Drowning
Fourchinnigan Productions
Creators: Jason Milligan
Music: Kenji Kawai
Length: 2 minutes
Watch The Cartoon
Drowning is the story of a man obsessed with plunging into water and remaining there. As a child, he already knew where he wanted to be. He practised for years until at the age of 16. He could stay underwater as long as a dolphin. If you've ever seen the film The Great Blue, this Flash cartoon is very similar in tone. Will our hero make it and rejoin the deep, where he feels he belongs?
The story is intriguing, although it's almost told in flashback as the narration accompanying the animations tells us more about the past, while the present happens before us. The whole set up of the story make one think we're about to see something greater. Unfortunately, we quickly realize that this is the entire cartoon. To me it seemed more like a trailer and of course, more would have been better.
Milligan is not the best Flash animator, but I cannot blame his effort. His weakness is in the quality of the characters' designs and their animation. The running sequence is painful to watch. Nevertheless, he has a great sense of the dramatic and staging. As a director, his work is excellent. Coupled with an effective soundtrack swiped from Ghost in The Shell helps a lot too!
Hervé