Potapych

Australian animator Darren Price produced this short film in London, with the help of some other animators including Michael Greenwood from Nexus. Darren came across an article in a magazine about the true story of a bear who had been adopted by a drunken caretaker, which triggered his idea to produce the short film. What caught Darren’s attention were the very emotive aspects of the story, which described Misha and Potapych as becoming great friends, sharing everything and taking care of each other.

The short focuses on the subject of friendship, centering the story on the relationship of the two main characters. In spite of lasting around 3 minutes it uses elaborate storytelling, unfolding the narration through a number of different locations and successfully depicting passage of time.

Great emphasis is dedicated to creating expressive characters and transmitting a party-like ambiance (with the aid of music, dancing, color palette and visual rhythm). Aesthetics have received a lot of attention. There’s great use of broad-stroked, stylized description of locations, which have been hand-painted, mixed with toon-shaded 3D elements. The author wanted the shots to look like illustrations. The voice over narration also helps set the mood, drive the storytelling forward and transmit the changing emotions to the viewer.