OUAN602 - Manchester Animation Festival: Not Much

I have picked four of my favourite works from Manchester Animation Festival that I would like to talk about in depth because I enjoyed them for their story, delivery and the production design that was behind the final outcome. An short from 'Gobelins School of Animation' in France that stayed with me after the showing was 'Que Dalle' or when translated 'Not Much' or 'Bugger All'. This animation depicts four young school boys plotting to get revenge on a lunch lady that upset a pupil.

Some notable things I liked straight away about this animated short was the choice of camera angles, very well staged in combination with the sound and pacing of the whole animation. The story is clear by the simple and well written dialogue between the four characters and although on the surface seem like quite a dark story, there is humour dotted through it which provides it with a black comedy feel. Along with this, the production design is extremely consistent, whilst also being unique and very original in my opinion. The use of colour, lighting and rural settings takes you as the audience to remote industrialised rural locations in the French countryside, where country roads, silos and barbed wire fences co-exist. After watching it several times, the use of weather is very important in this animation, with the sky and weather in general shifting scene to scene, showing the passing of time in collaboration with an escalation of events towards the climax and the finale.

Overall, this is a very well produced animation in terms of the design, aesthetic, script and smaller details such as character voices and shift in time. I have definitely been inspired by this piece and from the 'making of' video behind the animation feel like I have learnt a lot just from the work and result that was achieved here.