Skylight

New York Premiere

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Synopsis:

A cavernous ice cave and snowscape in the Antarctic. Voiceover narration describes its desolate quality in an overly solemn, dramatic, nature documentary-like tone.

A lone penguin against another stark background. The narrator describes him using ridiculous superlatives, nobility, majesty, etc., contrasting with his mundane activity and appearance.

Dramatic music swells, the penguin begins to waddle, he passes through a small group of other penguins, the camera, mimicking the handheld movement of a documentary camera.

Shockingly, as our first penguin leaves frame, passing through a ray of sunlight, he explodes in a blinding flash. In the confusion, our camera reels, trying to assess the situation. The other penguins, seemingly oblivious, stare off into space.

As snow settles from the blast, the remains of our wandering penguin spins in the air, inches from the ground, and drops with a thud. Revealed, the carcass amid three others, all looking like roasted turkeys, under a beam of sunlight.

The narrator booms that the hole in the ozone layer has caused this cataclysm. The other penguins, ignorant of the peril about them, continue to mill aimlessly about.

A title card appears, asking for donations to the fund for “Inconsequential Wildlife”, denoting that no one, even the filmmakers, really cares what happens to things removed from their immediate experience. Cut back to a lone remaining penguin, whose fate is probably sealed. Cut to black and credits.

A closing montage shows the fate of other “Inconsequential” animals worldwide if these environmental trends continue.

 

 

Directed and Written by david baas

Produced by Stephen Sweeney
Cinematographer Daniel Cormack
USA, Country: Canada

http://www.skylight-short.com/

David Baas is currently Animation Department Head at Starz animation in Toronto Canada, in charge of animation resources, training and quality for all projects. Starz animation produces feature film animation, including the upcoming Tim Burton produced feature “9’.

Previously Mr. Baas was co-ordinator and a professor at the Computer Animation program at Seneca College in Canada. He was also a key artistic and technical contributor to the 2004 Academy Award winning Computer Animation short “Ryan” produced at the College for director Chris Landreth.
Mr. Baas also worked as an animation director the United States for studios such as Kleiser-Walczak and Curious Pictures on various projects.
Mr. Baas has a degree in classical animation from Sheridan College in Canada, and was a lead animator and consultant at Alias|wavefront during the development of Maya, now the standard 3-D animation package used worldwide.