Frederic Back: amazing artist, right? Before we'd watched Toute Rien and The Man Who Planted Trees, I'd watched CRAC!. And wow, I thought CRAC! was good, but then I saw how simple and gorgeous The Man Who Planted Trees was. It looked so realistic to me and yet I knew at any second a person's face could become a rugged mountain or a public bus could become a flourish of golden birch trees. I tried to imagine how long it must have taken to create that 20 minute story in Back's brain...and then on paper...and then on screen. It had to take years. I started looking ahead at my own life and seeing how a lot of it would be spent scribbling things on a desk. I almost got nervous, but then I remembered how incredible our art forms are! We literally pour years of our lives to create a
single impression. Is it worth it? I think it is. What matters is that the impression we make is an impactful one.
Seeing this made me really upset: why hadn't I heard of him before? Why is it that my deepest exposure to animation and film is Walt Disney and Steven Spielburg? These artists are great, but I really feel like I should be watching more international pieces. If you guys know any easy ways to find international/ indy animation and film, please let me know in the comments.
Thank you for briefly skimming through my thoughts! See you guys in class!
Yesss! I watched Crak! too and loved it. I think the scenes of the people dancing were my favorite to watch, but the overall story was great. I also saw it before we watched The Man Who Planted Trees in class, and that one blew me away even more. Anyways, I'm sorry I can't be helpful and give you a list of indie films to watch, cuz I've only recently realized I've grown up on mainstream media, and there's so much more to see. :P
ReplyDeleteIt is kind of sad that we are only exposed to an extremely small percentage of the animation that is out there. I don't even know much about what IS mainstream nowadays, it's difficult because as an animator I want to see all the work out there, but of course that's impossible, and what we normally get to see is garbage sadly.
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