Let's Take A Look

Big Buck Bunny:

Professional Project Review

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Today I'm going to talk about something I didn't make: a wonderfully made short film by the folks who developed the software Blender. Big Buck Bunny (2008) was made to showcase the capacity their free product could create with.

Big Buck Bunny tells the story of a large, gentle bunny that is endlessly tormented by squirrels. One day he decides to rebel and strike back against the squirrels with crafty traps. The short film is well put together, with a 3D modeled environment and characters that are accented with the excellent lighting. While most of the camera shots are close, the people at Blender still manage to establish a deceptively calm, pretty meow setting to contrast the actions of the squirrels. The short film sets up many similar contrasts such as:

-The bunny is oddly large and relatively masculine, but still acts dainty at the beginning

-The squirrels appear small and cute at the beginning, but slowly are revealed to be menaces

-The setting is serene and there are beautiful butterflies, but they are crushed by squirrels

If I were to take something away from this piece to apply to my own work, it would be creative use of camera angles and lighting. Since there is no dialogue, they communicated the story through gestures, faces, and angles. I am quite a ways away from that level of camera angle usage. One thing I saw that I can do, however, is the lighting. While I by no means can accomplish the lighting they have, I can identify possible ways they accomplished theirs. 

The only thing I could bring myself to critique is the grass texture, which at times seemed off, but even that wasn't detrimental to the film as a whole.

If I were given the task of improving it, I would probably look into developing the squirrels motives a teeny bit, but that'd be it. 

All in all, This short film is a funny, well-timed work that is definitely worth giving a watch if you like humorous story lines and comedic characters.