''Subconscious Password'' is a 2013 3-D animated film by

Chris Landreth Chris Landreth (born August 4, 1961) is an American animator working in Canada, best known for his work on the 2004 film ''Ryan (film), Ryan''. He has made many Computer-generated imagery, CGI animated films since the mid-1990s, including ''The En ...

offering an imaginary, comedic look at the inner workings of Landreth's mind, as he tries to remember someone's name at a party. The film was produced the

National Film Board of Canada The National Film Board of Canada (NFB; french: Office national du film du Canada (ONF)) is Canada's public film and digital media producer and distributor. An agency of the Government of Canada, the NFB produces and distributes documentary f ...

(NFB) with the participation of Copperheart Entertainment and the

Seneca College Seneca College of Applied Arts and Technology is a multiple-campus public college in the Greater Toronto Area, and Peterborough, Ontario, Canada regions. It offers full-time and part-time programs at the baccalaureate, diploma, certificate an ...

Animation Arts Centre. The film is made with computer animation, as well as

pixilation Pixilation is a stop motion technique in which live actors are used as a frame-by-frame subject in an animated film, by repeatedly posing while one or more frame is taken and changing pose slightly before the next frame or frames. The actor beco ...

sequences at the beginning and end of the film, featuring animation director John R. Dilworth as the friend whose name Landreth cannot recall. ''Subconscious Password'' is Landreth's first 3-D film and third with the NFB, Copperheart Entertainment and Seneca College. The idea for the film came to Landreth after watching a rerun of ''

Password A password, sometimes called a passcode (for example in Apple devices), is secret data, typically a string of characters, usually used to confirm a user's identity. Traditionally, passwords were expected to be memorized, but the large number of ...

'' in 2010.

Synopsis

The film presents the mental process of remembering a friend's name as it were an episode of the old ''Password'' game show, with various celebrities attempting to assist Landreth.

Production

More than fifteen Seneca College graduating students worked on ''Subconscious Password'', supported by five faculty members, as part of the Seneca Summer Animation Institute. After graduation, a number of these students were hired to work on the project until it was completed in February 2013. Most of the film was produced at Seneca's Animation Arts Centre in Toronto, with three Seneca students also working on the film at the NFB's Animation Studio in Montreal. ''Subconscious Password'' was the first stereoscopic 3D film for Seneca College. The images of celebrities used in the film were developed from a variety of sources, with Sammy Davis, Jr. appearing via live-action footage available in the public domain and

James Joyce James Augustine Aloysius Joyce (2 February 1882 – 13 January 1941) was an Irish novelist, poet, and literary critic. He contributed to the modernist avant-garde movement and is regarded as one of the most influential and important writers of ...

derived from photos projected onto a pseudo-3D character. The computer animation was created with

Autodesk Maya Autodesk Maya, commonly shortened to just Maya ( ), is a 3D computer graphics application that runs on Windows, macOS and Linux, originally developed by Alias and currently owned and developed by Autodesk. It is used to create assets for interact ...

, with opening title sequences animated with SANDDE (Stereoscopic Animation Drawing Device), a digital animation technology created by IMAX that allows artists to create hand-drawn animation in 3D space, and which has been licensed to the NFB to develop creative applications. Landreth has stated that the film begins "relatively flat", using more stereoscopic depth to immerse audiences as the film progresses.

Release

''Subconscious Password'' was named best short film at the 2013

Annecy International Animated Film Festival The Annecy International Animation Film Festival (french: Festival international du film d'animation d'Annecy, officially abbreviated in English as the Annecy Festival, or simply Annecy) was created in 1960 and takes place at the beginning of J ...

. The film had its Canadian premiere at the 2013 Toronto International Film Festival. In December 2013, the film was named to the Toronto International Film Festival's annual top ten list, in the short film category. On March 9, 2014, Subconscious Password was named best animated short at the

Canadian Screen Awards The Canadian Screen Awards (french: link=no, Les prix Écrans canadiens) are awards given for artistic and technical merit in the film industry recognizing excellence in Canadian film, English-language television, and digital media (web series) p ...

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Subconscious Password 2013 films 2013 comedy films 2013 computer-animated films 2013 3D films Canadian 3D films Canadian comedy short films Seneca College National Film Board of Canada animated short films Films directed by Chris Landreth Computer-animated short films Films based on television series Films about memory 2010s animated short films 3D animated short films English-language Canadian films 2010s English-language films 2010s Canadian films Copperheart Entertainment films