Subconscious Password

This is chronicling the animated short called Subconscious Password.

Plot
This animated short uses a common social gaffe - forgetting somebody's name - as the starting point for a mind-bending romp though the unconscious. Inspired by the classic TV game show Password the film features a wealth of animated celebrity guests who try (and try...and try) to prompt Charles to remember the name. Finally, he realizes that he will simply have to surrender himself to the predicament.

Production
The film was produced by the National Film Board of Canada (NFB) with the participation of Copperheart Entertainment and the Seneca College Animation Arts Centre. the film is made with computer animation, as well as pixilation sequences at the beginning and end of the film, featuring animator John R. Dilworth as the friend whose name Landreth cannot recall. This was Landreth's first 3-D film and third with the NFB, Copperhead Entertainment and Seneca College. The idea for the film came to him after watching a rerun of Password in 2010.

More than fifteen Seneca College graduating students worked on the film supported by five faculty members as part of the Seneca Summer Animation Institute. After graduation, a number of these students were hired to work on the project until it was completed in February 2013. Most of the film was produced at Seneca's Animation Arts Centre in Toronto, with three Seneca students also working on the film at the NFB's Animation Studio in Montreal. The film was the first stereoscopic 3D film for Seneca College.

The image of celebrities used in the film were developed from a variety of sources with Sammy David Jr. appearing via live-action footage available in the public domain and James Joyce derived from photos projected onto a pseudo-3D character. The computer animation was created with Autodesk Maya, with opening title sequences animated with SANDDE (Stereoscopic Animation Drawing Device) a digital animation technology created by IMAX that allows artists to create hand-drawn animation in 3D space, and which has been licensed to the NFB to develop creative application.

Landreth has stated that the film begins "relatively flat" using more stereoscopic depth to immerse audience as the film progresses.

Release
The film was named best short film at the 2013 Annecy International Animated Film Festival. The film had its Canadian premiere at the 2013 Toronto International Film Festival. In December 2013, the film was named to the Toronto International Film Festival's annual top ten list, in the short film category. On March 9, 2014, Subconscious Password was named best animated short at the Canadian Screen Awards.