The Elephant and the Bicycle

"The Elephant and the Bicycle" is a French, Belgium cut out animation by Olesya Shchukina, the story follows an elephant who works as a town street cleaner. One day he sees an advertisement for a bicycle and seems to be the right size for a creature of his size, and it is from there on that he goes all out to earn enough money to get his dream bike.

I had initially thought that the story was going to be focusing on the environment, seeing how it starts off with people callously throwing their trash about without a care, and so I suppose I was a tiny bit turned off by that, despite how the title already gave a clear idea on what the storyline actually was. It was however, a really sweet and cute story with a heartwarming ending where the elephant decides to just make others happy despite not being able to get what he had wanted in the end (Oh snap, spoiler there!).

I always did find cut out animations to have a certain sort of charm to them (Much like "The Caterpillar and Hen"), and I think that it especially suits most children animations. If I were to end up doing something stop-motion based (Especially on my own), it would most definitely be done with paper cut outs... I would honestly love create at least one animation in that style, though of course it will depend on how much time I have and how much details I want to put into it.

Anyway, this was a lovely piece of narrative with a sweet story and cute style, and it was an overall just a nice change of pace from all the incredibly abstract and disturbing animations we have seen in the "Professional", "Students", "Short Shorts" and "Panorama" screenings (Not that they were all like that...).

Pik Pik Pik

"Pik Pik Pik" (No, not the shoes) is a russian 2D computer animation created by Dmitry Vysotskiy, in a way, it follows the structure of a "Tom and Jerry" short where two enemies eventually work together to defeat an even bigger foe in a rather comedic fashion. This was a nice change of pace from the other more seriously toned animations before.

What is there to say about the art style other than the fact that the colours used are wonderfully bright and vibrant (Something that I noticed is lacking in quite a few of the past ones), if I remembered correctly, the ants were actually coloured purple instead of black (You can't see it that clearly in the above image though). Its simplified style is also really appealing, much like "Balloon Birds".

What definitely made me giggle like an idiot was how the sound design was done for this animation, during what should have been a violent struggle between the bird, ants and wood-cutter, the sound effects for their attacks were so incredibly and unexpectedly soft and gentle that it was unbelievably hilarious, and it just went so well with the cheerful music that played throughout the animation (No, please, I am the sort that has a tough time finding titles to classical music).

This was an incredibly enjoyable animation, and is probably one of my favourites alongside "Balloon Birds" and "Nain Geant".

Nain Geant

I have been waiting for a quality 2D computer animation such as this for awhile now... "Nain Geant (Dwarf Giant)" is a swiss animation created by Fabienne Giezendanner, the story follows a young inuit who attempts to capture a low flying bird as part of her culture's tradition that will allow her to pass into the world of grown-ups (It's almost like "Brother Bear", minus the obnoxious speaking animals). However on the verge of capturing it, she falls into a mysterious crevice that belongs to that of the giant dwarf, an ogre with the power to change his size just by sneezing, it is then up to the young girl to make it out of there alive.

The character designs are simply splendid for this animation, the giant dwarf especially just stands out from the entire thing, with his sharp features, incredibly expressive eyes (That look incredibly intimidating from one moment and then pitiful the next) and his bright red suit. I suppose I always had a soft spot for the line less (Or at least thin-lined) look, and it just so wonderful to see it being applied to a more classical sort of story. 

This was definitely one of the more engaging stories, and it actually had a longer duration than the "Caterpillar and Hen", so that's saying something about important pacing can be.

Caterpillar and Hen

If you think "Bear's Day" was sleep inducing, then wait till you watch this one. A stop-motion Italian animation created by Michela Donini and Katya Rinaldi, the story follows a caterpillar and hen who happen to be the best best friends, but with nature being the way that it is, soon enough the two will have to part ways in life.

While I will admit that the "Caterpillar and Hen" has a lovely look to it (I can see that so much love and effort was put into the details), with the vibrant coloured wools that are used as well as the cute character designs (... even the caterpillar... though, maybe not the butterfly), the pacing is just so incredibly slow that I don't think any child could really sit through the whole thing unless they had enough food on their laps to keep themselves still. There were some sound effects, but otherwise it was an incredibly quiet animation too, which really doesn't help at all in keeping one's attention.

Some things don't really make sense in the story (EVEN if it's meant for children), while I understand that everyone and anything can be friends with one another in a cartoon, there were just so many things that weren't clearly explained until the very end, such as the hen's motives, and we as the audience weren't necessarily sure about the relationship between the caterpillar and her either (Even then we wouldn't really have known that they were best friends have it not been for the text summary in the festival book). It might have helped if a little text introduction was given in the beginning.

It was a beautifully styled animation, but the storytelling really needs a lot more work, especially if this was targeted mainly at children, no offence.

Bear's Day (The Day of the Bear)

"Bear's Day (The Day of the Bear)" I believe was actually based on a children's storybook (Which makes sense considering its narration style), it was animated by Oksana Kholodova from Russia and was a mixture of 2D computer animation and painting on glass. While the story felt slow and drawn out at times, it was at least still somewhat interesting enough for most to follow (If they were awake enough). 

To most adults, Lisa probably comes of as a rather obnoxious character, even compared to the more antagonistic characters such as the animals that bully her (In a way, she deserves it, really) when she enters the forest in search of food, but I suppose that's how most young characters are portrayed in children books and animations... They are meant to be curious, a little disobedient and daring before they are able learn any sort of lesson in the story (Also, was it coincidence that she sounds like a russian version of Lisa Simpson?).

Art style wise, I suppose it has an appealing enough look, despite how its warm coloured palette made the overall animation rather sleepy and relaxing looking. The paint on glass texture was a pretty nice touch to the otherwise flatly coloured animation, enhancing the nature setting of the story. The character designs could have been a little cuter, especially when it comes to the animals, I honestly thought that this was going to be a "Ren and Stimpy-ish" sort of cartoon when I had first seen the rabbit on the preview page (That thing looks like its on crack).

Balloon Birds

"Balloon Birds" is a 2013 Swiss animated short created by Marjolaine Perreten and produced and distributed by Nicolas Burlet of NADASDY FILM. An incredibly simple and short little piece, this was perhaps one of the audience's favourite and it is no surprise why. With its incredibly cute and simplistic art style, there is some unexpected dark humour that just works so well with audiences of all ages, even the length of the short added to its overall humour with it's seemingly abrupt ending.

The sound design is just as simple as the art style but is so cleverly and effectively done that it enhances the overall cuteness, it is also neat that the sounds these birds emit resemble that of squeaky balloons (Which they pretty much are). There are just all sorts of little details added here and there that made this an absolutely funny little short (Such as their brief, derpy expressions).

It just goes to show you that simpler done animations can just as be entertaining as any overly detailed or story heavy animation, maybe more so if you take into the account the short attention spans of most children.

Mr Toti and a Rattle

Finally moving onto Films for Children, entertainment targeted at children (May they be animated or illustrated) is one of the areas I am deeply interested in, and so I was pretty keen on watching the works featured in this screening.

An animation short from Poland, the main character Mr Toti comes across a magical rattle in the mine (Why does he even have a mine in his own home?), and upon shaking it, gets turned into a child, thankfully My Toti has a helpful and dependable friend that keeps him safe until a way is found to turn him back to normal... well, almost.

"Mr Toti and Rattle" is in a way a more classic type of children animation (Even opening up with a typical title that introduces its characters), while its form of narration may seem weird to an older audience (Or simply just not to their tastes), I do find myself vaguely remembering how some cartoons back in the 90s were actually like that, with its strangely written script that makes you think that some of these characters might actually be a little off their rocker... Style wise, the animation is a mixture of 2D and 3D, which I feel looks pretty decent and appealing enough, especially for its target audience, and thankfully the characters designs are pretty cute (Though the male characters remind me a little of the Little Man from the "Pink Panther" animated series).

Overall, I just find myself particularly intrigued with its style of writing, which I should explore further into in the future.