THE MOVIE

One afternoon in the town of Rimside, three bicycles find themselves in a love triangle. Beau is a handsome, eligible bachelor. Bec is the girl of his dreams. Harley is her impetuous ex-boyfriend who can’t let her go. Beau is faced with a lonely summer holiday when he sees Bec passing by, and it’s love at first sight. When Beau and Harley clash, sparks fly, but only one of them deserves to takes Bec’s handlebar.

The first thing you discover about Rimside, the town in which this short film takes place, is that it’s for bikes only, there are no stairs, instead they have been replaced by ramps, seats have been replaced by bike rakes, the flowers are shaped like cogs, the trees are metallic and the grass is actually green painted concrete.

The school holidays have just arrived and it looks like Beau could be spending it alone, but then he spots Bec with her little skateboard dog friend Ollie. When he later saves Bec from falling down a hole the relationship really starts to blossom. Unfortunately Bec’s ex-boyfriend Harley, is not happy about her seeing Beau. Harley has been wanting to get back together with Bec and eventually the two males end up fighting it out.

The story is told purely through animation and music, who ever knew that bicycle handlebars could express so much emotion. The film is also full of many interesting subtle nuances. I’ve watched it a few times now and I still find something new every time. There are lots of interesting things going on in the background, I really enjoyed the bell-birds, which appear to have ball bearings for droppings.

This short film was written, directed and produced by Andrew Goode. The screenplay was written by Andrew Goode along with Mark Saltzer and Craig Wentworth. Completed in June 2003, the film has won a number of awards including Best Animation in the Empire Film Festival (America), Best Animated Short Story in the Philadelphia Film Festival and Best Short Animation in the Down Under International Film Festival.

THE TRANSFER

Video:

Love Tricycle is presented in an aspect ration of 1.85:1 widescreen and it is 16:9 enhanced. The is a glorious transfer and it only suffers from some very minor noise and aliasing as the camera explores the town of Rimside, the aliasing tends to be most evident during the wider angle shots. The close ups of the actual characters look fantastic, the animators have paid particular attention to the handlebars and you can even see reflections in the chrome during particular scenes. Colours also look great, the red and yellow of Harley, the blue and red of Beau and the pink of Bec, all the main characters look good. The backgrounds also look wonderful, especially the rich green grass during the final scene.

Audio:

Love Tricycle features three different soundtracks, a Dolby Digital 5.1 channel soundtrack, as well as two Dolby Digital 2.0 channel soundtracks, one featuring music only and one featuring sound effects only. The Dolby Digital 5.1 channel soundtrack is incredibly dynamic, there is just so much going on in the rear channels, it’s fantastic.

John Willsteed was the sound designer on this film and he has done a marvellous job, there are so many wonderful effects, some of the rear channel highlights include the as bikes whizzing past near the start of the film (chapter 1, 23 seconds), the subtle click of the gears as the bicycle approaches during chapter 5 (5.51 minutes), the bell birds flying past during chapter 6 (6.46 minutes) and the stadium lights turning on (chapter 9, 10.09 minutes).

The musical score by Ross McLennan is wonderfully emotive and it is also audible in the rear channels. There are a number of different musical pieces, all of them are good, but I especially enjoyed the menacing music when the character Harley first appears. The low frequency output during this scene (chapter 3, 2.17 minutes) is excellent. The final showdown in the stadium during chapter 9 (10.29 minutes) is also incredibly rich in bass.

THE EXTRAS

Production Comparison
This extra feature allows you to compare the work in progress at four different stages of the production; storyboard, layout, animation and final. There are two options here, you can choose to watch the four comparisons side by side or view each one at full frame. If you choose the later option you can switch between the different stages using the angle button on your remote control. This production comparison is presented in 1.33:1 full frame with Dolby Digital 2.0 channel sound. Total running time is 12.39 minutes.

Gallery
Selecting this option loads a submenu where you can choose to view concept art, production art, 3D models and publicity images. There are apparently 874 images to be found in these four galleries. There is some great artwork to be found in here, but there is lots of clicking involved to view it all. With all of the submenus it could be quite easy to get yourself lost in here as well. I think this extra feature could have been improved by the inclusion of animated galleries for each of the four key areas listed above.

Trailer
The trailer quickly introduces to the main characters in the film, Bec, Beau and Harley, and this is followed by a montage of short snippets from the film. The trailer is presented in 1.85:1 widescreen although it is not 16:9 enhanced, it feature Dolby Digital 2.0 channel sound. Running time is 31 seconds.

Production Notes
Here you will find 18 pages of textual information about the film, Love Tricycle. In this section you can read about the origins of the film, the animation of the bicycles, design trivia and getting assistance from the Pacific Film & Television Commission. The production notes also feature detailed information about modelling and setup, layout, animation, shading and lighting, rendering and compositing, music and sound.

Filmmakers
The final extra feature introduces you to the talented people behind this film. First up is director/producer Andrew Goode, then production designer Cameron Small, concept and storyboard artist Russell Ladewig, composer Ross McLennan and finally sound designer John Willsteed. For each crew member you will find a two page biography.

SUMMARY

Love Tricycle is a 14 minute computer animated short film about a love triangle between three bicycles. The film was written, directed and produced by Andrew Goode. The film features some fantastic animation and the story is wonderful, full of action, humour and romance. The DVD features a glorious widescreen transfer with Dolby Digital 5.1 channel sound. If you want to learn more about this title, visit www.lovetricycle.com!