It Took Seven Years To Finish This Stop-Motion Short Film

Take a look at "The Lighthouse," a short film that took filmmaker Simon Scheiber seven years to complete. Scheiber was the only person who worked on the animation for the project, and the eleven minute short is comprised of over 14,000 photographs. Watch it and then check out my thoughts below.

A lighthouse keeper’s surprising discovery pulls him out of his monotonous, daily routine and takes him onto a journey into uncharted territory. Made up of over 14,000 photographs, The Lighthouse is a black and white stop motion short crafted by filmmaker Simon Scheiber over the course of 7 years. TRAILER https://vimeo.com/139916480 WEBSITE http://seethelighthouse.com PRESS KIT https://www.dropbox.com/sh/vrvoaxe2xf4v91h/AACEeh-nWcWIWuKmnw4JtPGba PRESS RELEASE http://trimtab.pr.co/139968-after-7-years-in-the-making-short-film-the-lighthouse-premieres-online CREDITS A film by: Simon Scheiber Music by: Nicolas Martin Sound & mix by: Jan Frederik Vogt Music interpreted by: Ensemble Shamhat (Javier Diaz Carrillo,
 Gabriel Espinosa Gonzalez,
 Jorge Solano Nivar, Evaristo Pons Femenia, Carlos Oliver Font)
 Cinema mix by: Jeroen Nadorp Produced by: Trim Tab FESTIVALS & AWARDS - Holland Animation Film Festival 2016 (Official Selection), Netherlands - Cartoons on the Bay 2016 (International Panorama), Italy - Athens Animation Festival 2016 (Distinction), Greece - NonStop Barcelona Animació 2016 (Official Selection), Spain - Animation Block Party 2016 (Official Selection), USA - La Guarimba International Film Festival 2016 (Official Selection), Italy - Hiroshima International Animation Festival 2016 (Programme, Best of the World), Japan - The Smalls Film Festival 2016 (Official Selection), UK - Festival Stop Motion Montréal 2016 (Official Selection), Canada - Encounters Festival 2016 (Official Selection), UK - Animart 2016 (Panorama), Poland - Animasyros International Animation Festival 2016 (International Panorama), Greece - Gesticulation 2016 (Official Selection), Switzerland - KloosterKino 2016, Netherlands - Balkanima 2016 (European Panorama), Serbia - Mercado 3D Wire 2016 (Official Selection), Spain - Heart of Gold 2016 (Official Selection), Australia - Kerry Film Festival 2016 (Official Selection), Ireland - Banjaluka International Animated Film Festival 2016 (Official Selection), Bosnia & Herzegovina - KLIK! Amsterdam Animation Festival 2016 (Official Selection), Netherlands - Chicago International Children’s Film Festival 2016 (Official Selection), USA - Sulmona International Film Festival 2016 (Official Selection), Italy - Gdansk International Animation Film Festival 2016 (Official Selection), Poland - Leeds International Film Festival 2016 (Official Selection), UK - Miami Short Film Festival 2016 (Nominee, Best Animation), USA - Soria Short Film Fest (Out of Competition), Spain - ASIFA One Day Animation Festival 2016 (Official Selection), Austria - Foyle Film Festival 2016 (Official Selection), Northern Ireland - Festival Internacional De Cortometrajes De Hayah 2016 (Official Selection), Panama - Amarcort Film Festival 2016 (Official Selection), Italy - London International Animation Festival 2016 (Official Selection), UK

I'll admit that this thing takes a long while to get going. For the first four minutes or so, I was wondering what the point of it was. But once the action (such as it is) kicks in and the supernatural element comes into play, things pick up a little bit. The lighthouse keeper struck me as someone who got swept away in a new and exciting event without considering the consequences of his actions; we've all consumed enough stories to know that it's probably not the best idea to just start immediately messing around with something we don't fully understand. But there's a sense of poetry to the final moments — a lighthouse keeper who was formerly tasked with alerting passing ships to the presence of land becomes the captain of his own kind of ship, sailing through space announcing his own presence with his ever-spinning illumination.

What did you think?

Via: io9