extended play 11 trailer from onedotzero on Vimeo.
Extended Play was ARTS THREAD’s last taster of onedotzero’s Adventure in Motion festival, which ran for five days last week. The programme of nine films looked at the potential of visual narrative to create dramatic effect, pushing the boundaries of traditional storytelling.
Although admittedly we were warned that the collection ‘shared a sinister sensibility’, it might have been nice to see a wider mix of subject matter. However, there was no denying the variety of technique, style and quality on show.
Damian Nenow’s ‘Paths of Hate’ shows an epic aerial dogfight between two anonymous fighter pilots in an unspecified battle. Combining edgy visuals in the style of graphic novels with some stunning, far-reaching photo-realistic landscapes, there is a real sense of dynamism throughout.
Andrew Allen’s ‘The Thomas Beale Cipher’ is a brilliant example of rotoscoping, here employed to tell the story of a top cryptographer called Professor White on the trail of an infamously indecipherable riddle. The flat but engaging collage aesthetic draws on film noir and speakeasy influences. Apparently the ten minute film included 16 hidden messages, but although we spotted conspicuous numbers in various frames, we failed to solve the riddle!
A welcome, light-hearted addition to the collection was Grant Orchard’s ‘A Morning Stroll’, involving three interpretations of the same story – that of a New Yorker’s encounter with a chicken – set in different eras with distinctly different animation styles, from simple line-drawn animation to more complex digital visuals.
Adventures in Motion 2011 has now closed, but will be touring 60 cities around the world. Check out the Onedotzero website for more information on this and other forthcoming events.
