Short of the Week
the-owl

The Owl

Glimpse into a surreal, poetic construction of Emmanuel Ho set in beautiful black and white—darkness and desperation never looked so good.

Deep, dark and beautifully disturbing, The Owl, a music video for I Love You But I’ve Chosen Darkness, is a perfectly constructed moment of desperation. Tied down at the ankle, a frantic crow struggles to reach freedom as pop culture’s lipstick and fast food containers fly past. Looming in the background, an owl watches with a calm intensity—we never know its true intentions. The crow, typically thought of as one of nature’s most clever creatures, is here shown in its last moments of desperation.

In this surrealist masterpiece, Ho has reconstructed the psychological state of desperation using every image, sound, and motion means necessary. The framed compositions are dynamically stunning, always drawing strong contrasts; black to white, extreme distance to extreme close-up, fast frenetic movement to slow calming movement.

Emannuel Ho is from Winnipeg (Canada). Little else is publicly known about him. This video was created for the music label, Secretly Canadian. Check out Ho’s website for more animations by one of Canada’s best secrets

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hand-picked by
Andrew makes no attempt to hide his love for the magic art of animation. He appreciates compelling visuals but never forgets that in this modern age of storytelling, a strong story always reigns supreme. You can see his work at andrewsallen.com or his latest film The Thomas Beale Cipher.
  • http://www.shortoftheweek.com/2007/11/11/on-your-mark/ On Your Mark | Short of the Week

    [...] Technically it’s not a short film, it’s a music video from 1994 for the popular Japanese pop duo Chage and ASKA and thus I’m cheating. ASA and I decided a while back we wanted to stick more so to narrative pieces and shy away from music video and the like. But in my defense he did review The Owl a few weeks back, and this music video, with the care taken in the development of its characters, the intelligible plot and cinematic scope, make On Your Mark far more akin to an auteur’s short film than to an MTV style/technique showcase. [...]