showreels too - and before you ask, unless your is better than Girl #9, no, Kuriositas will not...

Joke

If you have ever wondered – as I have – when exactly the moment will come that art will eat itself then you may not need to wonder anymore.  Take a look at Joke, directed by Nickolas Duarte. It may make you laugh; it may repulse or perhaps even disgust you. One way or another I think it may usurp your expectations of what an experimental film should be by ultimately refusing to be an experimental film (and by its own genre-specific self-rejection it then becomes exactly what purports to hate).  There’s enough contradiction in Joke to make your head spin.

Enough of the arty yada yada yada from me.  Joke made me sit up and pay attention, and to (at least for a minute until my butterfly brain was drawn elsewhere) reconsider my relationship with art, particularly in its modern, audiovisual incarnation.

Tune for Two

You know the scenario.  In the bleak winter countryside the grizzled killer forces his victim to his knees.

The grave has been dug, the gun has been drawn.

All that remains is a single shot to the head. Yet this execution takes a strange turn.

You may have to have a rather dark sense of humor to appreciate this short by Primodrom Produktions….

Drop Out

In a world controlled by eugenics, if you are different then that difference will be noticed and action will be taken. This short but dark animated film follows the life of a doll who, when created, discovers that they may not be comfortable simply going along with the status quo.

The film was made by Motiphe. Formed in 2010, it is the four-headed collaboration of Katja Flachberger, Florian Juri, Sven Skoczylas and Rafael Mayrhofer, who came together each one throwing in some passion, talent or skill to create animations. What is thrown in mixes together extremely well.