Colourful Characters Tell 'Student Life' in Short Malone Film

Directing team Short Malone take us into the world of Coventry University. The animation directing duo comprised of Alan Short and Seamus Malone create a series of colourful characters to represent the equally bright students who attend the public research university in the city of Coventry, England.

The 1:30-minute promotional film consists of various real life testimonials of current undergraduates explaining why they chose to attend, and what life on and off campus is truly like. The directors aimed to capture authentic performances, obtaining these recordings by setting up meetings between a handful of students and encouraging them to talk.  

As for the animation, Short Malone wanted to create characters that were visually tied to images showing Coventry’s varied and interesting environment.  After photographing the campus, the directors experimented with projecting slightly pasteurised details from each frame onto the character as a texture, bringing them to life against the background.

Alan Short explains the concept, "we didn't want to draw attention to any actual physical or racial attributes of the students other than gender, which we get from the voice anyway. They all looked like they belonged in the same world and we felt that this was a great analogy for the modern day student." The resulting piece cleverly gives viewers a glimpse into the life of Coventry University students with a visual message of unity and equality. 

Short Malone are represented by Dapper, Believe Media's comedy division, in the US.