The TVTropes Trope Finder is where you can come to ask questions like "Do we have this one?" and "What's the trope about...?" Trying to rediscover a long lost show or other medium but need a little help? Head to Media Finder and try your luck there. Want to propose a new trope? You should be over at the Trope Launch Pad.
Jeysie
Since: Jun, 2010
2011-08-16 09:51:02
You actually want/will have better luck at You Know That Show. :> This spot is for finding tropes.
Apparently I am adorable, but my GF is my #1 Groupie. (Avatar by Dreki-K)
Tuomas
Since: Mar, 2010

What I'm looking for is a stop-motion animated short, made in the early or mid-90s. It tells a sort of a faux Japanese folk tale about a samurai who has to save a girl from a demon. The animation is the made to look as if we're watching a play, so the camera remains stationary, and instead of cutting from scene to another the props behind the characters change all the time. Also, since it's supposed to be a play, it has a on-stage narrator, an old guy with a beard. I don't remember much about the story, except that the samurai beats the demon and gets the girl. The narrator then walks to the stage, takes of a mask he was wearing and reveals that he's not actually an old guy but the samurai of the story, who's joined by the girl he saved. You'd think the story would end there, but all of a sudden the camera moves (for the first time in the movie) much closer to the characters than previously, and we see the demon attack the samurai and the girl. The demon kills both the samurai and the girl in a rather gory manner, and the short ends with that. It's quite a Mood Whiplash, as the rest of the story was more like a classic children's animation. I think the short won some big price for short films, but I can't remember which one.