Andrew S Allen
This never happens.
I attended the Animation Block Party screening 2 days ago and saw a film that knocked my proverbial socks off. It told a compelling story about the deepest of desires told in beautiful hand-drawn animation. After the screening, I shared a few words with animator, Andreas Salaff—a talented chap from CalArts. Then, to my surprise, a simple search brought up the film on Vimeo. Like I said, this almost never happens. It’s such a treat to see a film on the big screen and then go online to watch it again and share out with all your friends who couldn’t make the show. It makes a lot of sense, and really gets your film out there for many more eyes to see. I’d encourage more filmmakers to put their films online during their festival runs.
Lifeline, a student project, was named this year to be the third best student animated film by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (aka Student Academy Awards). And it’s well-deserved. The film follows an elderly scientist who uses his ingenuity to search through various dimensions for his long lost love. It’s set in a distopian 70’s-era future. I’m not giving away too much, but there’s a bittersweet ending that leaves more questions than answers on the final shot (not unlike a popular psychological film showing in the theaters these days).
The animation is, as I mentioned earlier, a very well-crafted hand drawn technique. Andreas has clearly honed his skills at CalArts, but it’s not his first foray into the genre. His work on an earlier short, Garuda, with a group of animators at the Gobelins in France had great results. Hand-drawn work is extremely tedious and very difficult to get right. It typically takes years and years of practice to get at the level of Bill Plympton (who seems to have been an influence on Andreas), Patrick Smith, and Sharon Colman. Each of them have honed their signature sense of movement over many hours at a work table. It’s rare to see a student at this level so early in a career.
In his description of the process, Andreas mentions how he started with what was essentially a series of beautiful shots and strung them (somewhat haphazardly) into a story. Hey, if this is what he calls slapping a story together, I’d like to see what he can do given some serious development time. We should all be wise and keep our eyes on where he goes next.