Are
all the screenplays slavishly written according to a pre-conceived “beat sheet”
really so different from what the storied Semaphore animation studio practices?
It certainly has produced hits, but it might be a bit much for aspiring animator
Sophia Baker to take in when she interviews with the accomplished chief
animator in Cameo Wood’s short film Real
Artists (trailer
here),
which screens during the 2017 Cinequest Film & VR Festival.
Baker
has always wanted to make movies—preferably for Semaphore. Anne Palladon
appears to be willing to give her that chance, but she will have to do it the Semaphore
way. What is the secret of their success? You will have to sign a NDA before
she can tell you about it. Apparently, Semaphore is more “security-conscious”
than Amazon, Google, and the now bankrupt Solyndra combined. It is safe to say
their techniques are speculative, but not to a very great extent.
Real Artists is the second
short adapted from a story by science fiction writer and translator Ken Liu, following
last year’s Beautiful Dreamer. It is
also one of several recent shorts using genre premises to explore big picture
ideas, starring Tamlyn Tomita (from The
Joy Luck Club amongst numerous other credits), like Seppuku. Frankly, she makes Palladon look like a tough boss, but
perhaps a corporate leader you can believe in.
Neither
the near-future technology nor the final twist are hugely shocking, but Real Artists comes in a super slick
package and it really invites us to question the nature of the films we see.
Arguably, in the focus-grouped world we live in, film production is already not
so far removed from the techniques of Semaphore. It is also rather refreshing
to watch Tomita and Tiffany Hines verbally circle each other as the co-leads.