Help me identify an oldish animated short!
September 25, 2006 9:27 PM Subscribe
Help me identify an oldish animated short! ! I believe it was black and white or sepia toned, but more modern than that suggests--maybe the 80s. It was 4-5 five men on a square plane in the middle of a nothingness and they had to work together in order to balance the four corners of plane, so that it didn't tip and drop them all into the void. Slowly, however, each man became greedy and wanted the others off the plane so that he could have it to himself. Each one eventually dropped off until only one remained...and...? i CANNOT remember the ending! argh
Some more info:
1) I can't clearly remember the animation style, but is probably either claymation or hand drawn.
2) Something inside is telling me it's German, but I have no idea if that's true or not.
3) The source is sketchy because I'd recorded it from television at some point and the VHS tape is long gone. I do know that the same "show" had Nick Park's Creature Comforts and a few other really great shorts. Perhaps it was showcasing all the 'best' animated shorts from a particular year?
(ps, first post after ages of lurking. woo! hi!)
Some more info:
1) I can't clearly remember the animation style, but is probably either claymation or hand drawn.
2) Something inside is telling me it's German, but I have no idea if that's true or not.
3) The source is sketchy because I'd recorded it from television at some point and the VHS tape is long gone. I do know that the same "show" had Nick Park's Creature Comforts and a few other really great shorts. Perhaps it was showcasing all the 'best' animated shorts from a particular year?
(ps, first post after ages of lurking. woo! hi!)
Yup, it's Balance; one of my all-time favorites. I got a copy by getting one of the old Spike and Mike's tapes. Here's a DVD collection containing it.
posted by LobsterMitten at 10:28 PM on September 25, 2006
posted by LobsterMitten at 10:28 PM on September 25, 2006
Just checked; the Spike and Mike's collection I have Balance on doesn't contain Creature Comforts. But if you like oddball animated short films, Spike and Mike's Festival of Animation should be your first stop. Or, well, ok, it would have been 5 or 10 years ago. Now I guess your first stop is YouTube. But you can check out the contents of the several discs listed on Amazon as a good place to start. (The "Sick and Twisted" collections have a lot of gross-out and sex stuff, that wouldn't be suitable for kids.)
posted by LobsterMitten at 10:32 PM on September 25, 2006
posted by LobsterMitten at 10:32 PM on September 25, 2006
Please don't relegate important info — like your question — to the title. I can't see it without clicking through.
posted by jdroth at 7:54 AM on September 26, 2006
posted by jdroth at 7:54 AM on September 26, 2006
If you liked Balance, you gotta check out Brothers Quay and Jan Svankmajer.
posted by Monkey0nCrack at 8:26 AM on September 26, 2006
posted by Monkey0nCrack at 8:26 AM on September 26, 2006
Great. I'm going to be thinking about this all day.
posted by changeling at 9:08 AM on September 26, 2006
posted by changeling at 9:08 AM on September 26, 2006
That youtube version isn't the whole video, is it? Now I'm dying to see the end!
posted by denimflavored at 7:04 PM on September 26, 2006
posted by denimflavored at 7:04 PM on September 26, 2006
That youtube version isn't the whole video, is it? Now I'm dying to see the end!
Yes, that's the real ending! It's a parable!
(Seriously, you'll see the credits come up at the end. If not it might not have loaded all the way for you.)
posted by rafter at 8:14 PM on September 26, 2006
Yes, that's the real ending! It's a parable!
(Seriously, you'll see the credits come up at the end. If not it might not have loaded all the way for you.)
posted by rafter at 8:14 PM on September 26, 2006
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by jlub at 9:32 PM on September 25, 2006