Short Film Saturday

Short Film Saturday: A Therapy (2012)

Posted on by bernardovillela

Helena Bonham Carter and Ben Kingsley in A Therapy (Prada)

At the time of his arrest I wrote an editorial on Roman Polanski. It’s not really topical unless there’s a new development with regards to his status so I don’t foresee reporting it any time soon. I will merely state that I watch films and the works of filmmakers. I do not confuse the artist and the man, nor do I allow my perception of creative persona to color what my thoughts are on a person and vice versa. After all, Woody Allen still releases a film a year on average and his scandalous divorce from Mia Farrow is barely mentioned anymore.

Having said all that, here are some interesting things to note about this very short film Polanski has made for Prada. First, it’s a short film commissioned by a corporation, which is back en vogue since BMW started making a few for web consumption. The second thing is the film is completely about the performance of Ben Kingsley and is a great example of a flashback not taken. You can see in his face there’s a reverie, a remembrance but we see it only in his face and not in actuality. It’s great stuff.

A Therapy (2012)

Short Film Saturday: Bye Bye Inkhead

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As is the case with many of the shorts I’ve been posting I found this one on twitter. One way or another most of them surface from there.

This one was posted by Patrick Gibson, a young actor most recently seen on SyFy’s mini-series Neverland, who posted here his first role.

Here is the information provided with the YouTube upload:

Directed by Adrienne Michel-Long. Featuring Kathy Downes, Pauge Behan and Patrick Gibson.



Rita’s relationship with husband Michael is in difficulty: she is tired of looking after her two small children and just wants to get back to work. An au pair seems like the solution to all her problems….or is it?



Adrienne Michel-Long works as a film director and writer. She has directed two short films. Her first was an RTÉ and Irish Film Board Short Cuts International award winning short film, which was called Bye Bye Inkhead (2001). Luka her second award winning short film, which she also wrote, was also an Irish Film Board funded “Short Short” (2004).

Cast and Crew: http://imdb.to/Inkhead

It’s a humorous string of situations, which while it doesn’t follow a rule of three it does complete its tale and rather visually also. It also differentiates itself in as much as its not a classic nanny tale, wherein the perfect nanny is found but best not to say more than that. Enjoy!

Short Film Saturday: Martin Scorsese

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Previously I had heard from one of my professors that few student films he ever saw were good in and of themselves. Meaning that no student caveat was needed. I believe he cited Scorsese as one of the few exceptions.

Now, I’ve finally viewed some examples:

First, a New Wave-inspired tale…

Next, his first mob tale…

Short Film Saturday: Robot

Posted on by bernardovillela

Here’s one by Jim Henson and I swear that even if I hadn’t told you that you’d likely have guessed. This is pre-Muppets and Sesame Street but his author’s voice is the same. This film was commissioned so there’s some background which needs to be given. I have quoted the information that accompanies the video on YouTube, which frames it very well:

Jim Henson made this film in 1963 for The Bell System. Specifically, it was made for an elite seminar given for business owners, on the then-brand-new topic — Data Communications. The seminar itself involved a lot of films and multimedia presentations, and took place in Chicago. A lengthy description of the planning of the Bell Data Communications Seminar — sans a mention of the Henson involvement — is on the blog of Inpro co-founder Jack Byrne. It later was renamed the Bell Business Communications Seminar.

The organizers of the seminar, Inpro, actually set the tone for the film in a three-page memo from one of Inpro’s principals, Ted Mills to Henson. Mills outlined the nascent, but growing relationship between man and machine: a relationship not without tension and resentment: “He [the robot] is sure that All Men Basically Want to Play Golf, and not run businesses — if he can do it better.” (Mills also later designed the ride for the Bell System at the 1964 World’s Fair.) Henson’s execution is not only true to Mills’ vision, but he also puts his own unique, irreverent spin on the material.

The robot narrator used in this film had previously starred in a skit for a food fair in Germany (video is silent), in 1961. It also may be the same robot that appeared on the Mike Douglas Show in 1966. Henson created a different — but similar — robot for the SKF Industries pavilion at the 1964 World’s Fair.

This film was found in the AT&T Archives. Thanks go to Karen Falk of the Henson Archives for providing help and supporting documentation to prove that it was, indeed, a Henson production..

Footage courtesy of AT&T Archives and History Center, Warren, NJ

For more from the AT&T Archives, visit http://techchannel.att.com/archives

Short Film Saturday: The Critic

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This is a film that was referred to me by a Twitter friend of mine, @rurugby who also suggested the See the Movie then Read the Book post to me.

This is a very short but also very funny film wherein you get probably the funniest and least annoying in screening reaction you’ve witnessed. Provided by Mel Brooks. This film was suggested to me by way of a link and here’s the story’s inspiration as they tell it:

One day in early 1962, Mel Brooks was sitting in a New York City theater watching an avant-garde film by the Scottish-born Canadian animator Norman McLaren when he heard someone in the audience expressing bewilderment. “Three rows behind me,” Brooks told Kenneth Tynan for a 1978 New Yorker profile, “there was an old immigrant man mumbling to himself. He was very unhappy because he was waiting for a story line and he wasn’t getting one.”

Brooks enlisted Ernest Pintoff, who produced an Academy Award-nominated short called The Violinist, to help him make the film. Pintoff hired the artist Bob Heath to do the animation, Brooks ad-libbed the voiceover, and voilà: an Oscar-winning movie that today works perfectly on YouTube. Enjoy.

Short Film Saturday: Ghild

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As soon as I saw the opening image of Ghild I thought to myself “Wow, that looks great, I really hope there’s a live action component to this film.” Seeing as how it easily coud’ve been stop-motion or some other animated form based on the opening image, I thought that was nothing more than a pipe-dream, well sure enough it live action.

It’s some of the most creative production design I’ve seen since The Hole.

It’s also a hilarious concept, overall not just in narrative but also in conception and execution.

You may also recognize Jimmy Bennett as the father and Harland Williams in a cameo.

It’s the most I’ve laughed out loud in a while.

Enjoy!

Short Film Saturday- Ralph Phillips

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Ralph Phillips in Boyhood Daze (Warner Bros.)

Continuing the theme of under-utilized characters I now turn my attention to the Looney Tunes. In the short film game the Looney Tunes are without question my favorite cadre of characters. I love some of the smaller personages especially, however, they are fewer and further between than other groups. The Looney Tunes while they do have depth in talent are buoyed mostly by their titanic personalities. Having said that the two Ralph Phillips shorts that Chuck Jones directed have always been favorites of mine. They are lyrical and whimsical celebrations of childhood imagination. Of all the characters in the Warner canon he is who I’d most want to see more of owing mostly to the fact that he has only these appearances. Establishing him as a dreamer makes him suited for shorts or a TV series and he could be easily incorporated into the Looney Tunes comic published by DC Comics, I’m uncertain if he ever has been.

So here are the two shorts, the first of which was nominated for an Academy Award.


Short Film Saturday- Roger Rabbit

Posted on by bernardovillela

In keeping with the concurrent themes of animation, the “amusement park studios” I also got around to thinking (based on last week’s post) about some lesser-known or under-utilized characters. I think that the animated short proceeding a feature is still a viable commodity and on occasion you will see a new attempt at one. Usually the new class are characters established previously in a feature, even when that character is new. Following the success of Who Framed Roger Rabbit there were a few shorts made to try and prolong the character’s notoriety. I’m not certain but I think these were the only two made. I thought, and still do think, they’re great. They’re a tip of the hat to the classics in a hyperactive interpretation of animated slapstick tropes.

Short Film Saturday- Every Cowboy Needs a Horse

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Here’s a short I was reminded about recently by a post my cousin made on Facebook. There are a few reasons I decided to post it. In light of my recent trip to the Disney parks clearly the great shorts of the studio era. Here’s one that exemplifies Disney’s style even in a small piece, there’s music (lyrics included) and emphasis on visuals. It’s a fluid piece that encapsulates the dream-state implicit in the story. It’s very well done.

Short Film Saturday- O Branco (The White)

Posted on by bernardovillela

I first saw this film a long while ago on a site called Atom Films, now atom.com. It was likely the best film I saw when I did frequent it. It’s a simple and beautiful film that tells a wonderful tale of first love and exploits many filmic elements well.

I was fortunate to find this film again after so long although in three parts. With all of them posted below it should flow well enough.