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The Spine

In this animated short, Oscar® winner Chris Landreth returns with a poignant story of redemption that takes us into the relationship between a man and a woman trapped in a spiral of mutual destruction after 26 years of marriage. The Spine continues Landreth's pursuit of a twisted, beautiful and highly original visual aesthetic, using digital imagery to create characters whose physical appearances are metaphors for their unique souls.
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In this animated short, Oscar® winner Chris Landreth returns with a poignant story of redemption that takes us into the relationship between a man and a woman trapped in a spiral of mutual destruction after 26 years of marriage. The Spine continues Landreth's pursuit of a twisted, beautiful and highly original visual aesthetic, using digital imagery to create characters whose physical appearances are metaphors for their unique souls.

Families Psychology and Psychiatry All subjects
  • writer
    Chris Landreth
  • director
    Chris Landreth
  • producer
    Steven Hoban
    Marcy Page
    Lisa Bechard
    John Mariella
  • co-producer
    Mark Smith
  • executive producer
    Robert Munroe
    David Verrall
  • cast
    Gordon Pinsent
    Alberta Watson
    Patrice Goodman
    Robert McCarrol
  • original music composer
    Kirk Elliott
  • original music performer
    Kirk Elliott
  • sound design
    Pierre Yves Drapeau
    Normand Roger
  • sound editing
    Pierre Yves Drapeau
    Normand Roger
  • production manager
    Alexandra Gunter
  • CG supervisor
    Todd Jahnke
    John Mariella
  • production coordinator
    Jeremy Montgomery
    Marie-Christine Nadon
  • animation director
    Sean Craig
  • program coordinator
    Sean Craig
  • animator
    Dianna Basso
    Ken Collins
    Morgan De Lange
    Andrew Gregoire
    Ryan Harvey
    Christina Kelbert
    Rundeep Khaira
    Scott MacNab
    Derek Sunderland
    Augusto Quijano Vazquez
    Lucas Wright
  • additional animation
    Angelo Libutti
    Biagio Figliuzzi
  • storyboard artist
    Brian Lemay
  • layout artist
    Paul Arion
  • development consultant
    Tara Cates
    Mark Hazen
  • editor
    Yonah Lewis
    Jeremy Montgomery
  • assistant editor
    Adrian Laurie
    Mark Masoumi
  • lead character modeler
    Louis Vottero
  • rigger
    Louis Vottero
  • TD
    Louis Vottero
  • character modeller
    Mahmoud Rahnama
    Dave Bachelor
    Joseph Kim
    Rick Kogucki
    Alan Wilson
  • texture artist
    Mahmoud Rahnama
    Dave Bachelor
    Joseph Kim
    Rick Kogucki
    Alan Wilson
    Bo Mosley
    Chris Zammit
    Chris Bobinski
    Carlton Branch
    Paul Eberhard
    Biagio Figliuzzi
    Gabe Munn Magill
    Adrian Williams
  • character look dev TD
    Howard Cassidy
    Kyle Menzies
    Israel Yang
  • additional character design
    Mark Hazen
    Thomas Hendry
    Peter MacDonald
  • lead VFX artist
    Mahmoud Rahnama
  • VFX artist
    Tyson Groth
    Caner Salmanli
  • VFX TD
    Mark Schmidt
  • cloth simulation
    Yiqun Chen
  • lead environment modeler
    Bo Mosley
  • environment
    Chris Zammit
    Chris Bobinski
    Carlton Branch
    Paul Eberhard
    Biagio Figliuzzi
    Gabe Munn Magill
    Adrian Williams
  • asset modeler
    Chris Zammit
    Chris Bobinski
    Carlton Branch
    Paul Eberhard
    Biagio Figliuzzi
    Gabe Munn Magill
    Adrian Williams
  • additional asset modeling
    Keith Cooper
    John Creson
  • shot finaling pipeline supervisor
    Jordan Thistlewood
  • pipeline TD
    Christopher Martin
  • lead TD
    Brian Smeets
  • software
    Dylan Trotter
    Justin Ottley
    Mayur Patel
  • rendering TD
    Dylan Trotter
    Justin Ottley
    Mayur Patel
  • lighting TD
    Danila Pogalov
    Tim Wong
  • lead shot finaling artist
    Paul Arion
  • shot finaling artist
    Mahsa Ghorbankarimi
    Kyle Menzies
    Biagio Figliuzzi
    Paul Anderson
    Shailesh Sean D'Souza
    Devin Lim
    Jorge Gidi
  • director - product development
    Kevin Tureski
  • head of quality assurance
    Mike Marshall
  • rendering r&d
    Karan Singh
    Aaron Hertzmann
    Brodie Champion
    Igor Mordatch
    Evangelos Kalogerakis
  • additional r&d programming
    Ryan Schmidt
    Daniel Steger
    Jeff Wong
    Pardis Beikzadeh
    Teren Teh
    Henry Zaccak
  • digital consultant
    Susan Gourley
  • technical coordinator
    Julie Laperrière
  • online editor
    Denis Gathelier
  • final mix
    Serge Boivin
    Shelley Craig
  • voice recording
    Spence Thomas Audio Post
  • administration
    Gisèle Guilbault
  • legal
    Sylvia Mezei
    Karyn Nolan
    Francesca Trop
  • rights
    Sylvia Mezei
    Karyn Nolan
    Francesca Trop
  • marketing
    Mia Desroches
  • office production assistant
    Harold Gay
    Heli Kennedy
    Calvin Tames

Education

Ages 15 to 17
School subjects
Arts Education - Visual Arts Family Studies/Home Economics - Relationships History and Citizenship Education - Culture and Currents of Thought (1500-present)
Students studying relationships can discuss and analyze the issues that exist between the film's characters. Potential topics to be explored include self-esteem and co-dependence. This film also touches on emotional abuse, and while physical scars are often visible, in this film the emotional scars manifest themselves in the physical appearance of the characters. Students of film and animation can discuss the film's unique visual style and symbolism.
The Spine
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Home licence (worldwide); Classroom licence (Canada only)

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