MetaFilter posts tagged with shorts

'Tis the gift to be simple, 'tis the gift to be free

kimota — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 22:08:00 -0800

If you're of a certain age, you might've seen Simple Gifts: 6 Heartwarming Holiday Stories on PBS in the late 70s or early 80s. Maybe you enjoyed it as much as I did, or maybe you still will.

Prologue, by Maurice Sendak.
1. A Memory of Christmas part one, part two
2. Lost And Found
3. Excerpted from Orlando, The Great Frost part one and part two
4. My Christmas, as told by a young Teddy Roosevelt
5. December 25th, 1914 (You might otherwise know this event from the video for Paul McCartney's "The Pipes of Peace.")
6. No Room At The Inn part one, part two

BORN TO DIE! NEW YORK'S NEW YORK! THE TURN OF THE CENTURY! ALL CRIME!

Dr-Baa — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 09:07:27 -0800

STEVIE WASHINGTON- THE ANGRY YOUTH! If you watched MTV in the late 1980s, chances are during a commercial break you'd catch an episode of Stevie and Zoya (A.K.A. Stevie Washington- The Angry Youth). The series was created by Joe Horne, who later produced the similar series The Specialists (2)(3)(4)(5)(6)(7)(8)(9)(10)for MTV's Liquid Television . Narration was provided by Russell Johnson probably best known as The Professor on Gilligan's Island. There's also a couple of recent flash animations for Stevie Washington, which may or may not be by Joe Horne. (I'm thinking not.)

festival-quality short films collection

taz — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 05:46:17 -0800

The Oscar-nominated "Mysterious Explorations of Jasper Morello" is an "adventurous tale of a navigator’s journey to save his ailing wife set in a beautiful world of Victorian science-fiction" and one the many fine film shorts and videos available to watch at shortof theweek.com - a site dedicated to "finding those few [video] gems amongst the enormous heap of garbage they're buried in..." You can browse the archives by genre, topic and style. Some of these you will have seen before, while some, I hope, will be new to you. A few personal favorites of both sorts: Solar, City Paradise, Comedy, Balance, Muto, Rabbit, The Pearce sisters.

We feed babies our insanity

Alex404 — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 22:44:40 -0800

The Stone of Folly is a wonderful stop motion animation released in 2002. Luckily, for those of us who don't own a copy, it was shown on the Canadian short film show Bravo!Fact Presents. Their website contains a treasure trove of Canadian short film (check the linked video).

The Good, the Stop and the Motion

bjrn — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 02:30:10 -0800

The animator Pes has just released a new stop-motion short: Western Spaghetti. Since last being mentioned on MeFi, he's made a number of stop motion shorts, including the Human Skateboard which did the rounds a while back [on MeFi] and Game Over. For those interested in a bit of background there is an interview with him about Game Over and two making of movies, one about Roof Sex and one about Kaboom.

2008 Animated Short Film Oscar Noms

jonson — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 11:31:26 -0800

The 2008 Oscar nominated animated shorts are online. Via.

MST3K: The Shorts

cog_nate — Wed, 24 Oct 2007 12:38:10 -0800

During its run, Mystery Science Theater 3000 riffed on over 50 short films. Almost all of them are now on YouTube or Google Video. See the list (shamelessly cribbed from here) inside for links. Alphabetical list with episode information shamelessly cribbed from here, then chopped and channeled. (It was actually missing a couple.)

A
Alphabet Antics: 308, Gamera vs. Gaos
Appreciating Our Parents: 320, The Unearthly
Aquatic Wizards: 315, Teenage Caveman
Are You Ready for Marriage? (in sequence here and here): 616, Racket Girls
Assignment Venezuela: Never aired

B
Body Care & Grooming: 510, The Painted Hills

C
Case of Spring Fever, A: 1012, Squirm
Catching Trouble: 315, Teenage Caveman
Century 21 Calling: 906, The Space Children
Cheating: 515, The Wild Wild World of Batwoman
Chicken of Tomorrow, The: 702, The Brute Man
Circus on Ice: 421, Monster a Go-Go
Commando Cody (Part 1): 102, The Robot vs the Aztec Mummy (link goes to episode)
Commando Cody (Part 2): 103, The Mad Monster (link goes to episode)
Commando Cody (Part 3): 105, The Corpse Vanishes (not online, unMST'd version here)
Commando Cody (Parts 4 and 5 in sequence here, here and here): 107, Robot Monster
Commando Cody (Part 6): 108, Slime People (not online, unMST'd version here)
Commando Cody (Parts 7 and 8): 109, Project Moonbase (not online, unMST'd versions here and here)
Commando Cody (Part 9): 110, Robot Holocaust (link goes to episode)

D
Date with Your Family, A: 602, Invasion U.S.A. (1952)
Day at the Fair, A: 608, Codename: Diamondhead
Days of Our Years, The: 623, The Amazing Transparent Man
Design for Dreaming: 524, 12 to the Moon

G
General Hospital (Parts 1, 2 and 3 in sequence here and here): 413, Manhunt in Space; 415, The Beatniks; and 417, Crash of the Moons

H
Here Comes the Circus: 422, The Day the Earth Froze
Hired! (Parts 1 and 2): 423, Bride of the Monster and 424 Manos the Hands of Fate
Home Economics Story, The: 317, Viking Women and the Sea Serpent (not online, unMST'd version here)

J
Johnny at the Fair: 419, The Rebel Set
Junior Rodeo Daredevils: 407, The Killer Shrews
Juvenile Delinquency?, What About: 518, The Atomic Brain

K
Keeping Clean and Neat: 613, The Sinister Urge

L
Last Clear Chance: 520, Radar Secret Service

M
Mr. B Natural: 319, War of the Colossal Beast
Money Talks: 621, The Beast of Yucca Flats

O
Once Upon a Honeymoon: 701, Night of the Blood Beast
Out of This World: 618, High School Big Shot

P
Phantom Creeps, The (Part 1 in sequence here, here and here): 203, Jungle Goddess
Phantom Creeps, The (Part 2 in sequence here, here and here): 205, Rocket Attack U.S.A.
Phantom Creeps, The (Part 3): 206, Ring of Terror (not online)
Posture Pals: 320, The Unearthly
Progress Island U.S.A. (Part 1, Part 2): 621, The Beast of Yucca Flats

R
Robot Rumpus: 912, The Screaming Skull

S
Selling Wizard (in sequenc here and here): 603, The Dead Talk Back
Snow Thrills: 311, It Conquered the World
Speech: Platform Balance & Posture: 619, Red Zone Cuba
Speech: Using Your Voice: 313, Earth vs the Spider

U
Uncle Jim's Farm: 607, Bloodlust!
Undersea Kingdom, Chapter 1: 406, Attack of the Giant Leeches (link goes to episode)
Undersea Kingdom, Chapter 2: 409, The Indestructible Man (not online, unMST'd version here)

W
Why Study Industrial Arts?: 609, The Skydivers

X
X Marks the Spot: 210, King Dinosaur

Y
Young Man's Fancy: 610, The Violent Years

Well, our flight was just fine up until that guy started his lame singing. That's not JAZZ!

miss lynnster — Sat, 11 Aug 2007 06:12:20 -0800

Zeppelin vs. Pterodactyls (1936), with cameos by Bela Lugosi, John Wayne & Terrence Stamp. This is a Hammer Film.

Don't go in the basement!

Slap*Happy — Mon, 23 Jul 2007 22:56:59 -0800

Sally Cruikshank intends to put all of her animations on YouTube, including her opening credits for Ruthless People, the Seseame Street Feets too Big short, and don't miss the Oingo Boingo assist on Face Like A Frog. She's very active in the comments section of some of her videos, too, answering questions and participating in the discussion of her work.

NYMag's Top Five Tribeca Film Fest shorts

mediareport — Sun, 29 Apr 2007 07:28:41 -0800

New York Magazine's top five shorts from the Tribeca Film Festival, presented in full, including the 25-minute documentary "Someone Else's War," about third-world contract employees in Iraq. A bit more inside. [via Nerve's Screengrab]

Mytoons

owhydididoit — Sat, 24 Mar 2007 23:23:17 -0800

There are lots of cool animations at mytoons.

Nude Caboose gets a big WTF

dobbs — Sun, 11 Mar 2007 21:03:18 -0800

The Shorts In Motion site has content some may find interesting, including some short films by Guy Maddin (nsfw; wtf), Mark McKinney, Denis Villeneuve (one of my fave Canadian filmmakers), Ann Marie Fleming, Issabella Rossellini and some cute quizzes/extras. (Flash, and I haven't viewed everything so consider it nsfw).

Please for you to clap hands and cheering for Mister Lick Poop!

ZachsMind — Sat, 10 Mar 2007 20:03:07 -0800

Mediocre Films consists of films which are... mediocre, hence the name. Night of the Zombie. Batty Bat-Bat. Gorgeous Tiny Chicken Machine Show. Granted, it's not LG15 but I think that's what I like about it most. These short subject films are made by some guy named Greg, with help from other people whom you may have never heard of before. Occasionally they also feature a guy named Adam whom you might recognize but you may not be able to recall from where. It's funny. Well. I liked it. My girlfriend didn't. She said they were mediocre; to which I said, "exactly!" Sheesh. Women.

What time is it? Adventure Time!

dobbs — Thu, 08 Feb 2007 13:18:14 -0800

Adventure Time is an awesome animated short by Pendleton Ward, who also has a site with some cartoons, animation, comics, and a blog.

Oscar's 2007 Best Animated Short Videos

JPowers — Wed, 24 Jan 2007 12:37:22 -0800

"Best Animated Short" is the Oscar category that (arguably) gets the least love. But why? They're often the most accessible, usually coming in at less than 10 minutes in length. Thus, for you consideration, here are direct links to three of the five 2007 nominees: "Maestro", "No Time For Nuts", and "The Danish Poet" (via).

It ain't human but we loves it just the same.

dobbs — Tue, 28 Nov 2006 18:51:42 -0800

My Misio - a site for a ~~pet~~ crochet ~~bear~~ cat. Some nice pics in the diary section and a vid, too. {It be Flash}

Begone Dull Care

ob — Wed, 06 Sep 2006 07:10:11 -0800

Norman McLaren's Masterpiece with music by Oscar Peterson. Each frame of this short was scratched directly onto the film in order to be in perfect synch with the pre-recorded soundtrack. This has been discussed before here and more generally here but I haven't seen this online until now. More on Norman McLaren.

30 short films...

dobbs — Wed, 12 Jul 2006 06:02:04 -0800

CON-CAN Movie Festival is an online international short film festival connecting creators and viewers all around the world. (Win/Mac compatible)." Thirty international short films available in the screening room.

If she really liked pandas, she wouldn't give them candy.

ulotrichous — Sat, 06 May 2006 22:27:28 -0800

I Like Pandas (flash), by Spümcø animator Jessica Borutski, from the Nicktoons Animation Festival (flash again), which is currently accepting submissions. Music by Plone. Not that Plone.

Ha Ha Ha America

Manhasset — Fri, 27 Jan 2006 22:26:24 -0800

Ha Ha Ha America (embedded movie and a big WTF)... one of the films available for viewing on the Sundance Short Films web site.

I won't take this lying down

yankeefog — Fri, 28 Oct 2005 10:03:53 -0800

Heiterkeit (12 meg quicktime movie) is an utterly charming German music video about all the other fun things you can do lying down. (Yes, it's entirely safe for work, unless your workplace forbids quirky charm.) If you enjoy it, check out Transsylvanische Verwandte(12 meg quicktime movie), another work by the same director. For a look behind the scenes of both films, there's this making-of video. (The making of video is a realplayer file, and it's in German--but I don't speak German, and I got the general idea.) Via Antville.

Makin' copies!

dobbs — Tue, 07 Jun 2005 23:34:35 -0800

I first saw Chel White's Photocopy Cha Cha (mpg excerpt - can't find whole thing online) in 1996 and I thought it was fantastic. In 2002 I saw Virgil Widrich's Copy Shop, which impressed me even more. Yesterday, thanks to Kottke, I saw Wildrich's phenomenal Fast Film. Wow. From Channel 4's page on the film: "Director Virgil Widrich captured stills from ... 300 movies, and made over 65,000 photocopies of these, then folded them into a variety of shapes and animated them." {the two VW films are unfortunately in Real format but definitely worth putting up with the format for}

Who Wants to Be a Hamburger Millionaire?

bigbadem — Tue, 12 Apr 2005 08:15:07 -0800

If you won a hamburger for every ten seconds of a feature film, you'd be a hamburger millionaire.

Twisted Films of Pes

gravelshoes — Thu, 24 Feb 2005 11:12:48 -0800

EatPES - Home of the brilliant, twisted films of Pes.

Short shorts

ColdChef — Mon, 22 Nov 2004 12:26:45 -0800

Who Wears Short Shorts? Micro Stories and MFA Disgust Being a writer in today's lovely world of fiction and creative nonfiction is like reliving 70's TV hell, where that Nair commercial jingle has been conveniently rewritten into "Who writes short shorts?" Poetic vision rarely shows up. After all, how can you express vision in 100 words? As for plot and character development, give those antiquated goods to Goodwill. All that matters with short shorts is a competent writing style and a desire for lots of publication credits.