2 Finnish Short Films 2011

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Kari Juusonen Milla von Konow A rope extending to the heavens controls the Creatures Kari Juusonen’s animation “Ö” is an evolution story whose characters are protozoans from our planet’s ancient past. Considered one of Finland’s leading animators, Kari Juusonen (born 1967) has switched techniques from clay animation to computer animation. Juusonen’s new 12-minute solo work is called Ö. Before this Juusonen had created the short clay animations Pizza Passionata (2001) and The Birthday (2004), with the former winning him the Prix du Jury award at the Cannes film festival. He has had a long break since his last work but he has a good reason for this. Juusonen has built a house and worked as a co-director in the feature-length computer animation Niko – The Way to the Stars (2008), by the Anima Vitae animation studio. The film’s other director was the Danish Michael Hegner. Distributed to over one hundred countries, the speedy and Christmas-themed Niko is one of the most internationally successful Finnish films of all time. “Ö is a kind of reflective work”, says Juusonen. “It’s probably the fact that I’m middle-aged that creates a slightly introverted atmosphere sometimes. You can understand the passage of time in another way – I’ve tried to make time visible in the film using ropes that extend upwards out to the characters.” As described, the film’s protozoan creepy-crawly characters are attached to wire-like ropes that lead up, as if umbilical cords to the heavens. One of the creatures rises from the water onto an island, begins to explore the world with its limited senses and tries to fortify the island, but eventually realises it wants to make contact and spend time with others. This very original film seems like a metaphor for humans trying to find their way. When you watch Ö, you are reminded of the way the story is carried and the infinite savouring of existence that Pixar boldly displayed in the computer animation Wall-E. The imagery of Ö, however, is the work of one man, created in the boiler room of the new house built by Kari Juusonen. At the time of his first award-winning animation, Juusonen saw himself very much as a “manual labourer”, but tools change. “Initially I made a one-minute clay animation demo of Ö, but putting the ropes in proved too difficult. With computer animation you can make movement look the way you want it. The feel here had to be immaterial.” “The film as a whole, though, is carefully constructed. I don’t get ideas for films in my dreams. What is interesting is the rope, a force that draws the characters in a certain direction. I was intrigued by the thought of following this with the logic of a nature film that is as pure as possible.” During the working stage, Juusonen called the main character ‘Hemppa’ and the other members of his species ‘Creatures’. The film’s creatures, of course, cannot speak any clearly formed language. In the preliminary production information, the central character was called ‘Adam’. “After Niko, this short film feels like it’s a form of self expression. Although in the best cases, when working on a feature film, the filmmaker can share his ideas and even make confessions.” “I have a long-term plan for my own film that would be half live, half computer animation. I think I might make some kind of a live short film before that, though”, Juusonen promises. Niko the Reindeer’s stepfamily “There are lots of really interesting Finnish short animation makers”, Juusonen says. Animation training and the opportunities offered by the industry are quite a new thing in Finland. When Juusonen was working on his debut film, Pizza Passionata, which is a love mystery taking place in a concrete suburb, he considered making the animations in Estonia. But within a dec- ade, an entire animation industry has been born in Finland, whose influencers include Petteri Pasanen, the untiring ambassador for the Niko project and the producer of Pizza Passionata. Now that Ö is finished, Juusonen has taken on a new job with Anima Vitae, which is creating a sequel for the story of Niko the little reindeer. The sequel is to be released for Christmas 2012 and currently has the working title ‘N2’. “I’m responsible for image design and animation again. My co-director, the Danish charmer Jørgen Lerdam, will be responsible for character design.” “Niko’s story of growing up will continue quite naturally. He has to rediscover himself in relation to others – within a stepfamily. Niko’s mother has found a new husband and Niko gets a new stepbrother. Even though the film is a fantasy, it talks about issues that touch children here and now.” Jussi Karjalainen Ö, page 17 Niko – The Way to the Stars 4 Finnish Short Films 2011
How to Make a Very Good Film A short film is a director’s audiovisual calling card. It is an excellent, small scale way to practise the dramaturgy of feature length film, and an important leg on the road to fully mastering the art of the The difference between short and feature film becomes clear the moment the director applies for funding. How to describe a short film What is the duration of a short film What does one express with a short film Where will it be shown In her thesis, Cantell states that the main differences are dramaturgical. In my experience, short films are approached in much the same way as feature films when it comes to film teaching or to making decisions about funding and producing. Personally, I have often found it frustrating trying to apply dramaturgical models that fit feature films to analysing and planning short films. I have felt like someone who needs a screwdriver, but can only find a hammer, a saw, or a jackhammer. (Condensed to a Diamond, p. 5) feature film. It is a prelude to a great symphony. The notions associated with short film are strong, and they are based on the experiences of both the film makers and the viewers. Is it possible that short film has other dimensions, ones that have been ignored The inspiration for director Saara Cantell’s doctoral thesis was her personal affinity with short films, as well as the concrete need to increase the appreciation of a genre that is misunderstood and often also misused. “I was annoyed by how underrated short films are, especially since, in my own experience, they are terribly difficult to make. The common conception seems to be that short films are only a way to learn how to make real films. I have seen some wonderful short films that are regrettably seldom shown anywhere,” Cantell explains. The thesis, Timantiksi tiivistetty - Dramaturgia ja kerronnalliset keinot lyhyessä fiktiivisessä lyhytelokuvassa (Condensed to a Diamond – Dramaturgy and Narrative Means in Short Fiction Films, working title, forthcoming), presented to the Department of Motion Picture, TV and Production Design at Aalto University’s School of Art and Design, is a welcome addition to film study by film makers themselves. In her thesis, Cantell wanted to define the dramaturgical differences between short and feature films from the director’s point of view. She narrowed her research material down to short fiction films that are shorter than 15 minutes. The thesis includes both a theoretical and an artistic element: five short films and a theoretical comparison of the process of making them. In Cantell’s experience, there has been very little scientific study of short films. But the attitudes taken towards short films can have a significant impact on, for example, the development of national film culture. Cantell recalls an interesting example from her own student days, when students from the School of Art and Design visited film students in Denmark. At the Danish film school, student exercises were not printed on film, nor were they sent to festivals. “Some really big directors have emerged from that generation, which doesn’t surprise me at all. They had the chance to experiment and take risks while doing the student exercises.” It wasn’t until the last year of school, when the students made a short film, that their works received a public screening. How to Get to the Crux of a Short Film The saw and the jackhammer, funding and distribution, are some of the main reasons for the rocky position of short film. If the director, financier, distributor, and even the viewer have difficulty defining short film and its place among film genres, how can it be given long-span support and developed further Cantell’s thesis defines the art form from the film maker’s point of view, in other words, from a practical point of view, which makes the study particularly valuable. Cantell admits that she occasionally went astray as she attempted to create an artificial connection between feature and short film. The genre grouping that is familiar from feature films was partly the result of a commercial need to define and categorise a film in order to market it more efficiently. Cantell started out trying to apply the grouping also to short films, but she quickly noticed that it was too fragmented. Also, the grouping gave no insight as to why certain kinds of short films are made. The genre grouping of feature films was no help in planning a short film, just the opposite: It merely steered Cantell towards a superficial dramatic structure. This sort of “learning the hard way” is what makes studies by film makers so important. The answer to defining short film was discovered by examining existing short films and their dramaturgical choices. One of the main theories that Cantell used in her thesis was Richard Raskin’s seven parameters for the examination and making of short films, each of which has a role in the creation of a good short film. Milla von Konow Saara Cantell Finnish Short Films 2011 5
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2 Finnish Short Films 2011

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