“The Maker” is a 2011 short film written and directed by Christopher
Kezelos and released by the production company Zealous Creative.
Plot (SPOILERS)
The opening scene shows an odd-looking creature staring into
the camera (at us) looking puzzled. It has a ceramic plate face with realistic-looking
teeth, a striped body made of cloth, bunny ears, and a book in its hands. The
creature is facing a wall with blueprints and cupboards full of craft supplies and
is actually staring at a large hourglass. The hourglass turns over and we see the
sand begin to drop.
When the creature sees this it opens up the book and gets to
work. It molds a block of clay into the shape of a face, places teeth from a
jar on top, and scoops it up and into the oven to harden. While it waits it
stares at the hourglass.
Next, it flips through more pages of the book, pulls out floral-patterned
cloth and begins to cut and stitch pieces together- always keeping a watchful
eye on the dropping sand. Once it has stitched and stuffed the body, it pulls
out the ceramic face, fills it in with a pair of eyes from a drawer, and places
it on the head. It then glances at the hourglass and waits. Nothing happens.
It tries to get a response from its new creation but nothing
seems to work. It glances at the hourglass which now has less than half its
sand left to drop. Finally, it consults the book and comes across pages of sheet
music. Using a nearby violin it plays the written notes. Toward the end of the
song its creation rises and faces its creator. They look into each other’s eyes
and embrace.
Our creature glances at the hourglass once more and gives
the book to its creation. The new creature looks at the book and then at the
last grains of sand drop. When the time is up we see our creature magically
turn into colorful dust that tidies up any trace it may have left behind before
completely disappearing.
We are once again left with an odd-looking creature staring
at us. The hourglass turns over and the sand begins to drop.
Let’s Talk About It
My first thought after watching this short film was “That’s
it?! It spends most of its life creating another one of its kind only to die shortly
after?” My second thought was “Oh. Wait
a minute…”
I realized this story served as a reflection of our own
short lives as humans. The hourglass could be symbolic to the time we have left
while the book may represent the teachings passed down from past generations
that we will one day pass to our descendants.
What I appreciated most from this short was the ambiguity of
this story. We are left with many unanswered questions such as: How was the
first creature created? Who created it? Where do the creatures go after their
time is up? What is their purpose? These are all existential questions we face
as humans.
One scene that caught my attention was when the dust put
everything that had been touched by the creature back in its place. This
essentially erased any trace of the creature’s existence. I think this was done
to illustrate that everything we do
will disappear with us. What is left behind is what we create. You may interpret creation however you like (children, art,
knowledge, etc.). My point is that whatever we create will be our legacy.
What legacy will you be leaving behind?
“The Maker” is a fast-paced short film that utilizes unique character
design and classical music to deliver a universal message.
The characters shared similar features to humans such as
their body structure, eyes, and teeth. This, I suspect, was done purposefully
to have us make an initial connection with the creatures. And because stop
motion animation uses real materials, its use for this short best highlighted the
similarities between these fictional characters and real humans.
We all know music plays a pivotal role in setting the mood for
any film. Kezelos, creator of “The Maker,” was inspired by Australian classical
musician Paul Halley and used his song “Winter” to set the desired mood. “Winter”
makes you feel like something very important and time-sensitive is happening.
This created a sense of urgency throughout the short.
This story emphasized how fast life passes and managed to
encompass the most common existential questions we face in less than six
minutes (wow!). It’s an animated short you are guaranteed to remember and
reflect upon. My key takeaway from this
short: Life is short! So let’s create something worthwhile.
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