1. The short films in this collection provide us with a great opportunity to study the relationship between technical achiement and the narrative forms it acquires. In a way, there is no reason at all why these films should have the plots and narratives they do. Their diversity proves that. Some, like Megacycles are seemingly non-narrative. Others have momentary story lines, or start and end abruptly. Others are surreal, lyrical, or experimental in form. We also get some advertisements, and a few music videos.

2. How do you understand the narrative or non-narrative presentation of these films? When we do get a story, what type of story is it? Are there any plots or thematic tendencies in the films?

3. Think about the sound of these films. There is great emphasis on the coordination between sound and image, partly because this is a major preoccupation of all animated films, and partly becauase the digital format of the films requires a new approach to the soundtrack. In Baloon Guy for example, we see that the story itself revolves around the wonderful sound effects, and their perfect synchronization with the animated character. What other types of relation to sound do you see in these films?

4. In other films we have discussed in this class, we have often focused on the representation of iconic technological moments that relate to virtuality, "the net" or the space inside a computer. The short computer animated films in this collection are just such iconic moments, but they come to us disconnected from the need for a "realistic" narrative (I am sitting at my computer and this is what I see). How do you understand them? How do these films relate or respond to the themes we have explored in this class so far? Can we connect these shorts to other longer or more traditionally narrative texts?

5. What metaphors emerge in the visual representation of these films? What types of visual vocabulary do they create? What images seem to accumulate?

Production Information

Here are the titles and dates of the films in this collection:

1. Opening Title (from SIGGRAPH '95)

2. Stanley and Stella in "Breaking The Ice" (1987)

3. Quest - A Long Ray's Journey Into Light (1985)

4. Megacycles (1989)

5. High Fidelity (1982)

6. Glider (1981)

7. Peppy (1989)

8. Work's Ant (1984)

9. Fantasy/ LBS (1986)

10. Pencil Test (1988)

11. Deja Vu (1987)

12. Adam Powers (1981)

13. Chromosaurus (1985)

14. The Gold Series (1985)

15. Botco (1985)

16. Eurhythmy (1989)

17. Brilliance (1985)

18. Max's Place (1985)

19. Opera Industriel (1986)

20. Speeder (1986)

21. Dance Of The Stumblers (1987)

22. Balloon Guy (1987)

23. A Comic Zoom (1985)

24. Fair Play (1986)

25. The Little Death (1989)

26. Hawaiian Punch (1986)

27. Tony de Peltrie (1985)

28. Hard Woman (1986)

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