An Ostrich Told Me the World Is Fake and I Think I Believe It (Short film 2022 1080p WEBRip x264) 

Fun fact, this stop motion film was made by a university student here in Brisbane at the very university campus I plan to attend next year. It’s brilliant

The ad revealed so much about what was going on, loved that part. I was spending the whole time figuring out what story was being told until that point, and it was delightful to see the ostrich was there for a purpose.

The final scene with the boss's jaw falling off is a seriously great transition from stop motion to real-time and then back to stop motion. Everything is so fluid!

Genuinely incredible stuff The decision to have the animators working in the background even before Neil starts to question everything is such a great way of establishing the premise. Super fun and entertaining. (I also love the foreshadowing with the way the ostrich’s dialogue was written in his first scene).

This, no joke, is one of the best examples of lovecraftian eldritch horror. Neil belongs to a perception of reality that is limited, and the moment he begins to have an inkling of the wider reality above his, he starts to break down and is unable to ignore it as he begins to see beyond his own reality. The hand is an otherworldly force that literally puppets him and he has no ability to escape. It’s also uncaring of THIS Neil’s fate as there are numerous Neils and it doesn’t care about its puppets.

As a stop-motion enthusiasts this short AMAZED ME! There are so many small touches and brilliant decisions that turn this from a kinda neat animation-based meta narrative to a genuinely INCREDIBLE animation-based meta narrative! The people who made this ought to be proud!

As an animator with over 35 years experience, this is f*cken amazing

Love using the medium of stop motion to get across the trippy existential themes of being fake and controlled. Such a cool film!

Most excellent. Good job to everyone who worked on this. I can only imagine how much time and care went into creating this, and it definitely shows.

Something I found compelling was how the context Neil, the protagonist, is living in the perfect one for the plot of the film because it is the most common situation for a psychotic break in a realistic setting. In humans, young men around the ages of 18 to 25 are more commonly diagnosed with psychosis and have a higher chance of experiencing a psychotic break. It is said that some of the causes of psychosis are stress and sleep deprivation. Neil appears to be a young adult, he's on the verge of losing his job, and he's shown falling asleep multiple times in the movie.

Shades of when Laika films step back and show you how the sausage is made and somehow only make it more magical. Brilliant piece of meta artistry.

"Question everything, young man. The world is not quite what it seems." Words to live by. ❤

9:34 I love how this here is a reference to how stop-motion has been mainly kept confined to commercials.

That is brilliantly done, absolutely brilliant, and the ostrich is a beautiful touch. Everything about it is so very clever. Love the alternate eyelids/bags under the eyes. Great voices too. And the choice of music. Who would have thought the Habanera would have worked so well? Total genius. Thank you. I’m already wanting to watch it again.

I think my favorite part is that even when he was coming to terms with that everything could be fake, the hands were still shown controlling his reactions up for all but about 2 scenes. The very awareness of reality being fake wasn't enough to save Neil from being puppeted almost the entire time. I love that.

I especially like how as the film is playing you can see him swapping and making the edits to the doll just behind the camera.

Brilliant work ! This reminds me of that classic Twilight Zone episode, "Five Characters in search of an exit", where a rag-tag bunch of characters (a clown, a ballerina, a hobo, an army general and a bagpipe player) find themselves inside some giant cylinder with no memory of their past life, or even who they are... And as the story comes to an end, it is revealed they're just a collection of discarded dolls collected for orphans by the Salvation Army. We're all puppets on a stage, and the sense of it all eludes us forever.

That was an excellent work with great humor, effects, and story. Reminded me quite a bit of an old episode of Twilight Zone where the characters in a novel became self aware (90% sure it was TZ, anyways), an interesting thought. As we advance and can build machines that learn, it's a thought provoking philosophical commentary on the nature of what exactly defines life or consciousness and if something inorganic can be 'alive'.

Lachlan Pendragon is the filmmaker and this film was nominated for an Oscar!

I love how his boss is never angry. Just disappointed.

When you bring a character to life, you bring a character to life.

This has a very nice Aardman feel to it. The dark twist makes it all the more better.

I’ve never seen a 4th wall break like this before, very well done

I loved it, it's a great story, great stop motion, the puppets and set were fantastic, great work! Looking forward to see more of your creations ❤

wake up, Neil... the Claymatrix has you... follow the Ostrich. knock, knock, Neil.

A bit Matrix-y, loved it. Great twists and turns all the way through. Lots of potential for a longer sequel.

reminds me of that creepypasta about a student who noticed a red string attached to him one day and saw that it was attached to everyone and their every joint. but then one of the "things" controlling the strings saw him and he woke up in his bed after and he just have to live with that knowledge for the rest of his life.

"Do you ever feel, that you're life is a lie? That what you are living in now, is not real"

"an ostrich told me the world is fake and I think I believe it." sounds like a creepy pasta title and I love it. I really like the idea and how the animators can be seen in the background as the story goes. This was the best.

I like how all the furniture changes at the point in the ad when it transitions into the better furniture, but we're just seeing it from his perspective

Filming this all through the camera like that is actually incredible

this is so great. the use of the rough unedited models and framing everything inside the displays- genius!

The indignity where it turns out our protagonist Neil was really an especially detailed extra in a commercial 😂

The face seams on the main character and his boss are cleverly disguised as glasses and 5 o'clock shadow, respectively.

there's a certian wonderful meta layer to this that Neil is voiced & designed by the writer of the film. It's pretty likely the hand reaching for Neil is Lachlan's. really adds another layer

I can't believe I only just found this! Absolutely brilliant work! I really want to get into stop-motion one day, and this is a really great piece to get inspired by ❤️

how to break the 4th wall without breaking it

This is spectacular! The premise works so well with stop motion, and the animation is beautifully fluid.

Beautifully animated and a captivating story. 10/10.

This needs to be a full length movie in the Theatres. I would pay to watch this

i remember i was obsessed with stopmotion when i was little and would watch so many behind the scenes videos and when i would watch stopmotion movies i would expect stuff like this to happen

This is really cool. Makes me feel as though my thoughts of being outside of realities at times could be personified through this movie. Great job on this you guys.

Wow, this is just incredible! I really see some parallels to The Stanley Parable here!

this look like it took some months to create. I mean with all the writing, stop motion, filming, and the assembling of everything. just outstanding.

outstanding, the dreamlike air of the little inexplicable changes that you just try to shrug off, the framing of the behind the scenes stuff, just wonderful. my attention span is fried after decades on the internet but i was happily absorbed this whole time. bravo!

Wow! This is brilliant. I appreciate the considerable effort that went into this. Big thanks to the creators, and thank you for sharing it with us.

Oh, well done you. As a writer and teacher of creative writing, I value tight plots, creative storylines, engaging characters, and interesting messages. All boxes ticked in but a few minutes. This was a pleasure to watch. Thank you.

how many? come on tell me how many? How many heck awards has this short film won? because any number is not enough

I would love to see this as a full length movie! ❤

This short is criminally underrated, I saw this and immediately fell in love with the style.

This. Was amazing. The music choices, the voice acting, the FRAMING, the stop motion, the colors the designs thefhejnajksksk The way it turned out to be about an ad the whole time- ohhh my goodness I loved this so much 🤩

Love the use of stop motion animation as a story element. Truly incredible!

UNDERRATED GEM !!!! This needs to be more appreciated… good job, I loved the details

So very good on all levels. A stream of dawning awarenesses. Brava, or Bravo. Thank you.

2 minutes in, I'm already hooked, and then I notice the background. Bloody brilliant.

This is one of the most interesting short stop motion animation I've seen. It's really good

This deserves millions of views, I'm so glad youtube recommended this to me randomly. Such an original idea, great work!!

Sometimes things happen and either there is no way to record them or express them in a rational way, even our universe we percieve as reality has boundaries and when you touch them ever so slightly you get these weird hard to explain moments. Very relatable, me happy someone made a short movie vaguely about this feeling 👍

The bit when he's missing an arm, a leg and an eye seemed truthful.

My boyfriend think we are all living in a simulation. So this film has a special place in my heart as I love him. WELL DONE. I loved it! So creative. Thank you for this gift💝

I'm a graduate from the University of Arts in Philadelphia and that's some pro work. 100% Love.

You can almost smell the determination and drive put into this

Awesome! reminds me of Cranbrishers Guide with the fourth wall themes, very well done!

The breakdown he’d have if he knew I paused and rewatched this video, at will, all while brushing my teeth 🤯

Wow the very last thing Neil does is really jaw dropping

This was such a clever way if showcasing the storytelling potential of stop motion. Excellent stuff.

He did a really great job! I love animations about animation.

Love the staging of the monitor in front of the behind the scene action. Great story too.

absolute perfection stop motions films are to me one of the highest forms of art in movie making due to how much detail goes into everything this truly was amazing never stop with stop motion its the most interesting genre.

This is one of the best short films i have watched! Oscar worthy!!

This gives me a hint of Wallace and Gromit vibes if the 4th wall was being broken

This is lovecraftian horror at its finest

Oh, Bravo!!! Love the humor & the way this was shot, i.e. showing the stop motion work behind the show. Just amazing!

That is what a alienating work does to a man, gone completely nuts

Well done! Great story, I love the way you absolute destroyed the fourth wall but then went right back to respecting the fourth wall by intentionally having nothing to do with the viewer. Again, well don you!

This explains what our figures experience when they fall over during animation. They're trying to escape!!!

Not gonna lie, this is the best short film I've ever watched! Neil felt like a real person among the one-dimension background characters. As someone starting animation this was definitely one of the most coolest things ever. It's a great horror conpect to a animated character finding out about they are a fake, fictional being.

Holly crap, this was brilliant. The way you think it's over and then it just keeps going and going. Freaking BRAVO!

I'd imagine if Nick Park wanted to make an existential, 4th wall breaking comedy... this would be it.

Very cool, I like how people take self-awareness and make It horrifying.

👍👍👍 brilliant!! Loved it. Pure pleasure. The ending might be showing "Neil" is somehow learning..? Thx from Germany!

Wow! I had an experience like that! My flat mates turned into cardboard cutouts like the ones with celebrities in some convenience stores. It was a bit much so i decided to lie down. Then I saw pink tennis shoes and pink TOASTERS spiraling over my head. Toasters! Cool Video!

Can we please bring the ostrich back? It’s voice was so comforting and it was so fluid, I loved it so much for the little screen time it had

awesome... thankyou for the upload

i love how it breaks the 4th wall such a good short~!

I loved it, the way the characters spoke was brilliant

one of the most clever fourth-wall breaks of all time

pretttttty cool ngl taught me how stop-motion animators work too also i didn't know you needed that many models of the same character geez

This is the best stop motion short film ever

I was just scrolling through yt, tryna look for some stop motion vids to Inspire myself and welp.. Dude that was Completely amazing! 10/10! You're so awesome!

I love the fact that the manager looks down at the end, like, he's aware that his mouth falls off.

This was nominated at the Academy Awards for best animated short film

Wow! This is so brilliant! It's mind-blowing. Dare I even say it? It is "The Matrix" for stop-motion animation. I love how the cupboard scene then became like a zoetrope animation. Great job!

Anything resembling Lee Hardcastle is an immediate gem in my collection!

Absolutely amazing! Really stunning work and really clever story,. I love the idea and the production, it's just great!

This is so freaking good!!! The quality is perfection 😱

THIS IS SO WELL EXECUTED, PROPS TO THE ARTIST, >:))))

Thank you for uploading this, really enjoyed it.

Keep it up man! your doing a beyond fantastic job! I think you'll fit in making another movie already cuz that was just awesome, i don't care how many times i said it i admire your work

Wow, amazing, great idea, amazing story, good voice acting, good animation, loved it!