Mountain Music illustrates what happens when technology gets too advanced too soon. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in 2012.
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The people behind it
The animation, music, and optical printing of Kitsch in Synch was produced by Beckett and the students in two classes he was teaching at CalArts. Although a group project, it is clear that Beckett was the director. The playful, catchy soundtrack is used to create a cycle of building tension and release. The brightly colored shapes create approximate symmetrical formations and become more densely layered, with glimpses of iconographic objects and even live footage near the end. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive, in partnership with the iotaCenter, in 2007.
A surrealist translation of Catholic devotional postcard imagery set into unsettling motion. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in 2008.
Wallace and Gromit have run out of cheese, and this provides an excellent excuse for the duo to take their holiday to the moon, where, as everyone knows, there is ample cheese.
Wallace rents out Gromit's former bedroom to a penguin, who takes up an interest in the techno trousers created by Wallace. However, Gromit later learns that the penguin is a wanted criminal.
Wallace's whirlwind romance with the proprietor of the local wool shop puts his head in a spin, and Gromit is framed for sheep-rustling in a fiendish criminal plot.
A children's fable about the power of advertising, the meaning of life and ultimately the test of a mother's love. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in 2016.
"I think of Odalisque as my first film. It was completed after film school and I worked with just a graphite pencil, a small group of colored pencils and animation bond. It is a trilogy of amorous dreams coming from the imagination of a woman recalling her childhood, her beloved twin so difficult to separate from and becoming an adult sexual person. The aria Sempre Libera from La Triviata by Verdi opens the film and the poem Leda and the Swan by WB Yeats ends it. It was great to work with Michael Riesman who created the sound track. I loved working in NYC in those days with Robin McDaniel, Rebecca High and others." Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in 2017.
Del is a song writer for the obnoxious Mr. Mega, and in love with Didi, Mega's secretary. His quest to write a hit tune brings him to the wacky world of Flooby Nooby, where he just might learn to write songs from the heart.
The first Studies were synchronized with records (Fischinger made a total of 13 Studies all without sound). It was only with the introduction of sound, beginning with Study No 6 that the films did full justice to this musical principle. The play of the white lines, the arcs, and the upside-down U’s running hither and thither like ballet dancers was brought into perfect synchronization with the music, and thus the films offered an abstract illustration of the melodies. Study No 6 is certainly the best of his films in terms of forms. - Hans Scheugl and Ernst Schmidt, Jr. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in 2001.
Legacy takes the audience on a rapid-fire journey through the evolution of the world, starting with a cosmic bang, evolving through billions of years of plants, animals and the creation of natural resources, ending with man and his bounty – “sitting on his world contemplating his coconut”. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in 2012.
"I relocated to the Redwoods of Sonoma County upon graduation and in that relocation process the animation for Sonoma began. The design was built around the concept of the long wide horizontal 'pan' shot to express the concept of a dynamic landscape that passes across the screen like a traditional Chinese Scroll Painting. The deep personal meaning relates to the 'relocation' that was occurring within my own being after having done 2½ terms of active combat in the jungle as a carrier enlisted with the 82nd Airborne Division of the Army" -D. Pies. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in 2012.
A deer, disillusioned by the consumerism that defines his life. A lizard, ostracized from society, forever wandering. A chance meeting in the middle of a field. Who will survive? And who will transcend existence? Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in 2009.
An mutoscope motion picture installation commissioned for the 86th anniversary of the Guggenheim museum. Later preserved and turned into a short film. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in 2000.
Animated short film. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in 2009.
An instructional video that teaches, through stop-motion animation, how to build a bridge over a gorge that can hold heavy military equipment. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in 2004.
An animated short consisting of 4 segments: bowl, garden, theatre, marble game. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in partnership with Harvard Film Archive in 2015.
This animated short focuses on the lives of three eccentric people living on a farm in the Ukrainian countryside. Told in a non-linear, stream of consciousness style, the film depicts the deceitful relationship between a master and his two servants.
The entire film is divided into four consecutive chosen approaches—the fourth section devoted to a reiteration and extension of the original material. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in 1999.
Possibly the most lucid, vivid, and awesome demonstration of the building up of still images to create moving ones, Pasadena Freeway Stills simply, gracefully and powerfully shows us the process by which we are fooled by the movies. By doing so, Gary Beydler mines a very rich vein of associations and metaphor, without the slightest ostentation. Constructed as a thrilling arc of realization and, in a quite moving way, disappointment, the film is a beautiful articulation of our emotional entanglement with moving images, while simultaneously creating a form in which the illusion of cinema is brought into incredible relief as the film we're watching gradually catches up to the film Gary is holding up to the camera with his hands, one frame at a time. (Mark Toscano) Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in 2008.
A symbolic reflection on issues of female sexuality, art and identity constructs.
In this anime visual album, a mysterious driver heads deep into a postapocalyptic hellscape toward a ferocious showdown with two monstrous opponents.
As the ponies prepare for another Hearth's Warming, families come together to celebrate the holiday; Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, Applejack, Rarity, and Rainbow Dash are ready for the big day, but Princess Twilight Sparkle doesn't have time to celebrate.
Cartman locks horns with his mom in a battle of wills while an epic conflict unfolds that threatens South Park’s very existence.
Upon learning that he is from New York City, a wide-eyed boy, who is half human and half alligator, decides to leave his sheltered life in the swamp and search for his long lost father. A musical adventure.
The Warner Brothers (and the Warner Sister) go on a quest to find a fallen wishing star to help Dot with her illness. Unfortunately the rest of the town, including an evil king, also hear about the star and want to get to it first to have their own wishes come true. It's a race against time and it's up to the three zany siblings to get there first.
Buster Moon dreams up a star-studded spectacle set to Michael Jackson's "Thriller" in this animated short featuring characters from the hit "Sing" films.
When the four Willoughby children are abandoned by their selfish parents, they must learn how to adapt their Old-Fashioned values to the contemporary world in order to create something new: The Modern Family.
Animals band together to save the day when the evil Otto Von Walrus hatches a sinister scheme to accelerate global warming and melt the Arctic Circle.
The people of Hamelin, overrun with rats, offer a bag of gold to anyone who can get rid of the rats. A piper offers to do the job, and successfully lures the rats into a mirage of cheese, which disappears. The citizens, disappointed that all he did was play a tune, offer only pocket change. The piper, angered, plays a new tune that has all the children of the city follow him, even the new twins the stork is preparing to deliver.
The human resistance works to convert a sentinel to their side. Part of the Animatrix collection of animated shorts set in the Matrix universe.
A brave young animal explorer teams up with two trusty friends to find a powerful artifact before his greedy uncle can get his paws on it.
Across different eras, a poor family, an anxious developer and a fed-up landlady become tied to the same mysterious house in this animated dark comedy.
GrandPat travels through alternate dimensions and timelines to get home.
Charlie Brown is determined to win the big baseball game. But things turn into a fiasco right before the matchup, when Sally bonds with a little flower on the pitcher's mound and vows to protect it at all costs.
When a radio falls from the sky into the hands of a wide-eyed Tibetan Mastiff, he leaves home to fulfill his dream of becoming a musician, setting into motion a series of completely unexpected events.
In the grand tradition of Disney's great musical classics, Melody Time features seven timeless stories, each enhanced with high-spirited music and unforgettable characters. You'll be sure to tap your toes and clap your hands in this witty feast for the eyes and ears.
Groot discovers a miniature civilization that believes the seemingly enormous tree toddler is the hero they’ve been waiting for.
Two half-hour animated films based on the much-loved rhymes written by Roald Dahl and illustrated by Quentin Blake.
When Bodi and his band 'True Blue' leave Snow Mountain to tour with pop sensation Lil' Foxy, they learn that fame comes at a price.
Farmer Donald goes through his farmer day until a fly causes him to lose control while milking a cow.