It was THE SHOW OF SHOWS! Ron Diamond puts out such a great collection of films each year, always very diverse and not only in style but in filmmakers as well. I’d seen a few of the films before, but I gladly watched them again. It would be too difficult to select a favorite out of this group. The format of this shows was really interesting too. I liked the little interjected documentary snippets of selected filmmakers. It added a nice texture and flow to the screening and made it really watchable and thought provoking.
There was one comment that Ron made that really stuck out to me. When he was prefacing the show he said that he left certain films out because of their controversial nature. I get it, he is a businessman after all and is trying to sell stuff. I can also see how even though he shied away from some of the more intense films that he still did a great job of selecting films that didn’t pander and films that weren’t just the same run of the mill Hollywood stuff. But, if short animated film showcases are to be taken seriously as a viable alternative to feature films as cinematic releases, then the boundaries of animation in the public opinion has to be expanded. The most surefire way to do that is to shock them. I say bring on the difficult work, let the public see ‘Hipopotamy’, let them see ‘Edmund’ and other such films. Spike and Mike embraced this underside of animation and did a lot of good work taking their screenings around the US. I am really glad that Ron has been successful with this project and has worked so hard to bring the best of the best to the rest of the rest. I am excited to see where this will go.
I was unable to stick around for the discussion after the show but I hope it was as engaging as the work!
Evan, I disagree with you here on the topic of public view. I am not one to promote censorship generally. However, when you say public… that includes everyone, which is very broad range indeed. ‘Hipopotamy’, to use the above named film as an example, is not for everyone or all age groups. Granted you may argue that one still may make the decision not to see the film. The fact then remains that as a promoter of a film you are going to shorten the range of your viewing audience.
I do agree though that filmmakers should bring up difficult work and ideas. Just clearly understand the responsibility.
There is value to “Shock” as well. The unfortunate part of shock value is it often has a tendency to wear off quickly to disappointment.
You have to decide who your audience is and tailor the work you show to fit them. If you want your audience to be people of all ages, then work like Hipopotamy and Edmund have to be cut. This doesn’t mean that their work isn’t worth showing to the public, it’s just inappropriate for your chosen audience.
If you want to have a show where adults are your only audience, then those films are totally appropriate.
It’s great that we can have Animation Show of Shows tonight! I love all the films in it and I can learn something from every single one of them. Ron Diamond selected those great films every year. It is hard to choice films in the festival because there are so many good short animations each year. You have to trust yourself very much to do that. In the 17th Annual, I like World of Tomorrow most. When I watched the trailer, I thought it is a very serious film. It still talks about serious stuff like the destroy of the human being and the possibility to reserve their conscious forever. But the little girl makes the whole mood easier. It’s an excellent combination with very simple characters and the abstract background, too.
It’s an interesting point that the short animation films which are not for under age 18 will be hard to show around the world. I haven’t thought about this before. Those short films are too short to be on a theater individually and won’t be showed in a film festival, the internet or DVD seems the only way to go. I watched the trailer of Edmond online before and really want to watch it, but can hardly find this film. I’m glad that I can watch it tonight, yet I still hope there were more ways for those films to show around the world.
The Animation Show of Shows was super amazing that reminds me of the graduated screening at my undergraduate university. Watching a lot of talented short films on big screen always makes me excited, especially if there is a film made my ourselves. These short films in Show of Shows inspired me a lot, and I found there was so much similar points in our students’ works. Our works are promising!
The documentary of some filmmakers was impressive part of this show, I can know more about the background of these films from this part. It helps a lot to find much more resonance with these films. My favorite film in this show is We Can’t Live Without Cosmos, and I moved a lot by it. It has a universal theme, friendship, which under a funny story. The characters and backgrounds are simple but not that simple. The strong emotion always hide in a very simple form. I like the structure of this film which make us laughing at the beginning but silence us at the end. Even when I watched other following films, I still thought about it. If I will choose one of films in this show to introduce to my friends, it must to be Cosmos.
Thanks a lot for this show, looking forward to see more in next year!
A memorable Show!In fact, last year I had seen “the17th Annual Animation Show of Show” at last year with my friends,at the “arc light” theatre,Hollywood.But every time saw it I have a new harvest.
“We can’t live without cosmos”is my favorite. To tell the truth, I saw three times in two years, every time will laugh, every time will be tears.
“Snowfall “is also a great piece of work, I can feel very delicate emotions in this animation. This work has no dialogue, but touched me. I often ask myself, what is the value of animation? Is a stunning visual effect ? Is the smooth key animation? Is a delicate plot story? I think that these are not the most important in animation, the most important is that it can still be touched by the people, the true emotions, this is not only the value of the animation works, but also the reason why human beings are human.
I hope that my work can also show this kind of precious emotion.
The Animation Show of Shows is a great collection that helps you see what is going on in the industry, around the world, in one sitting. My favorite was definitely “We Can’t Live Without Cosmos,” because of it’s art style and beautiful story. “World of Tomorrow” was also a great piece. Its simple facade is not to be underestimated because it has a great, thoughtful theory of one way the future can become. It is not only the stories that were emotional and fun, but the techniques as well. They ranged from experimental to simply arduous. I’ve learned more about the wide potential of animation from these shorts.
This was a fantastic show. If I had one complaint, it would only be that I wish it was longer and we got to see even more animations of this caliber. I loved the range of different work shown: different mediums, different emotional tones, different points of view! If I had to pick a favorite, it would have to be Don Hertzfeld’s World of Tomorrow. It has a perfect blend of humorous and solemn moments that give it a surprising earnestness. The premise and visuals are ridiculous, but you can’t help but connect on an emotional level with the characters. They feel more real and raw than many more realistic looking characters.
I think for me, the most important thing to take away from this show as an animator is to make work that speaks to you. Don’t pander. Don’t try to make the kind of films that you think will win awards. Make a film that means something to you. Make something that you can pour your heart and soul into. Maybe it won’t end up being everyone’s cup of tea, but it will speak to some people on a deep, emotional level.
Thank you Ron, I had so much fun watching this show. I was so glad I could watch such good films; different topics, techniques, and tones. I got really inspired the films, got some energy to work on my film. If I should pick one for my favourite, I’d say ‘We Can’t Live without Cosmos’. I liked that lighthearted tone, artwork, animating, talking about true-friendship, and the beautiful ending.. the ending is something that can be only achieved through animation, as I think. Also, I really enjoyed ‘Love in the Time of March Madness’. It is kind of dark, but still has a sense of humor, and very stay in truth. All the transitions were beautifully done, the organic feeling of movement and modeling were so nice. It was such a fortune we could have a time to talk with Melissa Johnson. As women, we are more easily judged by people about our appearance. I really appreciate that she brought up her memories and experience, and shares with us.
One thing I was little bit confused was inserting documentary between the films. One the live action stuff was on the screen, I was confused it is also the part of film, or not; I was informed there’d be documentaries though.
It was a great show with great animations. Thank you again, Ron for an amazing show.
The Animation Show of Shows was a fantastic experience. I really enjoyed the entire collection, and it was great to see new and innovative approaches to stop motion in a few of the pieces. In “Edmond,” for example, it was interesting to see the characters’ expressions drawn digitally over the puppets, and the lighting throughout the piece was phenomenal. I thought a lot of the work touched on stories that are not told very often (“Snowfall,” for instance), and I loved how they were executed with minimal dialogue and a beautiful color palette. In addition, I thought the documentaries were a nice touch; they shed light on the artists’ backgrounds, stories, and approach, and really gave the audience more context for the films.
It would have been nice to see “Sanjay’s Super Team” as well, as it, too, fits the bill for a story is that isn’t told very often. I was surprised when I found out that it wasn’t going to be screened after seeing it on the ASOS posters around the school. Nevertheless, I thought all the films were very enjoyable; if I had to pick a favorite, I’d have to go with “We Can’t Live Without Cosmos” for its simplicity and masterful storytelling.
The Animation Show of Shows was really interesting. I love the mixture of comedy, documentary and emotional animations. I actually did like Tants de Forests simply because it touches on a topic that has been going on although there’s a grey area.
The Story of Percival Pilts is one of my liked ones not only because of its brilliant story and clever rhymes but I was fascinated that it was stop motion!! I’d love to see ‘ the behind the scene footage ‘.
For me , the interesting thing about “The Ballad of the Holland Island House” and “Love in the Time of March Madness” was has good and effortless it seemed to achieve perspective, especially along the Zdepth of the canvas. The morphs, transitions, style, narrative and visuals all worked respectively.
My Top two favorites would be “Stripy” and “Ascension” for tow separate reasons. “Stripy” was able to condense a huge topic into simply lines & colours with a dash of Disney’s style then seasoned with Comic relief. Ascension on the other hand was pure classic comedy from the start with twisted turn of events.
The Last but no the least, “World of Tomorrow” and “Edmond”, both shorts were funny and bizarre at the same time.
In all, it was a great Animation show of shows. Thank you Ron.
The Animation show of shows was fantastic, I loved each one films showed in there, and I really admire Ron Diamond his passion that bring all those amazing animated works from all over the world, also the effort that bring public attention to those talented, independent animators. All the films include in the show shows a wide range of techniques, from stop motion animation to 3d animation. I really like those four documentation of artists talking about their work, technique, and share their inspirations. It works very well as a break during each films. Snowfall gave me strong impression, using elegant hand drawn animation, artist experiments with negative space and framing to focus attention and isolate the main character. Film is quiet as its title, and I love there are moments of abstraction where the medium is used to emphasize emotions.
Its encouraging to know that there is someone out there trying hard to help the best animators find their audiences and venues. I’m really respectful of what Ron Diamond is doing and hope that one day I could be so lucky as to have one of my films in the Show of Shows. I completely agree with Ron when he talks about giving your work away for free and how unfortunate that can be. I was hesitant to upload my Expanded Animation short to vimeo last semester, and publicize it through facebook because now its out there for free and I feel like I worked hard for nothing.
Its important for us as independent filmmakers to figure out distribution for our work. I think its the most difficult part of the entire process and I’ve failed miserably at distributing my own work my entire life. I’m making it a point to really figure out why I’m here and where I plan on distributing my the films I create. Festivals seem to be the only option at this point and I’m really trying to find out what else there is…?
I love Ron Diamond’s Animation Show of Shows, and was so excited for him to come in and present his 2014 – 2015 picks. It’s so inspiring and fun to see the different and sometimes eclectic animation content that Ron chooses. Some are films I normally would not have seen, so I really appreciate and value what he does.
This year I especially liked ‘The Story of Percival Pilts’ and ‘Snowfall’, and ‘We Can’t Live Without Cosmos’ was my favorite. The addition of the documentary clips throughout the show was also very nice, I really enjoyed hearing more insight to the Director’s choices behind their films. With ‘We Can’t Live Without Cosmos’, I liked it even more after hearing the Director, Konstantin Bronzit, talk about how one might think it is about friendship, but mainly it is about being lonely, or alone. I felt like I was getting a little secret about the film, and a glimpse as to who the Director is and what they’re about. It also was great to see ‘Edmond’, a lovely yet bit of a disturbing film that Ron felt was a little too much for the crowd he was going for (which I understand, if I was a kid that one would have stuck with me for years.)
Thank you Ron for coming by!! I’ll be keeping an eye out for your next Kickstarter.
Show of Shows was one of a kind experience. Watching the best short animations from all of the world feels like lucky. It was great to have Ron Diamond presenting the show himself and providing useful information about the show. I like the idea of having documentaries in between the shows. It helped me to connect more with the films. My favorite animation was “We Can’t Live Without Cosmos”. It was very touching and affecting. But I had a special concern about “Stripy”. I really liked to know the reaction of the people in the theatre. This was one of the rare opportunities that people could see Iran not through the war, politics, terrorism and etc but through art, culture and animation. I am really grateful of Ron that provide this opportunity for an Iranian animation.
Thanks to Ron Diamond, put such an amazing animation collection Show of Shows, and it was so excited for him to come and do the presentation . I always love to watch short animation made by different animators. “we can not live without cosmos” is my favourite one, I cried and laughed a lot while I watched it. And the process of making that film was also really touching ,it is pretty rare in animation field to use the hand-draw techniques in recent years, and the group was still doing it. Sometime the we are being to busy to complete our works and we almost forget the original intention of why we are doing this . So not only this film, all of the films in Show of Shows reminded me the reason of why i choice animation as my career, because this field is so pure and effecting, I love it.
Thank you again Ron Diamond for giving us such a good show!
Thank you Ron Diamond for bringing together The Show of Shows. Great compilation of short films. This is a fun collection. It is always good to see films in short form format, and short films that are actually short:). Sometimes feature films seem… well lengthy, and of course great in their own right. It is fantastic to see short films find more respect.
I loved the small talks with a few of the artist as well. These glimpses where refreshing to observe, and served as a nice connection for the rest of us filmmakers.
This was my first experience with the Animation Show of Shows and it was a wonderful collection of animated shorts that I would not have seen if I had not attended this event. I appreciated the varying styles and how each film had its own unique quality to it. “World of Tomorrow” I really appreciated for its storytelling and its believable characters while “Edmond” brought a very dark, experimental tale that was visually amazing. Overall, this experience provided me as an animator inspiration to try out various mediums of storytelling and animation.
The Animation Show of Shows was amazing. It is very interesting to see different styles and genres of animation shorts all around the world.
My top two are definitely “We Can’t Live Without Cosmos,” and “Snowfall”.
The narration of “We Can’t Live Without Cosmos” is very completed. I really like the idea of the little bro escape from the training base from the human shape hole which he created while playing with his brother before. For me, this hole is kind of a symbol of their relationship, their passion, their dream. The internal feeling of the characters had been developed so well. This short is kind of combine positive feeling and negative feeling. Two characters obviously have a very healthy and passion lifestyle, their both have a dream, and they fight for their dream, however, the result turns to very ironic. It just like the movie, Requiem for a Dream indicates that human can be destroyed by their dream. The reason why I like “Snowfall” is not about the story, it is more about the rhythm of this film, I like the subtle emotional change that the director created. The feeling is very light however, also very convincing. Another thing that I noticed was that framing are continuously changing while the character’s emotion changing.
It is an impressive showcase and presentation by Ron Diamond. He possesses decisive and precise vision and show strong determination toward picking films which make his goal really clear and direct. To some degree, it is necessary to take challenges and risks to start something new and different. I think the hardest part for him is how to keep a balance between high qualities and business value of selected films. Without question, this kind of ambiguity and uncertainty is the most interesting part for him and audiences because his strategy to organize these films into whole unity is also one complete work which is really personal and demonstrates some dimensions of his perspective.
Besides, in the film, “Love is the time of March of Madness”, I really enjoyed the transition of bio visual images. The movement and formation of cell-like pattern can really express some frustration from physical and psychological. It’s more influential and expressive than utilizing live-action, characters or narration to solidify this work. Leaving some abstract space to let viewers wander is significant to arouse discussion and communication between individuals since everybody has miscellaneous experiences. The importance and value of art works is really about bridging and connecting whole world to let various ideation seeds take root and thrive.
I really loved Shows of shows. It was an amazing experience for me to see the collections of new short animations that won the awards.
My favorite shorts were Edmond, and World of Tomorrow.
Edmond was very interesting animations that the characters actions are all make senses physiologically. Especially the act of his mother puts the cake into the post box on the door. Those insane acts are the one of the explanation of Edmond himself got into mental disease.
World of Tomorrow was very beautiful animation and I am so happy that independent animation got a nomination for academy award. The story and the concept of the animation is amazing, also.
I’ll see the previous winner shorts films as much as I can.
Thank you Ron Diamond.
My three favorite films from the 17th Annual Animation Show of Shows were The Story Percival of Pilts, Snowfall and Stripy. The cadence of the narration and the use of appealing stop motion puppets to deliver a quirky unexpected story was in my opinion what made The Story Percival of Pilts so strong. I really appreciated Snowfall for its poetic perspective of a rather weighty topic. The internal and very emotional impression Snowfall left on me speaks to this animations ability to adeptly communicate subject matter that may be foreign to some audiences. Stripy was extremely appealing, not only because it resembles the style used in the mainstream animation industry thus evoking a childhood nostalgia but also because it was ultimately about an artist stuck in a world that lacks creativity. This is not so unlike the society we live in today where science and math are value over arts and creative thinking. It was a pretty powerful collection this year. There have been others which are stronger but I assume that’s contingent on the work that was released throughout the year.
I do have one concern, I went to see the 17th Annual Animation Show of Shows at the Archlight in Hollywood and for the amount that I paid it was more than a bit irritating that some of the animations were repeated from the 16th Annual Show of Shows. A completely new set of animations from year to year is necessary.
SPRING 2016 SEMINAR 
It was THE SHOW OF SHOWS! Ron Diamond puts out such a great collection of films each year, always very diverse and not only in style but in filmmakers as well. I’d seen a few of the films before, but I gladly watched them again. It would be too difficult to select a favorite out of this group. The format of this shows was really interesting too. I liked the little interjected documentary snippets of selected filmmakers. It added a nice texture and flow to the screening and made it really watchable and thought provoking.
There was one comment that Ron made that really stuck out to me. When he was prefacing the show he said that he left certain films out because of their controversial nature. I get it, he is a businessman after all and is trying to sell stuff. I can also see how even though he shied away from some of the more intense films that he still did a great job of selecting films that didn’t pander and films that weren’t just the same run of the mill Hollywood stuff. But, if short animated film showcases are to be taken seriously as a viable alternative to feature films as cinematic releases, then the boundaries of animation in the public opinion has to be expanded. The most surefire way to do that is to shock them. I say bring on the difficult work, let the public see ‘Hipopotamy’, let them see ‘Edmund’ and other such films. Spike and Mike embraced this underside of animation and did a lot of good work taking their screenings around the US. I am really glad that Ron has been successful with this project and has worked so hard to bring the best of the best to the rest of the rest. I am excited to see where this will go.
I was unable to stick around for the discussion after the show but I hope it was as engaging as the work!
Thanks for sharing your evening with us Ron!
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Evan, I disagree with you here on the topic of public view. I am not one to promote censorship generally. However, when you say public… that includes everyone, which is very broad range indeed. ‘Hipopotamy’, to use the above named film as an example, is not for everyone or all age groups. Granted you may argue that one still may make the decision not to see the film. The fact then remains that as a promoter of a film you are going to shorten the range of your viewing audience.
I do agree though that filmmakers should bring up difficult work and ideas. Just clearly understand the responsibility.
There is value to “Shock” as well. The unfortunate part of shock value is it often has a tendency to wear off quickly to disappointment.
Cheers
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I totally agree with you Joe.
You have to decide who your audience is and tailor the work you show to fit them. If you want your audience to be people of all ages, then work like Hipopotamy and Edmund have to be cut. This doesn’t mean that their work isn’t worth showing to the public, it’s just inappropriate for your chosen audience.
If you want to have a show where adults are your only audience, then those films are totally appropriate.
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It’s great that we can have Animation Show of Shows tonight! I love all the films in it and I can learn something from every single one of them. Ron Diamond selected those great films every year. It is hard to choice films in the festival because there are so many good short animations each year. You have to trust yourself very much to do that. In the 17th Annual, I like World of Tomorrow most. When I watched the trailer, I thought it is a very serious film. It still talks about serious stuff like the destroy of the human being and the possibility to reserve their conscious forever. But the little girl makes the whole mood easier. It’s an excellent combination with very simple characters and the abstract background, too.
It’s an interesting point that the short animation films which are not for under age 18 will be hard to show around the world. I haven’t thought about this before. Those short films are too short to be on a theater individually and won’t be showed in a film festival, the internet or DVD seems the only way to go. I watched the trailer of Edmond online before and really want to watch it, but can hardly find this film. I’m glad that I can watch it tonight, yet I still hope there were more ways for those films to show around the world.
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The Animation Show of Shows was super amazing that reminds me of the graduated screening at my undergraduate university. Watching a lot of talented short films on big screen always makes me excited, especially if there is a film made my ourselves. These short films in Show of Shows inspired me a lot, and I found there was so much similar points in our students’ works. Our works are promising!
The documentary of some filmmakers was impressive part of this show, I can know more about the background of these films from this part. It helps a lot to find much more resonance with these films. My favorite film in this show is We Can’t Live Without Cosmos, and I moved a lot by it. It has a universal theme, friendship, which under a funny story. The characters and backgrounds are simple but not that simple. The strong emotion always hide in a very simple form. I like the structure of this film which make us laughing at the beginning but silence us at the end. Even when I watched other following films, I still thought about it. If I will choose one of films in this show to introduce to my friends, it must to be Cosmos.
Thanks a lot for this show, looking forward to see more in next year!
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A memorable Show!In fact, last year I had seen “the17th Annual Animation Show of Show” at last year with my friends,at the “arc light” theatre,Hollywood.But every time saw it I have a new harvest.
“We can’t live without cosmos”is my favorite. To tell the truth, I saw three times in two years, every time will laugh, every time will be tears.
“Snowfall “is also a great piece of work, I can feel very delicate emotions in this animation. This work has no dialogue, but touched me. I often ask myself, what is the value of animation? Is a stunning visual effect ? Is the smooth key animation? Is a delicate plot story? I think that these are not the most important in animation, the most important is that it can still be touched by the people, the true emotions, this is not only the value of the animation works, but also the reason why human beings are human.
I hope that my work can also show this kind of precious emotion.
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The Animation Show of Shows is a great collection that helps you see what is going on in the industry, around the world, in one sitting. My favorite was definitely “We Can’t Live Without Cosmos,” because of it’s art style and beautiful story. “World of Tomorrow” was also a great piece. Its simple facade is not to be underestimated because it has a great, thoughtful theory of one way the future can become. It is not only the stories that were emotional and fun, but the techniques as well. They ranged from experimental to simply arduous. I’ve learned more about the wide potential of animation from these shorts.
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This was a fantastic show. If I had one complaint, it would only be that I wish it was longer and we got to see even more animations of this caliber. I loved the range of different work shown: different mediums, different emotional tones, different points of view! If I had to pick a favorite, it would have to be Don Hertzfeld’s World of Tomorrow. It has a perfect blend of humorous and solemn moments that give it a surprising earnestness. The premise and visuals are ridiculous, but you can’t help but connect on an emotional level with the characters. They feel more real and raw than many more realistic looking characters.
I think for me, the most important thing to take away from this show as an animator is to make work that speaks to you. Don’t pander. Don’t try to make the kind of films that you think will win awards. Make a film that means something to you. Make something that you can pour your heart and soul into. Maybe it won’t end up being everyone’s cup of tea, but it will speak to some people on a deep, emotional level.
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Thank you Ron, I had so much fun watching this show. I was so glad I could watch such good films; different topics, techniques, and tones. I got really inspired the films, got some energy to work on my film. If I should pick one for my favourite, I’d say ‘We Can’t Live without Cosmos’. I liked that lighthearted tone, artwork, animating, talking about true-friendship, and the beautiful ending.. the ending is something that can be only achieved through animation, as I think. Also, I really enjoyed ‘Love in the Time of March Madness’. It is kind of dark, but still has a sense of humor, and very stay in truth. All the transitions were beautifully done, the organic feeling of movement and modeling were so nice. It was such a fortune we could have a time to talk with Melissa Johnson. As women, we are more easily judged by people about our appearance. I really appreciate that she brought up her memories and experience, and shares with us.
One thing I was little bit confused was inserting documentary between the films. One the live action stuff was on the screen, I was confused it is also the part of film, or not; I was informed there’d be documentaries though.
It was a great show with great animations. Thank you again, Ron for an amazing show.
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The Animation Show of Shows was a fantastic experience. I really enjoyed the entire collection, and it was great to see new and innovative approaches to stop motion in a few of the pieces. In “Edmond,” for example, it was interesting to see the characters’ expressions drawn digitally over the puppets, and the lighting throughout the piece was phenomenal. I thought a lot of the work touched on stories that are not told very often (“Snowfall,” for instance), and I loved how they were executed with minimal dialogue and a beautiful color palette. In addition, I thought the documentaries were a nice touch; they shed light on the artists’ backgrounds, stories, and approach, and really gave the audience more context for the films.
It would have been nice to see “Sanjay’s Super Team” as well, as it, too, fits the bill for a story is that isn’t told very often. I was surprised when I found out that it wasn’t going to be screened after seeing it on the ASOS posters around the school. Nevertheless, I thought all the films were very enjoyable; if I had to pick a favorite, I’d have to go with “We Can’t Live Without Cosmos” for its simplicity and masterful storytelling.
Thanks for a great evening, Ron!
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The Animation Show of Shows was really interesting. I love the mixture of comedy, documentary and emotional animations. I actually did like Tants de Forests simply because it touches on a topic that has been going on although there’s a grey area.
The Story of Percival Pilts is one of my liked ones not only because of its brilliant story and clever rhymes but I was fascinated that it was stop motion!! I’d love to see ‘ the behind the scene footage ‘.
For me , the interesting thing about “The Ballad of the Holland Island House” and “Love in the Time of March Madness” was has good and effortless it seemed to achieve perspective, especially along the Zdepth of the canvas. The morphs, transitions, style, narrative and visuals all worked respectively.
My Top two favorites would be “Stripy” and “Ascension” for tow separate reasons. “Stripy” was able to condense a huge topic into simply lines & colours with a dash of Disney’s style then seasoned with Comic relief. Ascension on the other hand was pure classic comedy from the start with twisted turn of events.
The Last but no the least, “World of Tomorrow” and “Edmond”, both shorts were funny and bizarre at the same time.
In all, it was a great Animation show of shows. Thank you Ron.
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The Animation show of shows was fantastic, I loved each one films showed in there, and I really admire Ron Diamond his passion that bring all those amazing animated works from all over the world, also the effort that bring public attention to those talented, independent animators. All the films include in the show shows a wide range of techniques, from stop motion animation to 3d animation. I really like those four documentation of artists talking about their work, technique, and share their inspirations. It works very well as a break during each films. Snowfall gave me strong impression, using elegant hand drawn animation, artist experiments with negative space and framing to focus attention and isolate the main character. Film is quiet as its title, and I love there are moments of abstraction where the medium is used to emphasize emotions.
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Its encouraging to know that there is someone out there trying hard to help the best animators find their audiences and venues. I’m really respectful of what Ron Diamond is doing and hope that one day I could be so lucky as to have one of my films in the Show of Shows. I completely agree with Ron when he talks about giving your work away for free and how unfortunate that can be. I was hesitant to upload my Expanded Animation short to vimeo last semester, and publicize it through facebook because now its out there for free and I feel like I worked hard for nothing.
Its important for us as independent filmmakers to figure out distribution for our work. I think its the most difficult part of the entire process and I’ve failed miserably at distributing my own work my entire life. I’m making it a point to really figure out why I’m here and where I plan on distributing my the films I create. Festivals seem to be the only option at this point and I’m really trying to find out what else there is…?
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I love Ron Diamond’s Animation Show of Shows, and was so excited for him to come in and present his 2014 – 2015 picks. It’s so inspiring and fun to see the different and sometimes eclectic animation content that Ron chooses. Some are films I normally would not have seen, so I really appreciate and value what he does.
This year I especially liked ‘The Story of Percival Pilts’ and ‘Snowfall’, and ‘We Can’t Live Without Cosmos’ was my favorite. The addition of the documentary clips throughout the show was also very nice, I really enjoyed hearing more insight to the Director’s choices behind their films. With ‘We Can’t Live Without Cosmos’, I liked it even more after hearing the Director, Konstantin Bronzit, talk about how one might think it is about friendship, but mainly it is about being lonely, or alone. I felt like I was getting a little secret about the film, and a glimpse as to who the Director is and what they’re about. It also was great to see ‘Edmond’, a lovely yet bit of a disturbing film that Ron felt was a little too much for the crowd he was going for (which I understand, if I was a kid that one would have stuck with me for years.)
Thank you Ron for coming by!! I’ll be keeping an eye out for your next Kickstarter.
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Show of Shows was one of a kind experience. Watching the best short animations from all of the world feels like lucky. It was great to have Ron Diamond presenting the show himself and providing useful information about the show. I like the idea of having documentaries in between the shows. It helped me to connect more with the films. My favorite animation was “We Can’t Live Without Cosmos”. It was very touching and affecting. But I had a special concern about “Stripy”. I really liked to know the reaction of the people in the theatre. This was one of the rare opportunities that people could see Iran not through the war, politics, terrorism and etc but through art, culture and animation. I am really grateful of Ron that provide this opportunity for an Iranian animation.
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Thanks to Ron Diamond, put such an amazing animation collection Show of Shows, and it was so excited for him to come and do the presentation . I always love to watch short animation made by different animators. “we can not live without cosmos” is my favourite one, I cried and laughed a lot while I watched it. And the process of making that film was also really touching ,it is pretty rare in animation field to use the hand-draw techniques in recent years, and the group was still doing it. Sometime the we are being to busy to complete our works and we almost forget the original intention of why we are doing this . So not only this film, all of the films in Show of Shows reminded me the reason of why i choice animation as my career, because this field is so pure and effecting, I love it.
Thank you again Ron Diamond for giving us such a good show!
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Thank you Ron Diamond for bringing together The Show of Shows. Great compilation of short films. This is a fun collection. It is always good to see films in short form format, and short films that are actually short:). Sometimes feature films seem… well lengthy, and of course great in their own right. It is fantastic to see short films find more respect.
I loved the small talks with a few of the artist as well. These glimpses where refreshing to observe, and served as a nice connection for the rest of us filmmakers.
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This was my first experience with the Animation Show of Shows and it was a wonderful collection of animated shorts that I would not have seen if I had not attended this event. I appreciated the varying styles and how each film had its own unique quality to it. “World of Tomorrow” I really appreciated for its storytelling and its believable characters while “Edmond” brought a very dark, experimental tale that was visually amazing. Overall, this experience provided me as an animator inspiration to try out various mediums of storytelling and animation.
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The Animation Show of Shows was amazing. It is very interesting to see different styles and genres of animation shorts all around the world.
My top two are definitely “We Can’t Live Without Cosmos,” and “Snowfall”.
The narration of “We Can’t Live Without Cosmos” is very completed. I really like the idea of the little bro escape from the training base from the human shape hole which he created while playing with his brother before. For me, this hole is kind of a symbol of their relationship, their passion, their dream. The internal feeling of the characters had been developed so well. This short is kind of combine positive feeling and negative feeling. Two characters obviously have a very healthy and passion lifestyle, their both have a dream, and they fight for their dream, however, the result turns to very ironic. It just like the movie, Requiem for a Dream indicates that human can be destroyed by their dream. The reason why I like “Snowfall” is not about the story, it is more about the rhythm of this film, I like the subtle emotional change that the director created. The feeling is very light however, also very convincing. Another thing that I noticed was that framing are continuously changing while the character’s emotion changing.
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It is an impressive showcase and presentation by Ron Diamond. He possesses decisive and precise vision and show strong determination toward picking films which make his goal really clear and direct. To some degree, it is necessary to take challenges and risks to start something new and different. I think the hardest part for him is how to keep a balance between high qualities and business value of selected films. Without question, this kind of ambiguity and uncertainty is the most interesting part for him and audiences because his strategy to organize these films into whole unity is also one complete work which is really personal and demonstrates some dimensions of his perspective.
Besides, in the film, “Love is the time of March of Madness”, I really enjoyed the transition of bio visual images. The movement and formation of cell-like pattern can really express some frustration from physical and psychological. It’s more influential and expressive than utilizing live-action, characters or narration to solidify this work. Leaving some abstract space to let viewers wander is significant to arouse discussion and communication between individuals since everybody has miscellaneous experiences. The importance and value of art works is really about bridging and connecting whole world to let various ideation seeds take root and thrive.
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I really loved Shows of shows. It was an amazing experience for me to see the collections of new short animations that won the awards.
My favorite shorts were Edmond, and World of Tomorrow.
Edmond was very interesting animations that the characters actions are all make senses physiologically. Especially the act of his mother puts the cake into the post box on the door. Those insane acts are the one of the explanation of Edmond himself got into mental disease.
World of Tomorrow was very beautiful animation and I am so happy that independent animation got a nomination for academy award. The story and the concept of the animation is amazing, also.
I’ll see the previous winner shorts films as much as I can.
Thank you Ron Diamond.
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My three favorite films from the 17th Annual Animation Show of Shows were The Story Percival of Pilts, Snowfall and Stripy. The cadence of the narration and the use of appealing stop motion puppets to deliver a quirky unexpected story was in my opinion what made The Story Percival of Pilts so strong. I really appreciated Snowfall for its poetic perspective of a rather weighty topic. The internal and very emotional impression Snowfall left on me speaks to this animations ability to adeptly communicate subject matter that may be foreign to some audiences. Stripy was extremely appealing, not only because it resembles the style used in the mainstream animation industry thus evoking a childhood nostalgia but also because it was ultimately about an artist stuck in a world that lacks creativity. This is not so unlike the society we live in today where science and math are value over arts and creative thinking. It was a pretty powerful collection this year. There have been others which are stronger but I assume that’s contingent on the work that was released throughout the year.
I do have one concern, I went to see the 17th Annual Animation Show of Shows at the Archlight in Hollywood and for the amount that I paid it was more than a bit irritating that some of the animations were repeated from the 16th Annual Show of Shows. A completely new set of animations from year to year is necessary.
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