Watch: ‘Grands Canons’ Short Film – A Symphony of Everyday Objects
by Alex Billington
February 27, 2023
Source: Vimeo
Take a mesmerizing journey through the world of everyday objects in this hypnotizing animated short film. Grands Canons (not to be confused with the Grand Canyon) is a short film from French filmmaker / artist Alain Biet. Superimposed, condensed, multiplied, thousands of documentary drawings in successive series come to life on the screen, composing a veritable visual symphony of everyday objects. The film is made up of thousands upon thousands of hand-painted images of every day objects, from bulbs to phones to pipes to keys to tools to electronics to utensils to everything else you can think of. The name translates to Big Guns, which is a bit of an odd odd title for this. It originally premiered at film festivals back in 2018 and has been playing around for years before finally ending up online for everyone to enjoy. The perfect detailing in every single painting is just extraordinary; I’d like to see an archive where you can go through each image one-by-one for a closer look. The score also goes perfectly with all this animation – it’s really is transfixing. Dive in.
Thanks to Vimeo Staff Picks for the tip. From Vimeo: “A brush makes watercolors appear on a white sheet of paper. An everyday object takes shape, drawn with precision by an artist’s hand. Then two, then three, then four… Superimposed, condensed, multiplied, thousands of documentary drawings in successive series come to life on the screen, composing a veritable visual symphony of everyday objects. The accumulation, both fascinating and dizzying, takes us on a trip through time.” Grands Canons is directed by French filmmaker / artist Alain Biet – you can visit his official site or find him on IG @alain.biet. Co-produced by Girelle Prod and Bip-TV. With the support of Ciclic-Région Centre-Val de Loire in partnership with the CNC, the Région Nouvelle-Aquitaine, the DRAC Centre-Val de Loire. It’s edited by Ludovic Vieuille, and animated by Anne-Sophie Raimond & Émile Allion. With music composed by Yan Volsy & Pablo Pico. This initially premiered at festivals in 2018. For more info, visit Vimeo or Unifrance. To discover more shorts, click here. Thoughts?
