VIDEO: Apocalypse Rhyme – A Typographical Poem

This short work from British filmmaker, artist and animator Oliver Harrison is powerful – and nominated for Best Motion Graphics in the 2014 British Animation Awards. Harrison describes it as “a black and white, kaleidoscopic, multi-layered, hyper-kinetic typographical poem.”

Using the letters of the word APOCALYPSE, Harrison explores areas of life that have been eroded by recent events:  war, the degradation of the environment, the rise of corporate greed. The film suggests a quiet “apocalypse” has already occurred, affecting all of us.

• Poem, animation and soundtrack by Oliver Harrison, commissioned by Animate Projects, with Lupus Films.

• Oliver Harrison’s biography, here.

• His home page, here.

Surreal Animated Short Film about Hope

This short film by Andrea Malus came about because of her fascination with surrealism, her interest in symbols and the requirement that she produce her first animation for a course at Canada’s Sheridan College (often known as the Harvard of animation).  I generally love the theme, but it also fits with the purpose of this blog, to showcase apocalyptic art.  When I asked Andrea for permission to post it, she supplied me with a fascinating synopsis of her thoughts and motivations, including the following excerpts:

“The doll character is presented in a way that seems to be positive and the black cloud/hand seems to be the negative one at first sight, but I wanted the viewer to maybe think about it and see it the other way around too . . . “

Here’s a close-up of the doll character she’s talking about.

Andrea says she likes “asking people what it meant to them and hear how they reflect in this story. For some it’s end of war, waiting for a change for the better, inner birth . . . etc.”

“I think this short movie could be a reassurance . . . that there is a light at the end of the tunnel, no matter how bad things seem, it always turns out alright and somehow we survive.”