Pick of the Week #86
Do you remember watching David O’Reilly’s ‘The External World‘ at Alpha-ville Fest 2011? It was an utterly captivating, disruptive experience. This week, we pick-up his first short film from 2007 that was uploaded online just a week ago.
David O’Reilly is an Irish film maker & writer based in Los Angeles. He uses glitch effects and 3D animation, deconstructing and simplifying to create ultra-brash and intense experiences. His films have travelled across the globe to many festivals and have had a big online impact.
RGB XYZ is a digital journey into a psychedelic world of colour and noise. Our protagonist takes a journey to the big city where he must find himself amidst the monotony and difficulties of working life.
O’Reilly explains “RGB XYZ was my first short film. I started it back in 2004 and finished it in 2007 between other stuff. I released parts of it online under the (stupid) name Chuck C. Clint III. A few people might remember that Cartoon Brew covered it back then. A friend entered it to the Berlin Film Festival on my behalf so I took it offline as per the rules. It premiered there in 2008 and won a special mention. This was the first time I had a film in a festival and my mind was blown. Most festivals rejected it but it went on to win around 5 other awards.”
“Even though parts (all) of this are hard to watch, it was a huge learning experience for me. I established a lot of things that I developed later on, like realtime rendering, mixing ortho & perspective, playing with subtitles, and more broadly trying to bring emotion out of as few polygons as possible. ”
O’Reilly’s first short film is a fascinating example of how it is possible to empathise with even the simplest of animations. A digital voyage of discovery, RGB XYZ plays the the viewer’s expectations, creating a story that unfolds in glorious glitchy technicolor.
Play the film on full screen:
Check out David’s website here.