Minuscule
– Minuscule—the private life of insects is a French-made series of short video animations giving "a ..
Minuscule—the private life of insects is a French-made series of short video animations giving "a bird's eye view of insects' day to day existence, distorted through a burlesque, yet poetic lens". The characters are computer-modelled in 3D and set against natural scenery. Each animation has a self-contained and usually humorous storyline. The audio is a combination of genuine insect and ambient recordings with artificial sound effects. The various protagonist insects often perform anthropomorphic activities, displaying ironically portrayed intelligence, enjoyment and, sometimes, pathos. The background settings are generally of rural France, and include farm houses, fences, cars, road surfaces, drains, gutters and garbage bins. In Season 1 episodes, humans appeared only peripherally and large farm animals were the main reluctant witnesses to the variety of insect, spider and mollusc activities. Some Season 2 episodes depict more explicit interaction with humans. Production of a feature film was commenced in March 2012. The feature film titled Minuscule: Valley of the Lost Ants, was released on January 29, 2014.
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Hélène Giraud, Thomas Szabo
Although children aren't entomologists, when they take a trip to the country and start roaming through fields and meadows, they do spend an incredible amount of time observing insects. Unlike grownup specialists, our knee-high observers with scabby knees have a peculiar perception of these tiny creatures, readily imagining them in utterly weird, surrealistic situations. Such an offbeat, and often comic vision provides the basis for how MINUSCULE will be showing insects in their day-to-day existence, "at grassroots level," as if we were right there with them. So forget everything you've ever learned about segmented, winged or wingless little creatures, because you're about to discover bug reality. MINUSCULE revolves around the day-to-day existence of insects. Although the series calls to mind a wildlife documentary, it's a documentary in which the insects are presented in burlesque situations, with a fair amount of philosophical contemplation thrown in. You might call it a cross between Tex Avery and Microcosmos, or grassroots slapstick. Or a docu-cartoon series.
1 win.