Promoting Good Animation: ANVIL by LORN
This monochrome animation directed by GERIKO and animated by Antoine Caëcke & Hélène Jeudy is set in the future, where humans are voluntarily ending their physical lives and joining a posthumous cyber-reality (entitled Anvil) to combat overpopulation. In the video, sound and movement cooperate to create a more compelling and immersive experience for the audience. In some scenes, the visual information becomes overwhelming (see capture 1) but this could be considered relevant to the plot of the animation, as it keeps with the theme of crowdedness and claustrophobia. By using layers upon layers of animations (cap. 2 &3), the creators invoke a sense of depth that allows the viewer to trespass the boundaries of Youtube’s video player and into the social network that is Anvil.
The story the video tells is daring and creative in subject, form, and content. Visually it is captivating and mysterious, leading the viewer to ask questions during and leaving the viewer in a place of understanding after. Regarding content, however, the animators have taken risk by breaching subjects that some may even consider controversial or taboo, including matter like euthanasia/suicide/assisted suicide as well as the integration of social media and digital networking into the “natural order” of a life. Caëcke and Jeudy have, with irrefutable grace and beauty, spun liveliness into LORN’s instrumental with their visually clean and emotionally enthralling piece.
