Adam Gravois is a freelance animator. HIs animation 'golden shoes' was in
last year's Res Fest.

Without a doubt, the most exciting piece at this year's ResFest Digital
Film Festival is Eric Henry's "Wood Technology in the Design of
Structures." With the dryness of a instructional video, the short
explores the difficulties of eating wood. By turns canny, hilarious, and
thought-provoking, this beautifully crafted piece never overwhelms the
viewer with its own use of technology, rather, it explores the ways in
which technology enables us to play out our alienation. "Wood
Technology…" is an excellent use of Adobe After Effects, juxtaposing
schematics, photographs and film footage in a surreal flow, and is
reason enough to attend ResFest 1997.

Like last year's festival, ResFest 1997 (which plays October 23-25 at
the Director's Guild of America in New York) is an unpredictable,
exciting, and uneven ride through the latest in digital filmmaking.

There is a certain conflict that is unavoidable when a film festival
sets out explicitly to curate works produced on the desktop: at what
point is a work included for its own merits as a film, and at what point
is it included for the way it shows off a particular technology? ResFest
strikes a balance with a handful of pieces that would stand on their own
in any film (or animation) festival. Some, like "Wood Technology…"
couldn't have been produced without desktop tools. Others are more
conventional film narratives edited on nonlinear systems like the Avid.
While I personally would prefer to see more animation and more
challenges to the accepted "look" of computer-generated imagery, these
shorts merit consideration as one way that digital technology has
enabled independent artists to make high-quality films within their
means.

Among the live-action narrative shorts, Max Osterweis' "Jimmy Young And
The Job" is, in my opinion, the strongest. In addition to another short
written by Osterweis and a rambling documentary about a pro
skateboarder, his painting, and his wife's body, there are two amusing
skateboarding shorts directed by Spike Jonze. One of Jonze's shorts
utilizes greenscreen techniques to miniaturize the main actor; just a
few short years ago this would have been prohibitively expensive for any
independent production. While most of the CGI pieces are 2D graphic
collages of type and images like "Wood Technology…" there are also a
handful of fully 3D pieces. "Solitary Journey" is a somber piece whose
greatest strength is the original and nuanced design of the main
character. "Once" is another interesting piece of character work,
featuring a well-made, stylized human head. The quality of the modeling
and animation is unfortunately marred by acting and writing that's hammy
and self-pitying. "N-Train" shows off the potential and the limitations
of motion capture. For much of the picture, the mo-cap animated figures
move in a very convincing way: a drunk staggers, a demon looms. But when
faced with a situation that can't be motion captured, the animators drop
the ball; the flying demon is as stiff and lifeless as a plastic doll.

+ + +

[the following is excerpted from the festival's press release.]

The ResFest Digital Film Festival will take place at the Directors Guild
of America and the Lighthouse in New York, Thursday October 23 through
Saturday October 25. The Festival, a dynamic showcase of digital
filmmaking, explores how the latest digital tools are affecting
independent film production.

Opening night, Thursday Oct. 25, the "ResFest Shorts" program, will
screen - 16 eclectic short films from around the world at the DGA
theater. Immediately following will be a party and launch of RES The
Magazine of Digital Filmmaking. Friday and Saturday the shorts program
will repeat and we will also screen "Cinema Electronica", hyper-kinetic
music films.

Saturday at 4p, the East Coast Digital Consortium will co-present The
Future of Filmmaking Panel. The panel will explore the pros and cons of
digital filmmaking - panelists include award-winning director Rob
Nilsson, designer Graham Wood (tomato), digital artist John Tissavary
("N-Train" in ResFest Shorts), and video artist Gardner Post (Emergency
Broadcast Network, with two films in ResFest).

ResFest will host a free exhibit area at the Lighthouse on Friday
(6p-10p) and Saturday (2p-9p) Film and Videomaking booths from
Film/Video Arts, Harvestworks, and the AIVF. Digital filmmaking tool
demos from Adobe, Intel and Intergraph Computer Systems. Plus curated
interactive CD-ROMs.

Tickets ($10) are available via the web at http://www.ticketweb.com or
charge-by-phone 510/594-1400, in person at our NYC outlets (call
212/330-9093 for locations) or at the box office prior to shows. Please
purchase your tickets in advance if possible, as we expect a full house.

- THU OCT 23 Directors Guild of America, 110 W. 57th St. at 6th 8PM
ResFest Shorts

- Plush, 431 West 14th St. 10PM-2AM Opening night party (free with
ResFest ticket)

- FRI OCT 24 The Lighthouse, 111 E. 59th St. at Park 8PM ResFest Shorts
10PM Cinema Electronica

- SAT OCT 25 The Lighthouse, 111 E. 59th St. at Park 4PM Future of
Filmmaking Panel 7PM ResFest Shorts 9PM Cinema Electronica

More info: http://www.resfest.com or 212/330-9093.