Neat ideas, clever people #1. Cinema dell'Arte
Presentation video - Cinema dell'Arte from Cinema dell'Arte on Vimeo.
Fri 15/7. Collected kids early and took them to an 'end of course' performance at the Danish Film School. Already knew something of the show, as had been lucky enough to have met Producer, Jakob Balslev and Director, Petter Madegård at Cross Media for kids Swedish Academy for Dramatic Arts event a month or two earlier. Essentially it's animation film that reacts to a live audience. Not just a really, really interesting concept, but neatly delivered. OK, the story could deal with some tweaks, but the platform is strong and holds so much potential. What's most striking are the multiple levels on which the experience works, in particular the triangular relationship between on-screen characters, the narrator and the audience. They hold back on the surprise and then play into the space created by the removal of the 'fourth wall'. From here, a dependency currency evolves, creating the engine for driving the story forward. It's here where the production shows its strengths, but also its vulnerabilities. Too little need on the audience and you wonder why the wall was removed, too much and you question the role of the on-screen characters. Step forward the narrator, who facilitates this exchange. Interestingly it sometimes the off-hand remarks that strengthen this paradox - one character jokingly protesting that he was on a pause, a wink towards a self-awareness that this new paradigm enables.
It engages both children and adults, playing to their differing strengths - kids enjoy and exploit magic, adults delight in the seeing the animation genre stretched.
Jakob & Petter's presentation at Cross Media for kids Swedish Academy for Dramatic Arts event (with me at the tail end).
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