Original classification rating: G.
This clip chosen to be G
Clip description
Vlad the chimp astronaut walks across the sterile interior of his spacecraft. In his darkened room, he writes another letter home, which he files in a drawer with other, unsent letters. Vlad sits at a console, dwarfed by the letters CCCP and Lenin’s profile in the background. He tries to speak into the microphone, but only mouths inaudibly. His spacecraft recedes into the vast and bleak interplanetary void.
Curator’s notes
The sound and music of this sequence emphasise Vlad’s predicament. The steely, inhuman environment of the spacecraft is underscored with beeps signalling no contact. The childlike helplessness and loneliness of Vlad is made all the more poignant by the tinkle of Brahms’ ‘Lullaby’ (1868). Aaron Rogers’s animation is spare yet powerful – it makes for a poignant portrayal of the alienation and loneliness of the cosmonaut chimp consigned to oblivion for the glory of the USSR.
Vlad’s story may also be an ironic metaphor for the digital animator, alone for endless hours at his console and disconnected from the real world. Aaron Rogers is now known as Aaron Seymour, a practising designer-artist and design academic.
Thanks to the generosity of the rights holders, we are able to offer Vlad writes letters from space from the short film Project Vlad as a high quality video download.
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| File name | Size | Quality | Suitability |
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projectv1_pr.mp4
|
Large: 14.8MB |
High |
Optimised for full-screen display on a fast computer. |
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projectv1_bb.mp4
|
Medium: 7.0MB |
Medium |
Can be displayed full screen. Also suitable for video iPods. |
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australianscreen is produced by the National Film and Sound Archive. By using the website you agree to comply with the terms and conditions described elsewhere on this site. The NFSA may amend the 'Conditions of Use’ from time to time without notice.
All materials on the site, including but not limited to text, video clips, audio clips, designs, logos, illustrations and still images, are protected by the Copyright Laws of Australia and international conventions.
When you access australianscreen you agree that:
- You may retrieve materials for information only.
- You may download materials for your personal use or for non-commercial educational purposes, but you must not publish them elsewhere or redistribute clips in any way.
- You may embed the clip for non-commercial educational purposes including for use on a school intranet site or a school resource catalogue.
- The National Film and Sound Archive’s permission must be sought to amend any information in the materials, unless otherwise stated in notices throughout the Site.
All other rights reserved.
ANY UNAUTHORISED USE OF MATERIAL ON THIS SITE MAY RESULT IN CIVIL AND CRIMINAL LIABILITY.
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