1992 - Channel Four - Bare Boards Productions.
Directed, written and animated by Barry Purves
Produced by Glenn Holberton
Voice Michael Maloney
Music Nigel Hess
An old man becomes emotionally involved with recollections of his youth
Awards
- Ottawa Animation Festival, Best Object Animation, 1992
- Bourge-en-Bresse Animation Festival, Young Jury Prize for Best Film, 1992
- Esphino Cinanima, Honourable Mention, 1992
- Shanghai Animation festival, Grand Prix, 1992
- Ankara Short Film festival, 2nd Prize, 1993
- Brussels Animation festival, Public Prize, 1993
- 65th American Academy Awards 'Oscar', nomination 1993
- Cleveland Festival, William J Silverman Award for Best Short film, 1993
- Oberhausen Festival, Best Animated Film, 1993
- San Francisco Film festival, Best in Category/Animation, 1993
- Krakow, Bronze Dragon, 1993
- Annecy, Special Distinction for Artistic Merit, 1993
- Krok, Russia, Best in Category, 1993
- Cartoon D'Or, Inverness, Nominated, 1993
- Cork Film Festival, Certificate of Merit, 1993
- Chicago Film Festival, Gold Plaque, 1993
- British Short Film Festival, Best Animation, 1993
- Stuttgart Animation Festival, Suddeutsh Rundfunks Prize, 1994
- Mediawave, Gyor, Best Animation, 1994
- Bradford Animation Festival, Best Animation, 1994
- Blackpool Animation Festival, Best Animation, 1994
- Hiroshima Animation Festival, Best in 5-15 minutes, 1994
Screen Play was tricky to structure as it was, in effect, one long sustained shot, that once started could not be stopped...
I wanted to treat the story as a memory piece but hadn't initially worked out how to separate the main character from his memories. A circle seemed appropriate, much as sumo wrestlers have a circle to contain their action, and also a reminder of the willow pattern plate. I gave myself the convention that anything outside the circle was a comment, and anything inside was happening in reality, well memory, of the film. I cheated a bit, with the reality spilling out over the circle, but essentially it was a good convention, and helped to define the narrative. Whenever the narrator character crossed into the circle, he became a character, and didn't use the sign language. This came from watching sign-language performers busily working at the side of the stage, observing but still performing. I find having dramatic conventions a good shorthand to help with clarity and storytelling