Winners

I really loved how this film looked! The animation was super simple and charming, with a lot of diverse shots, it felt like a good amount of time was put into everything visual! The papers flying past the screen was really well animated and had a lot of proper weight! All the backgrounds had tons of visual flare with a lot of diverse locations, which works well for the theme! The sense of depth can be hard to capture when making backgrounds and you guys nailed it! I’m always impressed when people utilize 3D programs for interior environments and I especially loved the gondala with the following light source! Really good job overall guys!

This animation looked amazing from start to finish!

This is the type of animation you expect to see from a high quality show that can take months to prepare, so for it to be completed at this quality in just a week is incredible to me.

The dynamic backgrounds and use of depth in each shot works really well, and I love how everything comes together in the end, congrats!

This film's visuals really bring it to life! The sense of scale you achieve in your backgrounds is really impressive, and a lot of the shots were absolutely amazing! The use of lighting was especially cool in a lot of places, with the glowing lights and that incredible shot with the gondola going across the water and the light responding to the waves! The somewhat muted colours definitely gave this film a really unique early morning feeling to it, and I really enjoyed that. The animation was also well done, while quite simple and limited in some places, the character acting was believable and the shot with the papers flying through the wind as the car whizzed past was particularly punchy and satisfying! Overall this film really stood out to me and impressed me visually, great work!

Within the first 20 seconds, I knew I was in for a special treat. I can tell you went big and beyond with your sound design. This film is so full of life! From your original score that sets the mood, to the foley that perfectly captures every character’s actions. These small details truly add a lot to the immersion of your film. Really amazing work, congratulations!

I absolutely adore the cartoony sound effects, and comedic timing in this. This is perfectly timed, and I can’t believe how great this sounds. Overall, this was just an hilariously funny entry which was enhanced by the beautiful sound design. The original score is also just the cherry on top too! Congratulations, on the win you deserve it!

I REALLY enjoyed the storytelling in this entry; I think it’s difficult to tell a compelling story with two characters because there’s a lot of room for error, but you completely nailed it! The two brothers bounce off each other so well - the younger brother made me laugh so many times with his expressions and lines, and I love the story’s evolution over the three minutes, especially with the destinations they went to and the resolution!

A lot of films in this film festival were able to creatively tackle this prompt in ways I couldn’t even foresee, but ‘Pen Pals’ really stood out to me as a funny, snappy film which really utilised its time well. The opening segment with the letter immediately catches our interest, and the dream sequence and mid-way twist in the piece was genuinely so creative and funny, and completely caught me off guard. The storybeats were so unique and you never really knew where it was heading next, and yet flowed very naturally, and the humour was so well incorporated into the piece. The dream sequence having his little brother getting carried away is such a funny absurd joke that I had to replay it. And the entire film all comes together for a really fun punchline at the end that really surprised me, and is genuinely hilarious. I’m really happy to award your team as the winners for the writing category, the story was so entertaining, terrific work on your piece.

I thought this film was looked incredible and it made me laugh — that’s a hard combination to find! I think it’s super impressive that this only took a week — I really enjoyed myself watching.

Where do I begin. I laughed my butt off throughout the entire film. There were so many quick gags and references that it’d be impossible to list them all off. Some of my favorites were references to past works (like the ring falling off of Umbrella), silly stuff like Box Cutter’s food falling out, and my personal favorite: the non-stop wave of familiar puppet-like characters! One aspect I have to praise is the character design. Every character felt so unique. Cupcake instantly struck me as someone to be a travel agent. Reminded me of the secretary from Ferris Bueller. Someone I can trust! Also Beaker, LOL, seriously 10/10 for that one. The muted colors of the airport work so well in that it gives the luxurious paintings and colorful characters that we see so much vibrance when they show up. Last but not least, the voice acting, sound design, and music! AMAZING! I could go on forever about this. Everyone sounded like they were having so much fun recording and it really showed in the performances. The airport ambience was to the tee, and the foley was extremely believable. If this was a sitcom, I’d watch it! This was easily my favorite film. You all worked so well together and it shows through your work. Congratulations on your win!

Such an outstanding film, it hits the mark on everything we’re looking for in terms of animation, audio editting, voice acting, art style, and, writing, it had the whole package. My favroite parts where the office like confessionals and the joke with the blocks disguise. I also love the overall concept for this one, going through different air travel customers, and using the type of objects they are to create clever and funny jokes out of. Despite being a sequel to a previous film I love how this also works as a standalone film. Overall this was such a funny film and a joy to watch, congratulations.

This was amazing, like genuinely, I’m shocked this was only made in a week! The visuals were so stunning with the painted backgrounds and unique background characters, like the kids in the trenchcoat and pretty much every character that boards the plane. A lot of visual gags were super unique, I always love when the OSC utilizes the actual object of the character, like the thread character trying to catch the plane but unravels themselves on the spool, the hot air balloon and the raisin waiting for the flight. The animation was super clean and felt refined, it was super satisfying to watch, like the customers walking up the stairs to board the plane and Metal Detector’s scene, its 100% my favourite scene, their movements are so fun and lively, which works so well for their character. I kept replaying that part to look at the movements! One thing I noticed this film did is include a lot of expressive lipsyncing, its a choice that add so much to the film and characters. HonestIy, I could really go on about all the things I liked, but I’m sure we’ve all made it clear how much we enjoyed this film! Congrats on winning guys, you all did such an amazing job!

I don’t know where to even begin with this, it’s just that good! I fell in love with this film the moment I started watching. The expressions of all the characters just bring the film to life and the way everything flows left me wishing for more. Everything is so visually bouncy and fun and coupling that with the writing direction and audio in the film as well, I don’t think we could’ve picked a better winner. Congrats!

Talking heads are such a fun storytelling device in film, and I loved seeing it utilised in such a fun and entertaining way within this piece. The film has such fun characters, and everything looks and sounds so fun. The art is so fun to look at, with every shot having something fun and unique to spot and inspect, and the animation was so bouncy and full of life making this piece such a joy to watch. I also thought all the characters were so unique, I particularly loved the Muppet inspired characters, the laptop with a face on it, and the hot air balloon who angrily flies away mid-conversation. Dream Vacation was such an amazing film, and I enjoyed watching it so much. Congratulations on winning!

This film is so charming, and it really has it all! The writing is funny and engaging, the audio is well done and the visuals are great! I loved all the little visual gags scattered throughout the film, there was always fun something to look at! The characters were well designed, well voice acted and likeable! The backgrounds and the ambient audio really helped capture the airport setting, the great choice of colours and the muffled background music really helped sell it! The animation was also spectacular, I'd give a shout out in particular to the scene with Metal Detector, as the animation there was particularly fluid and satisfying to look at, and the expressions and character acting were great! But as a whole the animation here was wonderful! Great work to everyone on the team, this film came together really really well!