Writer/director Kibwe Tavares most recently showed us what life is like for a big ego in a sleepy town when he snaps a photo of an unbelievably massive fish. Part of the thrill of Jonah was its CGI manipulation of an entire town, and Tavares continues that streak of jaw-dropping visual design with Robot & Scarecrow.
This new short film is more about feel than about plot. Set against the whirling sunshine of a summer music festival, a performing robot (Holliday Grainger), who seems just as much prisoner as pop star, ducks her security detail to appreciate the sights and sounds of the concert with a scarecrow (Jack O’Connell) who’s drawn by the music to break free from his perch.
It’s a free and easy kind of insta-romance that–like most euphoric things–isn’t meant to last.
Robot & Scarecrow from Factory Fifteen on Vimeo.
The true stand out of Robot & Scarecrow is the mo-cap wizardry. Led by visual effects coordinator Greet Kallikorm, the team has assembled two gorgeous, seamless fantasy beings. It’s as if they plucked them directly from our dreams and dropped them into a field at Coachella.
The believability of the design and the way it alienates the characters from the non-non-humans in the crowd goes along way in letting us sink into the story and the environment. So much of the scene–marked by wild mosh pits, flying colored dust, and half-naked revelers–is defined and redefined by the absence of the robot and the scarecrow. This isn’t a world they belong to, which is why it’s all the more dramatic when they find a way to participate in it hand in hand.
What do you think?
Image: Factory Fifteen
