# Quirky Imaginary Creatures ‘The Lost Thing' Wins Prize as an Animated Short Film By Katie Cordrey | Published 2010-06-21 | Unique Source: Trend Hunter, https://www.trendhunter.com/trends/the-lost-thing References: [spectrumfantasticart](http://www.spectrumfantasticart.com/full_content.php?article_id=1188&full=yes&pbr=1) & [tix.sff.org.au](http://tix.sff.org.au/session2.asp?sn=The) Shaun Tan and Andrew Ruhemann have created a 15-minute animated short film, ‘The Lost Thing.’ The film is based on the picture book by award-winning author and illustrator Shaun Tan. Tan was born in 1974 in Perth, Western Australia, studied fine arts and English literature at Uni and works as a freelance illustrator and writer. ‘The Lost Thing’ is a humorous story about a boy who finds a bizarre-looking creature at a beach and, determining that it is lost, tries to find out where it belongs. The film won The Annecy Cristal from the 2010 Annecy International Animation Festival in June. ## Trend Insights (Trend Hunter) - Score: 5.1/10 - Popularity: 51% | Activity: 95% | Freshness: 8% - Audience gender: 30% men, 70% women - Primary generations: Gen Z, Millennial - Top markets: North America, Europe, Asia ## Categories [Trend Hunter](https://www.trendhunter.com/trends) > [Unique](https://www.trendhunter.com/unique) > [Bizarre](https://www.trendhunter.com/bizarre) ## Key Themes ### Key Themes Behind This Trend - **Animated Short Films:** Opportunity for creating unique and imaginative animated short films that captivate audiences. - **Picture Book Adaptations:** Potential for adapting popular picture books into visually stunning animated films. - **Freelance Illustration:** Opportunity for freelance illustrators to collaborate with filmmakers and bring stories to life through animation. ### Where This Applies - **Animation Film Production:** Potential for animation studios to produce innovative and captivating short films for festivals and awards. - **Literary and Publishing:** Opportunity for publishers to collaborate with filmmakers to adapt popular picture books into animated films. - **Art and Design Services:** Potential for illustrators and designers to offer their expertise in creating visually compelling characters and settings for animated films. ## Related on Trend Hunter - [Australian Short Film Ads](https://www.trendhunter.com/trends/gday-short-film.md) - [Surreal Imaginative Fantastical Films](https://www.trendhunter.com/trends/problemista.md) - [Stop-Motion Short Animations](https://www.trendhunter.com/trends/over-the-garden-wall.md) - [Hand-Drawn Animation Shorts](https://www.trendhunter.com/trends/zen-grogu-and-dust-bunnies.md) - [Adventure Game-Adapted Animations](https://www.trendhunter.com/trends/stray-2.md) - [Animated Preschool Adventure Shows](https://www.trendhunter.com/trends/tish-tash.md) - [Hand-Cranked AI Storytelling Machines](https://www.trendhunter.com/trends/narratron.md) - [Design Journey Picture Books](https://www.trendhunter.com/trends/thedownunder.md) - [Hand-Drawn Animated Films](https://www.trendhunter.com/trends/the-boy-and-the-heron.md)