A look at Jacob Frey’s ‘The Present’
When I was researching my little book on Jonah, one of the most memorable descriptions of it was by Professor Yvonne Sherwood, who described it as ‘a tiny text virtually capsizing under the weight of interpretation’. I’m not sure the same could be said of animator Jacob Frey’s little gem below. That said, the number of times in which he subverts expectations and stimulates emotions in the space of four minutes is more than that of a film ten times its length. When you watch the film, do it more than once – looking for different things.
- Note the points at which your perception of dog and boy change in turn
- Track the film’s progress only through the facial expressions of boy and dog
- Note the narrative as told by the gait of dog and boy respectively
- Watch the film without any sound and see if it holds you differently
Jacob Frey is near the beginning of his career as an animator. I’ve a feeling that the thing which will make him truly great is his skill as a storyteller though, don’t you agree?