The Mysterious Geographic Explorations of Jasper Morello

Infobox Film
name = The Mysterious Geographic Explorations of Jasper Morello

| caption = "Do you wish to see a miracle?"
Dr Claude Belgon, Aerial Biologist
distributor = Monster Distributers
writer = Mark Shirrefs
starring = Helmut Bakaitis
Joel Edgerton
editing = David Tait
director = Anthony Lucas
producer = Julia Lucas
music = Bruce Rowland
released = 20 January 2005 (Limited)
runtime = 26 mins.
country = Australia
language = English
budget = AUD 600,000 (estimated)
imdb_id = 0469146
amg_id = 1:341973

"The Mysterious Geographic Explorations of Jasper Morello" is a 2005 Academy Award-nominated animated short film. The first episode is labeled "Jasper Morello and the Lost Airship".

Story

The First Voyage - Jasper Morello and the Lost Airship

The film opens in the city of Gothia, a smoky industrial metropolis where steam-powered dirigibles are the primary mode of transportation, and where a terrible flesh-eating plague is decimating the population. The protagonist, royal navigator Jasper Morello, is deployed by the government at the outset to distribute mobile weather beacons along the route of his next voyage. He has difficulty concentrating on the task, however, as he is still stricken with guilt over the recent death of one of his crewmembers which was caused by a mistake in his calculations. The situation is further complicated by the fact that the leader of Jasper's newest expedition, Captain Griswald, still holds a grudge against Jasper for this error, and relations between the two of them are strained. Their dirigible, the "Resolution", is crewed by Kemp, a technician; Kovacs, a linesman; and Emile LeBrun, the ship's cook. They are also joined by another passenger, the eccentric Dr. Belgon, a Royal Academy physician searching for a cure for the plague.

Soon after taking off, the "Resolution" is caught up in a storm and wrecked in a collision with an abandoned vessel, the "Hieronymous". The crew subsequently transfers their equipment to the "Hieronymous" and prepares to continue on their way in the new ship. As Jasper is powering up the navigational equipment, he learns through a transmission that his wife Amelia, whom he left at home, has contracted the plague, and in a panic, tries to turn the ship around. The others are forced to wrestle him into submission, and he is sedated by Dr. Belgon.

After Jasper subsequently awakes, he enters the ship's deck, where he finds Kovacs and Kemp observing a large concentration of bright rays, with smaller particles of light floating in midair. Kovacs identifies the rays as a borealis, but Kemp believes the lights to be "souls of the dead". Soon, LeBrun is infected by the plague. The captain decides to turn around and head home, but they encounter a seemingly deserted levitating island. After boarding the island, Jasper is attacked by a large bug-like creature, whom they manage to subdue, albeit to the great discontent of Dr. Belgon, who wanted to preserve the specimen in its originality, regardless of its deadliness. Upon eating the remains of the monster, the crew notices that the boiled blood of the creature cures LeBrun. Belgon insists on bringing back some cocoons of the creature to Gothia, in order to establish a breeding colony.

The cocoons are isolated into a separate room of the ship. After Jasper discovers that one of them has hatched, Dr. Belgon reveals to him that he discovered that the creature lives on human blood, noting that the other creatures would not accept food, showing him their dried corpses. Belgon explains that he has been feeding it with his own blood. Jasper insists to tell Captain Griswald, but Belgon convinces him that if the crew gets to know, they'll kill the creature and with it, the cure for his wife. During the night, the crew members rejoice after Kovacs catches a delicate "Porkfish"Fact|date=October 2007. Jasper notices that Belgon also joins the debauchery, despite never seeing him drinking before. The crew wakes up to find Kovacs missing. They conclude that he fell overboard drunk, and mourn him. As LeBrun goes missing, Jasper becomes suspicious and looks into the creature's room, where he finds the monster devouring the cook. He is then ambushed and sedated by Dr. Belgon.

He wakes up chained to the steering wheel of the ship. Belgon, obsessed with his quest, tells him that he sedated the rest of the crew and plans to feed them to the creature, because he sees this as the only way to retain it. He keeps Jasper alive to deliver the ship home. Jasper, knowing that he's in imminent danger by both the creature and the insane Dr. Belgon, and that his wife is in need, guides the ship towards home. When Belgon suggests that he will kill Jasper before they reach home, he unexpectedly rams the ship into a nearby iceberg. Belgon falls overboard, but grabs the ledge, and begs Jasper to save him in order to save Jasper's already guilty conscience. Jasper, however, is still chained to the deck and unable to reach him. Dr. Belgon is crushed when the side of the ship collides with the iceberg. Jasper is subsequently able to free himself, using Belgon's discarded keys.

The film ends with Jasper, left alone, attaching a blood-sucking machine to his arm to feed the creature. Knowing that he may not survive, prior to reaching home, Jasper reassures his wife that he will be, with "The great company of souls, riding the borealis to eternity" (a reference to his previous observation, of such a sight). "Perhaps," he muses, "they will require a navigator".Citations missing|date=October 2007

Animation Style

The short films are set in a world styled after Victorian England with iron dirigibles and steam powered computers, where giant mechanical airships are the main mode of transport. The characters are animated in the style of Wayang (Indonesian shadow puppets) best described as silhouettes. The style is similar to that used by the 1926 film "The Adventures of Prince Achmed" (one of the oldest-surviving animated feature film).

The scenes featuring characters were composed out of a variety of materials, including various found objects. The backgrounds often have added textures and colours rendered using CGI, while certain sequences (notably those featuring airships) are entirely computer-rendered 3-dimensional scenes. The final product consists of all of these elements brought together using a compositing program.:"See also:Silhouette animation"

Characters

* Captain Otto H. Griswald - Aeronaut Captain, 7th Class
* Mr. Jasper Morello - Navigator, 3rd Royal Cartographers, Difference Engine Operator 2nd Class.
* Engineer Kemp - First Engineer of the Ironclad RES
* Linesman Kovacs
* Mr. Emile LeBrun - The ship’s cook.
* Dr Claude Belgon - Royal Academy Member, Electrical Aerologist 12th Class, Doctorate of Cloud Biology. KP, RTS, q-23P.g.k.o.

The series

Jasper Morello was developed and produced in association with the Australian Film Commission; developed and produced with the assistance of Film Victoria and produced in association with SBS Independent.

* The First Voyage - "Jasper Morello and the Lost Airship"
* The Second Voyage - "Jasper Morello and the Return of Claude Belgon"
* The Third Voyage - "Jasper Morello and the Ghosts of Alto Mea"
* The Fourth Voyage - "Jasper Morello and the Ebenezer of Gothia"

Awards

Nominations

On January 31, 2006 it was nominated for the Academy Award for Animated Short Film.

Wins

* Australian Film Institute Awards, BEST SHORT ANIMATION, OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT IN CRAFT IN A NON-FEATURE, Production Design,
* 2005 IF Awards. Winner, Digital Pictures IF Award for Best Animation
* Flickerfest 14th International Short Film Festival 2005Yoram Gross Best Animation Award Audioloc Sound Design Award for Best Achievement in Sound
* The 29th Annecy International Animated Film Festival, France 2005 - Le Cristal D’Annecy - Grand Prix Court Metrage
* Worldwide Short Film Festival, Toronto, Canada 2005 - The C.O.R.E. Digital Pictures Award for Best Animated Short Film
* Dendy Awards for Australian Short Film, Sydney 2005 - The 2005 Yoram Gross Best Animation Award
* Sicaf Film Festival, KOREA 2005 - Special Jury Prize
* Dragon Con –Sci Fi USA, 2005 - First Place Animated Fantasy and Science Fiction: Best of Fest award, Best Animated Short.
* Palm Springs International Short Film Festival, USA, 2005 - Runner up Jury Award
* Valladolid International Film Festival, 2005 - 50th Anniversary Prize
* ATOM Award, Melbourne 2005 - Best Short Animation

Festival Selections

* Fantoche International Animation Festival, Baden, Switzerland
* Feile Bochan, Kilkenny Ireland
* Ottawa International Animation Festival '05, Canada
* Athens International Film Festival, Greece
* Revelation Perth International Film Festival 2005
* Melbourne International Film Festival 2005
* 14th Brisbane International Film Festival 2005
* Edinburgh International Film Festival, UK 2005
* Imago 2005, Portugal
* Animadrid, Spain
* Cardiff, Wales UK
* Buster, Copenhagen
* Leipzig, Germany
* Wiesbaden, Germany
* Redcat, Los Angeles
* Les Nuits Magiques, France
* L’Etrange, France
* Wessembourg, France
* Montreal, Canada
* Chang-Sha, China
* PISAF, Korea
* Asiana, Korea
* Golden Horse, Taipei
* Best of Short Films Festival in La Chiotat, France
* Cinanima, Portugal
* Horror and Fantasy Film Festival, San Sebastian, Spain
* Tollywood, Best of Annecy, Toyko
* FIFM - Festival international de films de Montréal
* Wiesbaden International Weekend of Animation, Germany
* International Leipzig Festival for Documentary and Animated Film
* I Castelli Animati, Italy
* InDPanda International Short Film Festival, Hong Kong

References

External links

*
* [http://www.jaspermorello.com Official Jasper Morello Website]