The Great Harlot and the Beast

The Great Harlot and the Beast is yet another terrific animated film from The Animation Workshop's graduating class of 2015. The short follows a naive marionette prince and his co-stars as they attempt to entertain their audience of children throughout the day. But what happens when night falls on the puppet theatre, and the weight of a new audience's expectations become too much for the prince to bear?  Can the prince and his princess manage to make it through their last performance without losing their dignity?

Wonderfully animated and thematically heart-wrenching; The Great Harlot and the Beast was a captivating short from start to finish. The short is a unflinching satire of popular entertainment and how the darker appetites of audience gratification can become ever more insatiable and cruel as the entertainers permit.

Laika's Coraline was an obvious design inspiration for the film's asymmetrical hand-made aesthetic; with an emphasis on sharp angles, grungy set colors, blocky silhouettes and disconcertingly cheerful expressions juxtaposed against base and darkly comedic indignities. Check out the film's official production blog for more awesome behind-the-scenes clips and making-of concept art!