Here’s a Cal Arts student film from this past year’s producers show that really impressed me with its storytelling. Obviously I wasn’t the only one impressed. David Wolter just started work this week in Dreamworks story department.

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.

Tim Razumovsky & Eyal Oren’s third year student film at the Bezalel Academy of Arts & Design/Israel, is an R-rated tribute to 70s trash films “a la Rodriguez & Tarantino”. Says Razumovsky:

“The film is a kind of short pilot episode which will hopefully become a series in the future. The main characters are a pair of twisted married assassins and the title “The Sleischers” is actually their family name. “The Sleischers” is a sort of a pun for the word “slashers” and a hint that both characters speak with heavy foreign accent and their origin remains unclear. The film is a marriage of various kinky B-Movies that we like. As for the plot, I’ve heard a couple of interesting theories about it – such as hidden religious or feminist messages in it.”

It’s Not Safe For Work, nor for the sweamish. Submitted for your approval, The Sleischers:

For my money, cut-out animation is still one of the most charming animation techniques when done well. Take for instance The Red Heels (Les Talons Rouges) by Olesya Shchukina. The Russian-born animator produced the cut-out piece at the French animation school La Poudriere for an assignment to make a one-minute film from a child’s point of view. Watch The Red Heels on her website.

The fourth film in Cartoon Brew’s Student Animation Festival is a monstrous achievement—quite literally. Blenderstein! by Zach Bellissimo was produced at New York’s School of Visual Arts. The film draws upon an appreciation of classic horror movies and traditional animation principles, but Zach also adds a personal voice that is completely original. There are many highlights—funny character animation, excellent color, superb staging—and the end product looks as professional as any piece of hand-drawn animation being produced today.

To comment on the film or read extensive behind-the-scenes notes from the filmaker, click HERE.

Cartoon Brew’s second annual Student Animation Festival is made possible through the generous support of Titmouse and JibJab.

On an oil platform, a story of friendship between two workers is compromised by the insanity of one of them. This one is a little more subdued than the usual student films from Gobelins, but no less effective. By popular demand, the 2011 student project by De Rémi Bastie, Nicolas Deghani, Jonathan Djob-Nkondo, Paul LaColley, Nicolas Pegon, Jérémy Pires, Kevin Manach (much of the team behind last years music video Todor and Petru).

(Thanks, Wesley Louis)

Mid-July. Perfect time for a cute, Christmas-themed, senior year animated short film from Cal State, Northridge. Story and animation by Joshua Armstrong.

We post a lot of new student films on Cartoon Brew, so as an interesting contrast I thought it would be worthwhile (and fun) to watch Joel Fletcher’s 1982 stop-motion film Encounter. Although not technically a student film, Fletcher recently digitally remastered this 29 year-old amateur production, one of his first attempts to make puppets, build sets and animate characters of his own design. Today he’s is a professional animator (Nightmare Before Christmas, Dinosaur, King Kong, Land Of The Lost, X-Men: The Last Stand) and recently added a creative process blog to his website, which has much behind the scenes info about the making of Encounter.