User Reviews

According to the shortoftheweek website this animated short film by Selina Cobley took several years to develop and the artist spent several months painstakingly drawing on paper then putting the images down on cel . I've absolutely no idea what this is process is but I think might be animated esoteric speak for " Artist done a bloody hard job and this short is an absolute labour of love " . As someone who can't even draw a straight line I do appreciate a lot of hard work has gone in to CROW MOON . According to the website crows are legendary creatures foretelling doom and war and are a bad omen . This is where it falls down slightly . Apparently the crows have become victims of a herd of somethings but I've no idea what these somethings were supposed to be . Are they based in legend or are they merely the invention of the animator ? If the short isn't based on any sort of legend is there any reason for the protagonists to be crows ? So in some ways the story is rather obscure and paradoxically generic and the story could have been developed a bit better but I guess if you're an animator by trade then animation is everything

Although I guess one does not want to spoon feed viewers, but this film would have been good to have watched with a little context because I definitely appreciated it more when I watched it a second time. The story is a fable about the creation of the stars and moon in the sky although at the start it is not clear because most of the film is animated crows who are chased by some dark shapes (which is darkness essentially, as night falls). One small crow in particular is assisted by a much larger one to flee the darkness but then also fight back, resulting in the production of the moon as a ball of light and the resulting stars, all helping to partially fend off the darkness. Knowing this is good because otherwise it is only at the end looking back where you appreciate it and perhaps, like me, the lack of understanding may bug you throughout.

With the understanding the film is much better as you are free to enjoy the flow of the animation and the build of the music; both worked for me on the first viewer but the context did help. The hand painted animation moves slickly and the dark figures have character even though they lack detail and indeed without wings appear to be human in some situations. The connection to a bigger mythology of the creation of heaven and earth is very nicely played, although it is unusual for the crow to be seen as a positive or creative animal, I'm more used to associations with darkness or aggression. Very well animated and works well with the music – but understanding what you are watching will help, so it is worth a second look.