Tom Sweep
Drawn animation, UK, 1992
Director: Michael Dudok de Wit
Language: Silent
Colour: Colour
Running Time: 3 minutes
Short Synopsis
Tom Sweep tires very hard to keep the streets clean, but becomes increasingly frustrated as people continue to throw their litter everywhere.
Long synopsis
Tom Sweep is a very conscientious road sweeper but, despite his best efforts to keep the street clear of rubbish, passers-by keep dropping litter. He watches as a boy throws his rubbish on the floor behind him and again, having only just cleared up the mess, as a woman comes along and does the same thing. Frustrated, Tom Sweep starts to catch people's rubbish in the bin as they walk by. His increasingly frenetic efforts to retrieve the litter of numerous passers-by, including that of a large group of tourists, only culminate in him spilling it all when he falls over trying to catch the rubbish that a basketball player throws.
Finally he watches sternly over a man as he puts his litter in the bin, and eventually satisfied, he moves on. Almost immediately after he does this, another man rummages through the bin, leaving its contents strewn across the street once more.
Background
The brush stroke drawing style in Tom Sweep has since become Michael Dudok de Wit's trademark. Inspired by Chinese and Japanese art, this technique uses just a few strokes in ink and watercolour to create characters and objects. This simplicity is an illusion, however, and the attention to detail, which distinguishes each character in Tom Sweep, is quite remarkable. Every character is an individual - in the clothes they wear and their hair colour, as well as in the subtle but important differences in their movements. So detailed are Tom Sweep's own movements and reactions that the he conveys a real sense of character - his face has been constructed using only a few lines and yet you can clearly make out his furrowed brow of frustration.
Born in 1953 and educated in Holland, Michael Dudok de Wit graduated from the West Surrey College of Art in 1973 having made his first film The Interview. Made in 1992, Tom Sweep was de Wit's first 'personal' film since graduating. He now lives in London where he directs and animates short films and commercials for television and the cinema. He also illustrates books and teaches animation at art colleges in England and abroad.
His Oscar-nominated short film The Monk and the Fish (1994) is included in Story Shorts 2.
Teaching materials and additional materials
The teaching materials have been developed by practising teachers to provide a springboard for your own work with your pupils. Feel free to use and adapt them appropriate to your pupils' needs.
There are also some stills and additional materials, provided by the film-makers, that can be used to develop your work with the film and deepen pupils' understanding of the process of film-making.
