''Flutter'' is a 2006 Canadian

anime is a Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, , in Japan and in Ja ...

-style

animated short Animation is a filmmaking technique whereby still images are manipulated to create moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on transparent celluloid sheets to be photographed and exhibited on film. Animati ...

by Howie Shia, co-produced by PPF House and the

National Film Board of Canada The National Film Board of Canada (NFB; ) is a Canadian public film and digital media producer and distributor. An agency of the Government of Canada, the NFB produces and distributes documentary films, animation, web documentaries, and altern ...

Awards

''Flutter'' received the Open Entries Grand Prize at the Tokyo Anime Awards — the first work from outside Asia to win this award. ''Flutter'' also received the award for best Quebec short feature at the

Fantasia Festival Fantasia International Film Festival, also known as Fantasia Fest or simply Fantasia, is a genre film festival that has been based mainly in Montreal since its founding in 1996. It focuses on fantasy, horror, sci-fi and cult genre films. Regular ...

and a Jury Award from the Golden Sheaf Awards.

Plot

A quiet film without color, a boy and a girl must abandon their friendship to pursue their dreams. In this short animation, a young boy takes a flying leap away from normal, waves goodbye to his classmates, and disappears into the cityscape and beyond. At the same time, a young girl is inspired to reinvent her space with art.

Production

Shia, who grew up in

Saskatchewan Saskatchewan is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Western Canada. It is bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, to the northeast by Nunavut, and to the south by the ...

, was in

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

when he was approached by NFB producer Michael Fukushima and asked if he had any ideas he wanted to present. He offered a few ideas before remembering some earlier art work he had done of a "kid with wings on his feet" while working with the NFB on his first project, a 30-second short ''Ice Ages''. This artwork became the inspiration for ''Flutter''. ''Flutter'' is animated in black and white. It took Shia and his team 10 months to complete and was animated using

Photoshop Adobe Photoshop is a raster graphics editor developed and published by Adobe for Windows and macOS. It was created in 1987 by Thomas and John Knoll. It is the most used tool for professional digital art, especially in raster graphics editin ...

, which the filmmaker used because of his unfamiliarity with

animation software Computer animation is the process used for digitally generating moving images. The more general term computer-generated imagery (CGI) encompasses both still images and moving images, while computer animation refers to moving images. Modern ...

at the time, and because he wanted the film to "look as hand-drawn and gritty as possible." Several people who had grown up with Shia in

Saskatoon Saskatoon () is the largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Saskatchewan. It straddles a bend in the South Saskatchewan River in the central region of the province. It is located along the Trans-Canada Hig ...

worked on ''Flutter'', including his brothers Leo and Tim, who played music for the film, and friends Kelly Sommerfield ( background art) and Ryan Patterson ( sound engineering).

References

{{Reflist

External links

Watch ''Flutter'' at NFB.caFilmmaker's website for ''Flutter''
includes development artwork and deleted scenes 2006 animated short films Anime-influenced animation Canadian black-and-white films Computer-animated short films Animated films without speech National Film Board of Canada animated short films Quebec films Films directed by Howie Shia 2000s Canadian animated films