You probably heard… it’s kind of a big week for movies. Hard to escape the hooplah around the Oscars this time of year! The best in film walked the red carpet, and took centre stage at this year’s Academy Awards ceremony where the biggest honour in the industry was given to a select few.
We love that the Oscars don’t just hand out awards to the big money-makers; rather, they award films of all shapes and sizes. For example, the animated short category! Animated short films are no longer considered B-Roll before a 90 minute feature. Au Contraire! They are recognized in a category pumping out some of the most creative work of the year!
This year’s winner was a brilliant modern fairytale called The Paperman. It’s the story of a man who falls in love at first sight with the woman of his dreams while waiting for a train on his way to work. The encounter is brief as both are separated once their trains arrive. He can’t forget her, and he dreams of another chance meeting as he goes through the mundane monotony of his job. Will fate bring them back together again… or will it take a couple hundred paper airplanes to connect them again? The story is simple, elegant and a true throwback to early Disney at its finest.
In fact, the film is told in soft black and white animation with new technology that merges hand-drawn animation with digital techniques to create the effect.
In our Youtube age – these films are becoming more and more accessible. You can watch clips about The Paperman on the official Youtube channel. Youtube has really opened the doors for these films to be accessible all year long – given the recognition they deserve!
At Illustrate iT Video we are huge fans of all the nominees in this category (in particular!), and we send our congratulations to The Paperman. Check it out, It is pure genius and deserves a standing O! These films are making us proud to be short-film-makers, and we anticipate another fantastic year for short film in 2013.
