Heatwave – A film by Fokion Xenos
“Heatwave” happens very logically in the summertime. A quirky crowd occupies a Greek Island beach. As the sun gets increasingly hotter people get lost in their petty personal problems. Despite that a little girl and boy dare to show everyone how to have fun.
A playful stop motion short film animated in a hybrid techique between cut out, claynimation and thousands of replacements pieces.
Credits
Animated and Directed by Fokion Xenos
Written by Fokion Xenos & Stella Heath Keir
Edited by Stella Heath Keir
Cinematography by Brenden Freedman
Produced by Priya K. Dosanjh
Music by Andreas Gutuen Aaser
Sound Design by Kevin Langhamer
Production Design by Antonio Niculae
Model Making by Thanos Katzavelos
Character Design and Additional Animation: Alexandros Apostolakis
Release date: 2019
Country: UK
Duration: 7 min
Production notes
“HEATWAVE is essentially an ode to the Greek Summer of my childhood and every summer since. We wanted to create a film that would be as bright, colorful and vibrant as we could.
The main material used in HEATWAVE is oven baked clay, Super Sculpey and Fimo. There are two stop frame techniques that I used. On wide shots with the crowd, we used a replacement animation technique. Once we get closer to the characters, we used a combination of rostrum camera cut out and miniature photography.
I had worked with plasticine before, but the oven baked clay materials opened up brand new possibilities for me.
On the rostrum, I found that I could maintain a drawn, squash and stretch look for my characters while preserving their physical tactile quality and detail.
Baked clay was used for the details in a cut-out fashion and the unbaked for the more flexible bits. For the replacement animation part, we made over a thousand individual models to convey this aesthetic of a stream of people. Each character was pre-animated with at least three replacement models.
Awards
Distinction: Best of Annecy Kids: 2019 World Premiere, Annecy International Animated Film Festival / Annecy, France
Shortlisted for best Student Short Animation, BAFTA LA / Los Angeles, USA
Best Postgraduate Short Animation 2019 Award, Best Sound Design Award, Royal Television Society / England, UK
Best Short Animation IRIS award, Hellenic Film Academy / Athens, Greece
Mc Lauren Award for best short animation, Edinburgh Int. Film Festival / Edinburgh, Scottland
Cinekid Best Short Animation Award, Cinekid Festival / Amsterdam Netherlands
Best Student Short Film / AnimaSyros Animation Festival
Special Mention, Athens Int. Film Festival /Athens Greece
Most Popular Kids Film Audience Award, Primanima / Budaörs, Hungary
Stratos Stasinos Award for Best Student Short, ASIFA Hellas / Athens, Greece
Outstanding Achievement in sound Editing Award, Motion Pictures Sound Editors / Hollywood, USA
Best Short Animation Film Award, Barnes Film Festival / London, UK
Best In Show, Best Stop Motion, Audience favourite Awards, Florida Animation Festival / Florida UK
Edge Award for best non – commercial Animation, Edge Awards – Greek Design Awards / Athens, Greece
Best British Film, Best Student film, Canterbury Animfest / Cantenbury, UK
Best of Jury Award, Kinoproba Animation Festival / Moscow, Russia
Animayoung Competition Award, Picolo Festival Animazione / Fruili Venezia, Italy
Honorable Mention, KDIAF / Taipei, Taiwan
Best of International Animation “New Talents” Award, Trickfilm Festival / Wiesbaden, Germany
Best Directing Award, Tofuzi Animation Festival / Batumi Georgia
ODA Tetova International Film Festival, Best Short Animation, Tetovo, Republic of North Macedonia
Best Greek Animation Short Award, Thessaloniki Animation Festival / Thessaloniki, Greece
Best Animation Short, 3rd Place for Best Short Film, Micro μ Festival / Athens, Greece
Best of Kids Fest Anca, Slovenia