Hand Held (1995) Online
Hand Held is an animated film about the nature of oppression and community spirit. The animation, made with ink, watercolor and pastels on index cards has been shot while being held in real people's hands. The community of hands that surrounds the artwork includes people of all ages and races, prosthetic hands and animal paws. The soundtrack for HAND HELD was performed by the acclaimed acappella quartet: The Bobs, Joe Finetti, Richard Greene, Janie Scott and Matthew Stull. Five pictographic figures (representing the world's races), carve a rock into the shape of a huge hand. The hand comes to life and begins to chase and intimidate and them. The harassment escalates, with the hand forcing them to 'toe the line' and do acrobatic tricks. The stick figures rebel, but the hand counters with a series of placating maneuvers: entertaining them with televison and giving each of them a credit card. They buy a mountain of commodities, which slowly dissolves into the huge, grey hand. In ...
The Bobs, Joe Finetti, Richard Greene, Janie Scott and Matthew Stull, made the sound in one day. They improvised to picture. The soundtrack is entirely acappella with one tiny exception.