Bleatings from the Sheep

Co Hoedeman (WARNING: Prepare for the longest post ever.)

I love animation.

So tonight I went and watched the animated films by Co Hoedeman. The first half were geared more towards children, while the second were aimed most likely towards a more mature audience. They were all pretty great, though. So let’s begin with the heart of this blog entry, shall we?

“Odd Ball”
I don’t have too much to say about this film, other than the fact that I enjoyed watching it and I enjoyed the part with all the fun colors. ^_^ Also, if nothing else, this pretty much confirmed in my mind that the “odd balls” of the world are the greatest...heh.



“Thcou-tchou”
I think that I got into this film a little more than I did with the first. The animation with the blocks was wonderful. And the story was cute, too. It’s hard for me to remember what it was like being a little kid, but it was during this film that I started remembering how I would’ve reacted to what happened. What’s funny is that I know I probably would’ve cried when the blocks all got knocked down and the girl got crushed. When I was little I felt no shame in showing my true emotions...haha. But anyway, back to present day. I was delighted with the way they defeated the dragon-creature. That kind of creativity only works in the world of youth; you’d never see a “mature” film end where the protagonists physically change the nature of the antagonist to work towards their benefit, at least, not in such a simplistic way. I thought that was fantastic, though.




“Ludovic: The Snow Gift”
This has to have been one of the cutest films I’ve seen in a very long time. I just loved it. So much so that if I knew where to buy it, I probably would. I think that of all the children’s films, it succeeded the most in drawing me back into the world of my childhood. I felt a tiny bit of awe spark within me when the doll came to life, and I remembered how often I used to pretend that all my dolls (well...stuffed animals...I never had many dolls) were alive; each of them had detailed stories and histories behind them. And when I say each of them, I mean each and every one of them...and I had MANY stuffed animals. And by watching how Ludovic reacted to different events that took place during the story, I felt that I could relate some. Well, the child in me could relate, anyway. Plus, the character of Ludovic was just so cuddly to begin with, and that helped. Overall, I thought it did an excellent job appealing to its audience: children, both the real child (as was evident in the audience tonight) and the “inner child.”



“Sand Castle”
I liked this one a lot, too, though not quite as much as the others. I was interested, but it was less on the level of my inner-child and more on the level of an animator. Actually, I was a little sad at the end, because the wind came and messed everything up...Maybe that’s just me though. I get too attached to inanimate objects, anyway.



“The Box”
I thought this one was also very good. The style of animation was interesting, and fun to watch. And I was charmed with how it showed the creator’s love for his creation. The entire time, the creator watched over the creation and cared for it, loved it. As Christians, that kinda sounds familiar, doesn’t it? ;)



That marked the end of the children’s films. After a short break, we resumed, picking up with films aimed towards a slightly older audience. This is when my head began to hurt.

sand animation...(I forgot the title, as well as who made it. Anyone care to clue me in?)
The first film of the second half wasn’t actually made by Co Hoedeman. I don’t remember the name of the woman who did make it, or the title of the film...but I do remember the style. I thought it was a very interesting style of animation, and one day I would like to try it. I know I won’t be that good at it, but I’d still like to give it a shot. :P Anywho, about the storyline; it made me sad. I mean, come on…the poor thing drowned at the end! I suppose it had a deeper significance, and I suppose that I should have been focusing on that instead. So let’s try it, shall we? The one bird was in love with a different kind of bird, and so he pursued it, and it turned out not-so-well for him. If I’m not mistaken, I think Prof Leeper made some comment afterwards about not yolking with unbelievers, so I guess I’m going to try to look at it from that perspective. Even if he didn’t make that comment, that’s the most meaning I could find in it. Still, I found it depressing. And yes, I know that real life isn’t always happy, that often times things go badly, and blah blah blah. But that still doesn’t change the fact that I thought it was sad.



“Charles and Francois”
I liked this one a lot. There were some parts I didn’t quite understand (quite a few, actually) like how the age difference got warped at some point. Most of the times, when something confuses me, I tend not to like it very much. But this one was different. I actually would like to watch it again, so that I could pick up on things that I missed before, because I know there’s a lot that I missed. I liked the overall feel to it, though, and even though I didn’t “get” it 100%, it did make me think. I think what made it special to me, though, is that it reminded me of my grandpa. He passed away recently, but...I don’t know...it just reminded me of him, I can’t explain it. So while I’m sure that meaning wasn’t put in there on purpose, that’s what I found in it that was most significant to me personally. Though even outside of that meaning, it was still a good film.



“The Sniffing Bear”
This one was interesting. I’m not sure what to say about it, though. The bear was addicted to whatever it was that was in that container. It was definitely bad, though. His “friends” recognized it, tried to take it away, but it didn’t work and he came back to it. He would rather have the substance than his friends. Then when he got into trouble, his friends came to his aid, regardless of how they had been treated earlier. It was then that he was finally able to walk away from the thing he had been addicted to. It was an interesting plot, and it was interesting to see how for once the good influence rubbed off on the bad influence, instead of vice versa like you usually see. It was a pretty good film.



“Marianne’s Theatre”
I’m almost done. I promise. This film was pretty great, though I felt a little dense afterwards. It was wonderful and delightful to watch, but if there was a deeper meaning behind it, I certainly couldn’t find it. If anyone has any insight on this (and actually made it to this point in my massive post) please let me know. When I try to analyze it, I get confused, and it doesn’t make sense to me, and I lose interest. But when I look at it and enjoy it for what I physically saw on the screen, I loved it. It was definitely visually appealing, and wonderful to watch. So overall I suppose that for now I’ll just leave it at having enjoyed it, and move on.



Okay, that’s all, I’m done now. Sorry for such a humongous post...I guess I got a little carried away. Would you believe that this is over two pages long in a single-spaced Word document? And well over 1,000 words. Right. So, maybe you would believe it. Um...sorry again.

posted by Caitlynn @ 11:35 PM