In 2011, an air combat animation called "Road to Hate" won the Siggraph Computer Animation Festival Jury Prize, which is second only to the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film, which was produced by the CG animation studio Placei Image from Poland, and the short film is very well done in the film, whether it is the footage of air combat, the realistic style of character and aircraft modeling, or the rhythm grasp in animation.
Here's where Platige Image comes from, founded by Tomek Baginski, director of the Cathedral and The Art of the Fallen, which won the 75th Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film and the British Film Academy For Best Short Film.
Damian Nenow
The director of Road to Hate was Damian Nenow, whose debut short film, The Target, won various awards in Poland at the time; after graduating, he joined Placei image, and Road to Hate was his first short film in the studio. It is worth noting that although you can see the meaning that the director wants to express in this short film, damian Nenow is more inclined to the big scene in Hollywood than the studio's founder.
The World War II aircraft "Spitfire" and BF109 in the animated short film
After watching this short film, I not only felt the technical performance of the studio and the director, but also the content of the second half.
At the beginning of the film, it begins with the entanglement of two fighters, and from the appearance of the fuselage, it is clear that the background is in World War II; then you can see the snow-capped mountains, and infer that the battlefield should be northeast Europe.
Here, the entanglement of the two planes can be said to be wonderful, and the performance of the chase perspective shows the determination of the pilot to bite;
The large amount of smoke and spilled shell casings, as well as the occasional splash of blood and small parts, indicate that this is a war of attrition.
In the process of entanglement, the camera slowly takes to the sky while setting off the gentle BGM, representing the progression of the two sides in the time of entanglement from the increasing and extended aircraft clouds in the sky. It wasn't until both sides discovered that they were running out of fuel and ammunition that they began to show that anger was a situation that took precedence over reason.
The roar of the drivers on both sides, the blood-colored eyes filled with anger and murderous intent. Pictures of lovers, clutching amulets are the only reason they have in battle. Until the bullet runs out of oil. The two sides also returned to each other, and the anger gradually disappeared, followed by the calm of reality. The two planes pulled black smoke and flew together, and then flew in different directions, representing a sense of infinite emptiness under a short period of peace. But the picture of the last reason was blown out of nowhere, and the shattered amulet.
So they abandoned that last shred of reason, fell and turned into beasts, because no shackles could bind this purest beast, the original beautiful blue sky instantly turned into a blood-colored sky, and under the broken humanoid mask was an ugly beast face, both sides roared at each other and flew the plane back, they just wanted to kill each other, they symbolized killing intent and anger. The two planes collided, jumped out of the plane and drew their guns and fired at each other until they ran out of bullets. After landing on the ground, both sides drew their knives and crawled forward, and they did not give up. Just like that, the sky burned and the beast roared, and finally it was exhausted, and the corpse began to turn into fly ash and disappear. But the hatred that seeped into the blood continued to extend until the two ends joined each other.
Even if the bullets are gone and the body is in tatters, but still clinging to the horrible idea of beating the other party to death, the director may want to tell us that this is the case with war, not for any resources or the idea of justice, but simply the madness of killing the other party.
There are no winners, no losers, only the self-destruction of two beasts. As an anti-war animated short film of the air combat genre, it is worth pondering.