Home > Reviews > Shorts > Short of the week: Orbit Ever After/Q&A and Trailer
Mydylarama shorts
Short of the week: Orbit Ever After/Q&A and Trailer
Thursday 10 July 2014, by
All the versions of this article: [English] [français]
A stranded spaceship is the unlikely home of Nigel’s scorned loves. A romantic adolescent, Nigel is a prisoner of his own family of country bumpkins who prevent him from joining the girl he loves. Orbit Ever After took home the grand prize thanks to, according to the Jury, its “creative ingenuity, inspired casting, humour, clarity of storytelling and poetic ending”.
What I really like about the short – and what makes it unique I think – is that despite the fact that it is set in space it doesn’t respect the codified world of sci-fi. The strange world you have created for Nigel to evolve in is carefully constructed and pretty unique. What inspired you create this world, reminiscent of your previous short Skyborn ?
The ramshackle space-farm aesthetic in Orbit (and Skyborn) I think was inspired by my parents house. I grew up in an old farm house where none of the appliances worked properly and everything was held together with sellotape and string. We had hens and three pet sheep that liked invading the house and there was lots of noise because it was always full of children and grandparents. My childhood home was delightfully mad and I think these post-apocalyptic family homes I write are caricatures of it.
Looking back at your previous work and background, would you say your training as an animator enabled you to be less restricted by boundaries of genres and realism?
I hadn’t actually trained as an animator, but started making animated shorts while at art school and started getting animation commissions, using my fees to fund my early live action shorts. I think it did help me to go for more ambitious projects as animation got me used to being able to tell any story I wanted.
Shorts don’t get that much exposure – when not in festivals – but it also remains difficult to watch them online. Have you ever considered having your shorts released online? Don’t you regret that festivals remain the only way to have your work seen?
Yes. There still exists a choice between screening your film at certain awards and festivals, and having it online for everyone to see. I hate this choice, as nobody makes short films for money. We make them to be seen, to say “Look, here’s what I can do.” Fewer and fewer festivals are imposing the no online rule but its still a pain.
Watch Orbit Ever After’s trailer here :
