ON A FULL MOON (17 mins. 35mm. 1997)
Written, directed and animated by Lee Whitmore, ON A FULL MOON was made with assistance from the Australian Film Commission. The film won awards in festivals at Annecy/France and Hiroshima/Japan.
SYNOPSIS
In the space of a month Laura experiences first the death of her mother then the birth of her first child. ON A FULL MOON is a passionate, poetic and sometimes amusing look at the way Laura deals with these ‘big events’.
The story is told by interweaving Laura’s gentle childhood memories with the immediate hectic reality of coping with a toddler. The childhood memories are of a river where Laura’s mother often took her and her brother. The stillness, beauty and serenity of the river dramatically contrasts with the crazy scenes of life as an urban mum. When Laura unexpectedly meets another new mum Jane, once a childhood friend, she gains a new perspective on her changing life.
ANIMATION STYLE
I made ON A FULL MOON with drawings rendered on paper, created over a light box, then shot under a rostrum 35mm camera. After learning how to animate making NED WETHERED I took a bolder and more impressionist approach to drawing in ON A FULL MOON. In the present day scenes I used very free scribbly pencil lines with touches of colour for emphasis. I didn’t clean up mistakes and rubbings out which I feel added to the visual messiness of the scenes especially the kitchen. In contrast the remembered and imagined river scenes, I rendered fully with beautiful coloured pastels, which I think gave them a quiet contemplative quality.
