Horse Town: The Town Where Everyone is Horses
Art: the short film Horse Town: The Town Where Everyone is Horses
Experienced: On Newgrounds.
Yes, finally, I am blogging about something I didn't get from Vinegar Syndrome! And it's an animated short film, how novel!
I really loved this short. The tone perfectly balances a goofy sense of humor with a calm, relaxed atmosphere. The watercolor backgrounds are simple, maybe even a bit crude, but I found them to be quite beautiful. The designs for the characters were also quite simple, and the non-horse side characters had very silly designs, but there was something compelling about the simplicity of the horse characters. They don't really fit into the watercolor backgrounds naturally, but there's something about that contrast between the cleanness of digital art and the texture of traditional art that adds to the atmosphere of the work rather than detracting from it.
The story is pretty simple. Despite the goofiness of the whole affair, there's something real here. The director states it plainly in a post he made--though you really don't need him to tell you, as it is apparent in the work itself: this is a story about reconnecting with the things you love, the dreams you had as a child. That's why, despite the silliness that ensues, the film starts on a wistful shot of children playing. A memory of better days. The director spoke in his post about how he was feeling depressed, and that this film was an attempt to get out of that rut and make something. He says that making his way through depression does not have such an easy solution as it does in the film, but it's clear to me that this is a step in the right direction. As someone pointed out in a YouTube video I watched recently: expression is the opposite of depression.
This is a lesson that I could very much stand to take for myself. My bugbear is more anxiety than depression, but I think being willing to make something heartfelt and silly like this film would do a lot to pull me out of my own head. The director talked in his post about how isolating animation can be, and how he made a deliberate effort to bring other people into the creation process. That's important too. Expression isn't very helpful if you have no one to express to. We're social creatures. We tend to make art for other people as much as we make it for ourselves. Bringing people into the process before the work is done is a great way to reinvigorate it, and yourself.
This silly, touching little film is a reminder to create. It is a reminder that even as our dreams seem so far out of reach, it is important to take another step forward. Even if we never make it, the journey is still meaningful. The journey of creation is life itself.