Pearl Dog

Directed by Bethan Coolin & Samuel Poyser

2022

5247FILMS

Written in 2021 and completed earlier this month, Pearl Dog is a new Derbyshire-made animation created using a unique process which pushes the boundaries between art and technology.

What was originally intended to be filmed in live action, the directors experimented with AI to create something they felt was truly original.

So what’s going on here? Well, the short itself takes the form of a spoken-word poem where a narrator tells of an encounter with a dog which shows up one night on a beach.

From the first sighting to the description of the hound, we hear the narrator tell of “distant rocks”, “floods of black” and “scattered glinting moonlit dots”. And this ominous and descriptive prose matches well with the monochrome visuals.

With hints of The Hound of the Baskervilles and more than a nod to the dark world of Edgar Allan Poe, the film’s gothic tone is expressed in an impassioned and strong Irish brogue. Together with the mysterious language they create an excellent sense of foreboding - but also intrigue.

As a dog owner myself, their loyalty and character is ripe for odes and mischievous ballads and from “Epitaph to a Dog" by Byron to "A Dog is a Dog" by T.S. Eliot, the animals have been captured by many a poet over the years.

What’s more distinctive is the specific techniques used to create the aesthetics of the film. Combining shot footage with AI-infused rotoscoping the film’s black and white palette has the look of a moving painting.

Being a big fan of Loving Vincent (the Van Gogh animated biopic using frames of real oil paintings) the film has interesting parallels to that work with its brush-stroke-like qualities.

Whereas one person could see this AI/real-life combo as an artistic step forward I couldn’t help but have a niggle that if its frames were actually hand-drawn it would add another link to the artistic methods of yesteryear. Especially given the poem overtly harks back to the creative styles from back then too.

It has an excellent oil-painting Insta-filter look but I can’t say that the insertion of computing didn’t help but linger in the back of my mind at times.

However, I did my best to not let the tech overshadow the creative process behind it and for some, the link between the modern and the archaic may in fact make it more special.

Putting the “machine learning algorithms” to one side, its content as a haunting tale and its original construction still means Pearl Dog is a worthwhile short with plenty to enjoy.

Imaginative and innovative, the short is a satisfying and well-made folktale even with its added darkness and gloom. And its first rate tone and language help it explore the enigmatic behaviour of man’s best friend.

★★★★☆

Michael Sales