Web noir: Broken Saints uses Web and graphics tools to tell a story that is dark, disturbing--and compelling. (Web Animation).

Web Films: Part 1

The first article in our three-part series about short films on the Web features Broken Saints, an award-winning serial animation that was designed to be viewed online. In upcoming issues, we'll look at other ways that artists are using the Web to create or promote their film properties.

No matter what you call it--Webisode, digital comic book, or graphic literature event (as its creators would prefer)--Broken Saints feels like a new kind of medium. It is a bit like a comic book in that characters' words and thoughts appear in type (which, in fact, looks like comic book lettering). And it uses the sort of abstract visual montages and over-the-top language that comic book fans will find familiar. But because Broke Saints is an animation, viewers must wait for the type and objects to appear and disappear on screen at just the speeds their creators intended, which at first could seem irritatingly slow. However, partly because each of the 24 episodes, which average about 15 minutes long, must be viewed straight through without pausing and partly because the music, pacing, colors, effects, and writing are so effectively woven together, most people will be quickly coaxed into the story's hypnotic rhythm--just in time to be started by something happening very suddenly, as it occasionally does in this strange and sinister world.

The premises of Broken Saints involves four vastly different main characters from various parts of the world who each become aware that something terrible is happening--or about to happen Shandala, a girl living on a tropical island, begins to have disturbing dreams. Oran, a man of action hiding out in the desert, experiences feelings of dread. Raimi, an urban computer programmer, discovers ominous information hidden in code. And Kamimura, a banished Shinto monk, has visions of destruction that compel him to travel west for answers.

The Vancouver-based creators of Broken Saints, who cite influences ranging from David Lynch's television serial Twin Peaks to the Green Lantern comic series, set out to make a "creepy and thought-provoking" story that would use the Web to address mega issues such as good and evil, wisdom, compassion, and sacrifice. They have thus far done so to great acclaim. Since its launch in January 2001, the site has had more than 2 million visitors. Broken Saints has also won a host of awards, including the 2003 Sundance Online Film Festival Viewers Award for animation.

The series' creator and author is Brooke Burgess, a writer who had originally intended the story to be an autobiographical novel. But when he met up with old friend and artist Andrew West and began collaborating with him and also with technical director Ian Kirby, the project morphed into something else entirely. "Adapting the comic idea and letting it evolve in cinematic fashion online just seemed like the right thing to do," says Burgess. "The Net gave us access to a global audience, and we had no censorship concerns with the political/spiritual material," says Burgess.

Episodic Endeavors