Moonbird

Moon Bird is an American animated short film directed by John Hubley from the year 1959.

Action

Two brothers sneak out of the house at night to catch a bird. You have a bird cage with him, a noose and sweets. The older brother carrying a shovel, has the younger brother deal that is too loud for the quiet of the night, and begins to dig a hole. His little brother who has just learned to speak, the pit will dig itself out of childish spite and begins to cry, as though he gets the scoop, but has no power to the blades. Both brothers eventually hide in the hole in the ground to wait for the bird.

The little brother has asked to be allowed to keep the noose to catch the bird. About the dispute, as the loop is to maintain properly, they miss the bird. As both boys later sing a song, the ostrich -like bird sneaks up and looks into the hole in the ground. Both boys catch him by holding his legs, but turns out to be the bird than tame. They allow him to come home with them, if he keeps quiet. The three of them eventually return to the house: The older brother, younger brother and the bird, on whose back the much too small bird cage was strapped.

Production

Moon Bird was the first of a series of experimental animation by John Hubley and his wife Faith Elliott, who used the improvised conversations of their young children as a basis. In Moon Bird, the sons of the married couple, Mark and Ray entertained. Later films like Windy Day ( 1968) took conversations between her daughters Emily and Georgia as a basis for animated films.

In the film, the figures are drawn on black paper and then placed by double exposure over the drawn water color background, so they were transparent. The abstracts and romantic drawings are by Robert Cannon and Ed Smith.

Awards

Moon Bird won the 1960 Academy Award in the category " Best Animated Short Film ". Was the Oscar went in previous years, mainly to Disney or Warner Bros. Productions, a small production studio sat down with Hubley Storyboard film for the first time at the Oscars by. Also in the following years won mainly small or international animation studios Oscar this category, leaving the established but less innovative animation studios behind.