"Defective Detective"

Yet another great animated short I stumbled upon:



I thought this film was so good, loved every second of it. I like the really stylized character-designs, the main character has sharp features and a pointy nose and it works well against the small, more round and chunky design of the old lady.
The colour-palette is also very well done, dark and grey in the first half and warm and bright in the second.
Also liked the intro, the camera move over the old newspapers and then moves the camera into the main character reading a paper with his face on it stating: "our hero". Nice little joke straight away which makes you pay attention and want to see more.
The quality of the animation is very good in my opinion, a lot of contrast between fast an slow motions. The main character can be completely still in one moment and in the next he's all over the place. Also like the way they animated the rat in the animation too, very smooth and visually pleasing motion.

The story itself is simple, but it really works. The detective has been trying to catch the "butcher" for a long time (has boxes of newspapers and articles of him + the wall is covered with clippings). So when a red liquid substance hits his desk and he hears screams he instantly believes this must be the butcher on another killing-spree in the apartment straight above him.
His objective is to catch the butcher, but his obstacle is actually getting into the apartment and then overcoming his fear of what awaits him in the kitchen. I like the fact that we get to see what goes on "inside his head" as he hears the screams and stands there with his gun. Those 2D parts are very nicely done and they blend well with the rest of the 3D look.

Overall a very impressive piece of work. This is a student film that apparently has done quite well since it was released. It's made by two(!!!) students, so I must say reading that made me even more impressed. It's really inspiring to see student work as good as this!

The film is made by Avner Geller and Stevie Lewis and you can have a look at their blogs here:

AvnerGeller.blogspot.com

Chocosweete.blogspot.com

There is also some information on the production of the film at:

http://www.cartoonbrew.com/brewtv/detective.html