Short of the Day: ‘Martin’ Makes Metal Detecting Menacing

An animated tale of Armageddon.

An animated tale of Armageddon.

Metal detecting has been a hobby of beachgoers for decades now. I had one as a child, but all I ever found were bottle caps and pennies. Some folks, though, have unearthed real treasures in the form of jewelry, old coins, and antique ship parts. But what about the dark side of metal detecting?

What’s that?” you ask, “There’s a dark side of metal detecting?

Oh yes, yes there is, and the animated short film Martin knows all about it.

Martin is named for its hero, a man with either a very small head or a very large body who heads to Cromer, England, “The Jewel of the Norfolk Coast,” for an afternoon of sweeping the sands with his trusty metal detector. What starts off as another mundane exploration, however, ends up unearthing something unbelievable as well as unbelievably destructive.

But perhaps I’ve made Martin sound too dark. In reality, this is a playful, sardonic, witty and wonderful short with intriguing animation, delightful storytelling, and a humorous bent to the Armageddon Martin unleashes. The film was written, directed and animated by Sholto Crow as a love letter to Cromer, which really is quite lovely, you should Google it, and you can feel his affinity for the place and its people even as he’s … well, maybe I’ve said too much.

Martin premiered online and has already been selected as a Vimeo Staff Pick – no small kudos, there – and also for showcase over at Short of the Week, which is where I stumbled across it. As always, when you’re done loving Martin, be sure to jump to the filmmaker’s Vimeo page for more supercool animation.

H. Perry Horton: Novelist, Screenwriter, Video Essayist