Maryam Farahzadi’s The Role of Each Fret is a beautiful tale of a couple struggling to be together with help from a band of musicians…and a little magic.
Farahzadi’s short film is mainly computer animation combined with real backgrounds. The film opens with a woman, in real life, hanging three paintings on her wall. On the left and right, we find our two lovers. The picture between the two is a trio of musicians performing together in a park.
“…the painting of the woman…crashes to the floor. Our lovers are now separated.”
We soon find that the painting of the woman, hung on the left, was not properly hung and crashes to the floor. Our lovers are now separated. The gentleman immediately asks the musicians for help as their music can call specific elements of nature, like birds, trees, and the clouds, to help, but is their help going to be enough to save the day?
The Role of Each Fret uses computer 2D animation to bring the characters in the paintings to life. Think of it as cutting out the characters from the pictures and adding joints for animation and limited facial expressions to convey emotion. It reminds me of how shadow puppets are brought to life.
Farahzadi’s animated short is a beautiful tale of helping those in need and working together using our unique skills to bring love into the world.
"…reminds me of how shadow puppets are brought to life."
