Hothouse 8 Theatrical Series -National Film Board of Canada -Alternate: Sheep Dreams

The eighth edition of Hothouse was another terrifying yet rewarding foray into the unknown. The six films made this year incorporated various emerging tools and technologies into the animation process, taking maximum advantage of new hardware, software and platforms to create (or hack) animated art. It was essentially two Hothouses in one: the participants (or perhaps “test subjects” is more apt) delivered the standard linear film as well as, this time, an interactive version/add-on, while still managing to meet our usual, impossible 12-week deadline.

The filmmakers exploited a panoply of techniques and approaches, from SANDDE and good old stop-motion for the creation of gaming assets, to particle effects animation and Microsoft Kinect for the motion capture of dance moves.