Das Rad

Last updated
DasRadPoster.jpg

Das Rad (English title: Rocks [1] ) meaning "The Wheel" is a 2001 German animated film written and directed by Chris Stenner, Arvid Uibel and Heidi Wittlinger. Produced using a mixture of stop-motion, puppetry, and CGI animation, it was nominated for an Oscar in "Best Animated Short Film", but lost to The ChubbChubbs! [2]

Contents

The film tracks a hillside from ancient times through the present and into the future, usually moving through time at high-speed, representing geologic time (so that buildings appear and disappear in an instant), but occasionally switching to real time and showing the inhabitants and objects in motion in their day-to-day existence. [2] [3]

It was produced by the Film Academy Baden-Württemberg, Germany.

Plot

Two stone people, Hew and Kew, lead a quiet life, which is only interrupted by Hew being covered by swiftly-growing moss and lichen. After seeing a primitive village appear in a neighboring valley, the smaller Kew finds a round stone disc that he keeps playing with by rolling side to side. The centuries fly by. In the distance, both stone creatures observe people building huts. Later, a caveman appears in front of Kew and sees the stone disc, but is called away by another caveman. The humans move so quickly that the stone people are unable to see them.

More centuries pass. A dirt road emerges in front of Hew and Kew, where a traveling trader breaks the wooden wheel of his wagon, which he replaces with another wooden wheel, leaving behind the old one. Kew realizes that the wheel is the key to all development. As time accelerates again, the road next to both stone beings is rapidly paved in flashing lights. Huge skyscrapers and monstrous cities appear in rapid succession across the landscape, rising into a futuristic cityscape. The building development, rushing closer like a giant tsunami wave, suddenly stops at the exact second before both stone creatures would have been paved over. Everything abruptly halts, indicating civilization has ended. The skyscrapers erode and disappear as quickly as they were created, and the landscape regrows with vegetation. Hew is now plagued by lichens and mosses again. [1]

Cast

Production

Das Rad was created in 2000 while Stenner, Uibel and Wittlinger were studying at the Film Academy Baden-Württemberg. The two stone creatures consisted of wooden bodies and eyebrows made of rubber and were shot in stop motion while the surroundings were animated by CGI. [4] [5]

During the shooting, before post-production began, Arvid Uibel died in 2000 at the age of 23. Stenner and Wittlinger dedicated Das Rad to him with the line “for Arvid”.

The music was by Roland Hackl and sound design by Bernd Müller. [3]

Themes

A major theme is environmentalism. [5] [3] Other themes include cities, consumption, the passage of time, nature, and resources, [3]

The main characters can be seen as spectators, possibly representing the point of view of nature itself. The narrative device of speeding up time illustrates' humans short lifespans and ephemeral effect on the environment, while the rock people illustrate the slow and ancient progression of geological time. The two narrative points of view are made conspicuous by lighting and camera differences, such as a change in the color of the sky. Stroboscopic light and camera movement is used to personify civilization. [3]

Awards

The film was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film in 2003, which was instead won by 2002 short film The ChubbChubbs!

Das Rad won several other awards in festivals like the Anima Mundi Animation Festival, Annecy International Animated Film Festival, Sweden Fantastic Film Festival, and the Fantoche International Animation Film Festival. It was also included in the Animation Show of Shows. [6]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stop motion</span> Animation technique to make a physically manipulated object appear to move on its own

Stop motion is an animated filmmaking technique in which objects are physically manipulated in small increments between individually photographed frames so that they will appear to exhibit independent motion or change when the series of frames is played back. Any kind of object can thus be animated, but puppets with movable joints or plasticine figures are most commonly used. Puppets, models or clay figures built around an armature are used in model animation. Stop motion with live actors is often referred to as pixilation. Stop motion of flat materials such as paper, fabrics or photographs is usually called cutout animation.

Aardman Animations Limited is a British animation studio based in Bristol, England. It is known for films and television series made using stop-motion and clay animation techniques, particularly those featuring its plasticine characters from Wallace and Gromit, Shaun the Sheep, and Morph. After some experimental computer-animated short films during the late 1990s, beginning with Owzat (1997), Aardman entered the computer animation market with Flushed Away (2006). As of February 2020, it had earned $1.1 billion worldwide, with an average $135.6 million per film.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Claymation</span> Stop-motion animation made using malleable clay models

Claymation or clay animation, sometimes plasticine animation, is one of many forms of stop-motion animation. Each animated piece, either character or background, is "deformable"—made of a malleable substance, usually plasticine clay.

<i>Ryan</i> (film) 2004 Canadian film

Ryan is a 2004 short animated documentary film created and directed by Chris Landreth about Canadian animator Ryan Larkin, who had lived on skid row in Montreal as a result of drug and alcohol abuse. Landreth's chance meeting with Larkin in 2000 inspired him to develop the film, which took 18 months to complete. It was co-produced by Copper Heart Entertainment and the National Film Board of Canada (NFB), and its creation and development is the subject of the NFB documentary Alter Egos. The film incorporated material from archive sources, particularly Larkin's works at the NFB.

Stubble Trouble is a 2000 animated short film, produced under Calabash Animation and was directed by Joseph E. Merideth, a former animator for Calabash and a teacher of animation for The School of the Art Institute of Chicago and Columbia College Chicago.

Sony Pictures Animation Inc. is an American animation studio owned by Sony Entertainment's Sony Pictures Entertainment through their Motion Picture Group division and founded on May 9, 2002. The studio's films are distributed worldwide by Sony Pictures Releasing under their Columbia Pictures label, while all direct-to-video releases are released by Sony Pictures Home Entertainment.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ryan Larkin</span> Canadian animator, artist, and sculptor

Ryan Larkin was a Canadian animator, artist, and sculptor who rose to fame with the psychedelic Oscar-nominated short Walking (1968) and the acclaimed Street Musique (1972). He was the subject of the Oscar-winning film Ryan.

<i>The Big Snit</i> 1985 film

The Big Snit is a 1985 animated short film written and directed by Richard Condie and produced by the National Film Board of Canada.

<i>The ChubbChubbs!</i> 2002 American computer-animated comedy short film directed by Eric Armstrong

The ChubbChubbs! is a 2002 American computer-animated short film by Sony Pictures Imageworks. It was directed by Eric Armstrong, produced by Jacquie Barnbrook, and written by Jeff Wolverton.

<i>The Mysterious Geographic Explorations of Jasper Morello</i> 2005 Australian film

The Mysterious Geographic Explorations of Jasper Morello is a 2005 Australian animated short film. It was developed and produced in association with the Australian Film Commission; developed and produced with the assistance of Film Victoria and produced in association with SBS Independent. It was supposed to be succeeded by three other feature films: Jasper Morello and the return of Claude Belgon, Jasper Morello and the Ghost of ALTO MEA, and Jasper Morello and the Ebeneza of Gothia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sony Pictures Imageworks</span> Canadian-American visual effects and animation studio

Sony Pictures Imageworks Inc. is a Canadian visual effects and computer animation studio headquartered in Vancouver, British Columbia and Montréal, Québec, with an additional office on the Sony Pictures Studios lot in Culver City, California. SPI is a unit of Sony Pictures Entertainment's Motion Picture Group.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Film Academy Baden-Württemberg</span> Public film school in Ludwigsburg, Germany

The Filmakademie Baden-Wuerttemberg was founded in 1991 as a publicly funded film school in Ludwigsburg, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. The Filmakademie is one of the most internationally renowned film schools. One of its major distinguishing characteristics is the close collaboration with three other educational institutions on one campus: the Filmakademie's acclaimed Animationsinstitut ; the Atelier Ludwigsburg-Paris, an inter-university master-class on European film production and distribution hosted at the Filmakademie and in cooperation with notable French film school La Fémis in Paris and the National Film and Television School in London; and the neighbouring Academy of Performing Arts.

Spike and Mike's Festival of Animation is a presentation of award-winning animated short films, annually touring throughout theaters, film festivals or college campuses in the United States.

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Signe Baumane</span> Latvian animator and illustrator

Signe Baumane is a Latvian animator, fine artist, illustrator and writer, currently living and working in New York City. She is a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, she was a 2005 Fellow in Film of the New York Foundation for the Arts. She is also a teacher, having taught animation at the Pratt Institute from 2000 to 2002.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Animation Show of Shows</span>

The Animation Show of Shows is a traveling selection of the year's best animated short films. It is curated and presented by Acme Filmworks founder Ron Diamond. The show began in 1998 with the aim of showing the most original, funny, and intelligent short animated films from all over the world by presenting them to major animation studios, in hope of inspiring their influential animators and directors. Since 2007, a number of the films have been released as DVDs.

<i>Bobby Yeah</i> 2011 British film

Bobby Yeah is a psychological surreal British stop motion animated short horror film written, directed and animated by Robert Morgan. It was made independently and completed in 2011, and later uploaded on Robert's YouTube Channel in HD in 2017.

Triggerfish is a computer animation film studio based in Cape Town, South Africa and Galway, Ireland. The studio is best known for its animated feature films Adventures in Zambezia (2012), Khumba (2013), and Seal Team (2021), as well as the work they have done on television specials created for UK producers Magic Light Pictures. In 2016, Stick Man was awarded the Cristal for best TV production at the Annecy International Animation Festival. In 2017, Revolting Rhymes again won the Cristal for best TV production at the Annecy Festival, and was nominated for the Best Short Film (Animated) Oscar at the 2018 Academy Awards. In 2019, Netflix announced that Triggerfish would produce its first African animated TV series. In 2020, Zog won the International Emmy for Best Kids Animation. In 2021, The Snail and The Whale won Best Special Production at The Annie Awards, while Triggerfish received the Mifa Animation Industry Award at Annecy for "the pioneering role that the company has played in animation in South Africa, and Africa most widely.” In 2022, their third film, Seal Team, made the Netflix Top 10 Films global list for its launch week.

<i>Borrowed Time</i> (film) 2015 film

Borrowed Time is a 2015 American animated Western short film directed by Pixar artists Andrew Coats and Lou Hamou-Lhadj.

Vera Neubauer is a Czech born British experimental filmmaker, animator, feminist activist and educator. She is known for her jarring, provocative and anti establishment approach. Her life's work spans genres, from cinematic short film to television series for children. Neubauer has received two BAFTA Cymru awards.

References

  1. 1 2 "Rocks - Animated short film (2001) - YouTube". www.youtube.com. Archived from the original on 2020-11-02. Retrieved 2020-12-02.
  2. 1 2 "Das Rad (Rocks) | Animation Short Film". Short of the Week. Archived from the original on 2021-11-03. Retrieved 2020-12-02.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 "Das Rad short film - Filmnosis". filmnosis.com. Archived from the original on 2020-08-07. Retrieved 2020-12-03.
  4. ↑ Taylor Jessen: Chris Stenner, Arvid Uibel, Heidi Wittlinger – Das Rad / 2001. In: Mike Judge, Don Hertzfeldt (Hrsg.): The Animation Show. S. 31.
  5. 1 2 "Das Rad (Rocks) | Animation Short Film". Short of the Week. Archived from the original on 2021-11-03. Retrieved 2020-12-03.
  6. ↑ Das Rad - IMDb, archived from the original on 2015-02-06, retrieved 2020-12-02
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.