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Swimming by Shiho Hirayama
 March 16, 2010 4:31 am
In Swimming by Shiho Hirayama (b. 1979), a chubby boy’s imagination transforms an awkward swim class into a magical experience. This short really sneaks up on the viewer. It didn’t seem much at first glance but its simple honesty grew on me quickly and left a lasting impact. Charming character animation, a playful visualization of space and distance, and elegant sound design come together to make this one of the more memorable shorts in recent memory. There are more examples of Shiho’s animation on her website including a cute piece located on her “about me” page. |
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Amaizing animation and so good tipical sounds of Japan. Fantastic short!
The moment where the kid first jumps into the pool, the perspective, underwater, is fascinating.
I like the underplayed surreality.
Best film you’ve posted in a while.
Absolutely lovely. The sound in particular, was perfect. I felt like I was there. Even with the simple look, I could almost feel the water around me. A beautiful short.
Wow! Cool. I loved the sound in particular.
Thanks so much for featuring this! Inspiring use of line
and sound, great stuff.
The sounds were fantastic. This animation really sidestepped the boring heaviness other films would fall into if they attempted this same topic. Absolutely wonderful.
Very nice, although I found the first half more interesting than the second. As everybody else has mentioned, the sound was great. I’ll definitely visit her website.
fantastic work!
I also thought the first half was more interesting than the second half, especially once the fantasy started. But seriously, that’s nothing compared to the shear beauty of the experience. Very inspiring work and as most have said already, the sound design is just sublime.
Beautiful. I think I’ll go to the pool now.
This woould have been so easy to make corny, with a goofy soundtrack, or silly ‘lol fat people’ humor, but she deftly avoided that. This is simply wonderful.
Also, he sure can hold his breath.