sundance

Drawn To Life

EAGLE VS. SHARK

Park CIty, Jan 24. Along with the animation spotlight, several films are using animation to further their narrative storytelling. In the opening night film, CHICAGO 10 [festival.sundance.org], Brett Morgen employed animators to bring to live the court transcripts of the Yippees on trial.

Animation was also used to enhance the playfulness of the narrative in two other features. Taika Waititi’s EAGLE VS. SHARK [festival.sundance.org], a cunning romantic comedy from New Zealand of two losers in love uses stop-motion animation techniques through out. Waititi comments, “the animation came out of my being interested in seeing the themes of the film explored in another totally different and very condensed metaphorical way.”

The festival favorite SON OF RAMBOW [festival.sundance.org] about a small boy’s fantasy world spurred on by Rambo films used different animation techniques to illustrate the inner life of a child’s mind. The film creators, Garth Jennings and Nick Goldsmith (aka Hammer & Tongs) [www.tongsville.com] have already shown their creative acumen in their commercials, music videos and film THE HITCHHIKER’S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY [www.imdb.com].

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Peter Bowen

Senior Editor, Filmmaker Magazine