402 #11 - Untamed (2016)

Untamed was a seven minute short created by a 3rd year CG animators from Denmark at the Animation Workshop. There is no dialogue in the short, the plot is all told through action.
The plot follows a failed Jazz trumpet player as he succumbs to alcoholism and his fifteen year old daughter, who suffers because of it.

The short has a lower frame rate than most CG films, which gives it a clear, visually recognisable style, and the character models have a slightly more basic shape look rather than going for complete realism. Having a clearly recognisable visual style is very important in animation, since with modern technology, anyone can make animated films, there should be an appealing and recognisable look to them.

The team behind the short clearly wanted to focus on symbolism and metaphor in the short, which I do like, although something I dislike about the short is it's heavy handed-ness with such metaphor and how focal the metaphor is. Personally, I prefer metaphor and symbolism to be more subtle and less integral to the story, more to be in the background so requiring more debate and interpretation among the audience. That said, I can still appreciate the use of it in this short.