Milo’s Journey

By Queuebot in Film, Video Clips on Jun 8, 2010 at 7:11 am


(vimeo link)

A young boy, sad, lonely and in hospital after the death of his parents
is visited by a strange but benign magical creature.  Quite simply a
lovely animation by Adan Garcia who worked on this for over a year – a
real labor of love.  And it shows.

This short animated film by Adan Garcia a graduate of The Art Institute of California – San Francisco, majoring in Media Arts and Animation. During his time there he gained extensive knowledge of art and the industry. This really shows in Milo’s Journey – it is a really special film which is all the more wonderful because of its simplicity. Not a word is spoken throughout the film but it speaks volumes. Pythagoras said Do not say a little in many words but a great deal in a few. Or none as the case is here.

Link

From the Upcoming ueue, submitted by taliesyn30.


Email This Post
Tweet This Post 
Share This Post on Facebook

Tags: ,

Neat stuff from the NeatoShop:

  2. dd_
    Jun 8th, 2010 at 8:09 am

    also creepy and long. If you must watch, you can easily skip forward every few seconds and not miss anything. Walking out of a door takes 45 seconds at one point. And I’m about to start my period, so I’d usually be totally game for sappy movie shorts. No love here

  3. Rich
    Jun 8th, 2010 at 8:31 am

    I noticed the long scenes and slow pacing too… but I was not bothered by that element in the least.

  4. LisaL
    Jun 8th, 2010 at 9:00 am

    Not great IMO. VERY slow. This could’ve easily been half as long with better animation. I appreciate the story trying to be told, but the unnecessarily long scenes just ruined it for me.

  5. Pod
    Jun 8th, 2010 at 9:41 am

    I’m just left wondering why the little bugger is dressed like Super Mario… Great piece though.

  6. Adan Garcia
    Jun 8th, 2010 at 9:51 am

    Thanks you guys for thoughts on my movie. I made this movie by myself and took me almost a year. this is my first ever animated movie. that would probably explain anything you guys dont like about it hahaha

  7. Snarlz
    Jun 8th, 2010 at 10:27 am

    It was ok. Animation was a little choppy in parts. The long slooooooow blinks the kid + creature did, was mildly irritating. The end could have been better.
    Why circle the earth, and blast off…. if you’re going back to earth.
    I would have made the ending a bit different but maybe thats just me.

    Blast off Mr.Cowsquirrel, we’re blowin’ this popstand and not lookin’ back!

  8. mbunds
    Jun 8th, 2010 at 10:38 am

    And he died happily ever after…

  9. Xinavera
    Jun 8th, 2010 at 10:56 am

    Adan: Nice job artistically, and good work. But I echo the other comments about the pacing. It’s also not at all clear what story you’re trying to tell here besides a bunch of creepy Christian allegory. The only way to be happy after personal loss is to die and be with the ones you love? Whoa!

  10. lalla6
    Jun 8th, 2010 at 11:02 am

    Great work Adan! I never would have thought it was your first one. What a labor of love. You surely have a bright career ahead of you. It is funny that the people that are leaving comments on this site expect you to be like Disney , so early in your career.
    Note to Snarlz: Please bless this site with a link to the animated movie that you made almost completely on your own, fresh out of school. Flip books don’t count.

  11. MelissaW
    Jun 8th, 2010 at 11:56 am

    I think your film was beautiful, Adan! I do bring a different perspective to these comments than the rest — both of my parents died when I was Milo’s age. I’m interpreting the pace and ending of the film as symbolic of the long process of coming to terms with such a loss. Correct me if I’m wrong, but Milo didn’t die. The change in the appearance of his parents in the photo at the end, to me, represents Milo’s emotional healing. Although my parents died 30 years ago, I still shed a couple of tears of empathy for Milo. Keep up the good work.

  12. Snarlz
    Jun 8th, 2010 at 12:29 pm

    @lalla6
    Just because the artist posted, doesn’t mean you have to wet yourself with adoration.

    Constructive criticism is what it is, and does not require I make my own movie from scratch before evaluating another. lalla6, lets see YOUR work since you praise this so heavily.

  13. craig
    Jun 8th, 2010 at 12:34 pm

    Hey Adan,

    WONDERFUL music. A real home-run there. Kudos to Nicky Bendix for the score. It’s tremendous.

  14. Chomp
    Jun 8th, 2010 at 1:37 pm

    Anyone else notice the tune from Avatar playing during the space flight?

  15. taliesyn30
    Jun 8th, 2010 at 1:52 pm

    I love this (but then I did submit it so you may have guessed it).

    Christian allegeory did pop in to my mind with the halo effect as Milo was passing back through the door but I suspect it was a visual metaphor instead of a sales pitch! (my reading).

    @ some of you re the length. One of the (many) things I liked about this was exactly that – the length of time we are given to learn about Milo and get to know him, his backstory and so on. I liked the fact that this animation did not use (and abuse)cultural media (and expedient) signposts for the sake of brevity.

    Am with snarlz with the blast off… I was expecting a journey elsewhere at that point, not a short cut back to the door. But v cool animation that once done just *had* to be left in… :-)

    I am glad that Aden is in on this discussion here – I posted the link without him knowing (sorry, but didn’t know whether it would hit the front page!) but I was entranced by Milo’s Journey the moment I saw it because it hit a nerve for me – and no, I didn’t lose my parents in a fire before you ask!

    It was enriched uranium what did them in..
    (but that’s between you and me and I am sure the British police are not reading th… erk..).

    Anyway, what struck me was the sense of storytelling, the great care and love that had gone in to its creation and the whole karma of the piece.

    With karma in mind, everyone has a right to criticise. Let’s be constructive.

  16. Laurel
    Jun 8th, 2010 at 5:15 pm

    @chomp yeah, I did hear music from Avatar while Milo was circling the planets, I think the music is from “Becoming One of the People, Becoming One with Neytiri”.

    But it’s still a great film!

  17. Live Eels
    Jun 8th, 2010 at 7:50 pm

    What do you people want for your free entertainment by a first-time animator? “No love here”… “you don’t have to wet yourself with adoration”… sheesh. No need to be meanies.

  18. Adan Garcia
    Jun 8th, 2010 at 7:55 pm

    Just to let you guys know, the music in the movie is not my own or nicky bendix’s. its a bunch of awesome music i used from different movie soundtracks. this is the most up to date movie (updated credits) thats why it says Nicky Bendix. i will be adding the new Nicky bendix music later on. hes currently working on it. You guys can follow me on the Milo’s Journey fan page on facebook

    http://www.facebook.com/pages/Milos-Journey/162980007894

  19. Adan Garcia
    Jun 8th, 2010 at 8:04 pm

    I love that all of you are commenting on my first ever animation. Im happy that people are watching it. Thanks to all who gave me good comments and thanks even to the mean ones. its going to help me grow as an artist. Milo’s journey is my first real piece of art. If anyone has any questions or wants to message me directly please email me at Adang86@gmail.com, hope to hear from you guys soon :D

  20. Foreigner1
    Jun 9th, 2010 at 5:55 am

    If this really is a 1st ever animation, Kudos to you. Great job. Go on an make more.

    Screenplaywriting and directing are 2 totally different professions from animation-technician. As far as I’m concerned you scored 2 out of 3 – the pictorial part looks the part, the movements look good and there is direction in a clear story.

    Now also learn about time, timing, and timekeeping and you can earn your keep with this.

    I heared several people say that good writing in plays, music and books is all about daring to delete as much or even more than you dare to keep the essentials in place and clear of clutter. If it is too long, people get bored. If it is too short, people get annoyed. But bear in mind that modern attention span for vids and attractions like museums is about 2 minutes.

    … Perhaps you should try a short version of this same animation- say try to make a version that is only 4 minutes at max instead of the roughly 12 it took now. And then see how folks will react on it?

  21. Adan Garcia
    Jun 9th, 2010 at 10:26 am

    Re:Foreigner1

    Yay thank you for your review. I agree that it could be a little shorter. I will play around with it and see what happens. From the beginning i knew it was going to be more than 10min. Its going to be hard cutting out stuff because i love everything so much. Thanks again for taking the time to write a comment :D

    Adan

  22. Adan Garcia
    Jun 9th, 2010 at 10:33 am

    Re: Xinavera

    I dont really understand what you mean by “creepy christian allegory” I made this movie and yes i did add in some religious elements but only because i love that stuff. Have you ever seen the anime “neon genesis evangelion”??? its full of religious themes. Im just doing the same here. The story is Milo is in recovery but is still dying of a broken heart. he goes on his final journey to heaven to reunite with his paretns. the way you put it “The only way to be happy after personal loss is to die and be with the ones you love? Whoa!” now thats creepy hahaha im in no way attacking you or anything its just funny how people dont “get” what im trying to show :(

  23. Kalel
    Jun 9th, 2010 at 11:39 am

    The animation is brilliant. I particularly liked the proper intertia of the character movement — including how it changed in space. And I liked the realistic rendering of the planets, many of which were recognizable… Neptune, Ganymede, and so on. The entire piece had a great look.

    Even the squirrel-cow, which looked like something from a child’s imagination, conveyed the feeling of presence, as if there were a deeper mind behind the toy face.

    But as far as the pacing and logical flow of the story, well yes, it could have been better. It was a strong and emotional message, but the delivery could have been tighter.

    Looking forward to seeing your next piece.

  25. Larfin Jackarse
    Jun 10th, 2010 at 2:41 am

    Hi Adan,

    Ok my 2 centz worth.

    -well done on the tech skillz. How did you do this for someone who wants to follow you?
    -some parts dragged eg the eye blinkz, the general ‘slowness of the movements’ etc but you are the artist
    -I agree with the ‘white light’ aspect being overtly religous and thus upsets us non-believers of the invisible friend clans.
    -I loovvveeee NGE but they handle religion as ‘alien presence fact’ and ‘super mind’, the relationship to atcual religion is in passing. I much prefer how ‘things’ are handled in ‘My Neighbor Totoro’.
    -have you seen this http://www.empsfm.org/programs/index.asp?categoryID=216
    -you say a ‘year’. How many ‘person hours’?

    Last but not least, keep it up. Wish I could do it.

  26. Adan Garcia
    Jun 10th, 2010 at 9:18 am

    RE: Larfin Jackarse

    Thanks for your 2 cents hahaha. The only reason why some of the scenes seem really slow is because i didn slow them down but only because i wanted the scenes to fit the music. Now that Nicky Bendix is composing an original score i can go back and make those scenes faster. Oh and i am in no way trying to be religious, i do believe in God but i am not trying to throw it in peoples faces. I just wanted to tell a story about a little kid to lost his parents and then reunites with them in heaven. I pretty much HAD to use the white light and the angel(the little creature) to guide him. I fucking love Evangelion. I just watched Eva 2.22. Great stuff.

  27. Adan Garcia
    Jun 10th, 2010 at 9:25 am

    RE: Larfin Jackarse

    Yeah i started this project in august of 2009. It didnt take very long to model everything. the thing that took months was rigging the characters. Everyone i hired sucked really bad and produced a horrible rig for the 2 characters. I got lucky and found a great person so animation actually started in December and ended in April. I edited and added music as i finished scenes. Rendering the scenes also took forever. It took 15 hours to render a scene that was 15sec’s long. I could only render one scene every day and a half. So yeah this project is very dear to me and im so happy it turned out the way it did, considering its my first ever animation :D

    adan

  28. Molly4
    Jun 11th, 2010 at 7:36 pm

    Well done for a first animation; the space scenes were really cool.

    Here are my comments, purely from a layperson’s perspective:

    1. Seriously, why IS that creature dressed like Mario? I found it distracting and, Mario or not, the clothing didn’t seem to fit the plot or actions of the character. Why does a flying space squirrel/spirit guide wear overalls and puffy gloves?

    2. While I loved the space scenery, I also thought it seemed to clash with the storyline. I would expect the dream of a little boy to be less scientific and more fanciful, with crazy planets and like, space whales or something. Moreover, Milo’s helmet was a cute touch (ha ha, upside down wire hanger), but I immediately thought: why does a kid recovering from burns and psychological trauma, in a hospital, have a cardboard space helmet? It didn’t seem authentic.

    To me, this animation seems to have melded two different stories/moods that are not fully compatible: A. grieving boy goes on a melancholy, magical journey and B. awesome, inspiring, and realistic tour of our galaxy. Both ideas are cool, but it was hard for me to accept that they could both work together.

    I hope that you continue making new animations and posting them. I enjoyed watching!

  29. Adan Garcia
    Jun 12th, 2010 at 7:29 pm

    Thanks for all the comments people, but in the end Milo’s Journey is my personal piece of art. I made it for me and no one else. Changing anything to satisfy anybody else but myself would not make it my mine. Take it for what it is. If you dont believe in God well fine, Im not telling you to. No Fuggles is not wearing Mario’s clothes, yes its similar i know hahaha. Yes Milo is dead at the end. Milo did want a realistic tour of the solar system, not all kids want a fantasy land. No im not cutting anything out. I worked too hard on this to mess it up :D hahaha that should cover everything people have problems with hehehe sorry about that. Im not trying to be mean or anything. I just want to set the record straight


Keep track of the comments with Comment RSS

Don't Miss: New Stuff | Bestsellers | The Cute Store
                   Funny T-Shirts | Zombie Shop

Need a gift? Get unforgettable gifts for:
Geeks | Pranksters | Kids | Hipsters | Shutterbugs
Lijit Search
Old school? Bookmark us! RSS Feed Twitter Facebook Page