The seventh and final short film, Black, in adidas’ adicolor Podcasts series conceived specifically for iPod, PSP or online viewing has debuted. Directed by Saiman Chow of bicoastal Transistor Studios (part of the Backyard family of companies), Black is a stop-motion animation film noir that true to its title skews to the dark side of life–in this case surreal wildlife.
Click here to view the short film.
Chow is one of seven filmmakers recruited to take on a short themed to a color in order to showcase the customized adicolor line of adidas shoes. The other artisans included such notables as Roman Coppola & Andy Bruntel, Neill Blomkamp, Charlie White, the Happy Collective and Psyop and Tronic. A simple, open-ended adidas brief asked directors to create a viral film based on their emotional and creative response to a designated color. Facilitating their efforts was New York agency Idealogue. In the case of Black, for instance, Chow served as a copywriter via Idealogue.
The prime character first introduced to us in Black is a bunny slippers-wearing panda bear with a seemingly seedy past. The bear’s vices are plainly evident. He smokes and drinks to excess. The bear seems like a real loner, washing away his life in a sea of whisky at a local dive bar. The booze apparently leads the panda to start hallucinating or so we think. He is bloodied as are some framed wall photos of his past. Then he confronts a mackerel, whose head is sticking out of the top of a Sergeant Pepper’s uniform.
The mackerel and the panda engage in a game of Russian Roulette, combining to pull back the hammer on a gun five times until its clear that the next itchy trigger finger will lead to the discharge of the deadly bullet. Alas, it’s the panda’s turn to point the gun to his head. We hear the shot only to find that the bear decided to aim the gun at the now deceased fish.
Whether or not we’re still in the throes of a bear hallucination isn’t clear. But there’s a panda guilt scenario that plays out with the bear’s head on a fish skeleton, the bones of which become an impromptu xylophone. The mackerel becomes the musician who’s playing the vibes for an audience consisting of a menagerie of other animals, including a down-and-out giraffe and pig.
Chow describes this short film slice of homicidal wildlife as being “my version of a piñata. Destruction equals celebration.”
He explained, “I was always intrigued by ghosts. I grew up in Hong Kong where horror movies are about ghosts and spirits. I lived in a historical part of Hong Kong with old wooden buildings with lots of trees and bushes. The Chinese are superstitious about banana trees harboring fox spirits, which are very scary. Spirits get into your body and make you do crazy stuff. Bad behavior is usually blamed on spirits (not necessarily alcoholic!). Even though I was terrified of ghosts (and spirits), I was intrigued by them and watched plenty of horror films, which did not make nighttime walks through my neighborhood easy….So now as an adult, for a long time, I have wanted to do a dark theme, but in a funny way. Sort of like Casper or Ghostbusters but not quite so light.”
Adidas gave Chow the creative freedom to do just that, with quirky design touches. The short embraces the bold, black-and-white graphics reminiscent of 1960-s London fashion designer Mary Quant with elements like stripes, polka dots and hounds tooth. Chow’s love of the Beatles and psychedelic ’60s music also influenced the mackerel’s Beatles-inspired wardrobe.
Black hit the inboxes in late May for podcasting and online sharing. It also has its own dedicated site at http://www.r000g000b000.net/ (the RGB code for the color black).
Transistor creates motion, live action, interactive and print design for commercials, broadcast and entertainment. The studio’s directorial roster includes Chow, James Price, Anders Schroder, Joel Lava, Bradley Grosh (a.k.a. gmunk), Matt Pyke and Patrick Bowyer.
