“One Past Two” by Aimee de Jongh

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Aimee de Jongh‘s One Past Two is about as depressing as student films get. The filmmaker effectively pairs unpredictable violence with the mundanity of everyday life in a way that makes the events even more shocking, and it all leads to a twist ending. Animated in TVPaint, the short was finished this year at the Willem de Kooning Academy in The Netherlands.

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  • sam

    Good work!

  • Billy Batz

    how did Tim get hurt?

    • http://beesbuzz.biz/ fluffy

      My take on it is they were both at school when the shooting happened, and the bus stop scene was playing out after they were shot. Eve was the ‘one more’ that death was taking. They possibly never met in real life.

      • amid

        Yea, Fluffy!

      • Petrie

        Well done Aimee! and Fluffy is right with his explanation. It’s a very sad but realistic story, especially today after the shooting in Norway.

      • http://www.hiskohulsing.com Hisko Hulsing

        Aimee is great! I blinked twice with my eyes and her film was made up and finished. She is still 22, but she already has a career of 6 years, drawing comics and illustrations.

        And Fluffy is right.

  • http://www.fooksie.com Fooksie

    Nicely done. In light of the recent events in Oslo last week, this film really hits me in the heart.

  • http://pickledperfection.blogspot.com/ Andrea

    wow

  • David R

    Excellent short animation film. The animation, sounds and technical aspects are all first rate, and gripping story too.
    Unfortunately very timely as well.

  • http://zacharykrodel.tumblr.com/ Zachary Krodel

    This brought tears to my eyes. Absolutely beautiful. I love the animation style as well.

  • Jeff Simonetta

    Wow what a very powerful film. This is probably one of the best student shorts I have seen. The dialogue was very believable and genuine as well as the acting! And the ending definitely left an emotional impact.

  • http://www.frankpanucci.com Frank Panucci

    Nicely done – but without reading the comments posted above, I would have had no idea what happened at the end.

  • Yuri

    Serious subject matter done well.

  • Mic

    I love the style and the conversation. Love the animation and the voice acting too. Very engaging. I feel like I can watch that part forever.

    Love the close ups on the guy’s feet kicking the snow, and the girl’s hand grabbing the guy’s jacket.

    I don’t really care much about that “twisted” ending. I prefer the film without it. To me, it destroys the film’s simplicity. It’s like it tries too much, too hard. The conversation part already tells a lot with its nuance.

    But that’s just me.

  • Inkan1969

    The plot is like a Twilight Zone episode.

  • Andrew Osmond

    It’s a clever variation of an old ‘weird’ tale, although I won’t give away the older versions, in which the payoff was different. On screeen, it was retold as a segment of the 1945 British film Dead of Night, and as a 1961 Twilight Zone episode called Twenty Two.

  • http://www.aimeedejongh.com Aimee de Jongh

    Hey Andrew. That’s very interesting. I actually based my story on the Greek myth of Charon, who takes the dead with his ferry to the land of the dead. Only now, I replaced the ferry with a bus :) Never saw any of the titles you mentioned, but they’ll might have the same source. I’ve heard of some series and films that used a train as a metaphor for death. So there are many variations!

  • andrew osmond

    Hello Aimee! The detail that made me think that your film was a conscious homage was the detail that the bus only has room for _one more_ traveller… Here’s the synopsis of the relevant segment in the 1945 film Dead of Night.

    ‘A racing driver, Granger suffers a serious accident. Drawing the curtains of his hospital room, he is surprised to see daylight and, in the street below, a hearse. The driver looks up at him and smiles, saying “room for one more inside.” Granger’s doctor reassures him that it was a delusion brought on by the accident, and he recovers well. Leaving the hospital, however, he is about to board a bus when the conductor turns to him, saying “room for one more inside.” He has the face of the hearse driver. Unnerved, Granger lets the bus go. Further down the road, the bus crashes, killing all the passengers.’

    from http://www.screenonline.org.uk/film/id/491909/synopsis.html

    Spooky, no? :) According to wikipedia, ‘The theme of the fatal-crash-premonition has also been visited in other works and media:
    The Bus-Conductor, a short story by E. F. Benson published in The Pall Mall Magazine in 1906
    Famous Ghost Stories, a 1944 anthology by Bennett Cerf
    Twenty Two, a 1961 episode of The Twilight Zone.

    You mentioned trains being used as metaphors for death – one example is a wonderful ’80s Japanese animation called Night on the Galactic Railroad, based on a 1920s novella. The film is presently available on youtube – the train journey starts about half an hour in.