More (1998 film)
| More | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Directed by | Mark Osborne |
| Produced by | Steve Kalafer |
| Written by | Mark Osborne |
| Music by | New Order |
| Cinematography | Mark Osborne |
| Edited by | Mark Osborne |
Production company |
Bad Clams Productions Swell Productions |
| Distributed by |
Flemington Pictures Film Movement |
Release dates |
|
Running time | 6 min |
| Country | United States |
More is a 1998 short film created by Mark Osborne using stop motion animation. More has won several awards, and was nominated for an Academy Award as Best Animated Short Film in 1998.
Plot
More tells the story of an inventor who lives in a drab, colorless world. Day by day, he toils away in a harsh, dull, and dehumanizing job, his only savior being the memories of the bliss of childhood. But at night, he works secretly on an invention that could help him relive those memories and spread their joy to everyone in his despair-filled life.
When he finishes the invention, it changes the way people look at the world, but not the world itself. His success changes him, however, because he loses an important part of himself.
Production and publication
More was written and directed by Mark Osborne, and created by a team that included, among others, Keith and Shannon Lowry, Rick Orner, Nick Peterson, and David Candelaria. Although it was only a 6-minute short, it was, as Osborne put it, an "absolutely massive undertaking"—as it was the first short to be shot using the IMAX format. In addition, it was filmed using stop motion, a much more time-consuming method than live-action filming techniques.
Filming More took nine months, and it was first screened in fall of 1998. While it had a positive critical reception—including an Academy Award nomination—commercial options proved limited once the initial hype died down.
This changed when Osborne uploaded More to iFilm, a service which hosts thousands of short films online. Almost immediately after, More was voted the most popular clip on the site, a position it held for nearly a year. Although More was subsequently included in the Short Cinema Journal #7: Utopia DVD, Osborne was receiving e-mails daily, asking for the short to be released on DVD. One of these was a writer from Despair, Inc., complimenting him on his work, which led to an offer for Despair to fund DVD production and to sell DVDs on their website. The DVD thus created included two commentaries and an hour-long documentary on the creation of More. The film was also released on disk in the second issue of Wholphin Magazine.
More was featured on the Sci-Fi Channel series Exposure.
Soundtrack
The song featured as background music is titled "Elegia". It was recorded by the band New Order on the 1985 album Low-Life.
A music video also featured More to the song of "Hell Bent" by Kenna which was aired on MTV2 and the Toonami block on Cartoon Network in 2001.
Composer and remixer Justin Lassen created two intensely orchestral remixes and reversions of "Elegia" for the DVD.
The track also appears in an episode of the popular Netflix series Stranger Things.
Awards
More was awarded the following honors:
- Sundance Film Festival - Special Jury Prize for Short Films
- South by Southwest - Best Animated Short
- Nominated - Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film
- ResFest – Audience Award for Best Film, Grand Audience Prize for Best Film
- Aspen Shorts Fest - Special Jury prize
- World Fest Houston - Gold / Special Jury Prize for Shorts
- USA Film Festival - Dallas - Grand Jury Prize for Shorts
- Toronto International Short Film Fest - Best Animated Short, Best Short Overall
- Stony Brook Film Fest - Best Short Film
- Message to Man International Film Festival - Russia – Best International Debut Film
- PhilaFilm - Philadelphia – Best Animated Short
- Nominated - Annie Award for Best Animated Short Subject
- St. Louis International Film Festival - Best Short Film
- Uppsala International Short Film Festival/Sweden - Audience Award for Best Film
- San Francisco Indie Fest – Audience Award