Rob Munday

Those who follow what we do on Short of the Week pretty closely, will already be familiar with the outstanding work being produced by Danish education centre The Animation Workshop. With The Backwater Gospel and Mighty Antlers, two of their bachelor films of 2011, already featured on the site, the films of 2012 are once again looking like an impressive showcase of the skills being taught in this highly respected centre of animation. Emerging from the collection of 5 shorts released online from this years bachelor films is Load, a dark and cautionary tale about the weight of responsibility life can throw your way.

Anyone who has ever felt the ever-increasing burden of a heavy workload will instantly connect with the twisted, nightmarish predicament the protagonist of Load finds himself in. The film follows its “hero” as he journeys through a monotone industrial world where unknown entities continuously add to a workload which is literally swallowing him whole. It’s not all doom and despair though as a bizarre series of events lead to him shedding his restraints and triumphantly emerging from under the cloud of responsibility threatening to engulf his life.

As we witness the carefully designed and developed character make his way through the fastidiously realised landscapes, the level of craft and care put into the production becomes obvious. Thankfully, this attention to detail is mirrored in the film’s narrative, and with Load, David R. Christensen and his team of emerging animators have managed to create an animation of not only impressive technique, but a short with a thought-provoking subject and well-considered message.