Screened as part of NZIFF 2001

Digitale 

81 minutes

Increasingly, digital animation festivals are celebrating the fact that fine films are being created entirely on hard drives. Join us on this tour of the best of these recent digital festivals – 'films' that have caught the eye of judges and audiences. If you're accustomed to thinking of digital animation as the realm of games or blockbuster special effects you may be surprised by the delicacy and subtle individuality of some of the work on display here. Needless to say there are also some jokes. — MT

Groove Me 2000

Production co

Imagination In Motion

Producers

Rudy Verbeeck
,
Eric Verbeeck

Music

DJs Serge & Remy
4 minutes

Hip dancer, smooth talker, wife borrower – meet Tabu, Lord of the Groove.

For the Birds 2000

Director

Production co

Pixar

Producer

Karen Dufilho

Executive producer

John Lasseter

Supervising animator

James Ford Murphy

Model supervisor

Eben Ostby

Editors

Jennifer Taylor
,
Tom Freeman

Music

Riders in the Sky
USA
3 minutes

3-D CGI. From Pixar and the art director of Toy Story, the hilarious tale of angry little birds on a wire trying to defy the laws of physics.

Cog 2000

Editor

Minty

Sound

Lorant Smee

Software

After Effects
7 minutes

An intricate mechanical inner world is home to a curious race of creatures.

Bio Zoo 2000

Director, Animator

Production co

Mikros Image

Editor

Eric Coignoux

Music

Fred Leonard
3 minutes

A brightly coloured, relentless digital montage of all the small creatures.

Pump Action 2000

Director, Producer, Animator

Music

Joe Egan
,
Gerry Rafferty

Software

Cinema 4D XL
,
Photoshop
,
After Effects
UK
5 minutes

Reservoir Balloons – THAT scene played out with balloon characters.

Treedom 1999

Director, Producer, Animator

Music

Makoto Miyata
5 minutes

All parts of the ecosystem are linked – why shouldn’t they morph as well?

Pasta for War 2000

Director, Animator

Sound

Stefan Prosky

Music

The Massed Bands of the British Army

Software

Softimage SP2
,
Mental Ray 2.0
,
Photoshop
,
After Effects
USA
4 minutes

The pasta are restless – richly textured to resemble newsreel footage of a call to arms.

Lucie 1999

Animators

Nicolas de Contes
,
Jerome Lesage
,
Laurent Makowski
,
Renaud Roullet

Software

3DS Max 2.5
,
Maya 1.0
,
Photoshop 5.0.2
,
Effect 2.1.1
,
Elastic Reality 3.1
,
Quake 2
8 minutes

Clowns are a misunderstood group. This sumptuously detailed study in pathos will only deepen the mystery.

Nuit 1999

Director, Animator

6 minutes

Abstract and energetic, a joyous dance of light. Video wallpaper you may want to take home.

Hot Spot 2000

Director, Animator, Music

Production co

Passion Pictures
,
Aardman

Producer

Andrew Ruhemann

Editors

Stuart Hutcheson
,
Kevin O’Brien
UK
6 minutes

A lumpy roundelay of beefy blokes convinced they have all the right disco moves.

Comics Trip 2000

Animators

Christophe Barnouin
,
Pierre Marteel
,
Mathieu Renoux
,
Max Tourret

Sound

Matthieu Gossart
,
Jean Holtzmann

Software

Maya 2.5
,
Photoshop 5.5
,
Maya Fusion
,
Premiere
,
Edit
6 minutes

Just a boy and his banana on a roller coaster ride through a Technicolor comic strip.

Histoire d’oublier 2000

Director, Animator

Voice

Diane Laforet

Music

Alderic Lesueur

Software

Maya 2.5
,
Maya Fusion
,
Photoshop 5.5
,
Edit 5.0
,
Premiere 5.1
6 minutes

Fragile figures and a glass staircase.

Ferment 2000

Director

Producer

Grace Kitto

Photography

Andrew Kemp
,
John Hadfield

Editor

Malcolm MacMillan

Sound

Moma

Elsewhere

UK
6 minutes

You won’t believe your eyes. A tracking camera seems to slice through the paused lives and homes of a city.

Wand-da 2000

Director, Animator

Music

Robert Rich

Software

3D Studio Max 3.5
,
After Effects 3.1
,
After Effects 4
,
Photoshop 5
,
Premiere 5
6 minutes

A white tiger strides through a sumptuously animated neon-lit cityscape.

Faux plafond 1999

Director, Animator

With

Antoine Boutet
,
Sabine Delcour
6 minutes

In its own quiet way, a most spectacular film. Daily routine is transfigured when a square room becomes a circle.