Tropfest 2013 celebrates countdown to festival with official trailer release via Cutting Edge

Tropfest, the world’s largest short film festival, via Cutting Edge, have released the official trailer signaling the countdown to the 2013 festival, to be held on Sunday 17 February 2013.

Alethea Jones, Tropfest 2012 winner, took time off in between legs to LA where she’s working on multiple projects to create the trailer – a dark and enchanting depiction of the history of the humble balloon.

WATCH THE TRAILER

WATCH THE MAKING OF

Says Jones: “I’ve gotten so much out of my win with Tropfest, making the trailer was just another fun way for me to be involved in this incredible event.”

Says John Polson, festival director: “We’re excited to have our 2013 trailer directed by Alethea. She showed us in 2012 that she is a talented director; she’s done so much since her win and continues to demonstrate her ability as a great storyteller with this trailer.”

From the initial brief to output, the team at Cutting Edge crafted the VFX, design and animation onto the live action footage. VFX Supervisor Ron Roberts collaborated with 2012 Tropfest winner Jones on-set, ensuring the transition from shoot to post was realised in a very tight time frame.

Every in-house department at Cutting Edge was hands on deck, from concept brief to output, providing design, 2D and 3D animation, on-set VFX supervision, grade, compositing and post production. Cutting Edge’s creativity shows how effective visual effects are to enhancing story vision within a short film format.

Says Brent Grayburn, Cutting Edge creative director: “Cutting Edge is happy to partner up with the team at Tropfest for this year’s festival, and we relish hopping in and throwing some pixels around in support of emerging Australian creative talent.”

Noise International worked with Tropfest to create sound and music for the trailer.

Says Bruce Heald, creative director at Noise International: “We’re really excited to be partnering with Tropfest this year.

“It’s such a huge event in Sydney’s event calendar and one that allows us to do more of the work we really love every year. The trailer has been a lot of fun to work on. It’s quirky and charming and there’s nothing like being given a long leash when it comes to crafting music and sound for such a nice idea.”

Tropfest 2013 will screen at The Domain, Sydney and at other live venues across Australia on Sunday, February 17.