Schizophrenic Brush – Le Ballon Rouge

For those not familiar with Le Ballon Rouge (The Red Balloon), it’s a short fantasy French film from 1956. It has won numerous awards including an Oscar and a Palme d’Or, and it follows the adventures of a young boy who one day finds a sentient, mute, red balloon.

The red balloon follows the boy (Pascal) through the streets of Paris, and together they overcome several obstacles. Near the end, a group of bullies, jealous of Pascal’s new friend, manage to pop the balloon with a slingshot. It collapses to the ground, deflates and dies. After that, an army of multicoloured balloons gather from all across Paris and surround Pascal, and in an attempt to cheer him up, they pick him up in the sky and take him on an amazing ride above the city. I’m sure that you recognize this image from *cough* recent TV commercials and films.

Our brief was to create a summary of the film, without leaving the studio, and in under 8 hours. This is our interpretation of the story. Watch it, and I’ll give you some more explanations afterwards.

http://www.vimeo.com/2498775
So, as you’ve probably guessed, the paintbrush represents Pascal and the green paint represents the balloon. They have a great journey together, several objects try to stop them, to a point where another brush wants to steal the green life-force.

We saw the film as a dance between the boy and the balloon, where initially the boy has the lead, only to let the balloon take full control nearing the end. After all the green paint dries down and the paintbrush drops lifelessly, a refreshing rain of colour brings life to the story again and takes the paintbrush to whole new heights.

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