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person or book cover
Screen cap from promotional trailer
form y separately published work icon The Lost Thing single work   film/TV   fantasy  
Adaptation of The Lost Thing Shaun Tan , 2000 single work picture book
Issue Details: First known date: 2010... 2010 The Lost Thing
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AbstractHistoryArchive Description

'A boy discovers a bizarre looking creature while out collecting bottle tops at the beach. Realising it is lost, he tries to find out who owns it or where it belongs, but is met with indifference from everyone else, who barely notice its presence, each unwilling to entertain this uninvited interruption to their day to day lives. For reasons he does not explain, the boy empathises with the creature, and sets out to find a "place' for it".'

Source: The Lost Thing website, http://www.thelostthing.com/

Sighted: 21/06/2010

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Notes

  • Production on The Lost Thing was undertaken by Sean Tan and a small team of animators between 2002 and to 2010. Produced by Passion Pictures Australia with financing from both Screen Australia and Passion Pictures (UK), the film uses CGI (computer generated imagery) with 2D hand-painted elements. It was completed in April 2010 and screened at various film festivals prior to a DVD release by Madman in late 2010.
  • For further information, see The Lost Thing's website: http://www.thelostthing.com/

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

Works about this Work

The Animation Manifesto : Or, What's Animation Ever Done For Us? Paul Wells , 2016 single work essay
— Appears in: Metro Magazine , Autumn vol. 188 no. 2016; (p. 94-100)
Using Shaun Tan's Work to Foster Multiliteracies in 21st-Century Classrooms Ashley Dallacqua , Sara Kersten, , Mindi Rhoades , 2015 single work criticism
— Appears in: The Reading Teacher , October vol. 69 no. 2 2015; (p. 207-217)
'This paper explores work in multimodality and design as it relates to 21st century multiliteracies. After outlining the concept of a multiliteracies pedagogy, this paper describes multimodality and multimodal texts. Moving from the theoretical to the practical, this paper primarily explores selected multimodal works of Shaun Tan and the opportunities they open to bring a multiliteracies pedagogy to classrooms. It provides approachable pedagogical strategies that can be successful in a variety of classrooms. We conclude that Tan's work ultimately acts as an accessible resource for educators striving to employ multiliteracies practices and bring multimodal texts into their classrooms.' (Publication abstract)
Freeing the Imagination : ‘The Best Movie Is the One in My Head’ Isabelle Delmotte , 2015 single work criticism
— Appears in: Studies in Australasian Cinema , vol. 9 no. 2 2015; (p. 171-186)

'Sonic and visual information bounce off each other in daily and fictional lives; physical perception and imagination are intrinsic in the creation of immersive experiences. In the case of atmospheric cinema sound, for example, individual sensibility and physical relationships to sound and space are central to modelling a narrative’s perceptual and emotional authenticity. Is this experiential process compromised when film-making practice is lead by visual storytelling? I would argue that current and future cinema sound practitioners have the propensity to expand sonic phenomenological experience of creative collaborators and audiences alike. A more generalised application to synergetic creative process could originate within the cinematic industry itself. Of course some film directors are renowned for their holistic and collaborative approach to sound creation. Nevertheless sound professionals’ multisensory imagination should be encouraged, from the onset of their professional careers, with as much diligence as their acquisition of technical expertise. In order to highlight the impact of individual imagination on audio-visual creative collaboration, the author of this article devised a creative process involving the altruistic participation of Australian-based cinema professionals. The readers of this article will be invited to experience part of this specific creative process and audio-visually imagine a scene from the reading of a script.' (Publication summary)

Australian Fairy-tale Films Elizabeth Bullen , Naarah Sawyers , 2015 single work criticism
— Appears in: Fairy-Tale Films Beyond Disney : International Perspectives 2015; (p. 233-245)
'In this chapter's first section, we explain why we do not include Aboriginal narratives and, therefore, why we focus on the European fairy-tale tradition's influence in regard to the Australian fairy-tale literature of the 1890s and the films we later discuss. We draw attention to the recurring trope of the "lost child" as a signifier of the anxieties of colonial identity. The centrality of national identity in Australian cinema, complicated by the fluctuating fortunes of the domestic film industry, has also had an impact on the production of fairy-tale films in Australia. We outline these matters in the second section, where we survey a range of fairy-tale films made since the 1970s, asking what makes a fairy-tale film Australian. Finally, we present three studies based on what we identify as the dominant and emergent features of Australian fairy-tale films. Our aim is to be representative, not comprehensive, and to focus on films that are distinctly Australian in flavour. The first study returns to the lost-child figure. The second discusses revisionist fairy-tale films, focusing on how an Australian cultural disposition inflects the "happily ever after" ending. The last study discusses recent developmental short films, which we suggest may herald the birth of uniquely Australian fairy tales.' (pp.233-234)
Music, Multiliteracies and Multimodality : Exploring the Book and Movie Versions of Shaun Tan's 'The Lost Thing' Georgina Barton , Len Unsworth , 2014 single work criticism
— Appears in: Australian Journal of Language and Literacy , February vol. 37 no. 1 2014; (p. 3-20)

Well-known stories in established and contemporary literature for children are increasingly becoming available in various moving image media versions as well as in traditional book formats. Classroom exploration of the same story in different narrative formats has addressed the impact on meaning-making of similarities and differences in language and image across versions. What has received very little attention however, is the role of music in conjunction with image and language in the construction of the potentially different interpretive possibilities of the multiple versions of ostensibly the same story. This paper discusses the nature and role of music, images and language in the book and movie versions of Shaun Tan’s story of The Lost Thing, drawing attention to the role of music in highlighting key interpretive differences deriving from subtle variation in the use of image and language in the two story versions. Implications for students’ multimodal text creation and interpretation in the context of the new Australian Curriculum: English are briefly noted. [Author's abstract]

Free to Air Scott Ellis , 2011 single work review
— Appears in: The Sunday Age , 3 April 2011; (p. 32)

— Review of The Lost Thing Shaun Tan , 2010 single work film/TV
Tan Wins Top Fiction Prize Ian Nichols , 2010 single work column
— Appears in: The West Australian , 7 September 2010; (p. 7)
The Lost Thing : Shaun Tan Found by Producer Sophie Byrne Anne Richey , 2010 2010 single work column
— Appears in: Screen Hub
Rush Earns Nod for British Period Drama Michael Bodey , 2010 single work column
— Appears in: The Australian , 3 November 2010; (p. 17)
A Big Day for Shaun Tan Matt Buchanan , Leesha McKenny , 2010 single work column
— Appears in: The Sydney Morning Herald , 2 December 2010; (p. 26)
Melbourne Illustrator's Film on the Shortlist for an Oscar Paul Kalina , 2010 single work column
— Appears in: The Age , 2 December 2010; (p. 5)
Last amended 29 Jul 2019 16:40:21
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