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Bread & Circuses

2025
Stop Motion Animation
 Life, entertainment, and invitation blur the line between illusion and reality.
Produced by Novician
Ngo Duc Anh
Tran Do Quynh Anh
Nguyen Bao Tran
Nguyen Vinh Tung “Bread & Circuses” is a narrative animated short film that unveils the insidious power of spectacle in contemporary culture, emphasizes the pervasive influence of media consumption on social perception and ever-changing life.
My Scope of Work
Conceptualization
Script Writing
Puppet and Props Making
Color Grading ToolsFigma
Adobe Lightroom Classic
Davinci Resolve
Fact-Sheet
Outcome Format

Genre

Techniques

Target Audience
 Short Film

Surrealism, Horror

Puppet Animation, 3D Animation

Young adults (18-30) who are:
  • Media-savvy and culturally aware
  • Interested in social issues, psychology, and modern politics
  • Consuming indie films, documentaries, and animated shorts
  • Questioning societal norms and craving deeper meaning behind pop culture

In the dim light of an unnamed circus, a magician performs a mesmerizing face-changing trick, luring the audience into a spectacle where illusion and reality blur.
Conceptualization Process

THE SOCIETY OF SPECTACLE

The concept adapt the discussion about the formation of an ideology in a new era where society is dominated by mass production and media. More specifically, in “The Society of Spectacle” (Debord G 1967), the spectacle, which is the representation of directly lived reality through media, is critically argued due to its pervasively influence on the society, including human perceptions, separation from lived reality, and shapes a society of exploitation and manipulation.

Application
Use media to raise awareness about media: create media that awaken rather than pacify
Tell the story of contemporary society in an abstract and more impact way

Metaphor Images
  • The Stage: carefully curated, center of attention
  • The Audience: passively consume, be massively influenced
  • The Illusion: misleading, disorienting, directly impacting on the consumers
  • The Insect: degeneration, distortion of the human mind


BREAD AND CIRCUSES

"Bread and circuses" symbolizes a system that maintains control by offering entertainment and basic comforts, diverting attention from deeper societal or political concerns. Originally coined by the Roman poet Juvenal, it critiques how superficial rewards can pacify the masses and suppress critical thought. As a concept, it represents the tension between distraction and awareness in shaping public perception and engagement.
Making Of Process