Humdrum
Encyclopedia
Humdrum is an animated short film directed by Peter Peake. It was released in 1998
and produced by Aardman Animations
and received an Oscar
nomination for Animated Short Film
and a BAFTA
nomination in the same category.
(voiced by Jack Docherty
and Moray Hunter
) who are sitting around a table with nothing to do. They explore and reject several options including watching television (the only thing on is 'some weird animation thing'), listening to the radio (but 'it's all the same rubbish these days' - in this case La Cucaracha
) and playing chess (the white pieces have been eaten due to a bet). This is briefly interrupted when the doorbell rings and one character answers it to find a pesky dog (who is, in fact, a double-glazing salesman) before the other persuades him to enter into a game of shadow puppets. The first character is frustrated by his acquaintance's appalling representation of a cow and later his failure to recognise a rather fantastic rabbit
(His misled guesses include a 'fireman chasing an igloo' and an 'Otter with two sausage strapped to his head'). After an amusing outburst from the poor fellow, his annoying partner accuses him of being 'shirty'. This leads him to explode, furiously crying "I'm stuck indoors playing 'Guess the misshapen beast' with someone who clearly wouldn't recognise a rabbit if it came to his house for tea, said 'What's up Doc?
' and started burrowing into his head! There are blind people with no fingers who are better at shadow puppets than you! No wonder I'm a tad miffed!" An awkward silence follows this, until the doorbell rings and the first character goes to answer it, and finds the second character's 'cow' shadow puppet, which moos. Despite being disappointed with being wrong about a cow's appearance, he simply responds to this with a cheery "Not today, thank you." and closes the door in front of the camera, thus ending the animation.
cutout animation
technique to animate the shadow puppets, making them move in ways that traditional shadow puppets cannot but retaining the impression of being projected onto every day backgrounds.
1998 in film
-Events:* February 14 - Sharon Stone marries Phil Bronstein.* Former child star Gary Coleman is charged with assaulting a young female bus driver at a California shopping mall.-Top grossing films:...
and produced by Aardman Animations
Aardman Animations
Aardman Animations, Ltd., also known as Aardman Studios, or simply as Aardman, is a British animation studio based in Bristol, United Kingdom. The studio is known for films made using stop-motion clay animation techniques, particularly those featuring Plasticine characters Wallace and Gromit...
and received an Oscar
Academy Awards
An Academy Award, also known as an Oscar, is an accolade bestowed by the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize excellence of professionals in the film industry, including directors, actors, and writers...
nomination for Animated Short Film
Academy Award for Animated Short Film
The Academy Award for Animated Short Film is an award which has been given by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences as part of the Academy Awards every year since the 5th Academy Awards, covering the year 1931-32, to the present....
and a BAFTA
British Academy of Film and Television Arts
The British Academy of Film and Television Arts is a charity in the United Kingdom that hosts annual awards shows for excellence in film, television, television craft, video games and forms of animation.-Introduction:...
nomination in the same category.
Plot summary
The film features two anonymous Scottish-accented Shadow PuppetsShadow play
Shadow play or shadow puppetry Shadow puppets have a long history in China, India, Turkey and Java, and as a popular form of entertainment for both children and adults in many countries around the world. A shadow puppet is a cut-out figure held between a source of light and a translucent screen...
(voiced by Jack Docherty
Jack Docherty
Jack Docherty is a Scottish writer, actor, presenter and producer.-Early career:He first performed at the 1980 Edinburgh Festival Fringe with the comedy sketch group The Bodgers which he formed with George Watson's College schoolfriends Moray Hunter, Gordon Kennedy and Pete Baikie. They performed...
and Moray Hunter
Moray Hunter
Moray Hunter is a Scottish comedian, writer and performer. He is perhaps most famous for his roles in the Channel 4 sketch show, Absolutely. Alongside Jack Docherty he played one half of the eccentric double-act, Don and George, in Absolutely and later in the spin-off series, Mr. Don and Mr. George...
) who are sitting around a table with nothing to do. They explore and reject several options including watching television (the only thing on is 'some weird animation thing'), listening to the radio (but 'it's all the same rubbish these days' - in this case La Cucaracha
La Cucaracha
"La Cucaracha" is a traditional Spanish folk corrido that became popular in Mexico during the Mexican Revolution. It has additionally become a verse played on car horns.-Origins:...
) and playing chess (the white pieces have been eaten due to a bet). This is briefly interrupted when the doorbell rings and one character answers it to find a pesky dog (who is, in fact, a double-glazing salesman) before the other persuades him to enter into a game of shadow puppets. The first character is frustrated by his acquaintance's appalling representation of a cow and later his failure to recognise a rather fantastic rabbit
Rabbit
Rabbits are small mammals in the family Leporidae of the order Lagomorpha, found in several parts of the world...
(His misled guesses include a 'fireman chasing an igloo' and an 'Otter with two sausage strapped to his head'). After an amusing outburst from the poor fellow, his annoying partner accuses him of being 'shirty'. This leads him to explode, furiously crying "I'm stuck indoors playing 'Guess the misshapen beast' with someone who clearly wouldn't recognise a rabbit if it came to his house for tea, said 'What's up Doc?
Bugs Bunny
Bugs Bunny is a animated character created in 1938 at Leon Schlesinger Productions, later Warner Bros. Cartoons. Bugs is an anthropomorphic gray rabbit and is famous for his flippant, insouciant personality and his portrayal as a trickster. He has primarily appeared in animated cartoons, most...
' and started burrowing into his head! There are blind people with no fingers who are better at shadow puppets than you! No wonder I'm a tad miffed!" An awkward silence follows this, until the doorbell rings and the first character goes to answer it, and finds the second character's 'cow' shadow puppet, which moos. Despite being disappointed with being wrong about a cow's appearance, he simply responds to this with a cheery "Not today, thank you." and closes the door in front of the camera, thus ending the animation.
Film technique
The film employs a distinctive stop motionStop motion
Stop motion is an animation technique to make a physically manipulated object appear to move on its own. The object is moved in small increments between individually photographed frames, creating the illusion of movement when the series of frames is played as a continuous sequence...
cutout animation
Cutout animation
Cutout animation is a technique for producing animations using flat characters, props and backgrounds cut from materials such as paper, card, stiff fabric or even photographs...
technique to animate the shadow puppets, making them move in ways that traditional shadow puppets cannot but retaining the impression of being projected onto every day backgrounds.
The Credits
- Lighting Camera: Andy MacCormack, Jeremy Hogg, Toby Howell
- Design: Peter Peake
- Music: Andy PriceAndy PriceAndy Price is a British television and film composer. He has scored over fifty films for television and over twenty-five productions for theatres around the country, including the Bristol Old Vic, National Youth Theatre and the RSC....
- Editor: Nick Upton
- Script Doctor: Richard GoleszowskiRichard GoleszowskiRichard Goleszowski is an English animator.Goleszowski was born in Suffolk and grew up in Ipswich, attending Northgate Grammar School...
- Dubbing Editors: James MatherJames MatherJames Mather was mayor of New Orleans from March 9, 1807 to October 8, 1812.His place of birth is variously given as Coupland in Northumberland; or London...
, Ben JonesBen JonesBen Jones may refer to:*Ben Jones , British actor*Ben Jones , British radio DJ*Ben Jones , Welsh soccer player*Ben Jones , English soccer player... - Dialogue Editor: Tamsin Parry
- Sparks: John Bradley, John Truckle
- Technical Boffs: Janet Legg, Alan Yates
- Titles: Marc Day
- Cutting Room Assistant: Maggie O'Connor
- Production Assistants: Lisa Pavitt, Margaret House-Hayes
- Heap Big Thanks to: The Puppet Factory, Big Fat Studios, Pete AtkinPete AtkinPete Atkin is a British singer-songwriter and radio producer notable for his 1970s musical collaborations with Clive James and for producing the BBC Radio 4 series This Sceptred Isle.-Early life:...
, Maxine Guest, Claire Jennings, Terry Krejzl, Helen Nabarro, Lynda Ware - Producers: Carla ShelleyCarla ShelleyCarla Shelley is a producer for Aardman Animations.She produced A Close Shave, Humdrum, and Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit.She was also a line producer for Chicken Run.She was also a executive producer for Arthur Christmas.-References:...
, Michael RoseMichael RoseMichael Rose is a Grammy award winning reggae singer from Jamaica. Possessing a wide-ranged voice, Rose would regularly meet in Kingston with singers, musicians, writers, and producers such as Dennis Brown, Big Youth, The Wailers, Gregory Isaacs, Sly and Robbie, and others.-Career:Rose started his... - Associate Producer: Julie Lockhart
- Executive Producers: Peter LordPeter LordPeter Lord CBE is a British film producer, director and co-founder of the Academy award-winning Aardman Animations studio, an animation firm best known for its clay animated films and shorts, particularly those featuring plasticine duo Wallace & Gromit.-Biography:In cooperation with David...
, David SproxtonDavid SproxtonDavid Sproxton CBE is one of the co-founders of the Aardman Animations studio.David graduated from Collingwood College, University of Durham before starting as an animator, producing segments for the Vision On TV program, Sproxton and Lord created the character of Morph for Take Hart .He is... - Written and Directed by: Peter Peake
See also
- List of stop-motion films
- Silhouette animationSilhouette animationSilhouette animation is animation in which the characters are only visible as black silhouettes. This is usually accomplished by backlighting articulated cardboard cut-outs, though other methods exist...
(a similar technique but with the light coming from behind)