Hangman (2004 review)

Hangman
Directed by Frogman

Most 3dmm short movies fall into one of two categories: a bizarre scribbling of a general idea (or sometimes the lack of one), or a dark, depressing drama, often with a twist ending. Hangman subscribes to the latter almost completely, but this isn't a detriment. It's well made, interesting, and employs a voiceover technique I wish more 3DMM directors would try; it uses the onscreen visuals to enhance the narration, unfolding the plot in two different storytelling methods simultaneously.

So what, you say. It's a simple monotone narrative overlapping mediocre animation and basic directing techniques. That may be the case, but rarely is it this engrossing or pulled off this well. It's best to go into the movie not knowing what to expect for this reason -- when certain things about the title become clear, you're watching a specific something slowly unfold before your eyes as the narration gives you all the details you need to know. It's a really cool technique and manages to give the viewer different aspects of a major plot point in all the right ways at the same time.

It begins and ends with a poem by Emily Dickenson. A man has lost his wife and spends his days wishing he could be with her, no matter what he has to do. A shady character shows up at his door, claiming he can give him what he wants. As the plot unfolds, I began to wonder just where the story was going, especially when the man's wish looks like it's finally being granted....but is it really? The wordplay on "Elysium" made me smile, and the ending was suitably creepy and a neat idea, if not exactly airtight, plotwise. It's not a great movie, but it's a neat short and I was pleasantly surprised.

The reviews I read on other sites gave Hangman a backseat to the Unleash the Dragon preview attached to the beginning. I hate to think of this as just a hype vehicle for an ultra-ambitious project that doesn't seem like it will ever be made, but the length of the preview and the fact that it's given front billing make me wonder if that was Frogman's intent. The presentation makes this cool little short seem almost like an afterthought, which I think is kind of depressing.

Critical Score: 78/100.
Personal Score: 80/100.

[Frogman]

double post

[Frogman]

Thanks for the review Aaron!

to give you some background on "Hangman". I made this movie for a school project. I remember thinking that nobody in my class would know the difference between the default and custom scenery and how refreshing it was to just focus on the story telling (Especially since I was in the midst of working on UTD) I was really happy with how the movie turned out and my class and teacher loved it. I was on the fence about showing the community because of how basic it was with the default scenes. I ended up sending it to Jeff Ching and he told me that he really liked it and that I should released it to the community. I decided to make the UTD preview because I knew that would make a lot more people watch "Hangman". So you have it backwards..."Hangman" wasn't made as an afterthought to the UTD hype vehicle, the UTD preview was made to Hype "Hangman"