CNUT

★★★★★
Directed by: Courtney Westbrook
Starring: Greg Poppleton
Short Film Review by: #StefaniaMihailescu

CNUT is a 3-minute stop motion animation exploring the conflict between nature
and man's technology. CNUT is inspired by the story of King Canute (or Cnut)
who demonstrates to his subjects that even the most powerful human cannot
control the impending tide or nature.
Cnut the Great, also known as Canute, was king of Denmark, England and
Norway; together often referred to as the North Sea Empire. Yet after the deaths of
his heirs within a decade of his own, and the Norman conquest of England in 1066,
this legacy was lost.
There’s a stong need to recognize that in our success in controlling nature, we’ve
become alienated from it—which has potentially disastrous consequences as the
climate changes.
Nature is our life-support system and nowadays we are losing nature faster than it
can restore itself.
The impending tide of social pressure keeps us busy and anchored in finding
perfection and validation, while ‘’the waves’’ take us offshore little by little until
we loose control.
In order to be present in social media, taking selfies has become a very popular
activity. This is more than just the taking of a photograph and can include the
editing of the colour and contrast, changing backgrounds, and adding other effects,
before uploading the picture onto a social media platform. These added options and
the use of integrative editing has further popularized selfie-taking behaviour. From
a psychological perspective, the taking of selfies is a self-oriented action which
allows users to establish their individuality and self-importance.
The director approached the curious and charming Greg Poppleton for voice and
movement acting. You’ll be enchanted by Greg's charisma seeing him interacting
with the set dressing on the film’s time-lapses as the worlds were constructed
around him. Greg brings life and warmth to any character he has a hand in
creating.
Along the film we follow our well-dressed protagonist as he tirelessly battles with
his environment and task of taking a good selfie. Will he succeed?