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Main Area and Open Discussion => Living Room => Topic started by: p3lb0x on June 10, 2010, 04:54 PM

Title: Second Wind - beautiful student animation
Post by: p3lb0x on June 10, 2010, 04:54 PM: Second Wind

http://vimeo.com/10019015

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I found this small animated short from a blog post by another aspiring animation student. It's really sweet, sad and beautiful. I couldn't help but share it. Enjoy
Title: Re: Second Wind - beautiful student animation
Post by: mouser on June 10, 2010, 05:02 PM: amazing and emotional.
i'd love to hear the what people think the ending means.
Title: Re: Second Wind - beautiful student animation
Post by: Paul Keith on June 10, 2010, 06:14 PM: I'm generally poor with interpreting these things and the comment did allude to God giving life to man but to me, the story represents the tale of rebellion, regret and reassurance.

The cat was the man's daughter growing up and the early events were the man taking care of his daughter as they both grew out of their experience with each other.

Eventually the time came when the daughter grew old enough to take care of herself and the man grew much older that both lost their innocence.

The ball which represented innocence or fun or wonder starts growing glimmer for the man as he chased it through old age while the daughter moves on with her life. Not leaving her father necessarily but both grew distant to their earlier interactions as both developed further into their age.

Eventually the man rediscovers his youth while at the same time realizing that he has become old.

The little electric pod thing symbolized both the man's avatar, old age and his desire to bring back time he has lost. A time of fun. A time of being with his daughter. A time of wonder.

The daughter though, while still loving her father, grew distant and yet more possessive. On one hand, she loved her father enough to cling to that image of her father and on the other hand, she wanted to push away the man that asks of her to re-kindle her simpler more wonderful past.

Eventually the man dies and the daughter regrets not having one last wonderful moment with her father and the windmill which represents the wind of memories both shared turns to pain and regret and sorrow and the daughter tries to push the memories away while still clinging to the image of the man as she remembers him as a child.

Eventually the daughter "settles" as time moves on and merely cherishes the image of wonder with her father from her youth. Time having dulled her regret and love having forced her to simply hope that her father was in a better place.

In the end, the daughter would like and probably deludes or hope (depending on your world view) that the man has moved on to a better place and all she can do now to cherish his father and pay him back was to remember her in her memories. Remembering the image and the desire and the hope for re-kindling with her daughter that the man expressed to her before he passed away.

The windmill on the man's back thus represents the brain process of when the daughter thinks of her deceased father (a combination of his earlier days with her, his old self and the dying man she wanted to repressed and keep from living with prior to his death) and the cat's blow is like the daughter's wavering focus and desire of remembering her father through her memories. It begs the question, how long until the cat (the daughter) gets tired of being inspired by her past and clinging to it and how long until she moves on...and how often will she remember to go back to the windmilled old man and blow him back to life again.
Title: Re: Second Wind - beautiful student animation
Post by: Deozaan on June 10, 2010, 07:00 PM: Thanks for sharing that, p3l. I really liked it. :Thmbsup:
Title: Re: Second Wind - beautiful student animation
Post by: mouser on June 10, 2010, 07:06 PM: I was trying to imagine it as a cat's dream trying to understand life+death+play.
Title: Re: Second Wind - beautiful student animation
Post by: Renegade on June 10, 2010, 08:17 PM: Loved it. It's nice to see cartoons with texture in them, and not just flat color.

I really wish that the theatres would get back to using their brains (I know... unrealistic...) and actually bringing some better value back to theatre-goers by putting shorts back in. It would make the 15~30 minutes of commercials bearable.

(Pet peeve of mine -- I LOATHE paying almost $20 for a movie only to have them waste my time with an excessive amount of advertising -- if you want me to watch ads, give it to me for free... Otherwise, f*** **f! A few minutes are ok to allow for stragglers, but 15+ minutes???)

It's always really nice to have shorts before a movie. It really makes the whole "going to the movies" experience much better. You get the movie, plus a cool little surprise!
Title: Re: Second Wind - beautiful student animation
Post by: lanux128 on June 10, 2010, 11:12 PM: thanks for the link.. :Thmbsup:
Title: Re: Second Wind - beautiful student animation
Post by: Nod5 on June 11, 2010, 12:00 PM: Amazing! I enjoyed that a lot. The tone, coloring and content reminded me of the indie game Braid, http://www.braid-game.com/ .
Title: Re: Second Wind - beautiful student animation
Post by: 40hz on June 11, 2010, 12:18 PM: Especially liked the music.
Title: Re: Second Wind - beautiful student animation
Post by: steeladept on June 11, 2010, 12:24 PM: I'm generally poor with interpreting these things and the comment did allude to God giving life to man but to me, the story represents the tale of rebellion, regret and reassurance.
-Paul Keith (June 10, 2010, 06:14 PM)
Funny. That is the bulk of the story of many religions.
Title: Re: Second Wind - beautiful student animation
Post by: lanux128 on June 11, 2010, 05:49 PM: does the creative team behind the animation have any blog where they kind of explain the back story?
Title: Re: Second Wind - beautiful student animation
Post by: 40hz on June 11, 2010, 07:04 PM: +1 w/lanux128.

I thought I got the story until the POV switched from the old man to the cat at which point I think I think I kinda lost what was being said.

:)
Title: Re: Second Wind - beautiful student animation
Post by: lanux128 on June 12, 2010, 02:30 AM: i googled the author's blog (http://ianworrel2.blogspot.com/) but there is no back story, only some concept art and illustrations.. anyway, he has another short animation called "Icarus & the Tree Herder", also on Vimeo (http://vimeo.com/5921562).
Title: Re: Second Wind - beautiful student animation
Post by: IainB on June 13, 2010, 09:26 AM: @p3lb0x: Thanks for that link. Lovely animation.
Title: Re: Second Wind - beautiful student animation
Post by: superboyac on June 14, 2010, 10:25 AM: Loved it. It's nice to see cartoons with texture in them, and not just flat color.

I really wish that the theatres would get back to using their brains (I know... unrealistic...) and actually bringing some better value back to theatre-goers by putting shorts back in. It would make the 15~30 minutes of commercials bearable.

(Pet peeve of mine -- I LOATHE paying almost $20 for a movie only to have them waste my time with an excessive amount of advertising -- if you want me to watch ads, give it to me for free... Otherwise, f*** **f! A few minutes are ok to allow for stragglers, but 15+ minutes???)

It's always really nice to have shorts before a movie. It really makes the whole "going to the movies" experience much better. You get the movie, plus a cool little surprise!
-Renegade (June 10, 2010, 08:17 PM)
I feel you there. It's unbelievable how much advertising has crept into our lives.
Title: Re: Second Wind - beautiful student animation
Post by: f0dder on June 14, 2010, 10:47 AM: I really liked the style of this animation, everything went very well together - colors, texture, animation style, music... :up: