Saturday 27 February 2016

Cineplex's Lily & the Snowman


The last time I went to the movie theatre with my family, there was a segment during the previews about the making of Cineplex's Lily & the Snowman, an animated short film that can be viewed for free on the Cineplex website. The makers talked about working on various aspects of the short film like the animation, the music, etc. I was instantly intrigued. I also saw an advertisement for the short film in the Cineplex magazine, a free magazine that you can get at Cineplex theatres. The full page advertisement looked like a movie poster with the title at the top, an image for the film in the center, and a sentence at the bottom of the page reading "Don't let the world get in the way of what you love." I loved the simple image and inspiring phrase on this page so I cut the advertisement out of the magazine once I got home. I planned to watch the short film. After all, it was a short film so it wouldn't take very long and it looked interesting.

It actually took me quite a while to finally visit the Lily & the Snowman page on the Cineplex website and finally watch the short film. When I did finally watch it, however, I was touched. It is such a heartwarming film and I almost cried at the end. This charming animated short follows the life of a young girl as she builds a snowman who comes to life and creates shadow puppet shows on the fence in her backyard, very much like little films. The little girl is fascinated and excited by these shows and she enjoys them every winter as she grows up. For her, they are a sense of wonder! Over time, however, life gets in the way and pulls Lily and the snowman apart. This friend and these shows were something that Lily enjoyed and yet she lets herself fall into the habit of following a repetitive road of everyday life. What happens in the end? Well, you'll just have to watch it to find out!

This little film made me think of my own interests and passions. There are so many that I enjoy that have been pushed to the side for far too long. I'd love to start practicing piano and flute again. I'd love to draw and paint more. I'd love to start writing more. The problem with me, however, is that my interests get pushed to the side because I have trouble concentrating and I'm beginning to think more and more that my having trouble concentrating is actually more of a problem than I previously thought. I might start working on something only to put it aside for a while or sometimes a very long time because I just can't concentrate on it for very long. Sometimes I have trouble even getting started on it. I even have trouble writing blog posts sometimes because of all of this. That's one of the differences between Lily and I. Her life is what gets in the way of what she loves whereas for me it's the fact that I have trouble concentrating that gets in the way. I can still take away the lesson from the film to help me in my own life, though. I'm determined to try harder to concentrate on my interests and to find ways to help me concentrate. I'm determined not to let my concentration problem get in the way of what I love.

I ended up watching this short film several times which was easy to do since it is only a little over two minutes long. I also watched the video about the making of Lily & the Snowman which I had seen before and can also be found on the same page. The song "Follow You Follow Me" by VAPOR feat. Adaline (originally by Genesis) is lovely and definitely works well in the film which has no dialogue. The music adds to the emotion needed for the film as well as spreading the message. And the message is a good one!

Cheers,
Kay

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