Flatworld

Flatworld is a short film by Daniel Greaves released in 1997.

The world in which the story is set is entirely made of paper and cardboard, so all characters and objects (like cars) are in 2D, while the world is in 3D. This is probably the first feature we notice, feature that makes Flatworld so different from other short films. The plot is focused on the life of Matt and his two animals, a cat and a fish. Because of an accident caused by Matt while working, the character of a tv show arrives in Flatworld causing various problems.

But is not just the plot that makes this short film so special. Flatworld is realized perfectly combining two different filming techniques: stop-motion and animation. Sound effects are extremely good as they greatly highlight both funny and serious moments. There are no dialogues, so anyone could watch it and understand everything.

I really appreciated Flatworld, I think that, even after 20 years, it still is a really enjoyable short film. It's funny and easy to understand (perfect for kids), but it's also a technical masterpiece.

Flatworld is a film that catches my attention, it's admirable watch stop motion animation because it's a hard working job and creative. Some people say that stop motion is something of the past but the producers made it in the present/future situations, and it was great. The fact of everything be made of paper and no dialogues and funny make the film unique and authentic, the sound effects are also a positive point. A film with no dialogue is interesting because everybody in the world can watch. The 2 dimension worlds connected by the tv, for me, was the most amazing part of the whole movie.

This film is a remarkable animation achievement, and, as far as I know, the only one ever done with this particular technique of animation.

The sets are three dimensional, built entirely of paper and cardboard, and the characters are drawn onto little card stock cutouts, one cutout per frame. So they take a shot, replace it with another cutout, take another shot (actually it was two shots per placement iirc).

The effect is amazing. The story takes place in a world made of paper, and artfully explores the implications of that. The VHS version I have has a "making of" at the end of it that will have you watching it again just to catch some of the extra details they tell you about.

This film was truly a labor of love and every frame shows it. If you are into animation, it's worth buying just to see it once. Also a lot of fun for the kids, very imagination-bending.

I honestly loved the movie Flatworld. It's very imaginative and innovative, considering that it was produced in 1997, without many of the technologies which are now available to us. The soundtrack is amazing: how many films are able to express theirselves in such a brilliant way without using a single world? I feel like it was because of the music choice, which I personally found very suitable in every scene. Let's not forget the main characteristic of this movie: it was all made with paper, using the stop motion technique. Pretty amazing work. The story was brilliant in its semplicity; it shows you a world where there's no three-dimensionality, but a "reversible world" underneath, which would be pretty cool if it actually existed in real life. I enjoyed how the animals were "humanized": both the fish and the cat got human's traits, and this made them even more appreciable, in my opinion. Last thing, I really appreciated when, at the end of the end credits, the version I saw proposed a short documentary on how this movie was made. Discovering the writer's and the film-makers' ideas was very interesting, so, if you haven't seen it yet, I suggest you do that!

I think this movie it was pretty good, you could see how was the stop-motion but it seems like a real movie. The movie didn't have talking but it did have music. You could tell really good how the movie was with each part. Then you could see, the place where they film, it was a huge place. The movie to be a stop motion movie it is really good filming with really good music.