Two students are transported into the past in order to learn about their country’s history. Through this journey they learn about events that helped shape their current lives.
“Ciku Hana” boasts captivating visuals, utilizing “Rotoscope”, the characters have a life like, fluid movement to them. To compliment the animation style, the backgrounds are painted in pastels, that add a nice brightness to the tone and style. The short film also transitions really well into black and white when exploring certain events. The transitions of color-schemes flow well and are well cut together. Furthering the great work on transitioning pallets is change within the cast as well, showing that time has passed by changing outfits and appearance.
The animation was completed by young students, and acts as a great way to show a younger generation utilizing visual storytelling to better understand their history. The work that the students completed to create a mature project adds a degree of inspiration into the production, which elevates the enjoyment of the movie. The students who did work on the animation should carry a great sense of pride for having accomplished a unique and vibrant visual style.
The plot acts more as a short history lesson highlighting some key moments in Malaysian history. It is well written and quick to the point, doing a competent job in showing how the past shaped their current lives. Although the concept of a time machine would give the impression of this being a science fiction short, it is used more as a plot device to be able to give a better visual representation. This choice works for the story and was a creative way to include “Rotoscope” on top of past historic events.
The soundtrack, although minimalist, is well executed and compliments the visuals, creating atmosphere. The voice acting is a bit fast paced, and some degree of pause would have helped to be able to better process the story. However, it is still well done and outside of speed of delivery serves the story well.
“Ciku Hana” is a well executed short film, that also acts as an intriguing history lesson. The visuals are really crisp, due to great blending and background paintings. The film did open with a disclaimer that part of it was lost and had to be completed without full access to all the completed work. However, this marks my biggest complaint as the short still looks visually stunning, and it gave me the impression I was missing out on more. Overall, the production acts as a great exercise in the capabilities of “Rotoscope” to be used on smaller productions and an inspiration to the upcoming generation of aspiring filmmakers.