The Foo-Fighters 'Everlong' (1995) Michel Gondry

"Part of the attraction to this video is the desperation of the song - part of the attraction of the video - it's a love story in under five minutes, and one that you won't forget." -"Ben" Semi-professional Critic, Boston USA

I absolutely agree with this critic:

Surprisingly, or perhaps not so, Foo Fighter's 'Everlong' video has absolutely nothing to do with the song, instead it sees lead singer Dave Grohl wander through a surreal series of events, including growing a giant hand (Known ad handor to hardcore Foo-Fighters fans) and slapping people with it.

The video to Everlong is directed by Michel Ghondry, who went on to direct 'Eternal Sunshine Of the Spotless Mind'. 'Everlong' is a parody of cult horror film 'Evil Dead' directed by future Spiderman director Sam Ramini.
The video begins with Grohl and his [fictional, played by foo fighters drummer: Taylor Hawkins] girlfriend in bed and features several phone calls from his girlfriend, who, in a dream world is being assassinated by several grim characters [played by Grohl].
Upon answering the phone several times and falling back to sleep again, he soon realizes he cannot wake her from her sleep and save her that way; so he sleeps again and tries to save her. Initially, in typical male fashion he dreams he is covered in girl's legs, but these morph into logs when he realizes he is meant to be saving his love.

Finally Grohl assuages the villains and the pair sleep peacefully, but Dave is awoken by the villains from the dream in his bedroom.
The villains graphically morph into band mates, Nate Mendel and Franz Stahl -the bed morphs into Hawkin's drums and for the last few seconds the band sing the end of Everlong.

There are many interpretations as to the meaning of the song the favoured interpretation is that everlong is that this song is about the drug addictions and bad habits of the late Kurt Cobain, who was in Nirvana with Foo Fighter Dave Grohl. Grohl's lyrics are very deep and he tries to get the point across that he feels like he could have saved Kurt in several different ways.
Other interpretations are that the song is an ode to his ex wife, letting her know that he misses her and regrets not spending enough time with her.

Either way the lyrics are chilling (Especially in the acoustic take) and as "Ben" said, there is a clear element of desperation in the lyrics (below), Everlong is clearly a deeply personal song.

The video certainly features a love story in under five minutes, we watch a man battle Freddy Kruegor style villains to save his girlfriend, what better love story is there than proving love conquers all.


Completely juxtaposing this is the song:

Hello
I've waited here for you
Everlong
Tonight I throw myself into
And out of the red out of her head she sang
Come down and waste away with me
Down with me
Slow how you wanted it to be
I'm over my head, out of her head she sang
And I wonder
When I sing along with you
If everything could ever feel this real forever
If anything could ever be this good again
The only thing I'll ever ask of you
You've got to promise not to stop when I say when
She sang
Breathe out So I can breathe you in
Hold you in
And now I know you've always been
Out of your head, out of my head I sang
And I wonder
When I sing along with you
If everything could ever feel this real forever
If anything could ever be this good again
The only thing I'll ever ask of you
You've got to promise not to stop when I say when
She sang
And I wonder
If everything could ever feel this real forever
If anything could ever be this good again
The only thing I'll ever ask of you
You've got to promise not to stop when I say when

As one can see this is a deeply personal song with a real sense of desperation, It seems Grohl is desperate to tell somebody how much he misses for them and almost sounds as if he's grieving. I can only completely agree with "Ben"'s statement that one of the attractions (without seeing the video) is the song.
It is an incredibly haunting tale of regret and grief featuring poignant metaphors such as
"Breathe out, so I can breathe you in -hold you in" confirming the deeply personal sense of loss in the song.
He also repeats the line
"You've got to promise not to stop when I say 'when'" -Perhaps suggesting his fear of commitment lead him to find this loss; although this could be interpreted as either Grohl reaching out to his ex wife, or to Kobain.

To conclude, it is clear that "Ben's" statement is both informed and correct, although it is based on oppinion, I have to say I completely agree with him. Everlong is a haunting song with an unforgetable and completely bizaare video attatched. Although the love story visually depicted is tongue-in-cheek, one cannot ignore the depths of the feeling within the lyrics.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

[Magazine article]

Author: Samuel Weinzer
Date: 1995
Publisher: Kerrang

[Internet]
Author: UNKNOWN
Date: UNKOWN
Publisher:Wikipedia
Date link was last proved active: 15/2/09
URL: http://www.wikipedia.org/ (Key Words Foo+Fighters+Everlong)

Literature Review: Music in animation

http://tinyurl.com/muttandjeff http://tinyurl.com/toystory1
Mutt and Jeff (1910) [Slick Sleuths] -Nester Comedies Vs Toy Story (1995) Intro -Pixar

"[this is ] the first time I felt I've truly seen music." - Kevin Kelly, Whole Earth Review speaking about his reaction to a Japanese techno video.

I will not be talking about this quote in context with the video, but instead about the quote as a remark that stands on its own:
i.e. Is it entirely possible to make a statement such as this without adding "in my oppinion", is it possible to see music?
In this entry I will attempt to prove or disprove this statement and hopefully outline the realitonship between music and animation.
After all, is it possible to create an amimation that enitrely visualises a pice of music? In my oppinion it's almost akin to stating that one can smell colours.

The use of music in animation is similar to that of poetry in animation. Being a separate art form, the music should stand alone, and again wether it is a good idea to visualise it is entirely down to the reason it was written.
For example if the score was written for an animation then it may be visualised however the animator sees fit.
But if it is already a freestanding piece (with the exception of pop-music videos) and was not composed to be visualised then the images can only be the oppinion of the animator, and as with poetry stand open to criticism.

Saying that, animating music has a completely different set of rules. It is not as taboo to animate somebody elses music as is it to animate somebody elses writing because music is intended to be listened to and does conjoure images unique to different people, it is not as deeply personal and un-touchable as a poem is.

There are three ways in which a piece of music may be visualised -and these are also dependant on wether it is an instrumental piece or one with lyrics:

1. Narrative -music videos illustrating exactly what the lyrics suggest

2. A visualisation of the meaning behind the piece -perhams conceptual

3. The intended visual effect of music that has been written specifically for the animation

The best way to prove or to disprove this statement is to take in-case a short movie from the silent era, where the score was written to fit the action, and a short movie featuring a sountrack that already stood on its own before being used in film.

[I will stay well away from the phenominon that is pop-culture music videos because no recording artist's music is made directly for film, the video is just a promotional hook to sell records.]

My two comparisons are one animation in which I believe lyricless music almost proves Kelly's point, and one example to show that generally when animation and music collide it is used as narrative rather than conceptualised by the animation itself (unless you watch the windows media player squiggles, which compliment just about anything).

The score composed for Mutt and Jeff is perfectly adapted to fit the anamation, it pulls catharsis when necessary and adds humour in other places.
By making the ensemble fit the narrative of the animation it allows a perfect basis for sound effects and is a way of suggesting emotions etc.
However, I still would not describe this as "seeing" the music when the animation is veiwed. The animation certainly provides the meaning behind the music, and it works well but without slamming Mr Kelly, I do not believe that one can "see" music.

There is however a disease called Synesthesia which is a perceptual experience in which a stimulus in one modality gives rise to an experience in different sensory modality, i.e. with the influence of drugs one may believe they can 'see' music, or 'smell' colours, or 'taste' sounds, there are some very rare individuals who do suffer from this disease, but Kelly is not one of them.

An example of a score not written for an animation that is used in an animated film is Randy Newman's 'You've got a friend in me' featured in the intorduction to Toy Story 1.

This song is used literally, and its upbeat tempo and 'safe' lyrics were selected as a child-friendly intorduction to the movie.
It is safe to assume that the song was not written about toys.
The lyrics are interpreted literally but with the pretext that the song is describing the relationship between Andy and Woody. We see Andy playing with Woody and we assume Woody is his favourite toy and his best friend.

Once again though, this is not an example of animation providing the audience with a visual stimulus so great that we believe we can see the music.
it would be impossible to charactersize and critique every animation ever made by way of proving my point, but I do not believe that without serious drugs or a medical contition that one can 'see' music.

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

INTERNET:

(own knowledge to confirm wikipedia)

Date: UNKNOWN
Author: UNKNOWN
Publisher: Wikipedia Date Link was Lase Proved Active: 15/3/09 URL: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synesthesia_(disambiguation)

Date: 2005
Author: Kevin Kelly
Publisher: Whole Earth Review
Date Link was last proved active: 15/3/09
URL: http://www.iotacenter.org/store/videos/music_animation_machine

Literature review: Poetry in Animation Quote from Geert Van Goethem

Jim Clark - Sylvia Plath's "Daddy" Vs Tim Burton - Artist's own "Vincent


'The whole idea of Animated Poetry is not to illustrate poems, but to interpret them in a visual way'
-Geert Van Goethem

[Van Goethem is a German film producer, he is little known but for his work with poetry and animation, his company is called 's.o.i.l Productions' and he is based in Belgium.
I could not find a date for this quote, but it is interest-arousing enough to warrant a critique of this statement.
Van Goethem made this statement whilst commissioning 60 film graduates to produce films based around poetry and it is certainly a debate-sparking quote.]

I neither agree nor disagree with this statement, but I believe it is short-sighted and ill informed; because poetry can be used in two ways:
One can either animate an already established poem written by somebody else, or one may create a poem oneself to be animated.

I will be using two conflicting cases-in-point, firstly I have selected the immensely simple work of little-known animator Jim Clark to illustrate the intended meaning of Van Goethem's statement.
However, already conflicting Van Goethem's statement, poetry is an art form in itself; and if it is effective it should need no explanatory visualisation at all. If animation is to be used in conjunction with serious poetry then the animation must too be simple and serious.

Contrary to this, the use of poetry in animation, (assuming the poem was written subjectively to be animated, and is to be used as a narrative tool) is a different story -and would contrast completely what Van Goethem has said:
I will be using a different case study here to contrast the use of "serious" poetry in Clark's interpretation of 'Daddy' (written by renowned poet Sylvia Plath)

My contrasting factor will be Tim Burton's 'Vincent' (written by Burton as a narrative tool to be animated).
Of course these two cases cannot be compared directly to one another, because they are two completely separate entities but none-the less I will create a balanced argument [using the two films separately] and demonstrate the strengths and limitations of Van Goethem's statement:

Supporting The Statement:

Clark's 'Daddy' [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1lNTYK2U15c]
-is a highly effective visualisation, using a recording of Plath herself reading her poem. It appears highly simple, and seems to be perhaps 20 frames running continuously, loosely dubbed around the narrative:
The girl the only subject, -the camera is fixed and no other action or movement other than a slightly disturbing method of lip-syncing and a distortion of the picture running on a continuous fluid slant.
To an audience who are unfamiliar with Plath's work it appears to be nothing more than a crude animation with an old picture of a child contrasting the harsh voice of an adult.

Infact Sylvia Plath wrote this poem in late1962, just months before her violent suicide in February 1963. Armed with this knowledge the animation now takes on a whole new form.

With the pretext that Plath wrote this poem in adulthood, [basing it around the simple structure and repetition of a nursery-rhyme] Clark's use of a child is radically transformed into a metaphoric image.
Clearly, this piece supports Van Goethem's statement. Clark is interpreting the poem by visualising Plath as a hurt frightened little girl, juxtaposing, [but confirming the metaphor] with the use of a direct recording of the poet reading her work.
The visualisation is simple, yet a highly effective and haunting visualisation of the meaning of the poem.

The animation reflects the grim intonation behind the poem, in the writing Plath explains how she had to kill her father in her memory when he died when she was eight years old from un-diagnosed diabetes.
She explains how she never forgave him for leaving her, ending with " Daddy you bastard -I'm through."

By means of literal visual interpretation Clark has used the image of an eight year old girl suggesting Plath's poem was the eight year old child who lost her daddy speaking to his memory, having regressed to his last days of life to express her anger and guilt surrounding his death. He has used a stark contrast of the haunting voice of an adult Plath coupled with the solemn lip-sync of a little girl:
It is a well informed and brilliant visual interpretation of the poem; confirming Van Geothem's statement in its entirety.


Opposing The Statement:

Tim Burton's Vincent [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zHOyFsr8Q2w&feature=PlayList&p=A78BE2579F0B7388&playnext=1&index=8]
-is a poem written around the structure of Sir Edgar Alen Poe's "The Raven".
Instantly this brands the poem a parody; immediately suggesting it is not a serious piece of literature.

"Vincent" was written by Burton as means of a 'different' narrative tool.
The structure was 'borrowed' from Poe's "The Raven" as a way of conveying the sinister tone of the piece -whilst still allowing it the element of parody; lending it an element of humour.

Narrated by the legendary Vincent Price (Brahm Stoker's Dracular), [who also once read Sir Edgar Allen Poe's The Raven in a Fox Halloween special], the poem is beautifully structured but when listened to without the sound effects, or music, would not stand alone or allow its listener particularly vivid imaginings.
Thus the poem needs the animation to confirm and lend images to the viewer.

Disagreeing with Van Geothem's statement is the notion that a poem, written by the animator allows the animator to force upon the audience the imagery he/she intended when writing the poem.
- If the poem was already an established piece not written by the animator, then it becomes limited as to what the animator may visualise it with, -supporting Van Geothem's statement that animating poetry should not illustrate poems but instead visualise the meaning of the piece.

"Vincent" is very vividly visualised line by line with the exact images each sentence intended, and the poem takes on the form of a simple narrative; and it is allowed this because the Poem was written by the animator for the animation; therefore allowing him the freedom to couple it with the exact images he sees fit. If somebody else were to write the poem then his images could be contested, though as it stands, haven written the poem himself he may contradict Van Geothem's statement and use animation to illustrate poetry.


To Conclude:

As proved, Van Geothem's statement has its limitations and its strengths, though if I were to offer my personal opinion regarding the legitity of the statement, I would say he is correct, when in context.
Van Geothem was quoted regarding animating already standing Poetry, not a poem written by the animator for the animation; and in this case he is quite right, one cannot illustrate a poem with animation, but merely interpret the meaning visually -leaving the animation wide open to criticism from anybody who interprets the poem in a different way.

I think, although I have proved Van Geothem's statement to be legitimate, that already standing Poetry should not be animated without the Poets explicit consent and rigid guidelines. Poetry is a very delicate and personal art-form and should paint a picture alone with words.
I believe it is wrong to force images upon other people's poems -just as it would be wrong to illustrate a book without speaking to the author about what he/she believes the characters should look like.
If one must animate a poem them Van Geothem's statement should be taken as Gospel, one should never suggest a sequence that describes the action in the poem, but visualise it according to one's personal [informed] interpretation.
This will still be open to criticism by others who have a different personal interpretation of the work, but despite this proves Van Geothem's statement is correct.

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

INTERNET:

(own knowledge to confirm wikipedia)

Date: UNKNOWN
Author: UNKNOWN
Publisher: Wikipedia
Date Link was Lase Proved Active: 15/3/09
URL: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sylvia_Plath

Date: 2007
Author: Geert Van Geothem
Publisher: Flanders Animation
Date Link was last proved active: 15/3/09
URL: http://flanders-animation.seesite.be/news/news/detail/dichtvorm-15-animated-shorts-inspired-by-flemish-poetry/

Literature Review (moira.co.nz) -The Cavinet of Dr Caligari [Architecture in Film]

Architecture in Film (The Cabinet of Dr Caligari)

Link to Article [http://www.moria.co.nz/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=687Itemid=1]

"What made the entire world pay attention to The Cabinet of Dr Caligari was its distorted worldview. All the sets are built crooked and misshapen; the backgrounds are jutting angular flats and zigzag perspectives; and the lighting is filled with bloated shadows. As such it inspired few direct imitators – and one can see why, it was such a bewildering take on everything that had gone before. But most importantly in terms of its influence on the German silents and Hollywood’s Golden Age, The Cabinet of Dr Caligari taught that architecture could stand for mood. Hollywood of the 1930s would tie this directly to a Gothic view of the world filled with science-unleashed monsters."
- Author Anonymous, Date 15/02/08

[ NB: Here is an extract from an article on a science fiction fansite. I have chosen to look at an anonymous writing because the majority of reviews on this website appear coherent and well informed.
The rest of the scripture mentions many scholar's work analyzing the film and thus, although I am unable to locate an author, I am happy to continue to analyze and review this statement.]

The Cabinet of Dr Caligari is a German expressionist film, much of the imagery and artistic style can be categorized as Cubism. There is much debate; still arousing today, as to who came up with the concept for the film, but it was written, directed and produced by Hans Janowitz and Robert Wiene in 1919.

Much of the quoted statement is backed up in scholar Siegfried Kracauer (German writer, journalist, social culturist and film critic)'s dissertation: From Caligari to Hitler [A psychological history of the German film] (1947)

This quote completely empathises with the plight of the film's later misunderstood imagery and ideas.
Indeed the very fabric of the film relies on the expressionist movement 'cubism' as a reflection of current German affairs -to forever contextualize The Cabinet of Dr Caligari and stylize it to this period, and emphasize with architecture, the mood of the piece.

The Cubist and Expressionist movements hit Germany soon after it colonised, previously Germany was not a country but a wide array of states. This generacy left its inhabitants feeling as if they did not have a voice, and without identity.
The Cubist [in particular] movement was German artists suggesting that things do not always have to be viewed as they are physically seen. It was a great way for struggling artists in Germany to bring a feeling of identity and create something 'German' in their work.

Most Cubist/ Expressionist work is terribly upsetting to view, a little borders on surrealism but most depicts a total lack of identity and a feeling of loss. The Cabinet of Dr Caligari reflects these cubism movements architecturally.
German artist Kurt Schwitter-Merz re-modeled his parent's house completely taking years to create a breathtaking internal structural masterpiece, perhaps Janowitz was inspired by this when the sets for his film were devised. -Thus proving the latter part of the above statement, that the use of cubist architecture within the film indicates the mood, artistic movement, and era the film was created in.

However, the quote above suggests that although an unique take on the use of architecture in film, it has not since been emulated, and the author appears bewildered as to why.
I wholeheartedly do not agree with this bewilderment, although the sets are distinctive and unique, and the film has most likely been taken as a visual experimental case-in-point, its imagery has certainly been replicated to date.

None-the less, to be fair to the author, the use of cubist architecture has made this film stand up to time and is probably its main contributor to its vast success in the film world.

As fore mentioned however, I do not agree that it has never been emulated however, and I will prove my point with a direct visual comparison to some modern films.

As afore mentioned, I do not agree with that statement in its entirety, Tim Burton, for one, emulates the set design in his feature length film Sleepy Hollow:


Ichabod Craine in his room -Burton Sleepy Hollow /Cesare in his room - The cabinet of Dr Caligari

- As is it plain to see there are some striking similarities between the two sets, while Burton has not used full-out cubist architectural practice, his conflicting contours and jagged lines, along with the use of light mimic that used in The Cabinet of Dr Caligari.
Burton certainly incorporates an element of cubism into the sets of Edward's castle in Edward Scissorhands, and many of his other films.

Some of Burton's characters are also blased [visually] loosely on those from The Cabinet of Dr Caligari:

Edward, Edward Scissorhands/ Cesar, The Cabinet of Dr Caligari

-Again a striking similarity, proving the above quote about the imagery from The cabinet of Dr Caligari having never been used again, null and void; and one only has to watch The Corpse Bride or Sleepy Hollow along side The Cabinet of Dr Caligari to note obvious similarities in costume design and makeup.

By way of linking this to animation in Burton's first short animation Vincent, he scews the lines of the sets to add to Vincent's madness, and again the bloated shadows cast on the distorted contours of the walls are certainly cubist at times.

Vincent -1982 Tim Burton.
Here we see a definite use of cubist architecture, and by way of agreeing with the statement: "The Cabinet of Dr Caligari taught that architecture could stand for mood", the jagged distortion of the easel and the light fall do indeed stand for the violent insanity experienced by the character.
As one can see, architecture is equally as important in animation as it is in live action film, and supporting the above statement, indeed it is not just music, lighting or expression that can indicate the mood of a piece but architecture also.

To Conclude:
One does not require a background in the history of German arts to read a sense of disorder and a grim sense of contextual chaos from the sets in The Cabinet of Dr Caligari, and although I agree with parts of the above quote, and the majority of the article there after is well informed and I agree with it, the opening statement as quoted above is un-informed and incorrect [in my opinion].



BIBLIOGRAPHY



(own knowledge)



INTERNET:


Author: Unknown
Date: 02/08
Date link was last proved active: 15/02/09
URL:http://www.moria.co.nz/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=687&Itemid=0

Sir Luke Fildes (1887) -The Doctor

Sir Luke Fields (1877) The Doctor

Precious little is known about Sir Samuel Luke Fields' life, as a Victorian era, it seems most events were documented, but unfortunately, the life of Sir Luke Fields remains something of a mystery.

Whta little that is known is that Sir Samuel Luke Fields was commissioned by Henry Tate (founder of the Tate galleries) in 1875 to paint him The Doctor.

"The Doctor" is painted in oil on canvas, and was inspired by the death of Fildes' son.
Fildes' son died of what is believed to be bacterial meningitis, -it was at a time when bacteria still remained misunderstood and largely undiscovered.

[NB: After the Roman empire prevailed, because it was Roman belief that post-mortem investigation was immoral, and the science of medicine was blurring lines with religion, the king ordered his men to destroyed all evidence and documentation of medical breakthroughs.
The Post Roman times were spent re-discovering everything that had previously been doccumented by the Greeks.
In fact during the Plague (1847 onwards) quaranteen had to be re-realized, and sterilyzation, immunisation and antiseptics used during surgeries were all impliamented after this painting was produced.]

The painting shows a real story of the professional devotion of Dr Gustavus Murray who treated Fildes' son.
Depicted is a little girl, suggesting that perhaps depicting the death of his own son was far too painful for Fildes.

This work shows the heartbreaking moment when a child shows no sign of recovery.
This is visualised in the work by the redeeming light of dawn is shining on the child. One will notice the child is not laying in a bed, but instead is laid on tho wooden chars laid end-to-end. This is typical of the poverty stricken Victorian era.

When beginning to paint, [in order to make the picture convincing] Fildes' constructed a cottage interior in his studio, as close to the realism of his memory as possible; and began work at dawn each day to catch the exact light-fall on the set, reconstructing the grim scene exactly as it had played out.

The striking image of an ordinary doctor’s quiet heroism was hugely iconic amongst the late-Victorian public; the painting evoking an extreme catharsis amongst its audience who were akin to scenes like this in their own homes.

It is difficult to view this painting without feeling an overwhelming sense of sympathy for each character in the painting. This is a distressing scene of a small child, who the doctor realizes has little time left to live.
The mother [far right], is cradling her head in her arms, while her husband stands by her, completely unable to assuage her grief.

However, we must contexualize this painting before reading it. Doctors of the time were well aquaitned with the signs of an "unwell" child, but ultimately there was precious little they could do.
Infant mortality was staggeringly high during this climate, and hundreds of children like Fildes' son and the little girl in the painting would die every day. This would have been a harshly familliar scene to its contemporary audience.

The painting is executed with delicate strokes and is so finely painted it is almost photorealistic, showing a fleeting moment in time, but a crucial moment in life.
In my oppinion this painting is the most poingnant in Fildes' carreer and certainly the most emotive and personal work he ever produced.


BIBLIOGRAPHY:

(Own Knowlege)

Author: UNKNOWN
Date: UNKNOWN
Date Link was Last Proved Active: 15/3/09
URL: http://www.tate.org.uk/servlet/ViewWork?workid=4277

Eraser Head (1977) - David Lynch SURREALISM

Eraser Head (1977) David Lynch

Watch it at: http://tinyurl.com/DLynchEraserhead [Date Link Last proved Active 3/2/09]

EraserHead is an American Surrealist-Horror movie. Directed by David Lynch (who also directed The Elephant Man, Darkened Room, Dumbland, and many more small-time hit films). EraserHead is something of a sepcialised cult film today, and definitely and aquired taste.

It was a ground breaking film of its time, encorporating both live-action and stop-motion animation.
I remeber wathing this film as a child and being completely enthrawled by the eerie music and fascinating mixture of stopmotion animation with impressive prosthetics and off-beat acting.
Perhaps the moct surreal element to the film is the straight acting and the total lack of acknowelgemen that the setting and feel of the movie is completely surreal and obsurd.

Lynch was born in 1964 in Missoula, Montana -precicely the kind of small-town characteristic of his films.
Lynch spent his childhood being relocated from small town to small town as his father's job as a research scientist forced him to move from place to place in search of knowlege. During this time he attended various art schools, and married to father future director Jennifer Chambers-Lynch, at just 21 years old.
Lynch's films continually represent his ideal that films that represent life should be complicated; and in some cases [and sequences -regarding his work in film], be inexplainable.

Only Lynch knows why he puts the scenes, shots, props, cuts, effects, filters, lights, colors, actors, costumes and music in the scenes in the manner typical to his work, but he'll never divulge his method.
For this reason, and due to the beautiful confusion characteristic of his films, he will always be recognized as [if not one of the greatest filmmakers], one of the most original.

One of his Art schools was situated in a particularly violently run-down area in Philidelphia and it is assumed that this fuelled his first big-hit EraserHead. He began procution in 1970 and for the next five years worked obsessively to finally complete and bring EraserHead to the big-screen in 1977.
Lynch's film was initially judged to be unreleasable, bizaare, but thanks to the efforts of distributor Ben Barenholtz The film secured its compulsive cult-following [allowing Lynch the funding to release his first mainstreem film starring Mel Brooks, The Elephant Man]

*WARNING THIS TEXT CONTAINS SPOILERS*

"In Heaven everything is fine..."

Eraserhead is characteristically set in a slum in the heart of a satyrically industrial town.
The scenary is rife with urban decay, disused machines, abandonned factories, and the film boasts a soundtrack composed almost exclusively of the noises of machinery.

Our protagnist, Henry Spencer is a printer from the outide world, who is on vacation from work.
The film opens to reveal Henry, has not heard from his girlfriend, Mary X [Typically all the characters in Mary X's family Host also the scientifically generic surname "X" -adding to the sterility of the setting, and giving the film the hint that perhaps the characters are test subjects], has come to believe that she has ended their relationship.

He has ventured to her neighbourhood to try and salvage their relationship, only to find there is nothing wrong, and their relationship is fine.
Our protagonist is invited to have dinner with Mary X and her parents at their house.
As the character enters the house, we are allowed a brief glimpse of Mary X's grandmother in the kitchen.
The shot then block-cuts to Mrs. X mixing a salad with the grandmother's hands. [This scene played so straight that the audience are instantly accepting of the circumstances, and it is a few seconds before we realize there is anything wrong with this scene -adding to the intense element surrealism].

At the dinner table, by way of fooling the audience: the conversation is obviously strained and awkward -as it is imaginable with a first meeting of 'the parents'. This is the first time we experiance any aparation of intentional catharsis in the film.

For dinner is 'artificial chicken', which promptly starts to twitch on Henry's plate (Stop motion animation) -this again, is played deadly seriously and nobody else appears phased.
When Henry attempts to politely oblige the situation and carve his dinner, it emits a large amount of blood through its rear.
The Characters stare in shock, the two women bursing into tears and leaving the room. - This is the first and last aknowlegement from the characters that something is wrong; and despite the tearful reaction, it is still obvious that this is now unexplained normality for these people, -they are just growing tired.

After the failed meal Henry learns that Mary X was not ignoring him, but had just given birth to his child [after an abnormally -yet, again, unaknowleged -short pregnancy]; and Henry is obliged to marry her.

Mary X and the baby move into Henry's one-room apartment.
This is the first time we see the baby: It is gender ambiguous, and is hideously deformed. It has a reptilian appearance: a large snout-nose with slit nostrils and thin neck; -characteristically of reptiles: the eyes are situated on the sides of its head, it has no external ears, and an almost snake-like limbless body covered in bandages.

The child continually emits a chilling whine throughout the night.
Mary X cannot cope with the child, and abandons Henry and the baby.
After Mary leaves, and Henry realizes must care for the baby by himself, ant the body of the film reveald Henry becoming involved in a series of strange events:

These include several bizarre encounters with [as every subsequent character is categorically, and descriptively named] "the Lady in the Radiator",
She is a woman with grotesquely distended cheeks who inexplicably lives inside Henry's his radiator.
(She sings Henry the iconic [to the film] song "In Heaven". The song, which is pre-empted with 2 min 39 seconds of droll background music and the character shuffling around a grim stage continually fooling the audience that she is about to sing, -instead continuing to stand silently).
Henry also experiences visions of "the ominous Man in the Planet" who lives inside the earth, tirelessly fixing his machines.
Then Henry embarks on a sexual liaison with his neighbor, "the Beautiful Girl Across the Hall."

The film's title comes from a dream sequence occurring near the end of the film.
In Henry’s dream his head detaches from his body and sinks into a growing pool of blood on a [characteristic of this movie] tiled floor.
In the next shot his head sinks through the tiles and falls from the sky, finally landing on an empty street; cracking open.
A nameless young boy finds Henry's broken head and, as if protocall for such situations, takes it to a pencil factory.

Inside the factory, Paul [the receptionist] summons his ill-tempered boss to the front desk by repeatedly pushing a buzzer, creating a jarring rhythm, and a grating monotonous melody.
The boss, clearly angered by the repetitious summons, screams at Paul; immediately regaining his composure when he sees what the little boy has brought.

The boss accompanied by the boy carry the head to a back of the factory, where "the Pencil Machine Operator" [Again a descriptive character title] takes a core sample of Henry's brain-tissues.
He contemplates the results for a while, and determines that it is, indeed, a serviceable material for making pencil erasers. The boy is handsomly paid for bringing in Henry's head, and "The Pencil Machine Operator" sweeps a pile eraser shavings off of the desk and sends them billowing into the air -accross the screen, blanking it out.

Upon awakening from his dream, Henry looks out his window and sees two men [framed in a long-shot] fighting in the street.
Disturbed, he then seeks out "the Beautiful Girl Across the Hall" only to discover she is not home.
Henry's baby begins to cackle mockingly from its crib, and enraged, Henry opens his door again to see "the Beautiful Girl Across the Hall" bringing another man back to her apartment.

She glances at Henry, standing crushed in his doorway; and momentarily we see what she sees: Henry's head transforms into that of his baby. "The beautiful girl Accross the call appears frightened by her vision, and promptly exits.

Henry stumbles back into his apartment, and seases a pair of scissors.
He leans over the crib, and cuts open the baby's bandages.
-The bandages turn out to be its flesh [or simply what is holding all of its organs together].
By cutting the bandages, Henry splits open the baby's body and exposes its throbbing organs.
As the baby screams a piercing cry of pain, Henry violently stabs its lung with the scissors.

Bizarrely, this causes the apartment’s electricity to overload, -the lights flash on and off furiously, and Henry remails still.

An apparition of the baby's head, grown to an enormous size, materializes in the apartment.

Henry's planet explodes, and through a gaping hole that appears in it we see "the Man in the Planet" struggling to asuage his machines.
In the final shot Henry is seen with eraser shavings billowing like snow around his head.
The last scene featuring Henry being embraced and calmed by "the Lady in the Radiator".
The characters are bathed in a calming white light, and a juxtaposing white noise builds to a crescendo emphasizing the cathartic value of this moment. At culmination point the sound stops as the screen goes black... The credits begin to roll.

EraserHead is a wonderfully confusing film, a piece of cinema with no answers and a category of questions posed that only the secretive Lynch knows the answers to.
It is so surreal, with its straight acting and total lack of acnowlegment of its failure to comply with normality.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Date: UNKNOWN
Author: VARIOUS
Date Link was last Proved Active: 04/02/09
URL: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eraserhead

Edward Scissorhands, (1990) Tim Burton

Edward Scissorhands (1990) Tim Burton

The screenplay, Edward Scissorhands was adapted from Burton's rough notes by Caroline Thompson and was published as a book before it was born onto the silver-screen.
It is an intense display of the physical grotesque paradoxly juxtaposing physical beauty.
Modeled around the sub-plot of Beauty and the Beast Edward Scissorhands is another example that one must not judge a book by its cover.

The disturbing imagery in this film can either alienate or elevate the viewer, depending on their personal preferences.
Burton weaves a semi-autobiographical plot about a mechanical man who cannot connect with others; either emotionally or physically.
[This is confirmed in the penultimate scene where the character Kim (who has fallen madly in love with Edward) asks him to "hold [me]", to which Edward replies "I can't" his scissor-hands clearly in shot]

In recent years Edward Scissorhands has become something of a cult film, but before I begin I feel it is important to explain a little about the casting of this movie. [My own knowledge].
Originally Tom Cruise was set to play Edward; but Burton was unhappy with the casting. Cruise was the hot-topic at the time, but he just didn't seem right for the part. [Surprisingly]
At the time Johnny Depp was starring in the hugely popular TV series 21-Jump Street.

It was difficult to leave the house without seeing Depp's face on a lunchbox, a poster, or a magazine. He was truly a teen pin-up idol.
But he was unhappy. Distraught, even, over this. He was stuck in his own nightmares.
Depp had never wanted to be a pin-up, ["I see myself as a failed musician, acting just puts bread on the table, but if I gotta act then its gotta MEAN something" -Depp] but his contract with Fox was watertight.
So he began doing everything and anything to get himself fired. He drunk heavily, took drugs, and at attempted suicide unsuccessfully several times -including once on-set by setting his underwear on fire whilst wearing it.

His agent, at that point, had received a copy of the script for Edward Scissorhands and pushed Depp forwards for an extra part.
His audition was in a LA coffee shop, at the back of the room in a dark booth. There sat Tim Burton.
Depp was not hopeful, he knew of Burton from Batman and was sure he wouldn't look twice at a plasticised teen pin-up.
Depp sat down to an awkward looking young man with wild black hair.
Burton was averse to eye contact, as was Depp -and the pair instantly recognised the similarity; from there, in a series of awkward half-sentences and half un-finished sentences, a beautiful relationship was born.
Burton wound up casting Depp as his lead because he saw Depp AS Edward Scissorhands. Burton saw beyond Depp's looks and into the insecure, timid, terrified person and painfully shy inside, and this characterised Edward.

Depp was adamant he wouldn't let Burton down, and in this film, he gave the performance of a lifetime.
(Previous to this Depp's only on screen work was badly acted and wooden, but the familiarity of the script allowed him a phenomenal performance).
Edward has very few lines and so most of the emotion and subtext to the character are portrayed solely through the eyes. Depp studied silent movies in true method-acting fashion before attempting the role, and gave a flawless interpretation ditching his pin-up status.


*WARNING THIS TEXT CONTAINS SPOILERS*


"Why I'm as humble as cherry... pie..."

Starring Johnny Depp (Edward), Winona Ryder (Kim) and Dianne Wiest (Peg), the film begins with a touching moment where we see an old lady [Ryder] tucking her granddaughter into a romantically over-sized bed.
When asked about the origins of snow she begins to indulge the little girl in a very personal old story.
As the camera runs toward the window and outside to pan up to an eerie castle on the hill, it pauses for a moment and the castle almost appears to be trapped in a showglobe, re-enforcing the narrative.
We are allowed a brief glimpse of Edward before the action dissolves into a typical suburban neighbourhood; following an avon representative on her rounds.

The neighbourhood is so typically suburban that somehow, even the vibrant pastel coloured houses are accepted without distracting from the narrative.

We see Peg (Wiest) calling upon locals to no avail, and with an expertly set up shot, notices the castle in her wing mirror and ventures toward it.
The castle grounds completely juxtapose its derelict structure, they are perfectly manicured, sunny, and full of topiarys, one; the central figure, is a giant hand -faced palmwards to the sky.
Upon entering the castle we find it is dark and filled with cobwebs, -winding staircases, and dust-covered disused inventions.

Peg ventures up the stairs rambling brightly about aerobics classes helping her get up "all these stairs".
At the top of the staircase is a derelict loft, with a mural lovingly pasted in an alcove. We briefly glimpse this, and see it is a collage of newspaper clippings and famous paintings of hands.
Edward is cowered at the back of the room, he emerges and Peg instantly judges him by his appearance, she is obviously terrified of him, and backs toward the door,

"Don't.. go?"
He utters, and she almost instantly forgives his appearance, and takes him home.

The majority of the film shows Edward's instant acceptance amongst the housewives of the neighbourhood and most of the kids. We also watch him fall madly in love with Peg's daughter, Kim.
The only character who seems completely intolerant of Edward is Jim [Kim's boyfriend].

During one scene, [the setting and character placing lifted directly from Burton's favourite film Eraser Head] we see a typical nuclear family at dinner.
The father is at the head of the table, mother to his left, and the kids either side. Edward is placed cleverly to the opposite side and creates a brilliant contrast to this traditional picture.
Here we see the only other intolerant character in the film. Kim's friend refuses to eat the meat Edward has carved with his hands, claiming she doesn't find it "sanitary".

This digression aside, the film maintains interest whilst divulging in several whimsical displays of Edward's artistic talents including topiary, hair dressing and Dog styling.
Despite this every few scenes there is a trigger moment where Edward regresses to his creation.
In these cut-scenes we see Edward in his various stages of creation, from conception of the idea, to the near completion and the death of his creator.

The Creator is played by Burton's hero, Vincent Price.
We see him conceive the idea to make a robotic man from his anthropomorphous cookie making machines, and watch him attempt to teach his creation the rules of social etiquette, right down to the almost-perfection.
Upon his almost-completion we see the inventor walk toward Edward with his real hands, -but as he is about to attach them, he has a heart attack and dies. His new hands are cut to pieces by his scissors, and silently Edward bends to touch his creator's face [as one would in such situation] but instead cuts his cheek. This is the last cut-scene and this obvious subtext allows us a small glimpse into Edward's back-story.

As the film plays the pace of Jim's distaste toward Edward snowballs into hate. He begins to notice Edward's crush on Kim is no longer one-sided, and Jim tires to seek revenge.
First he attempts to frame Edward for burglary, then catches Edward off guard causing him to accidentally cut Kim's hand with one of his scissors.
-Incidentally this is the most iconic scene in the film because it features Danny Elfman's infamous score, The Ice Dance.

Edward Scissiorhands culminates in the 'outsider' [Edward] being driven away from the neighbourhood and back into his castle, never to come back into society again.
After Joyce (the town gossip, and self confessed 'lonely housewife') impropositions Edward; and is turned down, she turns the neighbourhood against Edward, only fuelling Jim's rampage.

Alone, but for Kim, in Edward's castle:
Edward kills Jim [when Jim arrives at the castle to shoot Edward], symbolic of the rise of diversity over banality; after the police man saves Edward's life by shooting into the air, and convincing the townspeople that Edward is dead.
Kim confirms this by taking a spare set of scissorhands from the late inventor's table and showing them to the crowd.

[Incidentally the crowd are all sporting Edward's inspired hair-cuts, visually representing the impact of the outsider on normality spreading a little diversity where he could].

This film is full of beautiful imagery, some more obvious that others, and runs a heart wrenching narrative that everyone who has ever felt like an outsider can sympathise with.




BIBLIOGRAPHY:


[OWN KNOWLEGE]


INTERNET:


Author: UNKNOWN
Date: UNKNOWN
Publisher: Wikipedia.org
Date Link was last active: 3/2/09
URL: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Scissorhands


Author: Cory Sampson
Date: UNKNOWN
Publisher: Sampson
Date Link was Last proved active: 3/2/09
URL: http://www.timburtoncollective.com/edwardpsycho.html


Author: Mark Sailsbury
Date: 20/02/08
Publisher: Los Angeles Times
Date Link was last prived active:
URL: http://theenvelope.latimes.com/env-en-pairssweeney20feb20,0,7928663.htmlstory

Somewhere in Dreamland (1936) Max and David Fleischer Productions at Fleischer Studios

Somewhere In Dreamland (1936) Max and David Fleischer

Watch it at: http://tinyurl.com/SomewhereInDreamland [Link last proved Active 1/2/09]

Somewhere in Dreamland is my personal favourite drawn animation, in fact, it was the first cartoon I remember watching as a child.

Fleischer Studios was founded in 1921 [as 'Inkwell Studios'] by Max and David Fleischer.
The brothers ran the company from its inception until Paramount Pictures, [the studio's parent company and the distributor of its films], forced them to resign in late April 1942.
In its prime, Fleischer Studios was the main competitor to Walt Disney Studios, and was responsible for bringing the world some of the most iconic cartoon characters to-date: such as, KOKO The Clown, Betty Boop, Popeye the Sailor, and Superman).

Strangely Disney's most successful characters were anthropomorphic animals, where as Fleischer's were human.

*WARNING THIS TEXT CONTAINS SPOILERS*


"I'm still Hungry mom!"


Somewhere in Dreamland is a very "cute" ode to the Depression era.
It seemed that the Fleischer Brothers knew no limits on how sickeningly cute one could design a character to be. None-the-less it certainly works proficiently and the piercing large black pupiled-eyes of the children certainly evoke the sympathy of the audience.
The first four minutes of action show a heart-wrenching sequence of events: The two wistful waifs are at work dragging a bundle of logs along the snow, scarecly dressed for the weather.


They pass a baker's shop and drop their logs to gaze at the cakes; unbeknown to them the baker spots the poor children's gaze and immediately sets about finding some cakes to give them... By the time he gets to the frontage they have continued to work and have left.


Later we see them arrive home to their mother, and sit at the table for dinner [which consists of a stale loaf of bread and some water]

"I'm still hungry mom!"

The mother breaks down into tears in anguish, leading her children to their beds; and sighing as she blows out their candle. The children climb in between their moth-eaten sheets and in a beautifully animated section weightlessly drift into dreamland.
The children find themselves in dreamland (candyland) and judging my Maslow's hierarchy of human needs, the plot delivers the children's strugle to breach the most basic need, physiological (food).

Below is a representation of Maslow's pyramid, and highlighted is the children's "need". Essentially Maslow's pyramid is one of the most well used tools for inscripting narrative and character motivation.
In most traditional scripts (boy meets girl, boy falls in love with girl; girl is taken away from boy, boy must face his own daemons to win back his love) it is the top of the pyramid -self actualisation that is desired. In actual fact this is a level very few people reach in real life because in order to achieve this, all other stages must be conquered. In more recent narrative structures the quest has been lowered in the pyramid to make the story more believable.

The background is finely painted oil paintings with very detailed animation layered on top. In my opinion this adds to the magic of the animation.

To be honest words cannot describe this animation, it has to be viewed to be fully appreciated.

The children wander through dreamland encountering magical plants and machines that deliver candies, toys and fine clothes, to finally settle in soft comfortable beds.
The dream is cut short by their mother, and the pair awaken to dissapointment, realizing they are still hungry.
The mother leads the children another room to reveal the baker [first scene], a toy maker and a tailor who have laid the room with fine clothes, toys and a feast.

To conclude, this is a beautiful animation, and probably one of the reasons I am in animation today, it is one of my earliest memories and certainly a magical short animation that can warm the heart of even the coldest scrouge.


BIBLIOGRAPHY

INTERNET:

Author: Rik Todd
Title: Somewhere in Dreamland
Date: 2006
Date Link last proved active: 01/02/09
URL: http://cinema4celbloc.blogspot.com/2006/04/somewhere-in-dreamland-1936.html

Tim Burton (1980) Vincent

Tim Burton (1980) Vincent

Watch it at http://tinyurl.com/TBurtonVincent [ Link last active 30/1/09]

Tim Burton was born in Burbank California in late August 1958. He grew up in a typical suburban street with a traditional nuclear family, but he always broke these convetions.
Burton would obsessively study old horror movies any chance he got and was always trying to re-create these, -and a few of his own creation.
When he left school he enrolled at California School of Arts and studied a course of part illustation, part animation. Unfortunately he failed to shine and lost his Scholarship; this prompted him to work round-the clock to make his first animation "Stalk Of The Cellary" this created such a stir amongst his peers and mentors that he was taken back on, and even noticed by Disney. He left Cal Arts with a top class degree and was swallowed up, as promised, by Disney.
In the Disney labs the animators sat on brightly coloured bean-bags at communal desks drawing typical Disney characters.

Initially Burton have been brought in to work on The Fox and the Hound.
Soon the head animator recognised Burton, once again, didn't fit in with these people. He was "too weird"
Burton was hauled into the manager's office and presented with the following statement:
"Tim, I don't want you sitting with these people, they're going to change you"
So with that he was placed in a cupboard with a light box and some paper and became a character artist. In here he was to contribute to his first big film The Black Cauldron; but again his work didn't fit in and it wasn't used.

Instead Burton was set loose on his own projects, here he produced the initial art-work and poems that later became The Nightmare Before Christmas, his first live action short Frankenweenie, and Disney commissioned him to make his pies du resistance for his short stay with them. Vincent.

[Here I must mention, that despite popular belief, Burton is forever indebted to Disney as the company who gave him his big break, he still often collaborates with them, and the merchandising rites to most of his major releases are given to Disney].

*WARNING THIS TEXT CONTAINS SPOILERS*

Vincent is the story of a little boy with a big imagination. It has often been described by its creator as an autobiographical work.
Burton himself, as an avid horror movie fan was completely enthralled by Vincent Price; and he felt that if he met him, the pair would click completely; so imagine his delight when Disney employed Price himself to narrate the piece!

"Vincent Malloy is seven years old, he's always polite and does what he's told. For a boy his age he's considerate and nice.... But he wants to be just like Vincent Price"

Our protagonist Vincent Malloy is a tortured soul [or so he believes], supposedly autobiographical the protagonist lives in his imagination. He likes to adapt his situation to fit his imaginings.

The pace of the narrative is very fast, the scene is set within the first few seconds with some very clever narration. We simply see that Vincent Malloy is a nice boy, but he longs to be like Vincent Price. This is confirmed by a visual transformation from Malloy to Price. Simple, neat and highly effective story telling. This paves the way for the rest of the piece to be as strange as Burton liked without blurring the narrative.

The majority of the narrative revolves around Burton's strange fantasy world, where the protagonist imagines a situation and the visuals transform to see it acted out. For example,

"Vincent is nice when his aunt comes to see him, But imagines dipping her in wax for his wax museum."

The film's binary opposition of Vincent's normal childhood and Vincent's darker obsessions proceed as the first sentence is read:
We see Vincent Malloy's aunt (in Tom & Jerry style, only visible from waste down -also emphasizing the size and age of Vincent) come to visit.
In the same shot as the second sentence finishes the screen cross-disolves to show Vinvent "Price" ghoulishly dipping his auntie in a bubbling cauldron filled with wax.

Alone in his "tower of doom," Vincent's romanticized hallucinations become more kinetic and distorted.
Mother bursts into his room and tries to get him to see reality and "get outside and have some real fun."

As Vincent's "horrid insanity" peaks melodramatically, lightning flashes and his visions begin to swirl around him.
As the checkerboard walls sway and bend, Burton animates a series of relief sculptures of skeleton hands, his "dead wife" and his dog Abacrombie in limbo light and superimposes them over a sweying Vincent, a montage of spatial representation systems which interact on a number of levels.

Over all this is a beautifully well thought-out and original short film.

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

(Own Knowlege)

Book:

Author: Tim Burton
Title: Burton on Burton
Date: (1998)
Publisher: Author's Own

INTERNET:

Author: Arran Mcdermott
Date: 2005
Date Link was last proved Active: 01/02/09
URL: http://www.timburtoncollective.com/earlymovies.html

Suzie templeton (2001) Dog

Suzie Templeton (2001) - Dog

Watch it at: http://tinyurl.com/STempletonDog [Last checked activity 30/1/09]


*WARNING THIS TEXT CONTAINS SPOILERS*

Suzie Templeton manages do the impossible and keeps her private life very separate from her working career so very little is know about her before she achieved her biggest successes with works the likes of Dog, Stanley, and most recently, Peter and the Wolf. However, with a big thanks to Sylvie Bringas I have been presented with the following mini biography.

"Suzie was a student of mine when she was studying animation at Farnham in the 1990s. She was already very committed to making serious statements with the medium of animation. Stanley was her graduation film, quite an achievement already, very good storytelling sense. In 1997 I was making a film, Silence, and employed her as an assistant animator and cel painter. She was very good at that too, but obviously cel painting wasn't much of a calling for such a creative animator. She went on to study at the Royal College of Art where she made the Bafta winning Dog. Then she struggled for a few years developing Peter and the Wolf, until funding was gathered, made the film and won the Oscar last year. She now lives in Holland and is developping a new puppet animation film." -Sylvie Bringas


Dog is a beautiful example of how subtlety can convey so much:


"Dad... Dad..."

Dog is a stop-motion animated five minute long short animation by Suzie Templeton. The puppets are flawless and boreder realism in not only asthetics but movement also.
Templeton is known for her life-like models and particularly today, for her very realistic animation of animals.
Technically the animation in Dog is not to the standard of Templeton's latest work, but the narriative is by far the most gripping and in-depth to date.


The short begins with a dark, gloomy room; we hear the sound of rain hitting the window and laboured snores, the camera pans accross the bed to reveal an old dog sleeping on a young boy's lap.
At first it appears the young boy is reading a book before bedtime, but we pan still more to reveal he is turned to stare at an ominous stain on his bedroom wall. The young boy brushes the stain tenderly as his father [a weathered downtrodden old man] appears at the door.

Instantly the audience are aware something is wrong. Without stating so we know mum is dead when dad tries to re-assure his son her death was painless.
It is painful to watch a grieving father unable to comfort his pained son; even if one has not experienced the stiuation first hand Templeton assures the catharsis in the short is so great that we instantly feel for both parties.

The cry, quoted above is read so well by the vocal artist, that it becomes a chilling statement. The tiny cry of a grieving child extremely emotive, and will resonate in the audience's mind forever.

Later we see the boy come home from school to find his beloved pet is in agony on the floor outside the house, and again crying out for dad, we see dad is unable to leave the house; the plot thickening, and suspicion arrousing, we still hope that perhaps he has become agrophobic since his partner's death.

That night we see the child embrase the stain on his wall and utter "mum" before we cut to downstairs where the dog is dieing. The father tries to call for help but a mobile vetinarian is unable to come to him and he assures the audience he is unable to leave the house. He turns to the dog and smothers him, laying still with the corpse in desperation after. We pan up to see the child standing, unnoticed in the doorway.

Daylight breaks and the action fades up to see the child combing his hair for school in the mirror, dad is reflected behind him at the sink. "It was painless" says dad.

...."Like mum?"

The short finishes.

The unanswered questions posed at the closing of this film, like
'Did he kill her too?'
'Can he not leave the house because he killed his wife?'
'Was the mother's death a mercy killing too?'
Can be answered with the closing statement. Templeton has used such subtle yet graphic nattiative to imply that indeed, that is how mother died.

On the other hand, there are many suppositions surrounding this area, some people think that perhaps the stain in the little boy's room is merely black mould, while others believe it was blood-spatter from mother shooting herself. Either way by arrousing controversy Templeton has delivered a highly successful narriative and left the audience beyeing for more!
One can only assume that Templeton is the only person who known for sure what happened and "who dunnit".


BIBLIOGRAPHY:


INTERNET

Author: Unknown
Date: Unknown
Date Link was last proved active: 30/1/09
URL: http://www.imdb.com search criteria: Suzie Templeton -Dog

Author: Arthur Bell
Date: 2001
Date Link was last proved active: 30/1/09
URL:http://www.suzietempleton.com/

Combination Skin (1996) Anthony Hodgson

Anthony Hodgson: Combination skin (1996)
Watch it at: http://tinyurl.com/bsoq47 [Last checked activity 30/01/09]

Anthony Hodgson was born in York, England, where he lived for the first 20 years of his life.
After completing his education in York, Hodgson made a permanent move to London where he scored a place at Harrow Campus University Of Westminster (!!!!!) to complete a BA Hons in Animation (AGAIN...!!!!!)
He then went on to achieve a Master's Degree at Royal College of Art, where he made his first big-hit film, Hillary.
Hodgson worked as resident animator at the Museum of The Moving Image before being commissioned by Channel 4 to make Combination Skin.
Today Hodgson lives in America, with [as he was at pains ot note on his website] his wife and four cats, where he works as character animator for films as big as Antz, Shrek, and Shrek II.

*WARNING: THIS TEXT CONTAINS SPOILERS*

"How's school? Are you still being bullied? I hated School... -except English with Mr.Banks"

'Combination Skin' is a five minute short stop-motion animation commissioned by Channel 4

Set in a grim reptile house, [in what one can only assume is part of a desolate badly kept zoo somewhere in England], we watch a mother and estranged son fail to converse.

The pace and tension are set by placing just two characters in a deserted vivarium compound, pre-empted by an awkward silence. This is visualised by a character point of view watching a mucus domestica (housefly) try to escape the confinements of a terrarium in vane.
-Perhaps this is supposed the be the child's P.O.V and symbolic of his desperation to escape the oncoming conversation with his estranged mother; -this could be backed up by the chameleon eating the fly just as the mother begins to speak.
This immediately suggests the awkwardness of the situation and an air of boredom because our character is staring at an obscure placing within the confines of the shot.


As one tends to do, one immediately relates the title of the piece to the action as we realize it is set in a reptile house; however as the piece climaxes we realize it was not an autobiographical title.

As with many of Hodgson's films, Combination Skin begins in a semi-melodic broken silence [watching the fly] which is heavily interrupted after the first few moments with a constant and rambling narration there-in-after.

Watching the Mother converse instantly creates an air of awkwardness, suggesting that conversely she is a week-end mother and is not overly well in-touch with her son.

We witness a painful rambling dialogue, which is seemingly dis-jointed and a desperate struggle to make any form of conversation; until she stirs up a painful memory:
The dialogue culminates in the mother expressing a very personal feeling of guilt and horror at her own actions -which are placed a long time in the past.
This also pulls together the whole story she tells and makes the structure of the narrative apparent, we can trace back every memory-jog and turning point of her one-sided conversation making sense of the whole speech.

The estranged son occasionally replies with a nod, or monosyllabic retort, and at one point we see the camera act for him:

As the mother continues to ramble we see the Son's P.O.V shot with the camera moving as if he shaking his head; this is an impressive move on the director's part because it engages the audience in the dialogue -we don't know what she's talking about either.

The ending is rather touching: after the mother has revealed a deep grief she falls silent. The son appears to recognise this and replies "It smells in here" in an almost beautiful child-like way of protecting his mother by changing the subject. She then ties the narrative up by stating she would like to "go to the toilet now" most likely for a cigarette!

Overall this is one of those films that have stuck in my head for years, and a sick example of real social stayre.
The deeply personal narrative and display of emotion is stomach wrenching, and we can only hope the little boy is not symbolic of the artist.

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

INTERNET

Author: Anthony Hodgson
Additional Information: Artist's Official Website
Date: UNKNOWN
Date Link was lats proved active: 30/1/09
URL: http://www.mothkettle.com/


Author: Theo Robertson
Date: UNKNOWN
Date Link was last proved active: 30/1/09
URL: http://www.imdb.com/ (Search Criteria -Anthony Hodgston)