Balance (1989 film)

Last updated
Balance
Directed by Christoph Lauenstein
Wolfgang Lauenstein
Distributed byMaterial-Verlag
Release date
  • 1989 (1989)
Running time
7 minutes
CountryGermany

Balance is a 1989 German surrealist experimental [1] stop-motion animated film directed and produced by twin brothers Wolfgang and Christoph Lauenstein. [2] [3] [4]

Contents

Plot

The film depicts five individuals standing on a small platform floating in an empty space. [5] These men are all identical apart from a number at the back of their coats: 23, 35, 51, 75, and 77. Whenever one of them moves, the platform tilts and the others must move as well to ensure that the platform does not tip over. They all move out to the edge of the platform, take out fishing rods, and cast their lines over the edge. The one numbered 51 reels in a large, heavy box while the others scramble to the opposite side of the platform. One by one, the individuals inspect the box: it has a wind-up key that causes the box to play music, but at such a low volume that only the man nearest the box can hear it. As each man in turn moves to inspect the box, the platform becomes unstable, prompting each of the group to converge in the center to keep the platform from tipping over. The man with the number 75 attempts to tip the box over the edge, but number 51 counterbalances the platform to prevent it. These two scuffle briefly, causing the box to slide to number 23, who tap dances to the tune as the others look on. 75 moves away from the center of gravity, tipping the platform and causing the box to slide toward him, but 23 sits on top of the box and moves with it.

The added weight moves the box to the very edge of the platform. The others rearrange themselves to bring the box back to the center. Riding the box as it slides from side to side, 23 pushes 35 off the platform as the former slides to the very edge. The others rearrange themselves again to compensate for the loss of mass. 51 trips and falls over. 75 shoves 77 to the ground as he avoids the careening 23. 77 scrambles to the opposite edge as 23 moves with the box again. 23 kicks 75 off the platform, unbalancing the platform and causing 77 to fall over the edge also. 23 gets off the box, approaches 51 and kicks him over the edge. Now alone, 23 turns around to look at the box, which is perched on the edge farthest from him. Without the others, 23 has to maintain the balance on his own, keeping the box out of reach. One step back and he falls, one step forward and the box falls. He can only watch as the box slowly winds down and plays its music, which 23 is unable to hear. [6]

Legacy

Balance was commissioned by German group Alphaville as part of their Songlines project for their 1989 album The Breathtaking Blue . For Songlines, the video was set to the song "Middle of the Riddle" from that album. [7] Lauenstein said of the video, "its visualization is not a literal illustration [of the song], which would be impossible in any case, but comprises a complete, autonomous story on its own." [7]

Accolades

Set to different music, Balance won the Academy Award for Best Animated Short in 1989. [8] [9] [10]

Further reading

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Animation</span> Method of creating moving pictures

Animation is a filmmaking technique by which still images are manipulated to create moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on transparent celluloid sheets (cels) to be photographed and exhibited on film. Animation has been recognized as an artistic medium, specifically within the entertainment industry. Many animations are either traditional animations or computer animations made with computer-generated imagery (CGI). Stop motion animation, in particular claymation, has continued to exist alongside these other forms.

Skis are runners, attached to the user's feet, designed to glide over snow. Typically employed in pairs, skis are attached to ski boots with ski bindings, with either a free, lockable, or partially secured heel. For climbing slopes, ski skins can be affixed to the base of each ski to prevent them from sliding backwards. Originally used as a means of travel over snow, skis have become specialized for recreational and competitive alpine and cross-country skiing.

Modern animation in the United States from the late 1980s to 2004 is frequently referred to as the renaissance age of American animation. During this period, many large American entertainment companies reformed and reinvigorated their animation departments, following the dark age, and the United States had an influence on global and worldwide animation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">National Film Board of Canada</span> Public film and digital media producer and distributor

The National Film Board of Canada is a Canadian public film and digital media producer and distributor. An agency of the Government of Canada, the NFB produces and distributes documentary films, animation, web documentaries, and alternative dramas. In total, the NFB has produced over 13,000 productions since its inception, which have won over 5,000 awards. The NFB reports to the Parliament of Canada through the Minister of Canadian Heritage. It has bilingual production programs and branches in English and French, including multicultural-related documentaries.

The term independent animation refers to animated shorts, web series, and feature films produced outside a major national animation industry.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bill Plympton</span> American illustrator, animator, and film director

Bill Plympton is an American animator, graphic designer, cartoonist, and filmmaker best known for his 1987 Academy Award–nominated animated short Your Face and his series of shorts featuring a dog character starting with 2004's Guard Dog.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wolfgang Lauenstein</span> German film director, writer and animator

Wolfgang Lauenstein is a German film director, writer and animator.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Christoph Lauenstein</span> German producer, director and writer (born 1962)

Christoph Lauenstein is a German producer, director and writer.

A balance board is a device used as a circus skill, for recreation, balance training, athletic training, brain development, therapy, musical training and other kinds of personal development.

Paul Augustin Driessen is a Dutch film director, animator and writer.

<i>Songlines</i> (Alphaville video) 1989 video by Alphaville

Songlines is a video released by the German band Alphaville in 1989, created during the production of Alphaville's 1989 album The Breathtaking Blue.

The International Tournée of Animation was an annual touring program of alternative animated films that started in 1965 as The First Festival of Animated Film with each selected and assembled from films from many countries around the world and which existed from the 1970s to the 1980s-90s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lemieux, Ontario</span> Ghost town in Ontario, Canada

Lemieux is a ghost town in the Canadian province of Ontario, which was located on the shore of the South Nation River in the Prescott and Russell County township of South Plantagenet. The community was abandoned over a two-year period from 1989 to 1991, after soil testing revealed that the town was built on unstable Leda clay, a type of subsoil which can liquefy under stress, and was consequently in danger of experiencing a landslide similar to the one that destroyed the town of Saint-Jean-Vianney, Quebec in 1971.

The Sand Castle is a 1977 stop motion animated short created by Co Hoedeman for the National Film Board of Canada. It won the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film at the 50th Academy Awards.

William Charles Littlejohn was an American animator and union organizer. Littlejohn worked on animated shorts and features in the 1930s through to the 1990s. His notable works include the Tom and Jerry shorts, the Peanuts television specials, the Oscar-winning short The Hole (1962), and the Oscar-nominated A Doonesbury Special (1977). He was inducted into the Cartoon Hall of Fame and received the Winsor McCay Award and garnered lifetime achievement awards from the Annie Awards and the UCLA Film and Television Archive. Director Michael Sporn has called Littlejohn "an animation 'God'."

<i>Over the Hedge</i> 2006 American animated film

Over the Hedge is a 2006 American animated heist comedy film produced by DreamWorks Animation SKG and distributed by Paramount Pictures. Based on the comic strip of the same name created by Michael Fry and T. Lewis, the film was directed by Tim Johnson and Karey Kirkpatrick from a screenplay by Len Blum, Lorne Cameron, David Hoselton and Kirkpatrick, and features the voices of Bruce Willis, Garry Shandling, Steve Carell, William Shatner, Wanda Sykes and Nick Nolte. Set in Indiana, the film centers on a raccoon named RJ, who is forced to deliver food to a bear named Vincent after accidentally destroying his stockpile of food, whereupon he manipulates a family of woodland animals who have recently awakened from hibernation into helping him steal food in order to speed up the process.

<i>Home</i> (2015 film) DreamWorks Animation film

Home is a 2015 American animated science fiction comedy film produced by DreamWorks Animation and distributed by 20th Century Fox. Loosely based on Adam Rex's 2007 children's book The True Meaning of Smekday, the film was directed by Tim Johnson from a screenplay by Tom J. Astle and Matt Ember, and stars the voices of Jim Parsons, Rihanna, Steve Martin, Jennifer Lopez, and Matt Jones. The story follows the shared adventures of a friendly alien who is shunned by the rest of his kind, and a teenage girl searching for her mother after they are separated during an invasion of Earth.

The Cow is a 1989 Soviet animated short film directed by Aleksandr Petrov.

Aardman Animations is an animation studio in Bristol, England that produces stop motion and computer-animated features, shorts, TV series and adverts.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Animation Showcase</span> Traveling screening of animated short films

The Animation Showcase is a travelling film screening collection, showcasing animated short films.

References

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.