Yesterday, all the CyberArts students and teachers (except for Mr. Koczij) went to the Sprockets Film Festival in downtown Toronto where we viewed a series of short films called Future Frames and a main French animated film called U. The Future Frames short films were all created using different medias; some were painted, animated, shot in live action, stop-motion animation, and drawn in pen. My favourite of the short films was called Bonefeather, a short about two birds trying to find mates and they end up trying to win over a lady bird.
The film Bonefeather is directed by Nathan Gillis and Callum Paterson and stars two male birds who are trying to attract mates. One female bird shows up and the two males go to extreme measures trying to get her to pick one of them. I found this movie VERY hilarious and pretty much everyone in the audience was laughing their head off. I think that movie took a very long time to complete because the background and the characters themselves were probably difficult to make and animate. Since the animation was stop motion, it would have been harder to get the birds positioned correctly and make sure the transitions were smooth. Another thing I liked was how bright and colourful the background was. Another of the films, Animal, had a gloomy background and the atmosphere was spooky.
The main feature animated film we watched was a French film called "U" (pronounced "eu"). The story involves a young dog(?) called Princess Mona who is upset because her servants (two ugly rats who complain a lot) treat her badly. One day, she cuts her finger and begins to cry, making a "EUUUUUUUuuu" sound. Suddenly, a female unicorn called U appears and they become best friends. Years later, when Mona is a teenager, a group of musicians come to live in the forest. Mona falls in love with a guitar-playing cat called Kulka, and U begins to worry that Mona won't need her anymore once she's grown up and fallen in love. I won't spoil the ending because that would be very irritating for those who may see it in the distant future.
The interesting thing about this French film is that it seems like a child-friendly movie on the outside, but after watching it the film hints at subjects that might seem a bit advanced for the younger generation (earmuffs, kiddies!). For example, there's a scene when Kulka is on a date with Mona and he's trying to teach her how to kiss the French way (he does a lot of tongue gestures) and kind of sits on top of her. Another thing is that one of the rats is trying to get one of the traveling musicians (she's a female rabbit who doesn't play an instrument) to fall in love with him and the way he goes about it is kind of mature. These are some things that give the movie a more mature nature and probably wouldn't be shown in a western movie.
In conclusion, I enjoyed myself at the Sprockets Film Festival and hope that it's the first of many!
