Distraxion

Distraxion is a short film written, directed and animated by Mike Stern about an office worker who struggles with his boss’s lack of music taste. The short makes great use of narrative POVs (points of view), basing much of its story on the level of subjectivity of the character’s narration. Through this increased subjectivity, it transposes a conflict with the environment (music) into an external one (a conflict with a character).

Staged in an office (urban location), Distraxion employs a stylized aesthetic, giving special attention to the expressiveness of the characters to build and transmit conflict. Music plays a particularly important role in the film.

Great sense of humor and the depiction of a situation most of us have gone through at one time or another help create a widely appealing short.

Mike Stern produced most of the film while studying at Animation Mentor, the online animation school founded by Pixar animators. He kept on working on Distraxion after finishing his studies, and it took him approximately two years to complete.