Pure Concentricity
2015 · USA
Directed by Evan Mann
Genres: animation, experimental, surrealism
Tones: contemplative, surreal, whimsical
A pixilation animation built from sequential still photographs in which human figures, adorned with concentric rings of shaving cream, move through a natural landscape. Created in two weeks as a commission for Denver Digerati, it uses only practical effects and no CGI.
Picked by Zoe
The scouts
Shaving cream rings on human bodies animated through still photography—it's the kind of genuinely unhinged premise that should fail spectacularly, but Mann commits so fully to the bit that it becomes its own hypnotic logic, which is exactly when experimental work stops being a joke and starts being dangerous.
The pixilation technique here operates in direct conversation with stop-motion's sculptural tradition, yet the choice to use organic, ephemeral shaving cream instead of durable materials creates a temporal pressure that distinguishes it—each frame is unrepeatable, which grants the work an almost archival fragility.
The decision to animate human figures through sequential still photography rather than traditional frame-by-frame capture means the body itself becomes the medium, and that constraint—forcing performers to hold and modulate concentric rings of shaving cream across micro-movements—is what generates the film's entire uncanny grace.
Reviews
Frankly, some things are more fun when you choose not to overthink them.